CHAIRPERSON
Prof Naoko Shimazu, Yale-NUS College, Singapore
ABSTRACT
The immediate aftermath of the Second World War brought to a climax the efforts of the most ambitious cosmopolitans to gather support for the establishment of a world federation that would subject national sovereignty to unprecedented limits. This was to go much farther than the weaker United Nations that was being assembled at the same time. This lecture will explore the brief flourishing of this movement in the most unusual of places: the defeated and occupied nation of Japan. A focus on this otherwise failed movement allows us to explore the creative ways that Japanese intellectuals, politicians, and activists adapted some of their pre-war and wartime visions to a new postwar environment. It reveals the flexible nature of ideas in crisis, their development within a culture of defeat, and also suggests some of ways that Japanese supporters differed from their fellow world federalists in their priorities and goals.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Konrad M. Lawson is a Lecturer in Modern History at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. He is currently revising his manuscript, Wartime Atrocities and the Politics of Treason in the Ruins of the Japanese Empire, 1937-1953 explores the relationship between war crimes and treason in retribution against the military and police collaborators who helped maintain Japan’s wartime occupations until its defeat in 1945. His talk is part of a second book project on this history of world federalist ideas in East Asia in the mid-20th century.
REGISTRATION
Admission is free, and light refreshments will be provided. We would greatly appreciate if you click on the “Register” button above to RSVP.
