Asian History Commons^™

Journey Of Resilience: A Review Of Asian Canadian Voices: Facets Of Diversity, Veronica Fu

Journal of East Asian Libraries

Asian Canadian Voices: Facets of Diversity is a compelling anthology that celebrates the contributions of Asian Canadians over two centuries. Edited by Hana Kim and presented by the Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library, the book weaves together diverse stories, exploring themes of resilience, cultural pride, and evolving identity. Structured into ten chapters, it addresses critical issues like diversity, diaspora, and acculturation. Beyond its celebration of achievements, the anthology reflects on anti-Asian racism during COVID-19 and broader racial challenges. A visually striking cover and global significance make it a commendable contribution to literature, fostering understanding and appreciation for the diverse …

Comic Legacies Of The Japanese Silver Screen, Aaron Gerow, Xavi Sawada, David Baasch, Eugene Kwon, Adam Silverman, Anna Tropnikova, Chloe Yan

Film Series Commentaries

Pamphlet created for the film series “Comic Legacies of the Japanese Silver Screen” presented at Yale University from February to April, 2024. Starting with an introduction outlining the history of Japanese film comedy, the pamphlet contains plot summaries and commentaries on the following films:

Buddhist Mass for Goemon Ishikawa (1930, Saitō Torajirō) Fighting Friends (1929, Ozu Yasujirō) Romantic and Crazy (1934, Yamamoto Kajirō) Singing Lovebirds (1939, Makino Masahiro) Akanishi Kakita (1936, Itami Mansaku) Tange Sazen and the Pot Worth a Million Ryō (1935, Yamanaka Sadao) Room for Rent (1959, Kawashima Yūzō) Doctor’s Day Off (1952, Shibuya Minoru) Oh, My Bomb! …

Motherhood Through The Lens Of Medieval Japanese Ghosts, Melina Olivas

Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History

This paper examines the relationship between late-Heian and early-Kamakura Japanese motherhood and Buddhist gaki or hungry ghosts. It highlights the physical, emotional, and spiritual burdens faced by mothers, emphasizing their role in the cycle of rebirth. Drawing from the diaries of aristocratic women, the paper illuminates the emotional and societal challenges faced by women in a patriarchal society. It highlights how women were often seen as more likely to be reborn as gaki due to gendered stereotypes and how motherhood was revered while simultaneously being tarnished.

Gangsterism, The Urban Ruling Elite, And The Guomindang: Power Sharing During The Early Years Of The Chinese Republic, 1927-1937, Evan Boyle

Undergraduate Research Symposium

China’s Republican era, prior to the Japanese occupation and while under the authority of Chiang Kai-shek and the Guomindang (c. 1927-1937), has in many respects been underexplored by historians. The Shanghai Massacre, Chiang’s subsequent military campaigns against the Communists, the factious divisions within the Guomindang, and the ongoing Japanese campaign to annex parts of the Chinese mainland are often highlighted. In my presentation, rather than focusing on the various foes of the Guomindang, I plan to focus on the political alliances Chiang forged. In particular I will explore his ties to, and alliances with Organized Crime (specifically Du Yuesheng and …

Ontological Complexity Of Interpolity Orders: The Encounter Between Chosŏn And Tibet In Qing, Inho Choi, Minju Kwon

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

This article examines the ontological complexity of interpolity orders with a focus on peripheral polities in the Qing order. Existing multiculturalist studies of the Qing order emphasized diverse cultural representations of a single imperial reality, lacking an understanding of multiple realities experienced by peripheral participants. Our analysis reveals the ontological complexity—rather than cultural diversity—of the Qing order, in which multiple ontological agents experienced different lived worlds, from the encounter between Chosŏn Korean envoys and the Tibetan Panchen Lama at Emperor Qianlong’s birthday ceremony. By analyzing the Chosŏn envoy member Pak Chiwŏn’s travelog and Tibetan records, we argue that the Chosŏn …

With Liberty And Justice For All? The U.S. Internment Of Japanese Peruvians During World War Ii, Catherine T. Meisenheimer

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the United States committed to a policy of interning more than 120,000 Japanese Americans. While Japanese American detention remains the most researched instance of wartime internment, the U.S. incarceration of Japanese Peruvians merits equal attention. The political forces behind Japanese Peruvian internment transcended the more common explanations that haunt so much of literature today. Racism and hysteria played their respective roles in this history of wartime internment, but as the war progressed, other reasons for Japanese internment emerged. On January 4, 1942, the Japanese began interning American civilians in the …

Don Brown And Japanese Librarianship During The Occupation Period, Taro Miura

Proceedings from the Document Academy

Japanese library policy during the post-war occupation was primarily driven by the Civil Information and Education Section (CIE) of the GHQ/SCAP. Donald B. Brown was a head of the Information Division of CIE, in charge of occupational media policy. He had experience as a journalist of The Japan Advertiser in 1930s and as an analyst in the Office of War Information (OWI) in early 1940s. He led the dissemination of democratic ideas in the media sector, publicizing the purpose of occupation to the general public, and eliminating militarism/non-democratic ideas. Branch Library Bulletin was published 45 times from 1948–1949 and conveyed …

The Construction Of Two Coins: The Past And The Present, Eman Fatima

Cohort 2023-2024

Eman Fatima, who moved to the US from Pakistan at age 16, wrote an op-ed entitled “The Construction of Two Coins: The Past and the Present”. The piece utilizes the two coins as symbols of just how far reaching the impact of British colonization had on and continues to have on South Asia.

Objects Used: Coin, Mughal Dynasty; Coin, 1/4 Anna

Borders, Bollywood, And Butter Chicken: The Legacy Of The South Asian Partition, Jayesh Choudhary

ENGS 15.11: Design and Education

This lesson focuses on the South Asian Partition, a pivotal moment in history that created lasting cultural and political divides. Students will explore how this event shaped modern identities and communities in South Asia. Through engaging discussions, film analysis, and interactive activities, the lesson will highlight the impact of the Partition on Bollywood, cuisine, and societal dynamics.

Students will begin by understanding the historical context of the Partition before participating in activities that simulate the separation of communities. They will reflect on personal narratives and analyze cultural expressions that emerged from this tumultuous period. By the end of the lesson, …

Biomedical Versus Ayurvedic Traditions: The Triumph Of Indian Medicine In A Postcolonial World, Emma Jones

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

The importance of a full understanding of Ayurvedic medicine and other traditional practices. By recognizing how Ayurvedic medicine was disparaged during the colonial period by the Western world, explaining the significance of social determinants of health within the context of Ayurvedic medicine, and acknowledging the importance of spiritual and mental health on physical health as understood today. During the colonial period in India, changes came in many forms, not the least of which was the dismissal of a century’s old medical tradition that had contributed to the health of millions of South Asians. This health tradition is focused on prevention …

Blame In The North Korean Famine, 1994-1998, Zoe Ngan

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

This paper intends to analyse blame for the North Korean famine through Amartya Sen’s entitlement theory, which suggests that the North Korean state was largely to blame. The collapse of the public distribution system (PDS), as well as the North Korean government’s misallocation of aid, were most significant in obstructing North Koreans’ ability to access food, and can be interpreted as severe entitlement ‘failures’ that were directly facilitated by the state.

Playing Changes: Music As Mediator Between Japanese And Black Americans, E Taylor Atkins

Faculty Books & Book Chapters

Since the mid-twentieth century, music has played a central role in encounters and interactions between the people of Japan and those of African descent. It proved far more effective for pro- moting interracial dialogue and understanding than efforts in the early 1900s to foster an alliance against white supremacy and imperialism. This essay unpacks the ways that encounters with Black music transformed Japanese musicking and generated knowledge and empathy for people of African descent among Japanese. Personal interactions between Black and Japanese musicians constituted a process of “grassroots globalization” that circumvented the dominance of American mass media in representing African …

The Many Names Of Limahong: Remembering A Chinese Pirate In The Philippines, William Martindale

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

The 1574 attack of Limahong on Manila and the subsequent expulsion of his attempted Pangasinan colony left a profound impact in Philippine history. The threat once presented by Limahong cast a long shadow over Spanish colonization and Philippines security, particularly regarding relations with China and Chinese. As a result, his name was continually evoked in the centuries after his attack. This paper examines how Limahong is remembered in the Philippines. Limahong is remembered as a generic sea-borne threat, a pirate whose name is evoked at any threat from the sea or from China. But, he is also remembered as a …

Gender In The Making Of The Constitution: Proposals For A Feminist Inquiry Into Indian Constitutional History, Achyut Chetan

National Law School Journal

A feminist inquiry into the framing of the Indian Constitution must retrieve and see the interventions of the women members of the Constituent Assembly for what they historically represent, namely, a feminist authorial voice that was developed over a period of time by the pre-Independence women’s movement in India. For a proper understanding of this voice, we must understand the gendered character of the Constituent Assembly, its architecture, its procedures, the dynamics of the gendered relations among its members, and above all, the performative aspects of the debates. This inquiry must also investigate the language employed by the members and …

Baseball: A Vehicle For Exchange Between Two Complicated Global Powers, Cole W. Tully

Honors Theses

Baseball, America’s “national pastime,” has a similarly prominent role in Japanese culture and the nation’s history. Since the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, baseball at professional, collegiate, high school, and youth levels has become increasingly prominent within each nation. As baseball became increasingly central to each nation's social and cultural identities, it also began to play a critical role in furthering the nations’ bilateral relationship.

The paper explores various periods where baseball has influenced diplomatic relations, especially “soft diplomacy” and cultural exchange between each nation’s citizens. This includes baseball’s institutionalization into Japan’s education systems during the Meiji Restoration, as …

National Integration And Institution Building, Haiwen Zhou

Economics Faculty Publications

The mutual dependence between national integration and institution building is established in a formal model. It is shown that a decrease in transportation costs, but not necessarily an increase in population size, reduces the equilibrium number of states and the adoption of rule-based institutions. With endogenous transportation costs or endogenous population size, the unification process can feed on itself. The model is illustrated by the state of Qin's unification of China in 221 BC. During this process of national integration, transformations from relation-based governance to rule-based governance happened.

Ang Bayang Panitikan: Ang Pagtatanghal Ng Kabanalan Sa Pakil, Laguna, Jerry C. Respeto

Ateneo Institute of Literary Arts and Practices (AILAP)

No abstract provided.

Mississippians In The Philippine Civil Service, 1901-1946, Bradley Brazzeal

UL Publications

The Philippines became an American colony after the Spanish-American War of 1898, and complete independence was not granted until 1946. The Philippine Civil Service was established in 1901, and this publication examines the lives of various Mississippians who worked for the Philippine government during the American colonial period, focusing on those who either held a prominent position or spent at least five years in the Philippines.

Beyond “The Forgotten War”: A Multidimensional Exploration Of The Korean War And Its Enduring Impact, Matthew Weishaupt

History - Master of Arts in Teaching

I. Synthesis Essay...................3

II. Primary Sources................20

III. Textbook Critique..............30

IV. New Textbook Entry..........34

V. Bibliography.......................40

The Pressure Of The Past: Historiographical Trends In The Origins Of The Korean War, Jacob Weiss

History - Master of Arts in Teaching

Historiographic Synthesis Essay...............4

Essay Bibliography..................................27

Primary Sources......................................28

Textbook Critique.....................................42

New Textbook Entry.................................47