Satoshi Mizutani | Doshisha University (original) (raw)
Conference by Satoshi Mizutani
By focusing on spaces “in-between” empires - their connectivity, cooperation, and competition - t... more By focusing on spaces “in-between” empires - their connectivity, cooperation, and competition - this workshop aims at establishing a trans-imperial approach to the history of empires.
Imperial history has been booming for quite a while. Along the way, innovative approaches such as post-colonial history, global history, or new imperial history have provided us with thrilling insights into the omnipresence and the everydayness of the human experience of empires. Amidst all this diversity, many studies have focussed on entanglements between colonies and metropoles, but much less is known about trans-imperial dimensions of the game. On an empirical basis, inter-imperial perspectives, which compare several empires or consider competition between them, have become more important lately. Yet, such studies are scattered and this kind of research remains in its infancy. We still lack an overarching theoretical-methodological framework with which to address the spaces in-between empires. In other words: whereas national history has been transnationalized in the past decades, the same does not hold true for the history of empires. Thus, we would like to address the current state of research and at the same time ask how a future trans-imperial history could look.
In this sense, we seek to decentralize the history of empires both on the level of empirical research and historiographical narratives. Our questions are as follows: do narratives for each empire change with such an approach? Do they appear less unique? To illustrate this: does the thesis about continuity in German colonialism from the late 19th century to the Nazi regime appear in another light if we discuss German expansion in trans-imperial contexts? Does the notion of the uniqueness of Japanese imperialism, which is often seen as a reaction to or even a mimicry of Western imperialism, still hold true? And, to add a final question: was the British empire the all-defining model for all the others or are the imperial processes of the various nations examples of mutual learning?
By discussing such concrete questions we also seek to address more overarching questions. How can we systemize such an approach in methodological and theoretical terms? Are recent concepts dealing with dissemination and practices of knowledge helpful? How can we integrate studies on anti-imperial agency or violence into the approach? And who were the brokers of trans-imperial interactions?
Research has shown that transnational approaches do not make the nation disappear. We would like to take the same stance in relation to empire. Therefore, in this workshop we will focus on specific cases. The workshop, to be held in Berlin in September 2017, will bring together an international group of scholars who have focused on one or more imperial dimensions of one of the following empires: British, French, Russian, Austria-Hungary, Japanese, German, Italian, Spanish, Ottoman, Chinese, as well as the US-American empire. Their contributions should discuss how transcending perspectives can change the perception of the empires they are specialized in, but also discuss possibilities and limits of a trans-imperial approach for the historiography per se. The focus will be on the years between 1850 and 1945.
Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History, 2015
This paper examines the implications of Indian nationalism during the inter-war period for both J... more This paper examines the implications of Indian nationalism during the inter-war period for both Japanese rule in Korea and the anti-colonial struggle against it. It discusses how two Bengalis, famous for their Anglophobia—the poet Rabindranath Tagore and the revolutionary Rash Behari Bose—saw Japanese colonialism in Korea and how their contrasting views differentially influenced thoughts about colonialism in the Japanese empire, among both Japanese and Koreans. The paper shows how the views and influence of these two Indians can usefully be examined in terms of what Ann Laura Stoler has called the “politics of comparison.”
his paper examines the implications of Indian nationalism during the inter-war period for both Ja... more his paper examines the implications of Indian nationalism during the inter-war period for both Japanese rule in Korea and the anti-colonial struggle against it. It discusses how two Bengalis, famous for their Anglophobia—the poet Rabindranath Tagore and the revolutionary Rash Behari Bose—saw Japanese colonialism in Korea and how their contrasting views differentially influenced thoughts about colonialism in the Japanese colonial empire, among both Japanese and Koreans. The paper shows how the views and influence of these two Indians can usefully be examined in terms of what Ann Laura Stoler has called the ‘politics of comparison’. Stoler has seminally argued that modern empires interacted with one another in the (trans-)formations of their colonial policies, urging scholars of colonial history to attend to how these empires compared one another with a view to understanding the politics behind such acts of comparison. By taking the example of the Korean and Indian causes for independence, particularly their trans-imperial interactions, this paper will try to demonstrate that this concept can be usefully extended in ways that cover the thoughts and actions of those colonized subjects who used comparison to oppose colonialism.
Book Reviews by Satoshi Mizutani
For readers familiar with the image of British India as ruled by cultured gentlemen from Oxbridge... more For readers familiar with the image of British India as ruled by cultured gentlemen from Oxbridge, the two books by Harald Fischer-Tiné and Elizabeth Kolsky may come as a bit of a shock. The white men and women discussed in these historical monographs are hardly ones endowed with the bourgeois refinements and sensitivities usually enumerated as the required qualities of British rulers in Victorian and Edwardian India. Fischer-Tiné's Low and Licentious Europeans is probably the first systematic attempt, not just in South Asian studies but in colonial studies in general, to treat within a single volume various subordinate European groups in a colonial situation. [...]
Book Review: Gyanendra Pandey, A History of Prejudice: Race, Caste, and Difference in India and t... more Book Review: Gyanendra Pandey, A History of Prejudice: Race, Caste, and Difference in India and the United States
Author(s). Mizutani, Satoshi. Citation. ZINBUN (2015), 45: 189-196.
Issue Date 2015-03
Komagome Takeshi 駒込武. Sekaishi no naka no Taiwan shokuminchi shihai—Tainan chōrō chugakkō kara no... more Komagome Takeshi 駒込武. Sekaishi no naka no Taiwan shokuminchi shihai—Tainan chōrō chugakkō kara no shiza 世界史のなかの台湾植民地支配 : 台南長老教中学校からの視座 [Colonial rule in Taiwan in world history—From the perspective of the Tainan Presbyterian Middle School]. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 2015. ISBN: 9784000610735.
Colonial Rule in Taiwan is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of education and religion in East Asia under Japanese imperialism. With its exposition of the violent nature of colonial education, it offers a much-needed corrective to the prevailing myth―politically exploited by Japanese conservatives―that the colonization of Taiwan was smoothly accomplished because its people were supposedly more “pro-Japanese” than other colonized peoples, like the Koreans. Moreover, with its focus on the intimate relationship between religious and educational policy, the book helps us come to terms with a series of issues that have plagued Japan in recent years. While writing this review, I could not help but be struck by how absolutely relevant Komagome’s work is to contemporary Japanese politics. Almost all cabinet members of Abe Shinzo’s government (as of April 2017) are members of the Shinto Political Alliance Diet Members’ Association, the political wing of the Shinto Association of Spiritual Leadership. Given the endemic spread of rampant racism targeting ex-colonial minorities and their schools, particularly since these “patriotic” politicians came to power, the book is an unsettling reminder that East Asia is still haunted by the ghost of colonial violence, the kind of violence experienced in Taiwan more than eight decades ago.
Papers by Satoshi Mizutani
Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review, Jun 1, 2017
International Journal of Anglo-Indian Studies, Jan 30, 2010
ZINBUN, Mar 1, 2009
Without doubt, Homi K. Bhabha's 'hybridity' is one of the most vital concepts in cultural critici... more Without doubt, Homi K. Bhabha's 'hybridity' is one of the most vital concepts in cultural criticism today. Along with his other ideas such as 'sly civility' and 'colonial non-sense', by the late 199Os it had passed into the currency of theoretical debate and has remained influential ever since.2 Its impact has been internationally felt not just in comparative literature and cultural studies, but also in other human sciences, including art criticism, anthropology, and history. Hybridity also plays a crucial role within Bhabha's own theoretical development, as it is intimately linked with his other concepts such as 'Third Space'. For all its international fame, however, the concept seems to be little understood, partly because of the notoriously difficult prose-style adopted by this renowned theorist now teaching at Harvard. As a result, except for some notable critical engagements', it 2 This essay is a substantially revised version of a paper first presented at the Postcolonial Theory Graduate Seminar at the English Faculty, Oxford University on 5 December, 2002. I would like to thank Dr. Rajeswari Sunder Rajan and Professor Robert J. C. Young for having given me the opportunity to present it. I also thank my colleagues at Doshisha University, Yoshiaki Mihara and Peter Neff, for reading the early drafts of the current paper.
Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review, 2019
Focusing on the three-year period starting in 1904, the very beginning of Japan's colonization of... more Focusing on the three-year period starting in 1904, the very beginning of Japan's colonization of Korea, this article demonstrates how the idea of British rule in Egypt as a model of colonial rule played a critical role in the emergence of Korea as a protectorate. The article not only describes the scope and limits of Egypt as a model but also helps to reveal the motivations of those Japanese involved in the comparative debate; How did they promote-or oppose-this model, and to what effect? Why and how did they compare this model with other models, which one did they prefer, and for what reasons? By exploring these questions through an examination of relevant historical sources, the author argues that, on several grounds, Japan's initial colonization of Korea can be plausibly and effectively framed as a subject of "transimperial history" that takes seriously the influence of the "politics of comparison." The article also demonstrates that the theories and practices concerning the Egypt model can be fully understood only by seeing how the comparative views of the involved Japanese policymakers and intellectuals were influenced by the ways actors in other empires-namely, the British and French empires-had practiced their own "politics of comparison" with their specific motives and agendas.
Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review, Sep 1, 2019
they compared one another in the context of "joint rule," which emerged in the 1940s. 3 The colon... more they compared one another in the context of "joint rule," which emerged in the 1940s. 3 The colonized Vietnamese were caught between the regimes. By analyzing how the Vietnamese were forced to respond to the ideological and cultural polices practiced by these mutually comparing rulers, Namba demonstrates the relevance of comparison to the history of anticolonialism in Asia. The article shows how the Japanese in Indochina sought to marshal the support of the Vietnamese by using the comparative logic of "Pan-Asianism," which stressed the difference of Japanese rule from Western colonialism, presenting Japan as the "liberator of Asia" from the West. This Pan-Asianist aspect of how the Japanese compared their colonialism with colonialist regimes of other empires is the theme of the article by Aaron Peters, "Comparisons and Deflections: Indian Nationalists in the Political Economy of Japanese Imperialism, 1931-1938." Like the other articles in this special issue, Peters's work foregrounds comparison itself as an object of historical scrutiny. By discussing within a 3 Namba's work can also be read as an interesting case study on "joint rule," potentially an important subfield of transimperial history. On joint rule, see, for example, Stevens (2017).
Quadrante : クァドランテ : 四分儀 : 地域・文化・位置のための総合雑誌, Mar 31, 2021
The social science, Aug 1, 2014
Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 2014
certain previously dismissed alternative explanations reappear in a new guise when needed. For ex... more certain previously dismissed alternative explanations reappear in a new guise when needed. For example, He states, “The unique position of London in the English economy facilitated government attempts to centralize the collection of taxes” (53), attributing London’s advantage to England’s relatively small size compared to China’s. Size, however, was dismissed earlier as a causal explanation. Similarly, territorial size may well have been one of the socioeconomic circumstances that permitted the extensive development of private anancial networks in Japan. In the case of China, He suggests that appropriate socioeconomic circumstances for reform were absent because internal violence and rebellion during the nineteenth century led to severe disruption of the private economy. In the end, the most important lesson of this book may be to remind scholars of a simple fact that is frequently overlooked: Successful state building depends heavily on the stability of the private economy. In an era showing considerable renewed interest in the subject of state capacity, this point is well worth remembering. This accessible book will interest scholars from multiple academic disciplines, including history, sociology, economics, and political science.
By focusing on spaces “in-between” empires - their connectivity, cooperation, and competition - t... more By focusing on spaces “in-between” empires - their connectivity, cooperation, and competition - this workshop aims at establishing a trans-imperial approach to the history of empires.
Imperial history has been booming for quite a while. Along the way, innovative approaches such as post-colonial history, global history, or new imperial history have provided us with thrilling insights into the omnipresence and the everydayness of the human experience of empires. Amidst all this diversity, many studies have focussed on entanglements between colonies and metropoles, but much less is known about trans-imperial dimensions of the game. On an empirical basis, inter-imperial perspectives, which compare several empires or consider competition between them, have become more important lately. Yet, such studies are scattered and this kind of research remains in its infancy. We still lack an overarching theoretical-methodological framework with which to address the spaces in-between empires. In other words: whereas national history has been transnationalized in the past decades, the same does not hold true for the history of empires. Thus, we would like to address the current state of research and at the same time ask how a future trans-imperial history could look.
In this sense, we seek to decentralize the history of empires both on the level of empirical research and historiographical narratives. Our questions are as follows: do narratives for each empire change with such an approach? Do they appear less unique? To illustrate this: does the thesis about continuity in German colonialism from the late 19th century to the Nazi regime appear in another light if we discuss German expansion in trans-imperial contexts? Does the notion of the uniqueness of Japanese imperialism, which is often seen as a reaction to or even a mimicry of Western imperialism, still hold true? And, to add a final question: was the British empire the all-defining model for all the others or are the imperial processes of the various nations examples of mutual learning?
By discussing such concrete questions we also seek to address more overarching questions. How can we systemize such an approach in methodological and theoretical terms? Are recent concepts dealing with dissemination and practices of knowledge helpful? How can we integrate studies on anti-imperial agency or violence into the approach? And who were the brokers of trans-imperial interactions?
Research has shown that transnational approaches do not make the nation disappear. We would like to take the same stance in relation to empire. Therefore, in this workshop we will focus on specific cases. The workshop, to be held in Berlin in September 2017, will bring together an international group of scholars who have focused on one or more imperial dimensions of one of the following empires: British, French, Russian, Austria-Hungary, Japanese, German, Italian, Spanish, Ottoman, Chinese, as well as the US-American empire. Their contributions should discuss how transcending perspectives can change the perception of the empires they are specialized in, but also discuss possibilities and limits of a trans-imperial approach for the historiography per se. The focus will be on the years between 1850 and 1945.
Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History, 2015
This paper examines the implications of Indian nationalism during the inter-war period for both J... more This paper examines the implications of Indian nationalism during the inter-war period for both Japanese rule in Korea and the anti-colonial struggle against it. It discusses how two Bengalis, famous for their Anglophobia—the poet Rabindranath Tagore and the revolutionary Rash Behari Bose—saw Japanese colonialism in Korea and how their contrasting views differentially influenced thoughts about colonialism in the Japanese empire, among both Japanese and Koreans. The paper shows how the views and influence of these two Indians can usefully be examined in terms of what Ann Laura Stoler has called the “politics of comparison.”
his paper examines the implications of Indian nationalism during the inter-war period for both Ja... more his paper examines the implications of Indian nationalism during the inter-war period for both Japanese rule in Korea and the anti-colonial struggle against it. It discusses how two Bengalis, famous for their Anglophobia—the poet Rabindranath Tagore and the revolutionary Rash Behari Bose—saw Japanese colonialism in Korea and how their contrasting views differentially influenced thoughts about colonialism in the Japanese colonial empire, among both Japanese and Koreans. The paper shows how the views and influence of these two Indians can usefully be examined in terms of what Ann Laura Stoler has called the ‘politics of comparison’. Stoler has seminally argued that modern empires interacted with one another in the (trans-)formations of their colonial policies, urging scholars of colonial history to attend to how these empires compared one another with a view to understanding the politics behind such acts of comparison. By taking the example of the Korean and Indian causes for independence, particularly their trans-imperial interactions, this paper will try to demonstrate that this concept can be usefully extended in ways that cover the thoughts and actions of those colonized subjects who used comparison to oppose colonialism.
For readers familiar with the image of British India as ruled by cultured gentlemen from Oxbridge... more For readers familiar with the image of British India as ruled by cultured gentlemen from Oxbridge, the two books by Harald Fischer-Tiné and Elizabeth Kolsky may come as a bit of a shock. The white men and women discussed in these historical monographs are hardly ones endowed with the bourgeois refinements and sensitivities usually enumerated as the required qualities of British rulers in Victorian and Edwardian India. Fischer-Tiné's Low and Licentious Europeans is probably the first systematic attempt, not just in South Asian studies but in colonial studies in general, to treat within a single volume various subordinate European groups in a colonial situation. [...]
Book Review: Gyanendra Pandey, A History of Prejudice: Race, Caste, and Difference in India and t... more Book Review: Gyanendra Pandey, A History of Prejudice: Race, Caste, and Difference in India and the United States
Author(s). Mizutani, Satoshi. Citation. ZINBUN (2015), 45: 189-196.
Issue Date 2015-03
Komagome Takeshi 駒込武. Sekaishi no naka no Taiwan shokuminchi shihai—Tainan chōrō chugakkō kara no... more Komagome Takeshi 駒込武. Sekaishi no naka no Taiwan shokuminchi shihai—Tainan chōrō chugakkō kara no shiza 世界史のなかの台湾植民地支配 : 台南長老教中学校からの視座 [Colonial rule in Taiwan in world history—From the perspective of the Tainan Presbyterian Middle School]. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 2015. ISBN: 9784000610735.
Colonial Rule in Taiwan is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of education and religion in East Asia under Japanese imperialism. With its exposition of the violent nature of colonial education, it offers a much-needed corrective to the prevailing myth―politically exploited by Japanese conservatives―that the colonization of Taiwan was smoothly accomplished because its people were supposedly more “pro-Japanese” than other colonized peoples, like the Koreans. Moreover, with its focus on the intimate relationship between religious and educational policy, the book helps us come to terms with a series of issues that have plagued Japan in recent years. While writing this review, I could not help but be struck by how absolutely relevant Komagome’s work is to contemporary Japanese politics. Almost all cabinet members of Abe Shinzo’s government (as of April 2017) are members of the Shinto Political Alliance Diet Members’ Association, the political wing of the Shinto Association of Spiritual Leadership. Given the endemic spread of rampant racism targeting ex-colonial minorities and their schools, particularly since these “patriotic” politicians came to power, the book is an unsettling reminder that East Asia is still haunted by the ghost of colonial violence, the kind of violence experienced in Taiwan more than eight decades ago.
Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review, Jun 1, 2017
International Journal of Anglo-Indian Studies, Jan 30, 2010
ZINBUN, Mar 1, 2009
Without doubt, Homi K. Bhabha's 'hybridity' is one of the most vital concepts in cultural critici... more Without doubt, Homi K. Bhabha's 'hybridity' is one of the most vital concepts in cultural criticism today. Along with his other ideas such as 'sly civility' and 'colonial non-sense', by the late 199Os it had passed into the currency of theoretical debate and has remained influential ever since.2 Its impact has been internationally felt not just in comparative literature and cultural studies, but also in other human sciences, including art criticism, anthropology, and history. Hybridity also plays a crucial role within Bhabha's own theoretical development, as it is intimately linked with his other concepts such as 'Third Space'. For all its international fame, however, the concept seems to be little understood, partly because of the notoriously difficult prose-style adopted by this renowned theorist now teaching at Harvard. As a result, except for some notable critical engagements', it 2 This essay is a substantially revised version of a paper first presented at the Postcolonial Theory Graduate Seminar at the English Faculty, Oxford University on 5 December, 2002. I would like to thank Dr. Rajeswari Sunder Rajan and Professor Robert J. C. Young for having given me the opportunity to present it. I also thank my colleagues at Doshisha University, Yoshiaki Mihara and Peter Neff, for reading the early drafts of the current paper.
Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review, 2019
Focusing on the three-year period starting in 1904, the very beginning of Japan's colonization of... more Focusing on the three-year period starting in 1904, the very beginning of Japan's colonization of Korea, this article demonstrates how the idea of British rule in Egypt as a model of colonial rule played a critical role in the emergence of Korea as a protectorate. The article not only describes the scope and limits of Egypt as a model but also helps to reveal the motivations of those Japanese involved in the comparative debate; How did they promote-or oppose-this model, and to what effect? Why and how did they compare this model with other models, which one did they prefer, and for what reasons? By exploring these questions through an examination of relevant historical sources, the author argues that, on several grounds, Japan's initial colonization of Korea can be plausibly and effectively framed as a subject of "transimperial history" that takes seriously the influence of the "politics of comparison." The article also demonstrates that the theories and practices concerning the Egypt model can be fully understood only by seeing how the comparative views of the involved Japanese policymakers and intellectuals were influenced by the ways actors in other empires-namely, the British and French empires-had practiced their own "politics of comparison" with their specific motives and agendas.
Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review, Sep 1, 2019
they compared one another in the context of "joint rule," which emerged in the 1940s. 3 The colon... more they compared one another in the context of "joint rule," which emerged in the 1940s. 3 The colonized Vietnamese were caught between the regimes. By analyzing how the Vietnamese were forced to respond to the ideological and cultural polices practiced by these mutually comparing rulers, Namba demonstrates the relevance of comparison to the history of anticolonialism in Asia. The article shows how the Japanese in Indochina sought to marshal the support of the Vietnamese by using the comparative logic of "Pan-Asianism," which stressed the difference of Japanese rule from Western colonialism, presenting Japan as the "liberator of Asia" from the West. This Pan-Asianist aspect of how the Japanese compared their colonialism with colonialist regimes of other empires is the theme of the article by Aaron Peters, "Comparisons and Deflections: Indian Nationalists in the Political Economy of Japanese Imperialism, 1931-1938." Like the other articles in this special issue, Peters's work foregrounds comparison itself as an object of historical scrutiny. By discussing within a 3 Namba's work can also be read as an interesting case study on "joint rule," potentially an important subfield of transimperial history. On joint rule, see, for example, Stevens (2017).
Quadrante : クァドランテ : 四分儀 : 地域・文化・位置のための総合雑誌, Mar 31, 2021
The social science, Aug 1, 2014
Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 2014
certain previously dismissed alternative explanations reappear in a new guise when needed. For ex... more certain previously dismissed alternative explanations reappear in a new guise when needed. For example, He states, “The unique position of London in the English economy facilitated government attempts to centralize the collection of taxes” (53), attributing London’s advantage to England’s relatively small size compared to China’s. Size, however, was dismissed earlier as a causal explanation. Similarly, territorial size may well have been one of the socioeconomic circumstances that permitted the extensive development of private anancial networks in Japan. In the case of China, He suggests that appropriate socioeconomic circumstances for reform were absent because internal violence and rebellion during the nineteenth century led to severe disruption of the private economy. In the end, the most important lesson of this book may be to remind scholars of a simple fact that is frequently overlooked: Successful state building depends heavily on the stability of the private economy. In an era showing considerable renewed interest in the subject of state capacity, this point is well worth remembering. This accessible book will interest scholars from multiple academic disciplines, including history, sociology, economics, and political science.
This special issue of Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review examines the history ... more This special issue of Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review examines the history of Japanese colonialism by exploring terrain that extends beyond the conventional territories of East Asian studies. The themes discussed in the issue’s four articles include the nature of the colonial protectorate in the British and French empires, linguistic and education policies in the German Empire, French colonialism in Indochina during the Second World War, and the anti-British activities of Indian nationalists in exile. For an academic journal devoted to the study of the history and culture of East Asia, this is a rather unorthodox mix.1 The reader might easily expect this issue to be a collective comparative study of Japanese colonialism, identifying its distinctive traits by comparing it with its British, French, and German counterparts. However, this issue is not just another collection of comparative research.2 On the contrary, as the issue’s title suggests, it aims to show w...
and educational policy, the book helps us come to terms with a series of issues that have plagued... more and educational policy, the book helps us come to terms with a series of issues that have plagued Japan in recent years. While writing this review, I could not help but be struck by how absolutely relevant Komagome's work is to contemporary Japanese politics. Almost all cabinet members of Abe Shinzo's government (as of April 2017) are members of the Shinto Political Alliance Diet Members' Association, the political wing of the Shinto Association of Spiritual Leadership.
Some years ago, in the midst of a conversation about tourism and travelling, a friend from one of... more Some years ago, in the midst of a conversation about tourism and travelling, a friend from one of Britain's former colonies remarked how shocked she had been to see 'white people begging' during her first trip abroad to Australia. The comment puzzled me, but my friend explained that she had grown up surrounded by a widespread belief that poverty was a predominantly 'non-white' condition and it was only after leaving her country to travel abroad that she came to realize how inaccurate this idea was.
Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History, 2015
This paper examines the implications of Indian nationalism during the inter-war period for both J... more This paper examines the implications of Indian nationalism during the inter-war period for both Japanese rule in Korea and the anti-colonial struggle against it. It discusses how two Bengalis, famous for their Anglophobia—the poet Rabindranath Tagore and the revolutionary Rash Behari Bose—saw Japanese colonialism in Korea and how their contrasting views differentially influenced thoughts about colonialism in the Japanese empire, among both Japanese and Koreans. The paper shows how the views and influence of these two Indians can usefully be examined in terms of what Ann Laura Stoler has called the “politics of comparison.”
Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review, 2019
Focusing on the three-year period starting in 1904, the very beginning of Japan's colonization of... more Focusing on the three-year period starting in 1904, the very beginning of Japan's colonization of Korea, this article demonstrates how the idea of British rule in Egypt as a model of colonial rule played a critical role in the emergence of Korea as a protectorate. The article not only describes the scope and limits of Egypt as a model but also helps to reveal the motivations of those Japanese involved in the comparative debate; How did they promote-or oppose-this model, and to what effect? Why and how did they compare this model with other models, which one did they prefer, and for what reasons? By exploring these questions through an examination of relevant historical sources, the author argues that, on several grounds, Japan's initial colonization of Korea can be plausibly and effectively framed as a subject of "transimperial history" that takes seriously the influence of the "politics of comparison." The article also demonstrates that the theories and practices concerning the Egypt model can be fully understood only by seeing how the comparative views of the involved Japanese policymakers and intellectuals were influenced by the ways actors in other empires-namely, the British and French empires-had practiced their own "politics of comparison" with their specific motives and agendas.
In his carefully researched intervention on a historical moment in Anglo-Indian history, Satoshi ... more In his carefully researched intervention on a historical moment in Anglo-Indian history, Satoshi Mizutani reveals the results of a conscious effort made by Anglo-Indians to raise a representative regiment within the British armed forces in India and how the notions of 'whiteness' prevailing at the time affected the outcome of this endeavour.
rom 1858 to 1930 the concept of whiteness in British India was complex and contradictory. Under t... more rom 1858 to 1930 the concept of whiteness in British India was complex and contradictory. Under the Raj, the spread of racial ideologies was pervasive, but whiteness was never taken as self-evident. It was constantly called into question and its boundaries were disciplined and policed through socio-cultural and institutional practices.
Only those whites with social status, cultural refinement, and the right level of education were able to command the respect and awe of colonized subjects. Among those who straddled the boundaries of whiteness were the 'domiciled community', made up of mixed-descent 'Eurasians' and racially unmixed 'Domiciled Europeans', both of whom lived in India on a permanent basis. Members of this community, or those who were categorized as such under the Raj, unwittingly rendered the meaning of whiteness ambiguous in fundamental ways.
The colonial authorities quickly identified the domiciled community as a particularly malign source of political instability and social disorder, and were constantly urged to furnish various institutional measures - predominantly philanthropic and educational by character - that specifically targeted its degraded conditions. The Meaning of White reveals the precise ways in which the existence of this community was identified as a problem (the 'Eurasian Question') and examines the deeper historical meanings of this categorization. Dr Mizutani demystifies the ideology of whiteness, situating it within the concrete social realities of colonial history.