Contemporary scholars of imperialism and colonialism studies have revealed how different imperial spaces were malleable, and they constantly shift through negotiations between diverse agencies. Whereas most existing studies investigate change of imperial space from the view of metropolitan centre, this thesis attempts to decentralise the dominant view of existing Japanese imperialism studies, and explores the Japanese imperial expansion with a particular focus on peoples subjectivities and agencies on the national border zone. The thesis particularly focuses on the border/boundary between the Yaeyama Archipelago of the Ryukyu Islands and colonial Taiwan.
The first chapter explores the boundary between Yaeyama and Taiwan in representation and discourse after Yaeyama was annexed to Japan. I discuss how Yaeyama came to appear as a historical subject in the Japanese colonial discourse, by distinguishing itself from the colonised subject as well as criticising the dominance of the main island of Okinawa. In critically examining the previous Yaeyama Studies, I suggest reconstructing Yaeyamas history in the East Asian regional framework. The second chapter explores how civilians actively committed themselves to defining the national territory during the late nineteenth century. The chapter also aims to reconsider the dominant discourse of Okinawas modern history, which tends to focus on conflicts between the Japanese government and the former samurai class of Okinawa prefecture.
Chapters 3 further discusses how people on the border zone constructed the boundary between Japan and Taiwan, but I argue that the border between Yaeyama and Taiwan did not only demarcate the metropolitan nation and the colony, but also demarcated the rural and the urban areas. In other words, the third chapter considers how the national border had different implications to people on the border zone. I explore how new settlers dominated the newly emerging economy of Yaeyama and developed trade links with colonial Taiwan. Furthermore, I discuss how while Yaeyama native farmers were marginalised from the local economy and industry, they also crossed the border in a form of rural-urban migration.
Chapters 5 and 6 examine Yaeyama migrants experiences in Taiwan. Firstly, I explore in what social and cultural conditions Yaeyama migrants lived and worked during the 1920s to the 1940s. I argue that the distinction between Japanese and Taiwanese was not instantly determined by the colonial authority, but continuously constructed and negotiated by social agents. In Chapter 6, I examine how Yaeyama migrants shaped their Japanese identity by distinguishing themselves from the colonised subjects.
The southern border between the Inner Territory and the Outer Territories were constituted through the interaction between ensembles of practices in the local place and the wider imperial networks and space. Yaeyama peoples experiences of constructing and crossing the boundary effectively demonstrates how the determination of the Japanese national border was incorporated into colonialism, and how Japanese colonialism was associated with the emergence of modernity in East Asia. With a particular focus on the border islands of Yaeyama, this thesis presents an alternative view to Japanese colonial history, East Asian social history as well as Okinawas modern history.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/216854 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Matsuda, Hiroko, arihm@nus.edu.sg |
| Publisher | The Australian National University. Faculty of Arts |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://www.anu.edu.au/legal/copyrit.html), Copyright Hiroko Matsuda |
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