DOCSLIB.ORG

FINAL for Filing

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
FINAL for Filing Life under Siege: Militarized Welfare in U.S.-Occupied Okinawa by Asako Masubuchi A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of East Asian Studies University of Toronto © Copyright by Asako Masubuchi 2019 Life under Siege: Militarized Welfare in U.S.-Occupied Okinawa Asako Masubuchi Doctor of Philosophy Department of East Asian Studies University of Toronto 2019 Abstract This dissertation examines the formations of what I have termed “militarized welfare,” that is, the multilayered ways in which discourses and practices of protecting and promoting life became intricately and intimately connected with militarism in Okinawa through the period of U.S. administration (1945-1972). This project draws on, and aims to contribute to, roughly three fields of scholarly literature: the politics of life and death, theorized most explicitly by Michel Foucault; U.S. (and Japanese) Cold War expansionism in the Asia-Pacific; and transpacific militarism. The central argument of my thesis is that the expansion of medical welfare in Okinawa was not antithetical to militarization, but in fact enabled it. I demonstrate this complementary relationship between warfare and welfare by closely examining the lived experiences of agents and subjects of welfare in/for occupied Okinawa – missionaries, medical practitioners, patients, Okinawan diaspora, and displaced farmers. While each actor engaged in promoting and protecting life in their own right, their acts of welfare were often easily appropriated by the U.S. military and U.S. and Japanese governments to serve their respective purposes. My thesis also tries to capture the moments when this affinity between welfare and the military was destabilized by actors who closely observed the limits of medical welfare in Okinawa. Chapter 1 explores the role of American Christianity in occupied Okinawa in producing the narratives of liberation and rehabilitation to transform Okinawa into a place ii worthy of salvation in the American imagination. Chapter 2 closely examines the lived experiences of public health nurses, illustrating how the education and mobilization of public health nurses constituted part of the biopolitical strategy of the U.S. Cold War empire. Chapter 3 explores the transpacific circuits of care and relief that connected occupied Okinawa, Hawaiʻi and beyond in multifaceted ways. I argue that transpacific biopolitical projects of “nurturing life” were facilitated through the necropolitical network that simultaneously shaped the Pacific in Cold War formations. Chapter 4 focuses on the protest by displaced farmers and shows how land and life itself became an effective basis for the struggle against militarism. However, these movements were soon depoliticized through social security measures. iii Acknowledgment This dissertation is the product of my personal and scholarly encounters and conversations with numerous people who have guided and supported me throughout my journey of inquiry, including those whom I only met through historical documents. I am indebted to all of them for helping me actualize this project. I would especially like to thank the nurses, doctors, and their families in Okinawa and Hawaiʻi for sharing their valuable stories with me. Their tireless and sincere efforts to bring a better life to Okinawans, and their sharp observations of people’s lives there have always been the most powerful source of my inspiration. This dissertation could not exist in its current form without the unchanging support of my dissertation committee. First and foremost, I offer my deepest heartfelt gratitude to Professor Lisa Yoneyama for being an exceptional scholar, supervisor, and person. I first “met” her through her book when I was an undergraduate student in a university in Tokyo, and ever since, her work has been one of my most important guiding principles during my scholarly voyage. Her research has shown me how to shape questions to resonate with others who are struggling with similar predicaments. It is such a privilege to work with her; she has guided me to a rich world of scholarship and has pushed me to broaden my theoretical and disciplinary boundaries. Her careful mentorship, generosity, wisdom, and endless support and trust in me has imbued my journey towards a Ph.D. with excitement and joy. I am blessed to have her as my supervisor. I would also like to extend my thanks to Professor Takashi Fujitani for not only giving me thoughtful and stimulating feedback throughout the dissertation writing process but also for organizing workshops to create valuable opportunities for doctorate candidates to meet and share their progress. These workshops proved fruitful and revitalizing, and casual conversations with fellow writers and professors at the gatherings were glimmers of light that punctuated the often lonely labor of writing. Professor Rachel Silvey was equally a great source of encouragement, support, invaluable input, especially in the field of feminist geography. My external reviewers, Professor Ken Kawashima and Professor Keith L. Camacho at the University of California, Los Angeles, have also been indispensable to the completion of this project. It is a great pleasure and excitement to receive commentary from Professor Camacho, whose scholarly works have greatly inspired me to think about militarism and the politics of life from transpacific and transoceanic perspectives. iv Besides my committee members, Professors Janet Poole, Andrea Schmid, Shiho Satsuka, Jotaro Arimori, Yasuyo Tomita, and Ikuko Komuro-Lee, continuously gave me intellectual insights and emotional support. I would also like to thank Norma Escobar and Natasja VanderBerg for their administrative support and their efforts to ensure a welcoming and cooperative atmosphere at the Department of East Asian Studies. I’d also like to thank Fabiano Takashi Rocha at the Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library for helping me to collect materials. Outside of Toronto, I am grateful to Professor Tomiyama Ichirō at Doshisha University, whose thought-provoking works on Okinawa have motivated me throughout this project. He also generously allowed me to participate in weekly workshops called Kayō-kai, where students, scholars, and activists of various backgrounds gather to freely discuss a wide range of questions about violence, colonialism, militarism, etc. I received valuable input and inspiration from these workshops. Through Kayō-kai, I was introduced to my precious comrades, Yoko Asato, Rima Higa, Kei Kohagura, Akiko Mori, and Naomi Okamoto. We spent hours and hours in Kyoto and in Okinawa, often over beer and awamori, discussing so many illuminating topics. Thanks to them, I have been able to keep my research closely connected with on-going discussions about Okinawa and Okinawa Studies. I would like to offer special thanks to Kei for his incredible support in collecting materials, without which this project would not have been feasible. The conversations with him have shaped some of the core arguments of this dissertation. I am beholden to the support offered by the Connaught International Scholarships for Doctoral Students, which made my life in Toronto possible. It was with the generous support of the Konosuke Matsushita Memorial Foundation, School of Graduate Studies Research Travel Grant, and Dr. David Chu Scholarship in Asia Pacific Studies that I was able to conduct extensive research in Okinawa, Tokyo, and Hawaiʻi. In Okinawa, Professor Ogawa Sumiko at Meio University generously offered me valuable documents on the development of medicine and public health in Okinawa. She also introduced me to Kinjo Eiko, a former public health nurse, who shared her experiences with me. My one-month research trip in Hawaiʻi in May of 2017 was institutionally supported by the East-West Center, which accepted me as an affiliated scholar. Professor Mire Koikari at the University of Hawaiʻi provided me with great assistance by introducing me to important figures and documents. Librarian Sachiko Iwabuchi kindly taught me to access the valuable resources from the University of Hawaiʻi libraries. Dr. Satoru Izutsu, Vice Dean of the University of Hawaiʻi Medical School offered his time to educate me on the development of the University of Hawaiʻi’s Okinawa Chubu Hospital internship project. I was v fortunate to have the opportunity to meet graduate students at the University of Hawaiʻi as well. I would especially like to express my thanks to Rika Inamine for not only sharing me her stories and insights while training to be a nurse but also for introducing me to the Okinawan community in Hawaiʻi. I have greatly benefitted from presenting papers at two conferences: “The Militarism and Migration Conference” organized by the University of California, San Diego in April 2017 and “The Intersections of Colonialism and Medicine in East Asia” sponsored and organized by the University of Pittsburgh in March 2018. While all the people I met in each place were full of helpful insights and feedback, I would like to extend my gratitude to scholars who spent time on making comments on my drafts: Professor Kamala Visweswaran at the University of California, San Diego, Professor Sonja Kim at Binghamton University, and Professor Aya Homei at the University of Manchester. In addition, Professor Hiroko Matsuda at Kobe Gakuin University gave me an opportunity to write a book chapter for her edited book, Rethinking Postwar Okinawa: Beyond American Occupation (Rowman and Littlefield: Lexington Books, 2017).
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Peace in Vietnam! Beheiren: Transnational Activism and Gi Movement in Postwar Japan 1965-1974
    PEACE IN VIETNAM! BEHEIREN: TRANSNATIONAL ACTIVISM AND GI MOVEMENT IN POSTWAR JAPAN 1965-1974 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I AT MĀNOA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN POLITICAL SCIENCE AUGUST 2018 By Noriko Shiratori Dissertation Committee: Ehito Kimura, Chairperson James Dator Manfred Steger Maya Soetoro-Ng Patricia Steinhoff Keywords: Beheiren, transnational activism, anti-Vietnam War movement, deserter, GI movement, postwar Japan DEDICATION To my late father, Yasuo Shiratori Born and raised in Nihonbashi, the heart of Tokyo, I have unforgettable scenes that are deeply branded in my heart. In every alley of Ueno station, one of the main train stations in Tokyo, there were always groups of former war prisoners held in Siberia, still wearing their tattered uniforms and playing accordion, chanting, and panhandling. Many of them had lost their limbs and eyes and made a horrifying, yet curious, spectacle. As a little child, I could not help but ask my father “Who are they?” That was the beginning of a long dialogue about war between the two of us. That image has remained deep in my heart up to this day with the sorrowful sound of accordions. My father had just started work at an electrical laboratory at the University of Tokyo when he found he had been drafted into the imperial military and would be sent to China to work on electrical communications. He was 21 years old. His most trusted professor held a secret meeting in the basement of the university with the newest crop of drafted young men and told them, “Japan is engaging in an impossible war that we will never win.
    [Show full text]
  • Guide to the Betty J. Meggers and Clifford Evans Papers
    Guide to the Betty J. Meggers and Clifford Evans papers Tyler Stump and Adam Fielding Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund. December 2015 National Anthropological Archives Museum Support Center 4210 Silver Hill Road Suitland, Maryland 20746 [email protected] http://www.anthropology.si.edu/naa/ Table of Contents Collection Overview ........................................................................................................ 1 Administrative Information .............................................................................................. 1 Biographical / Historical.................................................................................................... 2 Scope and Contents........................................................................................................ 5 Arrangement..................................................................................................................... 5 Bibliography...................................................................................................................... 6 Names and Subjects ...................................................................................................... 6 Container Listing ............................................................................................................. 8 Series 1: Personal, 1893-2012................................................................................. 8 Series 2: Writings, 1944-2011...............................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • ALFP 2006 Program Report
    COMMUNITIES IN ACTION COMMUNITIES IN ACTION Struggle for Peace and Sustainability in Asia Published by International House of Japan & Japan Foundation Date of publication September 2007 ©International House of Japan 5-11-16 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan 106-0032 Tel: 81-3-3470 3211 Fax: 81-3-3470 3170 Email: [email protected] URL: www.i-house.or.jp Cover & illustration Raphael Ahmed Layout & design Lim So-Youn, Jang Ik-Su Printed in Japan CONTENTS Preface Part 1: Sixty Days’ Chronicle A Decade of Collaboration 11 Naoko Shimamura Profile of 2006 Fellows 17 Eight Weeks’ Sojourn 21 Discourse and Dialogue 45 Part 2: Envisioning Community-Building Unmasking Identity 139 Maria Hartiningsih From Revolution to Devolution: How democracy’s “long tail” 159 can sustain press freedom, development and peace in Asia Kunda Dixit Democracy, Development and Diversity 183 Mohiuddin Ahmad Building Cultural Sustainability among Young Communities in Asia 209 Janet Pillai Toward the Futures which Bring Back Our Wisdoms Within: 227 Shifting theDirection of Development Kamata Yoji NGO Initiatives in Northeast Asia Environmental Cooperation: 243 Cases of KFEM-Jilin, Kitakyushu-Dalian Cooperation Seejae Lee Religion and Corruption: Advocacy for Integrity in Philippine 263 Church and Society Albert E. Alejo Part 3: Journey through Japan The Tokyo Tribunal 2000 and Beyond 287 Maria Hartiningsih Discovery of Japan 301 Mohiuddin Ahmad Japan Diary 327 Seejae Lee Asian Face of the Struggle for Integrity 339 Albert E. Alejo PREFACE Throughout our life, we constantly seek knowledge and engage in changing our environment. We do so because we want to elevate ourselves to a higher level in terms of moral standard and material comfort.
    [Show full text]
  • Muse No. 33 Japanese Citizens Network of Museums for Peace Newsletter: September 2016
    Muse No. 33 Japanese Citizens Network of Museums for Peace Newsletter: September 2016 The Editorial Office: Daisuke Miyahara at Peace Aichi 2-820 Yomogidai, Meitoku, Nagoya City, Aichi 465-0091 Tel/Fax: 052-602-4222 http://www.peace-aichi.com/ Editor: Kazuyo Yamane, Masahiko Yamabe, Ikuro Anzai Translators: Mairead Hynes, Terumi Imai, Atsuko Takeda, Yoshiko Tanigawa, Kyoko Terazawa & Kazuyo Yamane Illstrator: Erico Tosaki & Pegge Patten Women’s Active Museum on War and “Comfort Women” system, and this Peace (WAM) “agreement” shows no real change in this Director: Eriko Ikeda fundamentally negative position. As such, the “agreement” has been the In the words of Milan Kundera, “The subject of strong criticism from Korean struggle of man against power is the victims, support groups, and public struggle of memory against forgetting.” opinion. Japanese historians and Seventy years after the end of the Second support groups, including WAM, insist World War, “the struggle of memory that this is not a true “resolution” to the against forgetting” rages on when it problem, but the majority of the Japanese comes to the issue of the Japanese media has accepted this “agreement” at military’s abuse of the “Comfort Women.” face value, and views the case as settled. Last year, the Japanese and Korean foreign ministers met in Seoul, and the governments of both countries reached an “agreement” by which the issue of the Japanese military’s abuse of the “Comfort Women” was said to have reached a “final and irreversible resolution.” However, the Japanese
    [Show full text]
  • Your Unpublished Thesis, Submitted for a Degree at Williams College and Administered by the Williams College Libraries, Will Be Made Available for Research Use
    WILLIAMS COLLEGE LIBRARIES COPYRIGHT ASSIGNMENT AND INSTRUCTIONS FOR A STUDENT THESIS Your unpublished thesis, submitted for a degree at Williams College and administered by the Williams College Libraries, will be made available for research use. You may, through this form, provide instructions regarding copyright, access, dissemination and reproduction of your thesis. The College has the right in all cases to maintain and preserve theses both in hardcopy and electronic format, and to make such copies as the Libraries require for their research and archival functions. t:;t.. � The faculty advisor/s to the student writing the thesis Claims joint authorship in this work. _ 1/we have included in this thesis copyrighted material for which 1/we have not received permission from the copyright holder/s. If you do not secure copyright permissions by the time your thesis is submitted, you will still be allowed to submit. However, if the necessary copyright permissions are not received, e-posting of your thesis may be affected. Copyrighted material may include images (tables, drawings, photographs, figures, maps, graphs, etc.), sound files, video material, data sets, and large portions of text. l. COPYRIGHT An author by law owns the copyright to his/her work, whether or not a copyright symbol and date are placed on the piece. Please choose one ofthe options below with respect to the copyright in your thesis. _ 1/we choose not to retain the copyright to the thesis, and hereby assign the copyright to Williams College. Selecting this option will assign copyright to the College. If the author/s wishes later to pub! ish the work, he/she/they will need to obtain permission to do so from the Libraries, which will be granted except in unusual circumstances.
    [Show full text]
  • US Military Bases in Mainland Japan and Okinawa
    US Military Bases in Japan – An Overview (Okinawa part is detailed under a separate title) U.S. Military Presence in Mainland Japan and Okinawa Ichiyo Muto (People’s Plan Study Groups) There are approximately 90 U.S. military facilities including major military bases throughout mainland Japan and Okinawa, with an area total of 3,130,000 sq.meters, 75% of which are in Okinawa. They are concentrated in a few areas (prefectures), 37 in Okinawa, 15 in Kanagawa, 11 in Nagasaki, and 7 in Tokyo. About 52,000 U.S. troops are stationed in these bases, 26,000 in mailand and 25,000 in Okinawa (2001). In mainland Japan, the largest contingent is the air force with 6,600 and that in Okinawa marines (15,500). The U.S. armed forces in Japan, together with U.S. forces in South Korea, are subjected to the Pacific Command located in Hawaii though the Command located at Yokota Airbase in Tokyo also functions as an auxiliary command for the forces deployed all over Japan. The forces deployed to Japan are not a separate complete military unit but integral part of the Pacific Force as the largest of the four U.S. joint forces with a vast jurisdiction extending from the U.S. western coast and the whole of the Pacific Ocean through the Indian Ocean to the eastern coasts of Africa. The main U.S. bases in mainland Japan include Misawa airbase in Aomori Prefecture up in the north of Honshu Island, Yokota Airbase in Tokyo, Yokosuka naval base in Kanagawa Prefecture, Atsugi base in the same prefecture, Iwakuni marine base near Hiroshima, and Sasebo naval base in Nagasaki Prefecture.
    [Show full text]
  • Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Opportunity Observations Of
    PUBLICATIONS Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets RESEARCH ARTICLE Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Opportunity 10.1002/2014JE004686 observations of the Burns formation: Crater Key Point: hopping at Meridiani Planum • Hydrated Mg and Ca sulfate Burns formation minerals mapped with MRO R. E. Arvidson1, J. F. Bell III2, J. G. Catalano1, B. C. Clark3, V. K. Fox1, R. Gellert4, J. P. Grotzinger5, and MER data E. A. Guinness1, K. E. Herkenhoff6, A. H. Knoll7, M. G. A. Lapotre5, S. M. McLennan8, D. W. Ming9, R. V. Morris9, S. L. Murchie10, K. E. Powell1, M. D. Smith11, S. W. Squyres12, M. J. Wolff3, and J. J. Wray13 1 2 Correspondence to: Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA, School of Earth and Space R. E. Arvidson, Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA, 3Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colorado, USA, 4Department of [email protected] Physics, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, 5Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA, 6U.S. Geological Survey, Astrogeology Science Center, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA, 7 8 Citation: Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, Department Arvidson, R. E., et al. (2015), Mars of Geosciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, USA, 9NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, USA, Reconnaissance Orbiter and Opportunity 10Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, Laurel, Maryland, USA, 11NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, observations of the Burns formation: Greenbelt, Maryland, USA, 12Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA, 13School of Earth and Crater hopping at Meridiani Planum, J.
    [Show full text]
  • Militarization and Demilitarization of Okinawa As a Geostrategic “Keystone” Under the Japan-U.S
    Militarization and Demilitarization of Okinawa As a Geostrategic “Keystone” under the Japan-U.S. Alliance August 10-12, 2013 International Geographical Union (IGU) 2013 Kyoto Regional Conference Commission on Political Geography Post-Conference Field Trip In Collaboration with Political Geography Research Group, Human Geographical Society of Japan and Okinawa Geographical Society Contents Organizers and Participants………………………………………………………………………….. p. 2 Co-organizers Assistants Supporting Organizations Informants Participants Time Schedule……………………………………………………………………………………….. p. 4 Route Maps……………………………………………………………………………………….…..p. 5 Naha Airport……………………………………………………………………………………….... p. 6 Domestic Flight Arrival Procedures Domestic Flight Departure Procedures Departing From Okinawa during a Typhoon Traveling to Okinawa during a Typhoon Accommodation………………………………………...…………………………………………..... p. 9 Deigo Hotel History of Deigo Hotel History of Okinawa (Ryukyu)………………………………………..………………………............. p. 11 From Ryukyu to Okinawa The Battle of Okinawa Postwar Occupation and Administration by the United States Post-Reversion U.S. Military Presence in Okinawa U.S. Military Bases in Okinawa…………………………………………………………………...… p. 14 Futenma Air Station Kadena Air Base Camp Schwab Camp Hansen Military Base Towns in Okinawa………………………………………………………...………….. p. 20 Political Economic Profile of Selected Base Towns Okinawa City (formerly Koza City) Chatan Town Yomitan Village Henoko, Nago City Kin Town What to do in Naha……………………………………………………………………………...… p. 31 1 Organizers
    [Show full text]
  • Holiday Death Toll Hits a Record High
    Distribution High, tto. Low. »». Partly ton^y 17,375r tomorrow with a chance «f ae*l- tered ihoweri. H|fh In SOs. See weather page 2. I uonpAYTmovouraDAY-ttT.im J SH LOOIO V McPER WEEK JJIUM diuy. IfcnJU ttrouja fWUr. aeeoml Out RED BANK, N. J., WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 1961 7c PER COPY PAGE ONE VOL. 84, NO. 6 Pud at KM But ul at <uMlUon»l Mtlltoc BY CARRIER To Counter Threats Berlin Moves Holiday Death Toll Slated by U.S. WASHINGTON (AP) - Presi- was ordered by the President last Hits a Record High -dcnt Kennedy's return to Wash- week before he left for his July ington today was expected to 4 holiday at Hyannis Port, Mass. bring a speed-up in U. S. plan- One of the tasks awaiting him ning of new moves to counter So- on his return to the capital was viet threats against West Berlin. the review of the progress of this 885 Die in Nation; Possible steps include sending work. Some plans are expected one or more army divisions to to be ready for consideration by reinforce the five divisions of the National Security Council in U. S. troops already serving with the near future. 27 NJ, Fatalities Note to Moscow NATO forces in Germany. Some As the nation ended its four-day Fourth of July fea ami air forces may be de- Officials said, meanwhile, that ployed, and a wide range of other the United States probably will observance today, it counted its heaviest holiday acci- actions is under consideration.
    [Show full text]
  • Battle of Okinawa 1 Battle of Okinawa
    Battle of Okinawa 1 Battle of Okinawa Battle of Okinawa Part of World War II, the Pacific War A U.S. Marine from the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines on Wana Ridge provides covering fire with his Thompson submachine gun, 18 May 1945. Date 1 April – 22 June 1945 Location Okinawa, Japan [1] [1] 26°30′N 128°00′E Coordinates: 26°30′N 128°00′E Result Allied victory, Okinawa occupied by U.S. until 1972 Belligerents United States Empire of Japan United Kingdom Canada Australia New Zealand Commanders and leaders Simon B. Buckner, Jr. † Mitsuru Ushijima † Roy Geiger Isamu Chō † Joseph Stilwell Minoru Ota † Chester W. Nimitz Keizō Komura Raymond A. Spruance Sir Bernard Rawlings Philip Vian Bruce Fraser Strength 183,000 (initial assault force only) ~120,000, including 40,000 impressed Okinawans Casualties and losses More than 12,000 killed More than 110,000 killed More than 38,000 wounded More than 7,000 captured 40,000–150,000 civilians killed The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945. After a long campaign of island hopping, the Allies were approaching Japan, and planned to use Okinawa, a large island only 340 mi (550 km) away from mainland Japan, as a base for air operations on the planned Battle of Okinawa 2 invasion of Japanese mainland (coded Operation Downfall). Four divisions of the U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • The Enduring Myth of an Okinawan Struggle: the History and Trajectory of a Diverse Community of Protest
    The Enduring Myth of an Okinawan Struggle: The History and Trajectory of a Diverse Community of Protest A dissertation presented to the Division of Arts, Murdoch University in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2003 Miyume Tanji BA (Sophia University) MA (Australian National University) I declare that this thesis is my own account of my research. It contains as its main content work which has not previously been submitted for a degree at any university. ——————————————————————————————— ii ABSTRACT The islands of Okinawa have a long history of people’s protest. Much of this has been a manifestation in one way or another of Okinawa’s enforced assimilation into Japan and their differential treatment thereafter. However, it is only in the contemporary period that we find interpretations among academic and popular writers of a collective political movement opposing marginalisation of, and discrimination against, Okinawans. This is most powerfully expressed in the idea of the three ‘waves’ of a post-war ‘Okinawan struggle’ against the US military bases. Yet, since Okinawa’s annexation to Japan in 1879, differences have constantly existed among protest groups over the reasons for and the means by which to protest, and these have only intensified after the reversion to Japanese administration in 1972. This dissertation examines the trajectory of Okinawan protest actors, focusing on the development and nature of internal differences, the origin and survival of the idea of a united ‘Okinawan struggle’, and the implications of these factors for political reform agendas in Okinawa. It explains the internal differences in organisation, strategies and collective identities among the groups in terms of three major priorities in their protest.
    [Show full text]
  • The Postwar Okinawan Literature of Kiyota Masanobu and Medoruma Shun
    Internal Revolution: The Postwar Okinawan Literature of Kiyota Masanobu and Medoruma Shun A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Masaki Kinjo August 2017 © 2017 Masaki Kinjo Internal Revolution: The Postwar Okinawan Literature of Kiyota Masanobu and Medoruma Shun Masaki Kinjo, Ph. D. Cornell University 2017 This thesis discusses the concept of internality in the postwar Okinawan literature of Kiyota Masanobu and Medoruma Shun. Whereas traditional approaches to Okinawan studies presuppose an external power such as sovereignty, this thesis examines the attempt to foreground an internal power within the self so as to unmoor Okinawa from the traps of sovereignty. It does this by first examining writings of the philosopher who first conceptualized the “multitude” as a form of communality that is not organized by sovereign power, that is Baruch Spinoza. With Spinoza’s concept of conatus, the first part of this thesis provides close readings of Kiyota Masanobu’s idea of a primordial “hunger,” affirmative recuperation of “defeat,” the dream of a “we” (bokura), and the repetition of “repatriation and escape” to a commune. The second part addresses the literature of Medoruma Shun through Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri’s concept of constituent power, Walter Benjamin’s “Critique of Violence,” and most importantly, Frantz Fanon’s development of interiority amidst colonial struggle. Through this theoretical framework, it provides close readings of violence and sexuality in Medoruma’s “Hope” and Rainbow Bird. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Masaki Kinjo was born to Masaharu Kinjo and Setsuko Kinjo in Edmond, OK in 1973.
    [Show full text]