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Discourses on technology in the 1930s and 1940s 
Convenor:
Nobutaka Otobe (Osaka University)
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Format:
Panel
Section:
Intellectual History and Philosophy
Location:
Lokaal 0.2
Sessions:
Sunday 20 August, -
Time zone: Europe/Brussels

Short Abstract:

While technology is often associated with science, thinking about technology spilled beyond science. This panel looks at how the discourse on technology shaped intellectual thought beyond science in the realm of industrialization, governance, philosophy, and culture in 1930s and 1940s Japan.

Long Abstract:

Japan in the period of 1930s and 1940s witnessed burgeoning interests in technology beyond the narrow confines of science. While existing studies have examined writings and projects of engineers and how they played a role in the construction of the Japanese colonial empire, less attention has been paid to how the discourses on technology influenced culture, society, and politics in the wider intellectual realm.

The first paper addresses the discourses on culture and economics by focusing on the writings of Nobuyuki Okuma (1893-1977). Trained and worked as an economist, Okuma wrote on a wide range of topics including media, literature, society, and politics. By examining these writings, the paper will reveal that Okuma envisioned a unified theory of culture and society based on his understanding of technology.

The second paper takes up the idea and practices of “standardization” as an instance where industrial technology is applied in wider society. In wartime Japan, many national standards were established in order to regulate everyday life. Some examples would be the invention of national uniform, national housing, and national food. This paper examines how these “standards” contributed to the self-governance of individuals in 1930s and 1940s Japan.

The third paper examines the theoretical discussion on communication and media technology by Nakai Masakazu (1900-1952). Nakai was famous for his philosophical research on the process and logic of communication, and aesthetical research on cinema. Looking at these writings, this paper will consider how Nakai envisaged cinema as the technology to enhance the transindividual possibility of communication.

The fourth paper, On Governance, Technology, and Utopia in 1930s Japan and its Afterlife, examines how the discourse on technology, as a response to World War I, became broadly understood as resource management, including that of human resource. The paper examines how the involvement of the population as human resource gave leverage to thinkers who sought to bolster democracy instead of letting the military dictate its terms. While this period is often characterized as a period of antimodernism and antirationalism, the thinkers behind the industrial mobilization sought to envision technology differently towards utopic ends.

Accepted papers:

Session 1 Sunday 20 August, 2023, -
Panel Video visible to paid-up delegates