Transwar Asia: Ideology, Practices, and Institutions, 1920-1960 (SOAS Studies in Modern and Contemporary Japan)

This volume considers the possibilities of the term 'transwar' to understand the history of Asia from the 1920s to the 1960s. Recently, scholars have challenged earlier studies that suggested a neat division between the pre- and postwar or colonial/postcolonial periods in the national histories of East Asia, instead assessing change and continuity across the divide of war. Taking this reconsideration further, __Transwar Asia__ explores the complex processes by which prewar and colonial ideologies, practices, and institutions from the 1920s and 1930s were reconfigured during World War II and, crucially, in the two decades that followed, thus shaping the Asian Cold War and the processes of decolonization and nation state-formation. With contributions covering the transwar histories of China, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, the Philippines and Taiwan, the book addresses key themes such as authoritarianism, militarization, criminal rehabilitation, market controls, labor-regimes, and anti-communism. A transwar angle, the authors argue, sheds new light on the continuing problems that undergirded the formation of postwar nation-states and illuminates the political legacies that still shape the various regions in Asia up to the present. "This volume considers the possibilities of the term 'transwar' to understand the history of Asia from the 1920s to the 1960s. Recently, scholars have challenged earlier studies that suggested a neat division between the pre- and postwar or colonial/postcolonial periods in the national histories of East Asia, instead assessing change and continuity across the divide of war. Taking this reconsideration further, Transwar Asia explores the complex processes by which prewar and colonial ideologies, practices, and institutions from the 1920s and 1930s were reconfigured during World War II and, crucially, in the two decades that followed, thus shaping the Asian Cold War and the processes of decolonization and nation state-formation. With contributions covering the transwar histories of China, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, the Philippines and Taiwan, the book addresses key themes such as authoritarianism, militarization, criminal rehabilitation, market controls, labor-regimes, and anti-communism. A transwar angle, the authors argue, sheds new light on the continuing problems that undergirded the formation of postwar nation-states and illuminates the political legacies that still shape the various regions in Asia up to the present."-- Provided by publisher 1. Introduction - Reto Hofmann (University of Western Australia, Australia) and Max Ward (Middlebury College, USA) -- 2. Volksgeist- ism: Ideational Flows between Europe, Japan and Indonesia, 1920s-1960s - David Bourchier ( University of Western Australia, Australia) -- 3. Back to the Time of Japanese Rule? The Cold War and the Legacies of the Wartime Colonial Regime in South Korea, 1945-1950 - Deokhyo Choi (University of Sheffield, UK) -- 4. Colonial Militarism in the Transwar Japanese Empire - Victor Louzon ( Sorbonne University, France) -- 5. Imperial Shift: Rice Control and Everyday Life in Transwar Korea, 1937-1950 - Yumi Moon (Stanford University, USA) -- 6. Redefining China's Anticommunist Revolution: 'People's Livelihood' in 1950s Taiwan - Brian Tsui (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong) -- 7. The 'Emperor-System Within' and Criminal Rehabilitation in Japan, 1920-1960 - Max Ward (Middlebury College, USA) -- 8. Occupational Hazards: Military Contract Labor in the Colonial & Postcolonial Philippines - Colleen Woods (University of Maryland, USA) -- 9. Afterword - Takashi Fujitani (University of Toronto, Canada) -- Index Cover Half Title Series Title Copyright Dedication Contents Introduction: The Long Transwar in Asia Part One Institutional Transwar Regimes 1 Imperial Shift: Rice and Revolution in Transwar Korea, 1939–1949 (Yumi Moon) 2 Colonial Militarism in Transwar East Asia: Indigenous Forces and the Three Waves of Militarization (Victor Louzon) 3 Occupational Hazards in the Transwar Pacific: Imperialism, the US Military, and Filipino Labor (Colleen Woods) 4 University, Landed Class, and Land Reform: Transwar Origins of Private Universities in South Korea, 1920–1960 (Do Young Oh) Part Two Ideological Transwar Regimes 5 Resetting China’s Conservative Revolution: “People’s Livelihood” in 1950s Taiwan (Brian Tsui) 6 “Volksgeist-ism”: Ideational Flows between Europe, Japan, and Indonesia, 1920s–1960s (David Bourchier) 7 Reproducing the “Emperor System Within”: Transwar Criminal Rehabilitation and Imperial Benevolence in Japan, 1920–1960 (Max Afterword: Transwar as Method (Takashi Fujitani) Bibliography Contributors Index