Asian History Commons^™

“The Irishmen – Immigrants, Soldiers, And The Spark Of Revolutions”, Joshua Hanscheck

History Theses

The Irish, as a people and a revolutionary inspiration, have been the subject of research and discussion for much of the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries. A trope has emerged that the Irish could take over the world, if they were not so busy chasing the bottom of their pub glasses, but the trope – stereotypes about Irish drinking aside – is grounded in some truth. The diaspora encouraged many things: a revival in Gaelic culture, a general disdain among outsiders for the Irish as a people group, and, most importantly, a revolutionary fervor that seemed almost infectious. This fervor …

Korean Pioneers: The History, Identity, And Legacy Of The First Korean Americans, Evan Gravdahl

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

In examining Korean American history, the starting date for their arrival is conventionally recognized as 1903, when roughly 7,000 laborers migrated to Hawaii. This first wave consisted primarily of young men, many of whom didn’t plan to stay in the US. However, as their stays continued and other Koreans continued migrating, they began developing a unique cultural identity within the United States. This paper aims to determine the unique identities that developed during this first wave of immigration between 1903 and 1945, how they assimilated, and how they interacted with other ethnic minorities and later waves of Korean immigrants.

The …

Imagination, Performance, Expression: Unraveling Global Pakistani Identity, Omaer Naeem

Senior Honors Papers / Undergraduate Theses

Expressions of Pakistani identity are presently being flattened out by both the state and global West, dominantly being explored through religion. This project argues that gender is used domestically and internationally to present a multifaceted resistance to the state’s idea of the national identity. This project interrogates the creation of global Pakistani identity through examining the historical antecedents in imagining Pakistan, resistance to the state’s identity- construction process demonstrated in performing Pakistan, and transnational expressions of identity. This project argues that gender, while leveraged by the state in a top-down construction of national identity, has been used bottom-up to reconfigure …

Han-Nationalism Throughout The Ages, Weiying Wu

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

Beginning in the 1980s, a trend of traditional studies known as “guo xue,” (国学) meaning national studies, proliferated in the wake of socioeconomic changes in China. In particular, it encompassed the revival of Confucianism, giving rise to related activity such as the establishment of “national studies institutes” (国学院) and “Han study centers”. Yet despite its popularity, the legitimacy of “national studies” came under the critical scrutiny of historians who argue that that contemporary “national studies” have either consciously or subconsciously co-opted Han traditions and practices over other ethnic cultures that made up the social fabric of past and present China, …

International Student Orientations: Indian Students At American Universities Around The Turn Of The Twentieth Century, Param S. Ajmera

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the writings and experiences of five Indian international students in the United States during late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. By drawing attention to these students, I attend to the ways in which notions of freedom, progress, and inclusivity associated with American higher education, and liberalism more generally, are related to structures of racialized and colonial dispossession in India. I build these arguments by reading archival sources such as university administrative records, student publications, personal and official correspondence, as well as understudied aesthetic works, such as memoirs, travel narratives, essays, doctoral dissertations, and public lectures. These historical …

Map, Census, Museum: Imagining The Malaysian Nation-State And The Malay Identity, Jackson Rockett

Honors Theses

Using historian Benedict Anderson's framework from his seminal text Imagined Communities of examining nation-building and identity construction through colonial artifacts, this thesis turns to maps, censuses, and museums to better understand the colonial and post-colonial imagining of the country that is now known as Malaysia. Reconciling with regional histories that predate the nation-state and defy the contemporary boundaries of territoriality, this thesis largely seeks to elucidate the contestation between colonially-imposed ideas of spatiality, categorization, and the reproduction of history with the modern Malaysian nation-state and the conflation of ethnicity with nationalism from which much of this contestation is derived from.

Xinjiang: Uyghur Nationalism And Prc Economic Ambitions In The Region, Erin Kitchens Wong

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has maintained a long and strenuous history of relations with its western-most province of Xinjiang (Xīnjiāng, 新疆). Relations with ethnic minorities in the region have been significantly influenced by changes in both domestic and foreign policy. Since the founding of the new Chinese state under Mao Zedong, the Uyghur (Wéiwú’ěr, 维吾尔) population of Xinjiang have seen vicious swings to and from radical domestic policy.

Whose Nation Is This? Conceptualizing Burmese National Identity Through Case Studies Of Inter-Ethnic Conflict, Jason Leong

Honors Theses

The ongoing Rohingya Genocide is the most extreme expression of Burmese identity and has catapulted the nation of Myanmar onto the world stage. This thesis examines the development of a Burmese national identity during British colonial rule through the lens of inter-ethnic conflict between the Bamar ethnolinguistic majority and ethnic minorities living in colonial Myanmar. Through analyzing three different case studies, each representing a watershed expression of Burmese identity, this thesis illustrates how inter-ethnic conflict shaped what it means to be Burmese. Using archival material from the British Library such as political cartoons, government reports, and vernacular newspaper clippings, this …

The Female Experience With Nationalism, Feminism, And Han In Post-Choson Korea, Midori Raymond

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

Women constitute roughly half of the population, yet in most patriarchal societies they are placed second to men. Throughout the course of history, there have been several attempts to improve the standing of women within the home and society to match that of their male counterparts. These attempts to achieve gender equality can be categorized as feminism. In South Korea (hereafter Korea), there have been many such attempts. Since the Japanese colonial period, many things have contributed to the rise of modern feminism in Korea; nationalism, speaking out against sexual assault, and the female experience with han can be considered …

Trickle Down Nationalism: Interactions Between Liberal Nationalism And Colonialism In The Raj And Nigeria, Aaryaman Sheoran

CMC Senior Theses

The combination of nationalism and colonialism has remained understudied in academia, despite the important interaction between the two phenomena. European ideas bled over into their colonial empires and began to fill the power vacuum created by colonial enterprises. This study analyzes the impact of British colonialism on the development of national identity in British India and Nigeria.

British influences included large scale economic disruption, cultural reform through ‘westernizing’ the population and abolishing local customs, and creating a new set of institutions to replace traditional power centers. Inevitably, these factors created a nationalist surge across both the Raj and Nigeria, as …

Nationalism And Education: A Case Study Of Germany And Japan, Sarah Vrtiska

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

In this piece I ask the question: How has education contributed to the formation or prevention of nationalism in Germany and Japan? In examining this, after defining the standard conceptions of nationalism, I apply these definitions to pre-war and post-war Germany and Japan. Ultimately, I conclude that the goals of education, concepts of national identity that are taught, history curricula, and control of education all historically have the potential to contribute to the rise of nationalism within a country. Based on these fields, I find that although there are similar nationalist trends in both countries during the pre-war period, in …

Gregorio Sancianco, Colonial Tribute, And Social Identities: On The Cusp Of Filipino Nationalist Consciousness, Filomeno V. Aguilar Jr

History Department Faculty Publications

Gregorio Sancianco, the author of El Progreso de Filipinas (1881), is an ephemeral figure in Philippine history. Although somewhat known for his defense of the native against charges of indolence, Sancianco advanced a penetrating critique of colonial tribute that generally has been ignored but to which this article draws attention. Sancianco argued that tribute did not only negate the principle of assimilation, but it also divided the native population and provoked social antagonisms. The tribute's abolition in 1884 rendered Sancianco's historical position as transitional, straddling the creole nationalism of the 1860s and the ilustrados' colonial nationalism of the 1880s. …

Effects Of The United States Reconstruction On Nationalism In The Japanese Education System, Connell Murphy

Voces Novae

When the United States began its reconstruction of Japan after World War II, they consistently put their own interests within the country before what would benefit Japan the most . While the first two years of the occupation led to significant changes inside and outside schools, including the Ministry of Education’s diminished role, increased local involvement in the academic system, and the removal of nationalistic “morality” classes such as shushin. All of these changes were necessary efforts to denationalize and decentralize Japan’s educational system and allow more choices for teachers and schools. When Washington began to take an increased interest …

From Proletariat To Past Glory: Nationalism's Evolution In Modern China, Lance Ekelund

Master's Projects and Capstones

Despite the rapid success of its growth over the past four decades, the People’s Republic of China is facing new political, economic and societal problems. In these turbulent times of change and upheaval, nationalism has re-emerged as a significant force within China, spearheaded by the new regime under President Xi Jinping. This paper examines how a more offensive-oriented nationalism and several subcategories of nationalism are slowly seeping into the aforementioned aspects of modern China. It argue that unlike the defensive nationalism that China adopted over a century ago, this new wave of offensive nationalism is tied directly to the desire …

The Effects Of Historical Trauma And Gender On National Identity Within The Hmong Diaspora, Kalia Vang

All College Thesis Program, 2016-2019

Since 1975 the Hmong have settled in the West as a diasporic group. Their involvement in the Vietnam and Secret Wars with the United States in Southeast Asia had forced the group to flee their homes in the mountain tops of Laos. This political migration has since forced Hmong leaders to reframe Hmong national identity in the diaspora, specifically in the United States. With this, certain aspects and perspective from Hmong women on the Secret War were marginalized. Thus, this research asks the following question: why is national identity interpreted differently within the Hmong diaspora? This research project is broken …

Romancing Tropicality: Ilustrado Portraits Of The Climate In The Late Nineteenth Century, Filomeno V. Aguilar Jr

History Department Faculty Publications

In contrast to the literature’s dominant focus on Western constructions of tropicality, this article explores representations of the tropics by the colonized, specifically the climatological conditions of the Philippines as portrayed in the late nineteenth century by the Europe-based native intellectuals known as ilustrados. Their anticolonial sentiment was intertwined with visceral estrangement from Spain and idealized views of the tropics, which reversed the colonizers’ racial-geographic prejudice and asserted an identity as a civilizable tropical people capable of genius. Rizal’s return visit to the homeland in 1887, however, made him agree with the Spanish premise about the climate in order to …

The Direct And Indirect Contributions Of Western Missionaries To Korean Nationalism During The Late Choson And Early Japanese Annexation Periods 1884-1920., Walter Joseph Stucke

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis sets out to demonstrate the role of Western missionaries and Korean Christians, especially Protestants, on Korean nationalism. The first significant introduction of Protestantism into Korea came in 1884. Within just over thirty years, the Protestant Church in Korea expanded and many of the nationalist leaders took active roles in the Korean nationalist movement against Japanese imperialism. This thesis consults both Western and Korean primary sources including period newspapers. Some of the Korean primary sources were translated from Korean into English and others were originally written in English by Koreans. Also consulted are many valuable secondary sources which help …

The Olympics In East Asia: Nationalism, Regionalism, And Globalism On The Center Stage Of World Sports, William W. Kelly, Susan Brownell

CEAS Occasional Publication Series

Yale CEAS Occasional Publication Series - Volume 3

(Re)Imagining Taiwan: Taiwanese Cultural Nationalism In Film And Literature, 1970-1990s, Keith Goodwin

History

The study of Taiwan's history is permeated by questions of identity. Since 1600, the island has been, among other things, a Dutch colonial outpost, a refuge for Ming loyalists, a provincial frontier of the Qing Dynasty, a Japanese colony, and, since the end of World War II, the home of the Republic of China (ROC). However, sixty years after Taiwan's "retrocession" to the government of Chiang Kai-shek, questions of Taiwan's cultural and national identity persist.

This paper takes the 1970s to be an important turning point in Taiwan's identity discourse. Beginning with a discussion of the various political and diplomatic …

The Samurai's Rebirth - Japan's Increasing "Offensive" Security Capabilities, Patrick Bright

Political Science Theses and Capstones

This thesis studies the increasing "offensive" nature of Japanese security capabilities in nation which has major restrictions on military capability. There are regional tensions in East Asia that have the potential to escalate to armed conflict. Other countries in the region have increased their levels of armament but how has Japan reacted? I look at three major acquisitions by Japan that have created controversy, then examine the role public opinion has towards issues of defense, including external and domestic considerations. Two major data sets on public opinion, the Global Attitudes Project and the Asia Barometer, are used. I find that …

Japan And The World: Japan’S Contemporary Geopolitical Challenges – A Volume In Honor Of The Memory And Intellectual Legacy Of Asakawa Kan’Ichi, Frances Rosenbluth, Masaru Kohno

CEAS Occasional Publication Series

Yale CEAS Occasional Publication Series - Volume 2

Disarming The Allies Of Imperialism: The State, Agitation, And Manipulation During China's Nationalist Revolution, 1922-1949 (Book Review), Thomas D. Curran

History Faculty Publications

Book review by Thomas D. Curran.

Murdock, M. G. (2006). Disarming the allies of imperialism: The state, agitation, and manipulation during China's nationalist revolution, 1922-1949. Ithaca: East Asia Program, Cornell University.

Historical Perspectives On Contemporary East Asia, Thomas D. Curran Ph.D.

History Faculty Publications

Book review by Thomas D. Curran.

Goldman, Merle and Andrew Gordon, eds. Historical Perspectives on Contemporary East Asia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000.

Kazakh Nationalism In The Gorbachev Era, Steven O'Neal Sabol

History Theses & Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study is to survey specific manifestations of Kazakh nationalism in the Gorbachev era and ask what provoked a seemingly cooperative people to exert their nationalist sentiment. The two principal forms examined are the passage of the Kazakh Language Law in 1989, and the emergence of informal groups and alternative political parties in Kazakhstan.

The nationalism that was expressed by Kazakhs in the Gorbachev era was a resumption of the nationalism that was suspended or suppressed during seventy years of Soviet rule. The December 1986 demonstration in Alma-Ata irreparably altered ethnic relations in the republic and …