Click the star to add/remove an item to/from your individual schedule.
You need to be logged in to avail of this functionality,
and to see the links to virtual rooms.
Log in
has 1 download
1
Short Abstract:
This panel takes an interdisciplinary approach to analyses of Okinawa's colonial legacy and contemporary reality as a means by which to decentre the kinds of grand narratives of "Japan" so often promoted by successive LDP administrations in Tokyo, such as that of former PM Abe and his cronies.
Long Abstract:
As the so-called "Keystone of the Pacific" Okinawa sits in a pivotal location between the East China Sea and the Western Pacific, at the intersection of the world's three largest economies, two most powerful militaries and a myriad of cultural and artistic influences. As such, most of the literature on this former island nation is polemic, parochial or partisan to specific interests and academic disciplines. One area that typically unites scholarship on Okinawa, however, is debate over the significance of its colonisation, controversy regarding the extent to which it has successfully decolonised and claims about re-colonisation. This panel takes an interdisciplinary approach to analyses of Okinawa's colonial legacy and contemporary reality as a means by which to decentre grand narratives of Japan, so often promoted by successive LDP administrations, such as that led by former PM Abe, in order to gain original insights into the often underemphasised domestic and international challenges faced by Japan's diverse outlying regions.
The panellists draw on a rich intersection of extensive specialist research experience that spans the history of empire, impact of artistic influences, narrative construction and geopolitics in order to stimulate a genuinely original discussion of colonisation and decolonisation in the Okinawan context. In so doing, it will provide a platform for those interested in the complexities of Okinawa to engage with lines of enquiry that are rarely accessible to interrogation from cross disciplinary perspectives. The combination of insights gained from the resulting discussion also promises to open up new conceptual spaces and analytical frameworks relating to complex issues on Okinawa and its surrounds. In these regards, the panel aspires to act as a catalyst for the development of more inclusive and integrated research agendas.