Food and War in Mid-Twentieth-Century East Asia

Food and War in Mid-Twentieth-Century East Asia
Author: Katarzyna J. Cwiertka
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 315
Release: 2016-04-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1317134435

War has been both an agent of destruction and a catalyst for innovation. These two, at first sight contradictory, yet mutually constitutive outcomes of war-waging are particularly pronounced in twentieth-century Asia. While 1945 marked the beginning of peaceful recovery for Europe, military conflicts continued to play a critical role in the historical development of this part of the world. In essence, all wars in twentieth-century Asia stemmed from the political vacuum that developed after the fall of the Japanese Wartime Empire, intricately connecting one region with another. Yet, they have had often very diverse consequences, shattering the homes of some and bringing about affluence to others. Disarray of war may halt economic activities and render many aspects of life insignificant. The need for food, however, cannot be ignored and the social action that it requires continues in all circumstances. This book documents the effects of war on the lives of ordinary people through the investigation of a variety of connections that developed between war-waging and the production, distribution, preparation and consumption of food throughout Asia since the 1930s. The topics addressed range from issues at stake at the time of the conflicts, such as provisioning the troops and food rationing and food relief for civilians, to long-term, often surprising consequences of war waging and wartime mobilization of resources on the food systems, diets, and tastes of the societies involved. The main argument of this volume is that war has not been a mere disruption, but rather a central force in the social and cultural trajectories of twentieth-century Asia. Due to its close connection with human nourishment and comfort, food stands central in the life of the individual. On the other hand, owing to its connection with profit and power, food plays a critical role in the social and economic organization of a society. What happens to food and eating is, therefore, an important index of change, a privileged basis for the exploration of historical processes.

Histories of Health in Southeast Asia

Histories of Health in Southeast Asia
Author: Tim Harper
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 261
Release: 2014-10-01
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0253014956

Health patterns in Southeast Asia have changed profoundly over the past century. In that period, epidemic and chronic diseases, environmental transformations, and international health institutions have created new connections within the region and the increased interdependence of Southeast Asia with China and India. In this volume leading scholars provide a new approach to the history of health in Southeast Asia. Framed by a series of synoptic pieces on the "Landscapes of Health" in Southeast Asia in 1914, 1950, and 2014 the essays interweave local, national, and regional perspectives. They range from studies of long-term processes such as changing epidemics, mortality and aging, and environmental history to detailed accounts of particular episodes: the global cholera epidemic and the hajj, the influenza epidemic of 1918, WWII, and natural disasters. The writers also examine state policy on healthcare and the influence of organizations, from NGOs such as the China Medical Board and the Rockefeller Foundation to grassroots organizations in Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

Beyond Alterity

Beyond Alterity
Author: Qinna Shen
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2014-07-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1782383611

With the economic and political rise of East Asia in the second half of the twentieth century, many Western countries have re-evaluated their links to their Eastern counterparts. Thus, in recent years, Asian German Studies has emerged as a promising branch within interdisciplinary German Studies. This collection of essays examines German-language cultural production pertaining to modern China and Japan, and explicitly challenges orientalist notions by proposing a conception of East and West not as opposites, but as complementary elements of global culture, thereby urging a move beyond national paradigms in cultural studies. Essays focus on the mid-century German-Japanese alliance, Chinese-German Leftist collaborations, global capitalism, travel, identity, and cultural hybridity. The authors include historians and scholars of film and literature, and employ a wide array of approaches from postcolonial, globalization, media, and gender studies. The collection sheds new light on a complex and ambivalentset of international relationships, while also testifying to the potential of Asian German Studies.

Landscape Change and Resource Utilization in East Asia

Landscape Change and Resource Utilization in East Asia
Author: Ts'ui-jung Liu
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 229
Release: 2018-05-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1351182900

Covering the ancient period through to the 21st century, this book examines how landscapes have changed across East Asia over time. Featuring examples of a variety of landscapes, from the riverine and agricultural to the urban and aesthetic, this books thus presents a comprehensive review of East Asian environmental history. The eleven chapters, written by an international team of leading scholars, provide analysis of a wide range of spatial, temporal, and thematic considerations. Seeking to use the concept of landscape to evaluate the opportunities and constraints faced by East Asian communities, it also explores the relationship between landscape transformation and human agency. In so doing, it aims to survey the current methodology and scholarship in the field and demonstrate a new approach which encompasses socio-economic and cultural history, as well as GIS-based geographical studies. Providing an in-depth examination of landscape change across the sub-regions of China and Japan, this book will be useful to students and scholars of Asian History and Environmental Studies.

East Asia at the Center

East Asia at the Center
Author: Warren I. Cohen
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 377
Release: 2023-08-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 023155737X

Long before the arrival of Western emissaries and powers, East Asian peoples and states were deeply involved in world affairs. In this sweeping account, Warren I. Cohen explores four millennia of international relations from the vantage points of China, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia. Writing incisively and authoritatively for readers at all levels, Cohen paints a broad but revealing portrait of East Asia’s place in the world. He defines the region’s boundaries widely, looking beyond China, Japan, and Korea to include Southeast Asia, and extends the scope of international relations to consider the vital role of cultural and economic exchanges. Cohen examines the system of Chinese domination in the ancient world, the exchanges between East Asia and the Islamic world, Chinese sea voyages to Arabia and East Africa, and the emergence of a European-defined international system. He chronicles the new imperialism of the 1890s, the ascendancy of Japan, the trials of World War II, the drama of the Cold War, and the transformations of East Asian states toward the close of the twentieth century. By showing that East Asia has often been preeminent on the world stage, this book not only recasts the past but also adds crucial historical perspective on international politics today. This second edition of East Asia at the Center features new material on the first decades of the twenty-first century.

World War II and Southeast Asia

World War II and Southeast Asia
Author: Gregg Huff
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 553
Release: 2022-06-09
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781107492011

From December 1941, Japan, as part of its plan to build an East Asian empire and secure oil supplies essential for war in the Pacific, swiftly took control of Southeast Asia. Japanese occupation had a devastating economic impact on the region. Japan imposed country and later regional autarky on Southeast Asia, dictated that the region finance its own occupation, and sent almost no consumer goods. GDP fell by half everywhere in Southeast Asia except Thailand. Famine and forced labour accounted for most of the 4.4 million Southeast Asian civilian deaths under Japanese occupation. In this ground-breaking new study, Gregg Huff provides the first comprehensive account of the economies and societies of Southeast Asia during the 1941-1945 Japanese occupation. Drawing on materials from 25 archives over three continents, his economic, social and historical analysis presents a new understanding of Southeast Asian history and development before, during and after the Pacific War.

When Empire Comes Home

When Empire Comes Home
Author: Lori Watt
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 268
Release: 2009
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780674055988

Following the end of World War II in Asia, the Allied powers repatriated over six million Japanese nationals and deported more than a million colonial subjects from Japan. Watt analyzes how the human remnants of empire served as sites of negotiation in the process of jettisoning the colonial project and in the creation of new national identities.

The Arts of the Microbial World

The Arts of the Microbial World
Author: Victoria Lee
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 334
Release: 2021-12-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 022681288X

The first in-depth study of Japanese fermentation science in the twentieth century. The Arts of the Microbial World explores the significance of fermentation phenomena, both as life processes and as technologies, in Japanese scientific culture. Victoria Lee’s careful study documents how Japanese scientists and skilled workers sought to use the microbe’s natural processes to create new products, from soy-sauce mold starters to MSG, vitamins to statins. In traditional brewing houses as well as in the food, fine chemical, and pharmaceutical industries across Japan, they showcased their ability to deal with the enormous sensitivity and variety of the microbial world. Charting developments in fermentation science from the turn of the twentieth century, when Japan was an industrializing country on the periphery of the world economy, to 1980 when it had emerged as a global technological and economic power, Lee highlights the role of indigenous techniques in modern science as it took shape in Japan. In doing so, she reveals how knowledge of microbes lay at the heart of some of Japan’s most prominent technological breakthroughs in the global economy. At a moment when twenty-first-century developments in the fields of antibiotic resistance, the microbiome, and green chemistry suggest that the traditional eradication-based approach to the microbial world is unsustainable, twentieth-century Japanese microbiology provides a new, broader vantage for understanding and managing microbial interactions with society.

Mao Zedong and China in the Twentieth-Century World

Mao Zedong and China in the Twentieth-Century World
Author: Rebecca E. Karl
Publisher: Duke University Press
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2010-08-13
Genre: History
ISBN: 0822393026

Throughout this lively and concise historical account of Mao Zedong’s life and thought, Rebecca E. Karl places the revolutionary leader’s personal experiences, social visions and theory, military strategies, and developmental and foreign policies in a dynamic narrative of the Chinese revolution. She situates Mao and the revolution in a global setting informed by imperialism, decolonization, and third worldism, and discusses worldwide trends in politics, the economy, military power, and territorial sovereignty. Karl begins with Mao’s early life in a small village in Hunan province, documenting his relationships with his parents, passion for education, and political awakening during the fall of the Qing dynasty in late 1911. She traces his transition from liberal to Communist over the course of the next decade, his early critiques of the subjugation of women, and the gathering force of the May 4th movement for reform and radical change. Describing Mao’s rise to power, she delves into the dynamics of Communist organizing in an overwhelmingly agrarian society, and Mao’s confrontations with Chiang Kaishek and other nationalist conservatives. She also considers his marriages and romantic liaisons and their relation to Mao as the revolutionary founder of Communism in China. After analyzing Mao’s stormy tenure as chairman of the People’s Republic of China, Karl concludes by examining his legacy in China from his death in 1976 through the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

The New Cambridge History of Japan: Volume 3, The Modern Japanese Nation and Empire, c.1868 to the Twenty-First Century

The New Cambridge History of Japan: Volume 3, The Modern Japanese Nation and Empire, c.1868 to the Twenty-First Century
Author: Laura Hein
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 945
Release: 2023-05-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 1108169198

This major new volume presents innovative recent scholarship on Japan's modern history, including its imperial past and transregional entanglements. An international team of leading scholars offer accessible and thought-provoking essays that present an expansive global vision of the archipelago's history from c. 1868 to the twenty-first century. Japan was the first non-Western society to become a modern nation and empire, to industrialize, and to deliver a high standard of living to virtually all its citizens, capturing international attention ever since. These Japanese efforts to reshape global hierarchies powered a variety of debates and conflicts, both at home and with people and places beyond Japan's shores. Drawing on the latest Japanese and English-language scholarship, this volume highlights Japan's distinctive and fast-changing history.