Japan, Parasitology, and Framing Developmental Ambitions

Please join us for a panel discussion:

Alexander Bay, Associate Professor, Chair, Department of History, Chapman University
Aya Homei, Lecturer in Japanese Studies, The University of Manchester
John P. Dimoia Associate Professor, Seoul National University
Discussant: Simon Toner, Lecturer in Modern American History, The University of Sheffield

Moderated by: Paul Kreitman, Assistant Professor of Japanese History, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Columbia University

This panel considers the central and formative role of parasitology in Modern Japan (1868-present); and, moreover, explores how Japanese parasitology affected the home islands and the region, not just during the imperial period (Meiji, Taisho, early Showa), but also during post-1945 Showa, suggesting some form of reconfiguration in the post-colonial era.

The three papers span specific parasitic diseases and micro- / local Japanese history (Bay), to next considering larger questions of Japan’s public health and ODA (overseas development assistance) structure (Homei), as well as how these ambitions ultimately affected regional partners and neighbors such as South Korea and Vietnam (DiMoia). Simon Toner is the panel discussant, and Paul Kreitman will moderate.
If the panel brings together a specific field and a nation-state at its beginning, the aim ultimately is to move forward, looking at how this field influences environments at the micro, regional, and global levels.

In sum, the ambition of this panel is to examine parasitology not only as field of practice within Japan / Japanese empire, but also to look at (1) its colonial / imperial implications, and (2) its post-colonial / developmental ambitions. In this sense, the panel seeks to join and contribute to a newer, emerging literature for Japan looking at pre / post-1945 continuities, as well as looking at the effects of Japan’s ODA (overseas development aid) efforts within broader East Asia and Southeast Asia.

Online via Zoom. Registration information here.

This event is organized by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University.