Description
Book SynopsisThis book argues that transpacific history cannot be comprehended without including “vertical” connections; namely, those between the southern hemisphere and the northern hemisphere. It explores such connections by uncovering small histories of ordinary people’s attempts at événements which they undertake by means of uneven, unlevel, and multidirectional mobilities. In this way, this book goes beyond the usual notion of transpacific history as a matter of Northern Hemisphere-centric connections between the United States and Asian countries, and enables us to imagine a transpacific space as a more dynamic and multi-faceted world of human mobilities and connections. In this book, both eminent and burgeoning historians uncover the stories of little-known, myriad encounters in various parts of the Asia-Pacific region. By exploring cases whose actors include soldiers, missionaries, colonial administrators, journalists, essayists, and artists, the book highlights the significance of "vertical" perspectives in understanding complex histories of the region.
Trade ReviewRichly researched and subtly theorized, this multidisciplinary collection provides fresh and original perspectives on Transpacific connections and relationships.
-- Vera Mackie, University of Wollongong
This study of cross-hemispheric north-south connectedness presents a refreshingly new vision of the Asia-Pacific. Nine extremely well-documented and detailed micro-histories provide insight into the cacophonous and multi-layered entanglements that constitute the Transpacific as contested and alternative spatiality of the Asia-Pacific. The mobility lens is a powerful key to unlock the betwixt and between niches of transnational history, putting human encounters in science, religion, arts, military, and trade at the center of academic inquiry to capture the richness but too often unattended diversity of local responses to global dynamics. The book provides challenging questions to grand theories and will stimulate debates among scholars and students of modern history, transnationalism, mobility studies, and area studies.
-- Wolfram Manzenreiter, University of Vienna
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction, Yasuko Hassall Kobayashi & Shinnosuke Takahashi
1. Meaningful Connections: Reflections on Transpacific Consciousness, Dario Di Rosa
2. Promise and Protection: New Guinea Villagers and the Role of Christianity During the Pacific War, Danton Leary
3. Anthropology and Colonial Administration in Transpacific Perspective: Australian “Government Anthropology” in New Guinea and Japanese “Practical Ethnology” in the South Sea Islands, 1924–41, Christine Winter
4. Australian Military Sexual Adventurism in the New Guinea Campaign, 1942–45, Caroline Norma
5. Japan’s Last Colonial Frontier: Settler Migration, Development, and Expansionism in the Brazilian Amazon, Facundo Garasino
6. War Movements of people: War Evacuees and Military Linguists of Japanese Language in Australia During the Pacific War, Yasuko Hassall Kobayashi
7. The Hiroshima Panels and Australia, Alexander Brown
8. The Journey to the Archipelago: Shimao Toshio, Southern Localism, and the Dream of Japanesia, Shinnosuke Takahashi
9. Fantastic and Fanciful Gazes at Pacific Island Women: A Japanese Travel Journalist Kanetaka Kaoru’s Impressions from Her Journey in 1961, Ryota Nishino
In Place of Conclusion: Weaving the Pacific, Tessa Morris-Suzuki
Notes on Name Convention
Index
About the Contributors
