The second workshop by Manchuria group
The Memories of “Manchuria” and their Representation
Date and time: August 8, 2015 from 9:30 am to 5:00 pm
Venue: Yotsuya Campus, Sophia University, L-911(9F, The Main Library)
Program
Part One: “The memories of ‘Manchuria’ and their representation”
(9:30 am- 12:30 pm)
(1) Thomas Lahusen,’Manchurian Memories.’ (Video footage)
(2) Thomas Lahusen(University of Toronto)
“Foreign Past and the Construction of Local Identity: The Case of Harbin.”
(3) Comments (15 minutes each)
Satoru Nagai (Journalist), Jihye Chung(University of Tokyo, Doctoral Program)
(4) Q & A
[Lunch break]
Part Two: “The memories and description of colonies” (2:00 pm – 3:30 pm)
(1) Ryo Satou (Ritsumeikan University)
“The Alumni Association as a ‘Contact Zone’
: The Japanese, Chinese, and the Intermingling Memories of Manchuria”
(2) Akiko Mori (JSPS Research Fellow, Doshisha University)
“Lives’ Polyphony: Meeting the Okinawans having migrated to Nan’yōguntō”
(3) Comments (15 minutes each)
Hongjang Lee (Kobe Gakuin University), Kenichi Yasuoka (Iida city Institute of Historical Research)
[Break]
Part Three Discussion (3:45 pm – 5:00 pm)
Commentators (15 minutes each):
Mariko Tamanoi (University of California, Los Angels), Yasuhiko Nishizawa (Nagoya University), Akio Okubo (Tokyo Metropolitan University)
* Languages: Japanese and English
We are not planning to have simultaneous interpreters, summary in Japanese will be provided. Regarding Professor Lahusen, one of Sophia’s graduate students will interpret simultaneously beside him. In case there are more participants from English-speaking countries, we would have more interpreters to summarize the contents.
“The memories of ‘Manchuria’” have been discussed for a while. In the past, “the memories of ‘Manchuria’” were reconstructed by mainly using oral histories and in particular, these works were approached from historical context of Japan and Korea (including both of today’s North and South Koreas). However, Mariko Tamanoi, in her work Crossed Histories: Manchuria in the Age of Empire incorporated the perspectives and context of not only Eastern Asia but also Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia to successfully describe the multifaceted images of “Manchuria”. Additionally, in recent years, the introduction of new technologies such as making films and documentaries diversified the ways to present and describe “the memories of ‘Manchuria’”.
Professor Thomas Lahusen (Toronto University) is a pioneer of making documentaries on “the memories of Manchuria” with a strong focus on the Manchurian memories in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Last summer, he was invited to Hokkaido University, and came to Japan. He conducted a series of interviews and researches first in Iida city, Nagano prefecture with Professor Shinzo Araragi (Sophia University), and later in Sapporo with Dr. Taisho Nakayama (Kyoto University). Based on his research in Japan, he has released a new piece of work in which the research results of Eastern Europe and Central Asia are included. This film is a documentary-style work by using interviews as the main source.
As Professor Lahusen is visiting Japan in early August, 2015, we decided to hold a workshop to discuss the meanings and future developments of the studies on “the memories of ‘Manchuria’ and their representation”. In addition, by comparing to an oral historical methodology, which is a rather orthodox approach, alternative or new approaches to “the memories of “Manchuria” and their representation,” including Professor Lahusen is to be explored.
This workshop is divided into three parts. The first part is the film screening of Professor Lahusen’s work (“Manchurian Memories.”), followed by his presentation, comments and discussions on the film. The second part consists of two presentations by young scholars, who utilize oral histories as significant part of their research: “The memories of Manchuria” by Ryo Sato and “the memories of the South Seas” by Akiko Mori. After the discussion on these presentations, the final part provides speakers and participants with open discussion on the whole workshop.
There are four purposes of this workshop. The first purpose is to examine and reveal the memories on “Manchurias” from various contexts and sites, which include not only from the Japanese Empire but also Eastern Europe and Russia. Secondly, this workshop aims to discuss methodological challenges as to the approaches to “the memories of “Manchuria”” and “the memories of “the South Seas””. This is closely related to the third purpose, which is how we could make the use of oral histories of individuals in historical researches conducted by our research group under Grants-in Aid for Scientific Research (Human Migration and Social Integration in the 20th-Century East Asia). Finally, the memories of Manchuria are closely related to issues of historical recognition because these issues influences the way memories are recounted and represented in current society.
As discussants in the third part, we have invited Professor Mariko Tamanoi, Professor Akio Okubo, a researcher on Manchurian literature, and Yasuhiko Nishizawa a historian of architecture. We are looking for active exchanges of comments and ideas with speakers, discussants and audiences.
For more information, please contact to kaken25245060*gmail.com
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