Rotem KOWNER
Historian; Professor of Japanese Studies.
My background includes an early childhood in a kibbutz, military service as a naval officer, extensive travels, and diverse work experiences, such as being a fisherman aboard a trawler in the Mediterranean Sea, working as a cook at an Italian restaurant in Australia, and serving as a psychotherapist in a mental hospital in rural Japan. My active interest in history, particularly modern Japanese history, has developed gradually. After earning degrees in East Asian Studies and Psychology in Jerusalem, I pursued further studies in Berlin and then relocated to Tsukuba, Japan, where I obtained my Ph.D. Following my postdoctoral studies at Stanford, I returned to Israel to embark on a professional academic career.
We are currently living in an era in which East Asia is reclaiming its historical significance. As a scholar, I have been fortunate to witness the growing interest in this region. I played a key role in founding the Department of Asian Studies at my institution and was also involved in the establishment of the Annual Conferences of Asian Studies in Israel and the Israeli Association of Japanese Studies.
-----------------------
Address: Department of Asian Studies
The University of Haifa
199 Abba Khoushy Ave., Mt. Carmel
Haifa 3498838, ISRAEL
Fax: (972) 4828-8539
My background includes an early childhood in a kibbutz, military service as a naval officer, extensive travels, and diverse work experiences, such as being a fisherman aboard a trawler in the Mediterranean Sea, working as a cook at an Italian restaurant in Australia, and serving as a psychotherapist in a mental hospital in rural Japan. My active interest in history, particularly modern Japanese history, has developed gradually. After earning degrees in East Asian Studies and Psychology in Jerusalem, I pursued further studies in Berlin and then relocated to Tsukuba, Japan, where I obtained my Ph.D. Following my postdoctoral studies at Stanford, I returned to Israel to embark on a professional academic career.
We are currently living in an era in which East Asia is reclaiming its historical significance. As a scholar, I have been fortunate to witness the growing interest in this region. I played a key role in founding the Department of Asian Studies at my institution and was also involved in the establishment of the Annual Conferences of Asian Studies in Israel and the Israeli Association of Japanese Studies.
-----------------------
Address: Department of Asian Studies
The University of Haifa
199 Abba Khoushy Ave., Mt. Carmel
Haifa 3498838, ISRAEL
Fax: (972) 4828-8539
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現在、アジアに居住するユダヤ人は、アジアの数10ヶ国、100ヶ所以上に分散しており、極めて多様性のある共同体を形成している。 本書は、19世紀以降のアジア地域のユダヤ人共同体がどのように形成、衰退、再生してきたかを、主に5つの地域に分け、ユダヤ人共同体の起源、成長、人口構成、文化的社会的側面、衰退、復活、ネットワーク、非ユダヤ人との関係といったテーマに基づき分析する。
ג'קרטה, הניצבת בלב האיזור העירוני השני בגודלו בעולם, שוקעת במים בקצב מסחרר. מנגד, נוסנטארה, הבירה הראוותנית החדשה של אינדונזיה שמוקמת באזור מבודד, 1,300 קילומטרים משם, מעוררות לא מעט תהיות בפני עצמה. מה המורשת שהנשיא ג׳וקווי מותיר והאם המיזם החדש ישמש לו כאנדרטה? ומה מקומם של היחסים עם ישראל במהלך העשור בו כהן כנשיא וכיצד הם הושפעו מהמלחמה בעזה?
Source: https://thediplomat.com/2024/09/israel-japan-relations-and-the-middle-east/
שינויי האקלים והדמוגרפיה ביפן מוציאים את הדובים מהיערות, והרשויות מגיבות באטיות
מאז 2008, 41 איש מתו בהתקלויות עמם. שנת 2023 היתה שנת שיא מבחינה זו והיד עוד נטויה
איך מתבצע חרקירי אמיתי, באיזה נשק ירו הסמוראים והיכן מתרחצים בני האצולה? פרופ' פרדריק קריינס, היועץ להפקה החדשה של "שוגון", מספר כיצד הפכו את רב המכר הישן לסדרת להיט שמקפידה על אחרוני הפרטים ההיסטוריים
https://omny.fm/shows/world/shogun-cut-3?in_playlist=podcast
Haaretz, podcasts (March 7, 2024)
בחודש שעבר עלתה לאוויר סדרה חדשה: שוגון. הסדרה מבוססת על ספר מצליח וסוחף שיצא ב-1975 בעל אותו השם ובו סיפור על נווט אנגלי, שמגיע עם ספינתו אל חופי יפן בשנת 1600 ונופל אל סדרת אירועים שתשנה את ההיסטוריה היפנית ותשפיע לא מעט גם על ההיסטוריה העולמית.
התקופה המדוברת היתה סוערת מאוד ביפן. ראשים נערפו בה, סמוראים שמו דגש על חרבם ולעתים גם השתמשו בפגיון כדי לשסף את בטנם בשם הכבוד. זו גם היתה תקופה של מתירנות מינית ונזילות מגדרית שהסתיימה רק במאה ה-19 כשהקודים השמרניים של המערב החלו להיתפס כמודרניים.
בפרק הזה ננסה להבין עד כמה הסיפור של הנווט הבריטי נאמן למציאות, איך התפתחו קודים כל כך קשוחים ואלימים ביפן ואיך כל זה קשור להפיכת המדינה המבודדת למעצמה צבאית עולמית ולאחר מכן לאימפריה כלכלית?
מנחה: חן ליברמן
אורח: פרופ' רותם קובנר מאוניברסיטת חיפה
Haaretz [weekend suppl.] (February 2, 2024), 44–45.
קרולינה שיאינו נולדה באוקראינה ומתגוררת ביפן מגיל 5. בינואר השנה, היא זכתה בתואר מיס ניפון - הראשונה ששני הוריה אינם ממוצא יפני. אולם למרות הצטמקות האוכלוסייה והמחסור בידיים עובדות, רבים במדינה עדיין רואים בה ובמהגרים אחרים איום על טוהר הגזע המקומי (וככלות הדיון הציבורי אודותיה, כשבועיים לאחר הבחירה, שיאינו נאלצה לוותר על כתרה בשל קשר קודם עם גבר נשוי)
The book presents a nuanced, comparative look at Asian countries’ responses to global developments, and China’s rise in particular, and offers a new perspective on the very concept of Asia itself. It will be of interest to scholars, students, and practitioners working in the fields of International Relations, Asian Studies, and Middle Eastern Studies.
ENDORSEMENTS
With its impressively expansive and detailed sweep, this volume makes an extremely valuable contribution to our understanding of the rapidly changing dynamics between East and West Asia. Situating them in the wider strategic context of great power rivalry, the volume looks at key actors’ approaches not through the usual bilateral or functional prisms but through a genuinely cross-regional approach – making for an innovative reframing of even familiar issues. Including most of the best scholars in the field, this is a book that will be of great use to academics and policy practitioners alike.”
— Andrew Small, Senior Transatlantic Fellow, Indo-Pacific Program, the German Marshall Fund of the United States, and the author of The China-Pakistan Axis (Hurst/Oxford University Press, 2015)
“This volume provides a rich and multifaceted examination of the complex interregional relationship between East and West Asia in the twenty-first century. With contributions from leading scholars and experts, it offers a thorough and insightful examination of the strategic, economic, and political aspects of bilateral and multilateral relations between the two regions. It also contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the challenges and opportunities for China-West Asia cooperation during a period of intense great power competition in the region. Overall, this volume adds significantly to the literature and is a must-read for anyone interested in the shifting contours of today’s global landscape.”
— Sujata Ashwarya, Professor of Western Asian Studies at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India, and the author of India-Iran Relations (Routledge, 2017) and co-editor of Contemporary West Asia (Routledge, 2017)
“This is a very fruitful and thought-provoking book. After the rise of Western powers in the 19th century, East Asia and West Asia drifted apart and formed their respective sub-regions. In the process of globalization and, in particular, Asia’s rise, East-West Asian countries have rediscovered their historical affinities and have built closer political, economic, energy, and cultural ties. At present, their relations are shifting from “back-to-back” to “face-to-face.” Based on multilingual sources, inter-disciplinary methodologies, and rigorous research, this book sheds light on domains, features, and trends of East-West Asia complex relations bilaterally and inter-regionally.”
— Degang Sun, Professor and Director of Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
“East-West Asia Complex Relations in the Twenty-First Century offers a comprehensive assessment of the complex interregional, multifunctional interactions between the Middle East and East Asia. Written by a diverse collection of leading scholars with deep expertise in these economic, political, and strategic relations, this book contributes significantly to the scholarly literature by broadening understanding of the two-way interactions between various countries in these sub-regions. This empirically rich, up-to-date analysis will be welcomed by scholars and students alike for its novel approach to examining relations between these critical sub-regions in an increasingly interconnected world.”
— Dawn C. Murphy, Associate Professor of National Security Strategy, US National War College, and the author of China’s Rise in the Global South (Stanford University Press, 2022)
Haaretz, digital (November 4, 2023)
https://www.haaretz.co.il/news/world/asia/2023-11-04/ty-article/.premium/0000018b-9a97-db71-a7df-ffdf549b0000
התגובה המיידית של יפן למתקפת חמאס ב־7 באוקטובר ולמלחמה היתה הימנעות זהירה, בלא אזכור הטבח, אך אחר כך הפגינה אמפתיה לישראל והכריזה עיצומים על אישים וחברות שבקשר עם חמאס. ביקור שרת החוץ היפנית באזור בסוף השבוע מפגין את רצון טוקיו במעורבות פעילה יותר
TABLE OF CONTENT
List of Maps
List of Figures
List of Tables
List of Contributors
Acknowledgement
Note on Translations and Conventions
1. A Passage to Asia: The Rise of Israeli-Asian Relations since the 1990s and Their Current Nature
Rotem Kowner and Yoram Evron
I. Israel’s Asian Core Circle
2. Relationship under a Glass Ceiling: A Framework for China-Israel Relations
Yoram Evron
3. Chinese Investment in Israel under the Shadow of the United States: A Precarious Success?
Wang Yu
4. The Indo-Israeli Connection: From Years of Rejection to Growing Partnership
Shalom Salomon Wald and Evgenia Rozenfeld
5. India-Israel Security, Defense Ties, and the Iranian Dimension
Sujata Ashwarya
II. Israel’s Asian Secondary Circle
6. Israel-Japan Relations: A Recent Promise that Has Yet to Materialize
Rotem Kowner
7. Israel and the Two Koreas: Between Sentiments and Pragmatism
Guy Podoler
8. Israel-Taiwan Relations in a Changing Geopolitical Environment
Mor Sobol
9. Israel and Singapore: An Old-New Affinity Between Nations under Siege
Kevjn Lim and Mattia Tomba
III. Israel’s Asian Peripheral Circle
10. Central Asian Republics and Israel: Relations on a Firm but Low Fire
Zeev Levin
11. Israel-Myanmar Relations and the Rohingya Mass Killings
Chen Bram and Ran Shauli
12. Israel-Indonesia Relations: An Ongoing Saga of Unrecognition and Backroom Contacts
Giora Eliraz and Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat
13. The Role of Israel and Anti-Zionism in Malaysian Political and Cultural Life
Mary Ainslie
Conclusions
14. Asia's Place in 21st-Century Israel and Its Diplomatic Network: Conclusions and Implications
Rotem Kowner and Yoram Evron
Bibliography
Index
ENDORSEMENTS
"Israel-Asia Relations in the Twenty-First Century is a groundbreaking book. It tells the rise of Israel from a state on the verge of isolation some three decades ago to a country with a complex network and extensive economic and military relations in contemporary Asia. Solidly grounded in a nuanced analysis of written sources and data in various languages as well as numerous interviews, this volume is going to be the standard work on this topic for years to come."
― P.R. Kumaraswamy is Professor of Contemporary Middle Eastern Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, India, and the author of India’s Israel Policy (Columbia University Press, 2010)
"Israel’s growing position in twenty-first-century Asia is a spectacular story. Two long-time observers of Israel-Asia relations, Yoram Evron and Rotem Kowner offer an astute assessment and much elucidating analysis of Israel’s Asian strategy, its motives, and its success. As the first in two decades to bring all the parts of Israel’s diplomacy in Asia together, this judicious and deeply researched volume is a must-read for anyone interested in Israel’s foreign relations in general and its Asian ties in particular."
― Ambassador Nissim Ben-Shitrit, General Director of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2013–15) and former Ambassador to Japan (2007–13)
"Deeper levels of engagement between countries in Asia and the Middle East is a fascinating field of study, and this volume is a very welcome addition to the literature. Yoram Evron and Rotem Kowner have led a diverse set of contributors to cover Israel’s most consequential Asian bilateral relationships as well as issues that will shape the trajectory of Israel-Asia ties. Highly recommended!"
― Jonathan Fulton is Professor of Political Science at Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, UAE, the author of China's Relations with the Gulf Monarchies (Routledge, 2019), and the editor of Routledge Handbook on China–Middle East Relations (Routledge, 2022)
"In the last three decades, some far-reaching changes have occurred in Asia which enhanced Israel’s diplomatic, strategic, and economic relations with the continent’s main actors. Edited by two leading Israeli scholars of Asian affairs, this volume offers a wide range of chapters which explore in thoughtful and comprehensive ways the dramatic changes which took place in Israel’s ties with various Asian countries. This book is a must reading for scholars, students, and practitioners who are interested in the diplomacy and economics of Asia and Israel. Moreover, it is also a very useful book for anyone interested more generally in understanding the sources and processes of important changes in the diplomatic and economic relations among states."
― Benny Miller is Professor of International Relations at the University of Haifa, Israel, and the author of States, Nations, and the Great Powers (Cambridge University Press, 2007) and of Grand Strategy from Truman to Trump (University of Chicago Press, 2020)
現在、アジアに居住するユダヤ人は、アジアの数10ヶ国、100ヶ所以上に分散しており、極めて多様性のある共同体を形成している。 本書は、19世紀以降のアジア地域のユダヤ人共同体がどのように形成、衰退、再生してきたかを、主に5つの地域に分け、ユダヤ人共同体の起源、成長、人口構成、文化的社会的側面、衰退、復活、ネットワーク、非ユダヤ人との関係といったテーマに基づき分析する。
ג'קרטה, הניצבת בלב האיזור העירוני השני בגודלו בעולם, שוקעת במים בקצב מסחרר. מנגד, נוסנטארה, הבירה הראוותנית החדשה של אינדונזיה שמוקמת באזור מבודד, 1,300 קילומטרים משם, מעוררות לא מעט תהיות בפני עצמה. מה המורשת שהנשיא ג׳וקווי מותיר והאם המיזם החדש ישמש לו כאנדרטה? ומה מקומם של היחסים עם ישראל במהלך העשור בו כהן כנשיא וכיצד הם הושפעו מהמלחמה בעזה?
Source: https://thediplomat.com/2024/09/israel-japan-relations-and-the-middle-east/
שינויי האקלים והדמוגרפיה ביפן מוציאים את הדובים מהיערות, והרשויות מגיבות באטיות
מאז 2008, 41 איש מתו בהתקלויות עמם. שנת 2023 היתה שנת שיא מבחינה זו והיד עוד נטויה
איך מתבצע חרקירי אמיתי, באיזה נשק ירו הסמוראים והיכן מתרחצים בני האצולה? פרופ' פרדריק קריינס, היועץ להפקה החדשה של "שוגון", מספר כיצד הפכו את רב המכר הישן לסדרת להיט שמקפידה על אחרוני הפרטים ההיסטוריים
https://omny.fm/shows/world/shogun-cut-3?in_playlist=podcast
Haaretz, podcasts (March 7, 2024)
בחודש שעבר עלתה לאוויר סדרה חדשה: שוגון. הסדרה מבוססת על ספר מצליח וסוחף שיצא ב-1975 בעל אותו השם ובו סיפור על נווט אנגלי, שמגיע עם ספינתו אל חופי יפן בשנת 1600 ונופל אל סדרת אירועים שתשנה את ההיסטוריה היפנית ותשפיע לא מעט גם על ההיסטוריה העולמית.
התקופה המדוברת היתה סוערת מאוד ביפן. ראשים נערפו בה, סמוראים שמו דגש על חרבם ולעתים גם השתמשו בפגיון כדי לשסף את בטנם בשם הכבוד. זו גם היתה תקופה של מתירנות מינית ונזילות מגדרית שהסתיימה רק במאה ה-19 כשהקודים השמרניים של המערב החלו להיתפס כמודרניים.
בפרק הזה ננסה להבין עד כמה הסיפור של הנווט הבריטי נאמן למציאות, איך התפתחו קודים כל כך קשוחים ואלימים ביפן ואיך כל זה קשור להפיכת המדינה המבודדת למעצמה צבאית עולמית ולאחר מכן לאימפריה כלכלית?
מנחה: חן ליברמן
אורח: פרופ' רותם קובנר מאוניברסיטת חיפה
Haaretz [weekend suppl.] (February 2, 2024), 44–45.
קרולינה שיאינו נולדה באוקראינה ומתגוררת ביפן מגיל 5. בינואר השנה, היא זכתה בתואר מיס ניפון - הראשונה ששני הוריה אינם ממוצא יפני. אולם למרות הצטמקות האוכלוסייה והמחסור בידיים עובדות, רבים במדינה עדיין רואים בה ובמהגרים אחרים איום על טוהר הגזע המקומי (וככלות הדיון הציבורי אודותיה, כשבועיים לאחר הבחירה, שיאינו נאלצה לוותר על כתרה בשל קשר קודם עם גבר נשוי)
The book presents a nuanced, comparative look at Asian countries’ responses to global developments, and China’s rise in particular, and offers a new perspective on the very concept of Asia itself. It will be of interest to scholars, students, and practitioners working in the fields of International Relations, Asian Studies, and Middle Eastern Studies.
ENDORSEMENTS
With its impressively expansive and detailed sweep, this volume makes an extremely valuable contribution to our understanding of the rapidly changing dynamics between East and West Asia. Situating them in the wider strategic context of great power rivalry, the volume looks at key actors’ approaches not through the usual bilateral or functional prisms but through a genuinely cross-regional approach – making for an innovative reframing of even familiar issues. Including most of the best scholars in the field, this is a book that will be of great use to academics and policy practitioners alike.”
— Andrew Small, Senior Transatlantic Fellow, Indo-Pacific Program, the German Marshall Fund of the United States, and the author of The China-Pakistan Axis (Hurst/Oxford University Press, 2015)
“This volume provides a rich and multifaceted examination of the complex interregional relationship between East and West Asia in the twenty-first century. With contributions from leading scholars and experts, it offers a thorough and insightful examination of the strategic, economic, and political aspects of bilateral and multilateral relations between the two regions. It also contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the challenges and opportunities for China-West Asia cooperation during a period of intense great power competition in the region. Overall, this volume adds significantly to the literature and is a must-read for anyone interested in the shifting contours of today’s global landscape.”
— Sujata Ashwarya, Professor of Western Asian Studies at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India, and the author of India-Iran Relations (Routledge, 2017) and co-editor of Contemporary West Asia (Routledge, 2017)
“This is a very fruitful and thought-provoking book. After the rise of Western powers in the 19th century, East Asia and West Asia drifted apart and formed their respective sub-regions. In the process of globalization and, in particular, Asia’s rise, East-West Asian countries have rediscovered their historical affinities and have built closer political, economic, energy, and cultural ties. At present, their relations are shifting from “back-to-back” to “face-to-face.” Based on multilingual sources, inter-disciplinary methodologies, and rigorous research, this book sheds light on domains, features, and trends of East-West Asia complex relations bilaterally and inter-regionally.”
— Degang Sun, Professor and Director of Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
“East-West Asia Complex Relations in the Twenty-First Century offers a comprehensive assessment of the complex interregional, multifunctional interactions between the Middle East and East Asia. Written by a diverse collection of leading scholars with deep expertise in these economic, political, and strategic relations, this book contributes significantly to the scholarly literature by broadening understanding of the two-way interactions between various countries in these sub-regions. This empirically rich, up-to-date analysis will be welcomed by scholars and students alike for its novel approach to examining relations between these critical sub-regions in an increasingly interconnected world.”
— Dawn C. Murphy, Associate Professor of National Security Strategy, US National War College, and the author of China’s Rise in the Global South (Stanford University Press, 2022)
Haaretz, digital (November 4, 2023)
https://www.haaretz.co.il/news/world/asia/2023-11-04/ty-article/.premium/0000018b-9a97-db71-a7df-ffdf549b0000
התגובה המיידית של יפן למתקפת חמאס ב־7 באוקטובר ולמלחמה היתה הימנעות זהירה, בלא אזכור הטבח, אך אחר כך הפגינה אמפתיה לישראל והכריזה עיצומים על אישים וחברות שבקשר עם חמאס. ביקור שרת החוץ היפנית באזור בסוף השבוע מפגין את רצון טוקיו במעורבות פעילה יותר
TABLE OF CONTENT
List of Maps
List of Figures
List of Tables
List of Contributors
Acknowledgement
Note on Translations and Conventions
1. A Passage to Asia: The Rise of Israeli-Asian Relations since the 1990s and Their Current Nature
Rotem Kowner and Yoram Evron
I. Israel’s Asian Core Circle
2. Relationship under a Glass Ceiling: A Framework for China-Israel Relations
Yoram Evron
3. Chinese Investment in Israel under the Shadow of the United States: A Precarious Success?
Wang Yu
4. The Indo-Israeli Connection: From Years of Rejection to Growing Partnership
Shalom Salomon Wald and Evgenia Rozenfeld
5. India-Israel Security, Defense Ties, and the Iranian Dimension
Sujata Ashwarya
II. Israel’s Asian Secondary Circle
6. Israel-Japan Relations: A Recent Promise that Has Yet to Materialize
Rotem Kowner
7. Israel and the Two Koreas: Between Sentiments and Pragmatism
Guy Podoler
8. Israel-Taiwan Relations in a Changing Geopolitical Environment
Mor Sobol
9. Israel and Singapore: An Old-New Affinity Between Nations under Siege
Kevjn Lim and Mattia Tomba
III. Israel’s Asian Peripheral Circle
10. Central Asian Republics and Israel: Relations on a Firm but Low Fire
Zeev Levin
11. Israel-Myanmar Relations and the Rohingya Mass Killings
Chen Bram and Ran Shauli
12. Israel-Indonesia Relations: An Ongoing Saga of Unrecognition and Backroom Contacts
Giora Eliraz and Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat
13. The Role of Israel and Anti-Zionism in Malaysian Political and Cultural Life
Mary Ainslie
Conclusions
14. Asia's Place in 21st-Century Israel and Its Diplomatic Network: Conclusions and Implications
Rotem Kowner and Yoram Evron
Bibliography
Index
ENDORSEMENTS
"Israel-Asia Relations in the Twenty-First Century is a groundbreaking book. It tells the rise of Israel from a state on the verge of isolation some three decades ago to a country with a complex network and extensive economic and military relations in contemporary Asia. Solidly grounded in a nuanced analysis of written sources and data in various languages as well as numerous interviews, this volume is going to be the standard work on this topic for years to come."
― P.R. Kumaraswamy is Professor of Contemporary Middle Eastern Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, India, and the author of India’s Israel Policy (Columbia University Press, 2010)
"Israel’s growing position in twenty-first-century Asia is a spectacular story. Two long-time observers of Israel-Asia relations, Yoram Evron and Rotem Kowner offer an astute assessment and much elucidating analysis of Israel’s Asian strategy, its motives, and its success. As the first in two decades to bring all the parts of Israel’s diplomacy in Asia together, this judicious and deeply researched volume is a must-read for anyone interested in Israel’s foreign relations in general and its Asian ties in particular."
― Ambassador Nissim Ben-Shitrit, General Director of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2013–15) and former Ambassador to Japan (2007–13)
"Deeper levels of engagement between countries in Asia and the Middle East is a fascinating field of study, and this volume is a very welcome addition to the literature. Yoram Evron and Rotem Kowner have led a diverse set of contributors to cover Israel’s most consequential Asian bilateral relationships as well as issues that will shape the trajectory of Israel-Asia ties. Highly recommended!"
― Jonathan Fulton is Professor of Political Science at Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, UAE, the author of China's Relations with the Gulf Monarchies (Routledge, 2019), and the editor of Routledge Handbook on China–Middle East Relations (Routledge, 2022)
"In the last three decades, some far-reaching changes have occurred in Asia which enhanced Israel’s diplomatic, strategic, and economic relations with the continent’s main actors. Edited by two leading Israeli scholars of Asian affairs, this volume offers a wide range of chapters which explore in thoughtful and comprehensive ways the dramatic changes which took place in Israel’s ties with various Asian countries. This book is a must reading for scholars, students, and practitioners who are interested in the diplomacy and economics of Asia and Israel. Moreover, it is also a very useful book for anyone interested more generally in understanding the sources and processes of important changes in the diplomatic and economic relations among states."
― Benny Miller is Professor of International Relations at the University of Haifa, Israel, and the author of States, Nations, and the Great Powers (Cambridge University Press, 2007) and of Grand Strategy from Truman to Trump (University of Chicago Press, 2020)
ENDORSEMENTS
“This magisterial work by Rotem Kowner fills an important gap in contemporary scholarship about racial history and European perceptions of the Japanese during the age of maritime explorations, beginning with the voyages of Marco Polo. The author approaches a delicate and complex topic with a breadth of knowledge and erudition based on the careful analysis of primary documents from a wide variety of both printed and manuscript sources in numerous languages.”
M. Antoni J. Ucerler, S.J. Director of the Ricci Institute, University of San Francisco
“Rotem Kowner has written an extraordinary book which will be must-reading for anyone interested in Western perceptions of the Japanese from the beginning (Marco Polo’s account) to the 18th century, and to anyone interested in the history of the very concept of ‘race.’"
Gary Leupp, Department of History, Tufts University
“Erudite, comprehensive, and clearly-written, From White to Yellow offers the reader a panorama of the Euro-Japanese encounter in the pre-modern period that is unsurpassed in previous scholarship.”
Ronnie Hsia, Department of History, Pennsylvania State University
REVIEWS
“This is a path-breaking book, rich in insights and extraordinary well researched. ... This is a dense book, exhaustive in its treatment of European writings on Japan and duly aware of the need to keep in mind how Europeans wrote about Others. There are fascinating explorations of topics such as slavery, miscegenation, and George Psalmanazar, the self-styled Japanese. … [T]he text of this volume covers only slightly more than half of the pages and most of the rest is taken up by endnotes, many of them as long as a paragraph and some filling half a page, together with a huge bibliography covering works in twelve languages. Not only do the notes testify to the prodigious labor that has gone into this book, but they also show how meticulously Kowner has explored the ramifications and details of encounters between Europeans and the various Others they encountered. … This book is, though, unsurpassed in its careful examination of European writings on Japan, and the efficient index makes Kowner’s analyses and coverage of the literature easily accessible”
Peter Kornicki, Journal of World History 27 (2016): 347–350
“From White to Yellow is a big book in every way. The product of immense research, it is an exceptionally ambitious work that makes a string of innovative and far-reaching arguments. Even more strikingly, it is simply the first of a planned two-volume series that, once completed, will span over six hundred years of European interactions with Japan. ... The scale of the task and the depth of the research invite a comparison to Donald Lach’s Asia in the Making of Europe, a groundbreaking series that can best be described as an almost supernatural feat of scholarship. … Overall the work is a significant achievement that should be read by anyone working in the field. It moves Japan from the margins to the very center of discussions over the development of early modern racial discourse, making a powerful case for the importance of the European encounter with Japan. Japan represented a problem for Europeans, and Kowner brilliantly dissects the varied ways in which they struggled to deal with it in the early modern period.”
Adam Clulow, Monumenta Nipponica 71 (2016): 140–143
“The book is a remarkable scholarly achievement and in some ways almost too detailed in its exposition. It throws valuable light on evolving European attitudes to race and to racial hierarchies and demonstrates how they were filtered through different social mechanisms – religion, trade, power – and how despite empirical evidence, few Europeans could actually ‘see’ racial differences in the case of the Japanese, even depicting their clothing in a quasi-European style in paintings and engravings. … Kowner’s book is the outcome of years of scholarly investigation in many languages including Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, Latin, Spanish, German, English and yet others and is exhaustively documented with fully half of its almost 700 pages being devoted to sources, notes and bibliography. Its essential theme is the tracing of the transformation and images that slowly moved the Japanese from being seen as ‘white race’ to re-classification as a ‘yellow’ one, along it may be said with the Chinese and the Koreans, whose racial history in relation to the West is inevitably part of the larger story of the transformation of perceptions as they applied to East Asia as a whole, and the light that this sheds on the roots of racial and racialist thought in the West. ….”
John Clammer, Ethnic and Racial Studies 39 (2016): 1500–1502
“In this erudite, complex, and ambitious work, Rotem Kowner examines how Europeans came to see the Japanese nation as “yellow” and inferior, after initially perceiving them as “white” equals. ... Kowner’s work complicates the history of the construction and development of the idea of race by examining the European encounter with the Japanese, whom Europeans initially found different but not culturally or materially inferior ... A short review cannot do justice to Kowner’s rich, multilayered work. The concluding chapter offers a prologue for the forthcoming second volume, which will examine how the Japanese were relegated to inferiority in the eighteenth century, and how a virulently racial discourse ensued.”
Robert Entenmann, Journal of Jesuit Studies (2016): 132–134.
"It is an unsurpassable analysis redolent of superb scholarship. In the end, Kowner makes a strong case that, from 1300 to 1735, Europeans slowly arrived at a system that enabled them to present a universal hierarchical taxonomy of humankind--based on rudimentary notions of race--with themselves at its apex. ... From White to Yellow does help us to understand ''the mechanisms that govern[ed] the rise and evolution of the concept of race in early modern times.'' In doing so, it richly expands our perspective on the origins of race and racism." Nam-lin Hur, University of Toronto Quarterly 85:3 (2016): 533-534.
“Kowner’s work is unique in that, unlike the majority of studies that focus on race in East Asia, it aims to elucidate the emergence of these distinctions at a much earlier point in Euro-Japanese relations—in fact, from their origin, if such can be found. … Focusing on the five centuries between Marco Polo’s first report of a mysterious island called Cipangu and Linnaeus’s categorization of the Japanese as a “yellow” race in 1735, Kowner builds a compelling argument that traces the development of racism from Europeans’ earliest imaginings of the Japanese people to the heart of Enlightenment thought. ... From Yellow to White is also notable for the breadth of its source materials, which, despite spanning several languages and centuries, are housed within a sound and well-organized theoretical framework; I can think of many other works that attempt to do the same but lack the clarity found here. The discussion of Japanese slavery, which tends to be a less-discussed topic in Japanese historiography, as well as of the cultural similarities between Japanese and their European observers, receive remarkably nuanced treatments as points of comparison between Japan and other countries within Europe’s purview. This work is therefore both timely and adds something new to the contemporary debate on the birth of race in Western thought.”
Christina Ghanbarpour, Itinerario 40 (2016): 318–320
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Figures xi
Note on Translations and Conventions xv
Acknowledgments xix
Preface xxiii
Introduction 3
PHASE ONE SPECULATION: Pre-Encounter Knowledge of the Japanese (1300-1543) 33
1 The Emergence of “Cipangu” and Its Precursory Ethnography 35
2 The “Cipanguese” at the Opening of the Age of Discovery 50
PHASE TWO OBSERVATION: A Burgeoning Discourse of Initial Encounters (1543-1640) 65
3 Initial Observations of the Japanese 67
4 The Japanese Position in Contemporary Hierarchies 101
5 Concrete Mirrors of a New Human Order 143
6 “Race” and Its Cognitive Limits during the Phase of Observation 181
PHASE THREE RECONSIDERATION: Antecedents of a Mature Discourse (1640-1735) 201
7 Dutch Reappraisal of the Japanese Body and Origins 209
8 Power, Status, and the Japanese Position in the Global Order 224
9 In Search of a New Taxonomy: Botany, Medicine, and the Japanese 251
10 “Race” and Its Perceptual Limits during the Phase of Reconsideration 283
Conclusion: The Discourse of Race in Early Modern Europe and the Japanese Case 309
Notes 345
Bibliography 511
Index 617
マルコ・ポーロの日本についての言及以降、ヨーロッパ人の東アジアへの旅行の機会が増し、その存在を知覚によって認識するようになる。その後の400年間、人種という概念がいかに形成され、日本人の捉え方がどう変化していったか、その過程を膨大な資史料から解明する。
黄色人種は、ヨーロッパ人の創作である。白と黒を上下にして、その中間を占める地位に置いたのである。（中略）本書は、“黄色人種”という概念の登場に至ったイメージと受け止め方の変容を扱う。東アジア全般そして特に日本に関する論議を通して、前近代及び近世のヨーロッパで人種主義がいかに展開してきたかを検討する。本論は、ヨーロッパが日本人そして二義的には中国人との出会いをきっかけとして起きた論議のケーススタディであり、現代人種思想の起源だけでなく、その発想の動機について、新しい光を当てる。（本書より）
目次 --
第１局面 推測段階―出会い以前の日本に関する知識（一三〇〇年‐一五四三年）（ジパングの浮上とその先駆的民族誌；大航海時代の幕開けと“ジパング”）
第２局面 観察―初期の出会いと論議の始まり（一五四三年‐一六四〇年）（日本人に関する初期の観察；当代のヒエラルキーにおける日本人の位置；新人類秩序の鏡像；観察局面期の“人種”とその認識上の限界）
第３局面 再検討―議論の到達点（一六四〇年‐一七三五年）（日本人の体型と起源に関するオランダの再評価；力、地位そして世界秩序における日本人の位置；新しい分類学を求めて―植物、医術そして日本人；“人種”と「再検討段階」における認識上の限界）むすび―近世ヨーロッパにおける人種論議と日本人のケース
REVIEWS
"In the field of race studies, race and racism in East Asia has generally been little explored. These two books [Michael Keevak’s Becoming Yellow as well] each works to address that gap in scholarship. As a pair they go a long ways toward furthering our understanding of the historical, political, and social significance of the role of race in East Asia. Most significantly, these books help us to understand how prominent a factor race was in armed conflicts in twentieth-century East Asia. The volume is divided into two parts. Part One deals with Western conceptions of East Asians. Part Two, fully half of the volume, deals with questions of race and racism from perspectives located within East Asia, whether China, Korea, or Japan. The format of an edited volume allows for a large scope of overall inquiry as well as a significant degree of specificity within individual essay. …The juxtaposition of essays in Part One brings to light a number of important topics for reflection and future research, not least the large and thorny question of just how inextricably intertwined the connections between racism and rear of decline actually are. … Part two “East Asia Race Theories, Racial Policies and Racism” breaks new ground in the field of race studies in that it is devoted to race from entirely East Asian perspectives (and there are many!)."
— Laura Hostetler, Sino-Western Cultural Relations Journal 37 (2015): 74-84.
"Within the historical research on the topic of racism, East Asia has barely played any role. This volume, the outcome of a multi-year project closes this research lacuna. ... Overall, the volume is superbly edited and easy to read and will undoubtedly remain, until further notice, the standard work on the subject of race in East Asia. For those interested in the historical development of the concept of race and wish to go beyond the European framework, this volume is highly recommended."
— Sven Saaler, Historische Zeitschrift (2014)
"A gigantic volume, its real strong point is its variety, with papers probing such interesting and understudied topics ... The scholarly summaries are very accomplished and provide a wealth of material for understanding that race is neither a fixed nor an atemporal construct, nor is it one that can be simply transferred from Western contexts into Eastern ones. ... The essays represent starting points for a variety of new work as such they are very valuable contributions to the burgeoning field. Highly recommended."
— Michael Keevak, Asian Ethnicity (2014)
"This collection of scholarly works explores racial constructions of East Asians from both external and internal perspectives. ... Not only does this book help readers understand how racial constructions of the West and East Asia interacted in shaping their relationships in the past, but also, more importantly, how these constructions still influence their current relationships in the 21st century. Summing up: Recommended. All levels/libraries."
— A.Y. Lee, Choice, 2013
TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Illustrations and Tables
Conventions
Preface
1. Modern East Asia and the Rise of Racial Thought: Possible Links, Unique Features, and Unsettled Issues
Rotem Kowner and Walter Demel
PART I: WESTERN RACE THEORIES, RACIAL IMAGES AND RACISM
2. Early Modern European Divisions of Mankind and East Asians, 1500-1750 50
Walter Demel and Rotem Kowner
3. How the “Mongoloid Race” Came into Being: Late Eighteenth-Century Constructions of East Asians in Europe
Walter Demel
4. Between Contempt and Fear: Western Racial Constructions of East Asians since 1800
Rotem Kowner
5. “A Very Great Gulf”: Late Victorian British Diplomacy and Race in East Asia
T.G. Otte
6. Pan-Mongolians at Twilight: East Asia and Race in Russian Modernism, 1890-1921
Susanna Soojung Lim
7. National Identity and Race in Post-Revolutionary Russia: Pil’niak’s Travelogues from Japan and China
Alexander Bukh
8. Class, Race, Floating Signifier: American Media Imagine the Chinese, 1870-1900
Lenore Metrick-Chen
9. Racism for Beginners: Constructions of Chinese in Twentieth Century Belgian Comics
Idesbald Goddeeris
10. Race, Imperialism, and Reconstructing Selves: Late Nineteenth Century Korea in European Travel Literature
Huajeong Seok
11. Race, Culture and the Reaction to the Japanese Victory of 1905 in the English-Speaking World
Philip Towle
PART II: EAST ASIAN RACE THEORIES, RACIAL POLICIES AND RACISM
12. A Certain Whiteness of Being: Chinese Perceptions of Self by the Beginning of European Contact
Don J. Wyatt
13. Racial Discourse and Utopian Visions in Nineteenth Century China
Sufen Sophia Lai
14. The Discourse of Race in Twentieth-Century China
Frank Dikötter
15. Racist South Korea? Diverse but not Tolerant of Diversity
Gi-Wook Shin
16. Skin Color Melancholy in Modern Japan: Male Elites' Racial Experiences Abroad, 1880s-1950s
Ayu Majima
17. Anatomically Speaking: The Kubo Incident and the Paradox of Race in Colonial Korea
Hoi-eun Kim
18. Who Classified Whom, and for What Purpose? The “Japanese” in Northeast China in the Age of Empire
Mariko Asano Tamanoi
19. Race and International Law in Japan’s New Order in East Asia, 1938-1945
Urs Matthias Zachmann
20. East Asia’s “Melting-Pot”: Reevaluating Race Relations in Japan’s Colonial Empire 583
Yukiko Koshiro
21. Categorical Confusion: President Obama as a Case Study of Racialized Practices in Contemporary Japan
Christine R. Yano
Contributors
Bibliography
Index
TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Illustrations and Tables
Conventions
Preface
1. Introduction: The Synthesis of Foreign and Indigenous Constructions of Race in Modern East Asia and Its Actual Operation, Rotem Kowner and Walter Demel
I. Antecedents: A Detailed Examination of Early Western Racial Constructions of East Asians
II. Interactions: The Fusion of European and Asian Constructions of Race
III. Nationalism: Interactions between Race and Ethnic Nationalism in East Asia
IV. Gender and Lineage: The Impact of Domestic and Foreign Racial Constructions
PART I: ANTECEDENTS
2. East Asians in the Linnaean Taxonomy: Sources and Implications of a Racial Image, Rotem Kowner and Christina Skott
The Linnaean Revolution and View of Humankind
Sources of Linnaeus’ Racial Perspective on East Asians
The Essence of Asia: Swedish Views of China
Swedish Reports and Linnaeus’ Revision of His Human Taxonomy
Linnaeus’ Legacy and the Unfolding Racial View of East Asians
3. Constructing Racial Theories on East Asians as a Transnational “Western” Enterprise, 1750-1850, Walter Demel
The Founding Fathers of Racial Theories: Linnaeus, Buffon, Kant and Camper
The Second Generation: Multiple Directions
4. The ‘Races’ of East Asia in Nineteenth-Century European Encyclopaedias, Georg Lehner
Classifying the Peoples of Asia
The Encyclopedias' Main Sources for Remarks on the “Races” of East Asia
Chinese, Japanese and Koreans: Descriptions of East Asian peoples
Stereotypes of East Asians in General Knowledge
Visual Representations of Race in Works of General Knowledge
Concluding Remarks
5. The Racial Image of the Japanese in the Western Press Published in Japan, 1861-1881, Olavi K. Fält
Background
The Oldest People on Earth
The Shining Japanese Race
Weak and Inferior Race
Praising the Endeavors of a Poor Race
Conclusion
PART II: INTERACTIONS
6. The Propagation of Racial Thought in Nineteenth-Century China, Daniel Barth
The Background: Imperial China and the “Other”
Stage I (1846-1851): Marques and Wei Yuan
Stage II (1851-1855): Hobson and Muirhead
Stage III (1855-1872): The Self-Strengthening Movement
Stage IV (1872-1892): John Fryer and the Chinese Scientific and Industrial Magazine
Conclusion: Chinese Intellectuals, Social Darwinism and Race
7. Learning from the South: Japan's Racial Construction of Southern Chinese, 1895-1941, Huei-Ying Kuo
The South Seas as Japan’s Backyard, 1895-1914
Japan's Expansion into the Southern Chinese Networks, 1914-1928
Chinese Anti-Japanese Nationalism and Japanese Discourses on South Seas Chinese, 1928-1936
Southern Chinese as Non-Han Races, 1936-1941
Conclusions
8. “The Great Question of the World Today”: Britain, the Dominions, East Asian Immigration and the Threat of Race War, 1905-11, Antony Best
Immigration and “the Awakening of Asia”
The Prophets of Race War
Critics of White Solidarity
Finessing the Racial Divide
Conclusions
9. “Uplifting the Weak and Degenerated Races of East Asia”: American and Indigenous Views of Sport and Body in Early Twentieth-Century East Asia, Stefan Hübner
Sportive Citizenship Training in the Philippines
Chinese Cooperation and Acceptance of American-Style Modernization
Japanese Resistance and its Defeat by American Style Modernization
Conclusion
10. Racism under Negotiation: The Japanese Race in the Nazi-German Perspective, Gerhard Krebs
Early Nazi Views on the Japanese Racial Position
Becoming More Aryan
The Problem with the Japanese in the Nazi Worldview
Continuing Mutual Mistrust
The End
11. Discourses of Race and Racism in Modern Korea, 1890s-1945 , Vladimir Tikhonov
Race and Its Uncertainties
The Emergence of Race Theories in Modern Korea: One of the Logics of the “Civilized World”
“Race” and “Ethnic Nation” in Colonial Korea, 1910-1945
Conclusion: Race as a Path to Modernist Self-assertion?
12. The United States Arrives: Racialization and Racism in Post-1945 South Korea, Nadia Y. Kim
Contextual Background: America Marches In and Mass Mediates
The American Military, Whiteness, and Imperialist Racial Formation
American Mass Media, White Heroes, and Counter-Hegemony
Blackness and Imperialist Racial Formation
Racism and Invisibility in Korean “America”
Concluding Remarks
13. A Post-Communist Coexistence in Northeast Asia? Mutual Racial Attitudes among Russians and Indigenous Peoples of Siberia, David Lewis
Discrimination against Siberian Peoples as an Outcome of Racial Prejudice
The Origin and Legacy of Russian Attitudes to Asians
Racial Attitudes among Indigenous Siberian Peoples
The Communist Model of Racial Modus Vivendi
The Impact of Prolonged Racism on Indigenous Siberian Peoples
Marriage as an Anti-Racist Means in a Multi-Racial Society
PART III: NATIONALISM
14. Nationalism and Internationalism: Sino-American Racial Perceptions of the Korean War, Lü Xun
Descendants of the Mongolian Hordes: American Perceptions of the Chinese
The Ambitious Wolf: Chinese Perceptions of Americans
The Mirrored Self: A Nation-State in the Making
15. Gangtai Patriotic Songs and Racialized Chinese Nationalism, Yinghong Cheng
Gangtai Patriotic Songs: A “Colored” Political Genre of Pop Music
A Tacit Collaboration between the Party-State and Capitalist Cultural Producers in Hong Kong and Taiwan
The Interaction between Gangtai Patriotic Songs and Chinese Popular Nationalism
Analyses
Concluding Remarks
16. Japanese as Both a “Race” and a “Non-Race”: The Politics of Jinshu and Minzoku and the Depoliticization of Japaneseness, Yuko Kawai
The Historical Trajectories of Jinshu and Minzoku
Being a “Race” and a “Non-Race” in Present-day Japan: An Empirical Study
Conclusions and Implications
17. Ethnic Nationalism in Postwar Japan: Nihonjinron and Its Racial Facets, Rotem Kowner and Harumi Befu
Premises of Nihonjinron
Nihonjinron as a Manifestation of Japanese Nationalism
Nihonjinron and Its Concern with Origin, Blood and Racial Hierarchy
The Impact of Race-Related Tenets on Everyday Life
Functions of Ethnic Nationalism in Contemporary Japan
Concluding Remarks
18. Ethnic Nationalism and Internationalism in the North Korean Worldview, Tatiana Gabroussenko
The Soviet Discourse of the Outside World: Conditional Internationalism
The North Korean Worldview in the “Soviet Era”: Echoing the Soviet Paradigm
Mono-Ethnicity as a Special Korean Virtue: The Evolution of the North Korean World Vision under the Influence of Juche
North Korean Propaganda about Foreigners from Inclusive and Alienating Perspectives
Conclusion
PART IV: GENDER AND LINEAGE
19. In the Name of the Master: Race, Nationalism and Masculinity in Chinese Martial Arts Cinema, Kai-man Chang
From Anti-imperialist Nationalism to Cultural Nationalism
Masculinities That Matter
Conclusion
20. Sexualized Racism, Gender and Nationalism: The Case of Japan’s Sexual Enslavement of Korean “Comfort Women”, Bang-soon Yoon
Korean “Comfort Women”: Drawn in as Substitutes
The Nature of Victimization
Colonial Policies and the Mobilization of Korean Women
Treatment of Korean “Comfort Women”
Lives under Sexual Slavery
Nationalism, Gender and Sexual Violence
Conclusion
21. “The Guilt Feeling That You Exist”: War, Racism and Indisch-Japanese Identity Formation, Aya Ezawa
Power, Discourse, and “Mixed Blood”
The Indisch and the Dutch East Indies
The Indisch Community under Japanese Occupation
Indisch-Japanese Relationships
Indisch-Japanese Descendants
Conclusion
22. ‘The “Amerasian” Knot: Transpacific Crossings of “GI Babies” from Korea to the United States, W. Taejin Hwang
“An Act of Both Humanity and Patriotism”: The Amerasian Immigration Act of 1982
“Confucius’ Outcasts”: The Korean Amerasian “Plight”
Inter-country Adoption of Korean “GI Babies”
Living as a “Mixed-Blood Child” (Honhyeola) in Cold War Korea
“Half-American Also is American”: Towards Migration
Conclusion and Postscript
PART V: CONCLUSIONS
23. The Essence and Mechanisms of Race and Racism in Modern East Asia, Rotem Kowner and Walter Demel
The East Asian Contribution to the Study of Race and Racism
East Asia’s Role within the Rise of Racial Theory and the Resulting Hybridity
Sources and Manifestations of Racism
The Close Links between Racism and Nationalism
The Role of Gender and Lineage in Constructions of Race and Racism
East Asia and the Future of Race and Racism
Contributors
Bibliography
Index
On the eve of the battle, both sides believed that an engagement of their fleets would determine the final outcome of the war. A Russian victory could lead to Tsarist control of the seas around the Japanese home islands and to an immediate interruption of the flow of personnel and materials to the Asian mainland. This, in turn, might have allowed the Imperial Russian Army to crush the Japanese land forces in Manchuria and thus decide the war. A defeat, however, could end any Russian hope of altering the course of the war and possibly oblige the Russians to negotiate peace. And indeed, the Russian government’s hopes of reversing the military situation in East Asia were dashed in the battle’s aftermath. It was now compelled to enter into peace negotiations, which resulted in the Treaty of Portsmouth, signed just over three months later. In the subsequent years, the influence of this battle was commemorated and the symbolic victory of an “Eastern” power over Tsarist Russia using modern technology was celebrated in both the Western and Colonial Worlds. Similarly, and in both Japan and Russia, the Battle of Tsushima had a prolonged impact on the fates of these nations’ respective navies and on their ambitions, which lasted for at least four decades.
This is not the first attempt to tell the story of the battle. It has been told over and over again since 1905 in many languages and forms. However, these endeavours rarely relied on archival and primary sources associated with both belligerents alongside sources originating from contemporary neutral powers, let alone the vast repository of digital sources that are presently available to scholars. The present book seeks to provide a broad and balanced picture of the battle while employing an extensive and diverse array of sources. Moreover, it is the first scholarly account to evaluate the battle’s short- and long-term consequences in the political, social, and naval spheres, as well as the way it has been commemorated by the two nations involved. The main argument of this book is that the battle has exerted wide and lasting impact far beyond its immediate arena. It brought about the end of the Russo–Japanese War and affected dramatically the two belligerents’ geopolitical vision and naval outlook for decades. Likewise, its shock waves affected European affairs, American strategic plans, and the naval development during the decade before the First World War. For this profound impact, as well as for its scale and decisive results, the Battle of Tsushima deserves to be considered one of the greatest naval battles in history.
Oxford University Press: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/tsushima-9780198831075?lang=en&cc=il
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B5HGRTHP/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i0
Google Books: https://books.google.co.il/books?id=vZ91EAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=rotem+kowner&hl=iw&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=rotem%20kowner&f=false
REVIEWS
“It is often said that good things come in small packages, and in the case of Tsushima by Professor Rotem Kowner this is the literal truth… Not only does this excellent book provide a good treatment of the battle itself and the events which led up to it, but a great deal of consideration is also given to its long-term effect in naval, political, and cultural spheres… The author writes with an easy engaging style that gives this book a very broad appeal, achieving that delicate balance between clear explanation of events and historical factors that makes for a good introduction to a reader exploring the subject for the first time, while including enough detail to satisfy even demanding Tsushima aficionados. If this reviewer were to make a favourable comparison with another work, Kowner’s book does for Tsushima what H. P. Wilmott’s The Second World War in The Far East achieved for 1931–45 in Asia and the Pacific. Overall, this book is an excellent all-round treatment of the battle and its impact on world history and is strongly recommended to anyone with an interest in this subject.”
— Andrew Choong Han Lin, The Mariner's Mirror 109:1 (2023): 114-116
“Kowner provides essential insights into combat operations from the tactical to the strategic level. The detail, clarity, and accuracy of his analyses contribute to the field of military history and are a model for future academic pursuits. He provides validated sources to bring accuracy to the historical events. All of the author’s accounts are described in a compelling manner that is enticing to readers, regardless of their background."
— John C. Hanley, The Journal of Military History 87, no. 3 (2023): 795–797
“The story of the Battle of Tsushima … is a tale that has been told often, and usually at great length. This is not what Rotem Kowner is up to. What he offers here is one of the most analytical and balanced accounts of the Battle of Tsushima. … It provides a balanced account of the battle based on primary sources from both sides. It evaluates the short- and long-term consequences of the battle across a wide spectrum; and Kowner’s argument that ‘the battle has exerted wide and lasting impact far beyond its immediate arena … and dramatically affected the two belligerents’ geopolitical vision and naval outlook for decades’ (p. xiv) is convincing. Those interested in modern naval history owe themselves a quick read, at least.”
— Timothy C. Dowling, The Journal of Military History 87, no. 3 (2023): 797–799
“This book is very readable and informative and gives an excellent insight into how naval tactics changed and developed after the battle. A must-read for anyone interested I early-twentieth century naval warfare.”
— Chris May, Battlefield (Autumn, 2022): 30
ENDORSEMENTS
"A penetrating and comprehensive study of the most consequential naval battle fought between Trafalgar (1805) and Pearl Harbor (1941). Where Kowner's work shines brightest is his insightful analysis of this battle's military, political, and cultural legacy for both participants and the wider world. Tsushima is masterful."
— J. Charles Schencking, Professor of Japanese History, Hong Kong University, author of Making Waves: Politics, Propaganda, and the Emergence of the Imperial Japanese Navy
"Rotem Kowner's Tsushima constitutes a tour de force treatment of this epic battle and its multiple legacies. He establishes remote and immediate con- texts, provides accurate description and informed analysis, and delves deeply into aftermath."
— Bruce W. Menning, Professor of Strategy (ret.), U. S. Army Command and General Staff College, co-editor of The Russo-Japanese War In Global Perspective: World War Zero
"Rotem Kowner's Tsushima presents a comprehensive account of the Battle of Tsushima Strait in 1905. It skilfully describes how and why it occurred and ended with a decisive and one-sided victory by the Imperial Japanese Navy. Kowner, as a true historian, re-enacts the days of the big battleships and guns, and beckons us all to return to the seas again."
— Naoyuki Agawa, Professor of Constitutional Law, Doshisha University, Japan, author of Friendship Across the Seas: The US Navy and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force
"A book of remarkable originality, daring, and openness of mind. Professor Kowner presents a skilful account of Tsushima which for the first time equally embraces Japanese and Russian sides of the battle and its consequences."
— Dmitrii V. Likharev, Professor of History, Far Eastern Federal University, Vladivostok, Russia
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Background
The Battle
Japan’s Rise to Naval Prominence
Russia’s Shattered Naval Dream
Worldwide Reactions and Assessments
The Battle and Naval Development: Lessons Learned and Unlearned
Conclusions
REVIEWS
“There has been a flood of books dealing with the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5 published since the centenary. The distinctive feature of the book edited by Professor Kowner is that is deals with the impact the war had on Japan and Russia and on practically all the countries worldwide. … It is not possible to make individual comments on the many insights in the book except for one general observation …. War and navies are still with us; and [this volume] covering the first half of the twentieth century still have much relevance.”
— Ian Nish, Japan Society: Japan-UK Review 2 (2007), 5.
“[The book] proceeds to emphasize the war’s world-wide implications and impact, foreshadowing in many ways the “great” one that would follow in less than ten years. The focus of the book is on the impact of the war on subsequent military strategy and tactics and on political, social, and economic affairs in various world areas. … The scholarship is on the whole of a very high level, and the editor kept most of the contributions focused and brief. There is little overlap and the editing is excellent ...”
— Saul E. Norman, The Russian Review 67 (2008), 137-138.
“Two related things distinguish this conference volume: its specific attempt to assess the repercussions of the conflict and the span of the papers presented. … the book as a whole does make a useful attempt to come to grips with the war’s complicated effects. … What is fresh in this book is a real sense of how far afield the repercussions of the conflict were felt and of the extent to which it was enmeshed with the major global trends of the time. … [T]his book provides a good foundation for further inquiry into the significance of the Russo- Japanese War.”
— Sandra Wilson, The Journal of Japanese Studies 34 (2008), 513.
“The Impact of the Russo-Japanese War asks, and answers, the question, "Why, more than a century after its end, should we care about the Russo-Japanese War?" … All of the essays are thought-provoking, and some break new ground, notably the war’s effect the rise of Asian nationalism, and the rise of Japanese-American rivalry… A volume in the Routledge series, “Studies in the Modern History of Asia,” The Impact of the Russo-Japanese War is a valuable read for anyone with an interest in the era of the First World War or the history of East Asia.”
— A.A. Nofi, Strategy Page (2009) The NYMAS Review, The New York Military Affairs Symposium
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Between a colonial clash and World War Zero : The impact of the Russo-Japanese War in a global perspective / Rotem Kowner
2. The war as a turning point in modern Japanese history / Rotem Kowner
3. If Japan had lost the war ... / Peter Duus
4. The war and the fate of the tsarist autocracy / Jonathan Frankel
5. From enemies to allies : the war and Russo-Japanese relations / Peter Berton
6. The fragmenting of the old world order : Britain, the Great Powers, and the war / T.G. Otte
7. Germany, the Russo-Japanese War and the road to the Great War / Matthew S. Seligman
8. The impact of the war on the French political scene / Patrick Beillevaire
9. America's first cold war : the emergence of a new rivalry / Tal Tovy and Sharon Halevi
10. White Mongols? : the war and American discourses on race and religion / Joseph M. Henning
11. The impact of the war on China / Harold Z. Schiffrin
12. On the confluence of history and memory : the significance of the war for Korea / Guy Podoler and Michael Robinson
13. Ironies of history : the war and the origins of East Asian radicalism / Yitzhak Shichor
14. Tokyo as a shared Mecca of modernity : war echoes in the colonial Malay world / Michael Laffan
15. India and the war / T.R. Sareen
16. A model not to follow : the European armies and the lessons of the war / Yigal Sheffy
17. The impact of the war on naval warfare / Rotem Kowner
18. The road to Jutland? : the war and the Imperial German Navy / Cord Eberspaecher
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements; List of Contributors; List of Maps, Tables, Figures; List of Illustrations; Conventions; Introduction; 1 The Memory and Significance of the Russo-Japanese War from a Centennial Perspective; PART I: ORIGINS; I. Geopolitical, Economic, and Intellectual Background; 2 Guarding the Gates of Our East Asia: Japanese Reactions to the Far Eastern Crisis (1897–98) as a Prelude to the War; 3 An Invitation to the Aquarium: Sergei Witte and the Origins of Russia’s War with Japan; 4 “The Unknown Enemy”: The Siberian Frontier and the Russo-Japanese Rivalry, 1890s–1920s; PART II: THE WAR; II. The Military Dimension; 5 The Clash of Two Continental Empires: The Land War Reconsidered; 6. The Secret Factor: Japanese Network of Intelligence gathering on Russia during the War; 7 Chaos versus Cruelty: Sakhalin as a Secondary Theater of Operations; III. The Economic Dimension; 8 The War and the Perception of Japan by British Investors; 9 Realpolitik or Jewish Solidarity? Jacob Schiff’s Financial Support for Japan Revisited; 10 The War, Military Expenditures and Postbellum Fiscal and Monetary Policy in Japan; IV. The Cultural Dimension; 11 The Widow’s Tears and the Soldier’s Dream: Gender and Japanese Wartime Visual Culture; 12 School Songs, the War and Nationalist Indoctrination in Japan; 13 Forgotten Heroes: Russian Women in the War; 14 The Dress Rehearsal? Russian Realism and Modernism through War and Revolution; 15 The Scepter of the Far East and the Crown of the Third Rome: The War in the Mirror of Russian Poetry; ; PART III: REACTIONS AND POSTWAR REPERCUSSIONS; V. The Belligerents: Consequences in Japan and Russia; 16 The Impact of the War on the Constitutional Government in Japan; 17 The Legacy of the War and the World of Islam in Japanese Pan-Asian Discourse: Wakabayashi Han’s Kaikyo Sekai to Nihon ; 18 Soldiers’ Unrest Behind the Front after the End of the War; 19 Imperial Russian War Planning for the Eurasian Space and the Impact of the War; VI. Divided Onlookers: Europe and the War; 20 The War and British Strategic Foreign Policy; 21 British War Correspondents and the War; 22 Participant Observation: Germany, the War, and the Road to a European Clash; 23 Perceptions of Russia in German Military Leadership during the War; 24 A Different View: The War in Austro-Hungarian Political Cartoons; 25 A Reinterpretation of the Ottoman Neutrality during the War; 26 The Jewish Response to the War; VII. Rude Awakening? Asia and the Colonial World; 27 Russo-Japanese Negotiations and the Japanese Annexation of Korea; 28 Japan’s Victory in Philippine, Vietnamese, and Burmese Perspectives; 29 The War and the British Invasion of Tibet, 1904; 30 Distant Echoes: The Reflection of the War in the Middle East; Bibliography; Index
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It has been a decade since the publication of the first edition of this book. At the time it was published, shortly after the centennial of the Russo-Japanese War, there was much interest in the war and its impact--an almost a rediscovery of this event. Timing, however, was not the only reason for the significance of the first edition. The dearth of scholarly literature on the war, let alone well-referenced and systematic monographs, meant that even basic facts about the war were missing at the time.To fill in this lacuna, a book in the form of a lexicon was much in need. No wonder, then, that the first edition became an instant tool for scholars and lay history buffs alike, providing not only the basic facts about the war, such as the personalities that took part in it and weapons they used alongside a detailed description of each campaign, but also a novel view of various related topics deriving from the conflict. The place where the impact and contribution of the first edition have been most evident is the Internet whose spectacular book in the past decade does not require elaboration. Within this medium, Wikipedia has become a nature consumer of the wealth of information this book provides and the coherent organization it offers. In fact, at present there are several hundreds of entries in Wikipedia's English version alone that refer to this book and rely on its content. Likewise, there are probably several thousands additional entries in other languages that rely directly on the book or on the entries found in the English Wikipedia.
The second edition has emanated from a decade of intensive writing and cutting-edge scholarship on the Russo-Japanese War. Tens of new books and hundreds of articles that have been published in recent years shed new light on the conflict, its origins and consequences. As such, this second edition offers not only a sweeping revision of every single entry that appeared in the first edition, but also more than 200 completely new entries. For these reasons, the present edition can be regarded as an entirely new book, that, by all likelihood, will remain the standard reference source on the Russo-Japanese War for many years to come.
REVIEWS
The author, the world's leading authority on the subject, contributed all the entries, rewriting every one of the original 600 in the first edition and adding more than 200 new ones for this edition. The essays range from 200 to 2000 words. With its equally impressive data in the appendixes, no question exists that this is a monumental accomplishment.
— American Reference Books Annual (2017)
This revised and expanded edition of a volume originally published in 2006 deals not only with the Russo-Japanese War itself but also strives--successfully--to put it into the broader context of 20th-century political, military, and diplomatic history. Kowner, who coauthored with Walter Demel Race and Racism in Modern East Asia, added around 200 new entries to the 600 from the first edition. The volume includes an introductory essay on the war along with a chronology, a number of appendixes, and an extensive, invaluable bibliography; most of these features appear to have been updated....[T]his is an indispensable resource on the subject, and libraries owning the first edition will want this new one, particularly those whose collections support research in Russian and East Asian studies, military history, and maritime studies. Summing Up: Highly recommended.
— CHOICE (2017)
*
Yet, despite its importance at the time, it has become very much a forgotten war. The A to Z of the Russo-Japanese War provides considerable breadth and depth of coverage based on Japanese, Russian, and Western sources. The breadth is accomplished through a wide-ranging introduction, a detailed chronology and an extensive bibliography. The depth comes in the hundreds of entries on military and political leaders, major battles and lesser encounters, tactics and strategy as well as the weaponry and of course the causes and consequences. The result is the first major reference work on the Russo-Japanese War in English and the largest in any language.
REVIEWS
The centrality of the 1905 Russo-Japanese war in modern history, believes Jowner, is still not sufficiently recognized. He aims to correct that problem with this historical dictionary, which not only covers the battles, weaponry, and personalities of the war, but also the international events and conflicts, agreements, schemes, and projects that led to the war, as well as the political, social, and military consequences of the conflict in the years leading up to World War I and occasionally beyond.
— Reference and Research Book News, November 2009
The war history volumes of the "A to Z" series will prove useful references for both amateur and professional historians, and would make a valuable addition to any library, particularly as they cost less than other similar, often less comprehensive historical dictionaries.
— Strategy Page
Yet, despite its importance at the time, it has become very much a forgotten war. So now, about a century after it took place, is a very appropriate time to remind us with a Historical Dictionary of the Russo-Japanese War that provides considerable breadth and depth of coverage based on Japanese, Russian and Western sources. The breadth is accomplished through a wide-ranging introduction, a detailed chronology and an extensive bibliography. The depth comes in the hundreds of entries on military and political leaders, major battles and lesser encounters, tactics and strategy as well as the weaponry and of course the causes and consequences. The result is the first major reference work on the Russo-Japanese War in English and the largest in any language.
REVIEWS
“… as a standard reference, Kowner’s dictionary does an admirable job of providing readers with balanced readable reference work on the Russo-Japanese War.”
John W. Steinberg, Journal of Military History 70 (2006), 1149.
“… Kowner provides what must be the most thorough reference account of the Russo-Japanese War produced in the English language. … The Historical Dictionary of the Russo-Japanese War will be the reference source of choice for any library where the conflict is the subject of study or research. It also belongs in libraries specializing in military history or East Asian or Russian/Slavic studies.”
Tony Chalcraft, Reference Reviews 20, no. 7 (2006), 52.
“An effort is made to cover the historical significance of the war in terms of both the causes and effects. Not only people, battleships, weapons, and events, but also special topics such as “prisoners of war,” “propaganda,” “military intelligence, and “medical treatment” are found among the entries. Recommended for college and research libraries.”
Junko Stuveras, College and Research Libraries 67 (2006), 474.
“One of the great merits of this book is the editor’s ability to extract and define these current [that will profoundly impact later events], which suddenly places the war in a new, more meaningful context. … The Historical Dictionary of the Russo-Japanese War will be an indispensable addition to libraries of colleges, universities, and communities seeking to expand their titles in military history. It is especially important because, as noted above, the work is the first such reference volume in English.”
John B. Romeiser, ARBA (2007), 271.
“Kowner has worked prodigiously over the past decade to mark the conflict’s centenary by organizing an international conference, writing a 600-page history and several articles, as well as editing two volumes on the topic, and he is therefore well suited to the task. … Kowner’s dictionary provides balanced and accurate coverage. He is also careful to point out questions that remain contentious among historians. … It is also unfortunate that the dictionary was unavailable 15 years ago, when I began my own research on the topic. It would have saved me a lot of work.”
David Schimmelpenninck van der Oye, Journal of Slavic Military Studies 20 (2007), 775-776.
“Among the [fourteen] works reviewed, R. Kowner's Dictionary treats the events of 1904-05 most extensively. Based on Western, Russian and Japanese sources, the author approaches the topic very widely. … Such an extensive work from the pen of a single author, even if this could be based on the advice of numerous colleagues, is an almost a superhuman accomplishment.”
Gerhard Krebs, Nachrichten der Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens/Hamburg (OAG) 183-184 (2008), 193.
Mass internment has long been recognized as a defining experience of World War II, but it was a fundamental experience of World War I as well.
More than eight million soldiers became prisoners of war, more than a million civilians became internees, and several millions more were displaced from their homes, with many placed in securitized refugee camps. For the first time, Out of Line, Out of Place brings these different camps together in conversation. Rotem Kowner and Iris Rachamimov emphasize that although there were differences among camps and varied logic of internment in individual countries, there were also striking similarities in how camps operated during the Great War.
LINKS
Cornell University Press: https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501765902/out-of-line-out-of-place/#bookTabs=1
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Out-Line-Place-History-Internments/dp/1501765906/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
CONTENTS
Introduction: Military, Civilian, and Political Internments: Examining Great War Internments Together, by Iris Rachamimov and Rotem Kowner
Part I: Internments in Europe
1. (Dis)entangling the Local, the National, and the International: Civilian Internment in Germany and in German-Occupied France and Belgium in Global Context, by Matthew Stibbe
2. The Captives of the Kaiser: Schutzhaft and Political Prisoners in Germany, by André Keil
3. Securitized Protection: Health Work in Wartime Austria-Hungary and the Making of Refugee Camps, by Doina Anca Cretu
4. Alexandra Palace: A Concentration Camp in the Heart of London, by Assaf Mond
5. Prisoner-of-War Civilian Experience: The Role of Profession among POWs, by Lena Radauer
6. The Face and Race of the Enemy: German POW Photographs as a Weapon of War, by Nancy Fitch
Part II: Internments Beyond Europe
7. "Enemies of Our Country": Internment in Canada's Rocky Mountains National Park, 1915–1917, by Bohdan S. Kordan
8. Globalizing Captivity: "Little Germany in China", by Naoko Shimazu
9. German Propaganda and the African and Asian Theaters of the War, by Mahon Murphy
Part III: Interwar Repurcussions and Beyond
10. Internment after the War's End: "Humanitarian Camps" in the POW Repatriation Process, 1918–1923, by Hazuki Tate
11. POWs, Civilians, and the Postwar Development of International Humanitarian Law, by Neville Wylie and Sarina Landefeld
Conclusion: World War I and Its Internments: Final Remarks, by Iris Rachamimov and Rotem Kowner
REVIEWS
"This volume changes the picture on the significance of this internment history in several respects. First, internment should be considered one of the core dimensions of the First World War experience, alongside such experiences as trench warfare on the Western Front, and as such calls for examination both on a global and the local level. Clearing up prevailing misconceptions about the rigidity of distinctions between military prisoners of war (POW) and civilian internees, the authors emphasise the fluidity in the use of these terms by camp administrators and internees alike. The authors also provide a helpful overview of the sheer range of social categories of civilians interned by different regimes … This is a landmark study in the field, and a book which will be indispensable for the teaching of the First World War.”
— Dina Gusejnova, First World War Studies (2023)
"Rotem Kowner and Iris Rachamimov emphasize the blurring of boundaries between the classic types of internment and the global system of camps first introduced during the First World War, as well as their exemplary effect in the decades after 1918. … This attractively illustrated volume does justice to its aim to draw a nuanced picture of well-known processes and, on the other hand, to shed light on topics and regions that have received little attention to date.”
— Martin Moll, Militaergeschichtliche Zeitschrift 82, no 2 (2023): 493–6
"This collective work presents the results of an international research project on the issue of prisoners of war (POWs), interned enemy civilians (IECs), and 'suspicious' citizens imprisoned during the First World War. … In their introduction, Rotem Kowner and Iris Rachamimov point out that between 1914 and 1920, captivity and internment assumed massive proportions: over eight million POWs, one to two million IECs, and tens of thousands of suspect nationals were living in camps, alongside millions of displaced persons. … We commend the excellent coordination and synthesis work carried out, acknowledging that it could not be exhaustive on such a broad subject.”
— Jean-Noël Grandhomme, Francia Recensio (July, 2023)
"This book has great merit. It compares various case studies in Europe and beyond and, thus, offers a broad picture of internment operations. Such a wide-ranging approach presents the multiple categories of individuals interned, including combatants, enemy aliens, and political prisoners; widespread camp locations; and connections among state practices. The reflections that chapters propose on the global character r of this wartime phenomena also helps foster an understanding of the First World War beyond the battlefield and beyond the period of 1914–18. … These essays will encourage other researchers to pursue work in this direction as many questions remain opened. … For all these reasons, this book is necessary reading for anyone interested in the history of internment and war captivity.”
— Jean-Michel Turcotte, H-War (July, 2023)
ENDORSEMENTS
"Out of Line, Out of Place is a major contribution to the history of captivity and its immense consequences throughout the 20th century. The editors overcome the complex challenge of encompassing the thousands of camps and millions of people who experienced internment by implementing a global focus with diverse perspectives."
— Sarah Kovner, Columbia University, author of Prisoners of the Empire
"Out of Line, Out of Place is an important addition to the social and cultural history of war. The editors show that the First World War was only the beginning of the creation of l'univers concentrationnaire with impressive, well-knit essays addressing internment camps and a vast range of internee experiences."
— Jay Winter, Yale University, author of War beyond Words
REVIEWS
"[This] book is a welcome addition to the literature on the global impact of English and to the research on lexical borrowing. ... [T]he overall value of this excellent book as a solid contribution to the systematization of the ongoing global process of lexical borrowing from English in the contemporary world and as a basis for enquiries concerning other languages to test and develop the model further."
Päivi Pahta, World Englishes 30 (2011), 160.
"This book compares the use and impact of English lexical items in a dozen other languages around the world. The goal is to determine which items are taken in and why, noting as appropriate secondary effects such as the introduction of new phonemes or syntactic patterns. The common term for such a phenomenon is borrowing... This volume is a good introduction to the diversity of linguistic situations concerning this phenomenon."
Douglas A. Kibbee, The Modern Language Journal 95 (2011): 149.
“... [T]his volume provides a substantial and important contribution to the research of language borrowing side by side with many adjacent fields, such as the global status of the English language, language policy and planning and historical-linguistic research. A reader unfamiliar with linguistic-theoretical conceptualization may face difficulties with several parts of the book, but undoubtedly would highly benefit from the sociolinguistic aspects that are presented usually in an accessible and thought-provoking manner.”
Dafna Yitzhaki, Israel Studies in Language and Society 2 (2009), 135.
“As a whole, the general theoretical outline of this book is novel, particularly the discussion on mechanism of adoption which have not been dealt earlier, and here is its great uniqueness. … This edited volume offers its readers a great deal of material and insightful distinctions that one must rely on in order to develop a balanced opinion on the eco-linguistic state of affaires of world languages, our language included. Every linguist and those who deal with languages contact in particular, but also scholars in other disciplines interested in the cultural phenomenon of the English impact on global culture and languages, would benefit from perusing this great wealth that only little of it was reviewed here.”
Y. Newman, Helkat Lashon: A Journal for Theoretical and Applied Linguistics 41 (2009-10), 195.
Ranging from prehistory to the present day, the authors address a wealth of topics including the domestication of animals, dietary practices and sacrifice, hunting, the use of animals in war, and the representation of animals in literature and art. Providing a unique perspective on human interaction with the environment, this volume is cross-disciplinary in its reach, offering enriching insights to the fields of animal ethics, Asian studies, world history and more.
CONTENT
1. Animals and Human Society in Asia: An Overview and Premises
PART I: HUNTING AND DOMESTICATION
2. When Elephants Roamed Asia: The Significance of Proboscideans in Diet, Culture and Cosmology in Paleolithic Asia (by Ran Barkai)
3. Hunting to Herding to Trading to Warfare: A Chronology of Animal Exploitation in the Negev (by Steven A. Rosen)
4. Domestication of the Donkey (Equus asinus) in the Southern Levant: Archaeozoology, Iconography and Economy (by Ianir Milevski and Liora Kolska Horwitz)
PART II: ANIMALS AS FOOD
5. Spilling Blood: Conflict and Culture over Animal Slaughter in Mongol Eurasia (by Timothy May)
6. China’s Dairy Century: Making, Drinking and Dreaming of Milk (by Thomas David DuBois)
7. Tuna as Economic Resource and Symbolic Capital in Japan’s “Imperialism of the Sea” (by Nadin Heé)
PART III: ANIMALS AT WAR
8. Elephants in Mongol History: From Military Obstacles to Symbols of Buddhist Power (by William G. Clarence-Smith)
9. The Mamluk's Best Friend: The Mounts of the Military Elite of Egypt and Eurasian Steppe in the Late Middle-Ages (by Reuven Amitai and Gila Kahila Bar-Gal)
10. A Million Horses: Raising Government Horses in Early Ming China (by Noa Grass)
PART IV: ANIMALS IN CULTURE AND RELIGION
11. From Lion to Tiger: The Changing Buddhist Images of Apex Predators in Trans-Asian Contexts (by Xing Zhang and Huaiyu Chen)
12. The Chinese Cult of the Horse King, Divine Protector of Equines (by Meir Shahar)
13. Animal Signs: Theriomorphic Intercession between Heaven and Imperial Mongolian History (by Brian Baumann)
Contributors
Bibliography
Index
ENDORSEMENT (BACK COVER)
"Animal studies is a vibrant field that renews humanities by breaking many barriers. This intense and beautiful volume exemplifies such breaking and renewing, as it connects Far-eastern and Near-eastern areas and the steppe world in between, and develops an engaged dialogue between archeology, history, religion, visual studies, economics, law, and more."
―Vincent Goossaert, Professor of Daoism and Chinese religions, EPHE, PSL, Paris
"An ambitious volume, as broad, diverse, and interconnected as Asia. A significant interdisciplinary contribution to the history of human-animal relations."
―Aaron Skabelund, Associate Professor of History, Brigham Young University, USA,
author of Empire of Dogs: Canines, Japan, and the Making of the Modern Imperial World
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-24363-0#toc
AMAZON
https://www.amazon.com/Animals-Human-Society-Asia-Perspectives/dp/3030243621/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=animals+and+human+society+in+asia&link_code=qs&qid=1564222263&s=gateway&sourceid=Mozilla-search&sr=8-1
For a full text:
https://books.google.co.il/books?id=2M1JDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT115&lpg=PT115
KEYWORDS: Sugihara Chiune, World War II, Holocaust, visa granting, Jewish refugees, Yad Vashem.
Japan’s revisionists label Lieutenant General Higuchi Kiichiro a hero for saving wartime refugees, but their tenuous account is a willful misuse of Jewish suffering before and during WWII
The symposium will take place online, through Zoom, on March 11, 2021 from 10-am Israel time / 5-pm Japan time.
Please join with the following link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9170009735
The Asian Sphere Program takes a fresh look at the continent of Asia as a concept and as a reality. It aims at exploring and analyzing the numerous interconnections that have tied its people, cities, and nations. Our fifth conference is devoted to the complex relations between West Asia, also known as the Middle East, and other parts of the continent in the past and present. We are interested in particular in the political, military, economic and cultural aspects of the relations, their determinants, undercurrents, and trajectories, as well as in other external players in the region.
Imperial history has been booming for quite a while. Along the way, innovative approaches such as post-colonial history, global history, or new imperial history have provided us with thrilling insights into the omnipresence and the everydayness of the human experience of empires. Amidst all this diversity, many studies have focussed on entanglements between colonies and metropoles, but much less is known about trans-imperial dimensions of the game. On an empirical basis, inter-imperial perspectives, which compare several empires or consider competition between them, have become more important lately. Yet, such studies are scattered and this kind of research remains in its infancy. We still lack an overarching theoretical-methodological framework with which to address the spaces in-between empires. In other words: whereas national history has been transnationalized in the past decades, the same does not hold true for the history of empires. Thus, we would like to address the current state of research and at the same time ask how a future trans-imperial history could look.
In this sense, we seek to decentralize the history of empires both on the level of empirical research and historiographical narratives. Our questions are as follows: do narratives for each empire change with such an approach? Do they appear less unique? To illustrate this: does the thesis about continuity in German colonialism from the late 19th century to the Nazi regime appear in another light if we discuss German expansion in trans-imperial contexts? Does the notion of the uniqueness of Japanese imperialism, which is often seen as a reaction to or even a mimicry of Western imperialism, still hold true? And, to add a final question: was the British empire the all-defining model for all the others or are the imperial processes of the various nations examples of mutual learning?
By discussing such concrete questions we also seek to address more overarching questions. How can we systemize such an approach in methodological and theoretical terms? Are recent concepts dealing with dissemination and practices of knowledge helpful? How can we integrate studies on anti-imperial agency or violence into the approach? And who were the brokers of trans-imperial interactions?
Research has shown that transnational approaches do not make the nation disappear. We would like to take the same stance in relation to empire. Therefore, in this workshop we will focus on specific cases. The workshop, to be held in Berlin in September 2017, will bring together an international group of scholars who have focused on one or more imperial dimensions of one of the following empires: British, French, Russian, Austria-Hungary, Japanese, German, Italian, Spanish, Ottoman, Chinese, as well as the US-American empire. Their contributions should discuss how transcending perspectives can change the perception of the empires they are specialized in, but also discuss possibilities and limits of a trans-imperial approach for the historiography per se. The focus will be on the years between 1850 and 1945.
Call for proposals for an international conference on
The Heisei Era in Retrospect: Major Trends in Post-Industrial and Post-Consumer Japan
The University of Haifa and Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem 11–13 June 2017
The Biennial Conference of the Israeli Association of Japanese Studies will be held at the University of Haifa and the Bezalel Academy of Arts, Jerusalem on 11–13 June 2017. In this conference we wish to reflect on the Heisei era as this era approaches its thirtieth anniversary and may even draw to a close soon. Focusing on this relatively short but eventful era, this conference aims at creating an outline for a retrospective on the historical, social, economic, political and cultural developments in Heisei Japan. We especially welcome interdisciplinary studies of the creative industries within their social or economic contexts.
The conference will take place from February 27 to March 2nd, 2017, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. Workshops in Haifa, Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem will take place on February 26.
Asian Sphere Program. The conference will take place from
26 February to 2 March 2017, at the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem, Israel.
In a seventy-year hindsight, August 1945 emerges as an epoch-making month and by far the most crucial turning point in the twentieth-century history of East Asia. But how exactly did Japan’s surrender affect the various processes that came to an end or began in that date? Is it possible to construct a meta-narrative of the various events and processes that occurred in 1945 and the subsequent decade? In this symposium we seek to examine these and other questions by offering a broad international perspective and relying on new materials and approaches. We are looking in particular for novel (and unconventional) perspectives which represent either one or more of the powers involved (i.e., China, Japan, the two Koreas, Soviet Union/Russia, and the United States) but transcend national historiographies.
הוא מייחל לנפילתה של סין, מזלזל בסכנה אפשרית מקוריאה הצפונית, קורא לפתח נשק גרעיני ומחזיק בהיסטוריה חלופית לגבי יהודים. קסה הידאקי הוא מהאידאולוגים החשובים ביותר של הימים הלאומני ביפן, ושל מפלגת השלטון במדינה ששואפת לעצב מחדש את מקומה בעולם. ראיון.
A Slight Derailment: The Shinkansen, the Japanese Public Transportation, and What
We Can Learn from Them
תכנית המרחב האסיאני משותפת לאוניברסיטת חיפה ולאוניברסיטה העברית, וממומנת על קרן יד הנדיב, המועצה להשכלה גבוהה ושתי האוניברסיטאות. זוהי תכנית מובנית הרואה ביבשת אסיה רצף של ציביליזציות והמתמקדת בקשרים ובתהליכים חוצי-איזורים בין ובקרב חברות, תרבויות, ומדיניות אסיאניות, וכן בקשרים בין אסיה ויבשות אחרות, לאורך ההיסטוריה ועד עצם היום הזה.
פרט לסביבת לימודים ומחקר דינמית ויחודית, התכנית מציעה מספר רב של מלגות לתלמידים מתקדמים מצטיינים. מלגת הדוקטורט (מלגת מחיה) הינה לשלוש שנים על סך 60,000 ₪ לשנה, בנוסף לתמיכה בהשתתפות בכנסים בינלאומיים ובמחקר שדה.
Recent international history has emphasized the galvanizing effect of global ideologies, institutional arenas and mobilization channels on interwar anti-imperial movements (see, for example, Erez Manela’s The Wilsonian Moment or Susan Pedersen’s work on the mandates system). Conversely, Andrew Arsan and other scholars have linked Middle-East interwar internationalism to pre-existing traditions of transnational mobilization typical of late-Ottoman political life. While the metropolis-colony binary remains the most appropriate framework to interpret the post-WWI arch of anti-imperial insurgency, I argue, the imperial spaces of the various European powers should be seen in interaction with each other, as they made up an osmotic and interconnected humus. Not only did anti-colonial movements played with inter-imperial rivalry to challenge metropolitan authorities; imperial powers also monitored troubles in each other’s colonial peripheries in search for parallels and contrasts with their own, as the confidential comments by French politicians and bureaucrats on Egyptian and Libyan complaints reveal.
DEADLINE: March 31, 2020
https://eacenter.huji.ac.il/news/asian-sphere-trans-cultural-flows-program
Ranging from prehistory to the present day, the authors address a wealth of topics including the domestication of animals, dietary practices and sacrifice, hunting, the use of animals in war, and the representation of animals in literature and art. Providing a unique perspective on human interaction with the environment, this volume is cross-disciplinary in its reach, offering enriching insights to the fields of animal ethics, Asian studies, world history and more.
CONTENT
1. Animals and Human Society in Asia: An Overview and Premises
PART I: HUNTING AND DOMESTICATION
2. When Elephants Roamed Asia: The Significance of Proboscideans in Diet, Culture and Cosmology in Paleolithic Asia (by Ran Barkai)
3. Hunting to Herding to Trading to Warfare: A Chronology of Animal Exploitation in the Negev (by Steven A. Rosen)
4. Domestication of the Donkey (Equus asinus) in the Southern Levant: Archaeozoology, Iconography and Economy (by Ianir Milevski and Liora Kolska Horwitz)
PART II: ANIMALS AS FOOD
5. Spilling Blood: Conflict and Culture over Animal Slaughter in Mongol Eurasia (by Timothy May)
6. China’s Dairy Century: Making, Drinking and Dreaming of Milk (by Thomas David DuBois)
7. Tuna as Economic Resource and Symbolic Capital in Japan’s “Imperialism of the Sea” (by Nadin Heé)
PART III: ANIMALS AT WAR
8. Elephants in Mongol History: From Military Obstacles to Symbols of Buddhist Power (by William G. Clarence-Smith)
9. The Mamluk's Best Friend: The Mounts of the Military Elite of Egypt and Eurasian Steppe in the Late Middle-Ages (by Reuven Amitai and Gila Kahila Bar-Gal)
10. A Million Horses: Raising Government Horses in Early Ming China (by Noa Grass)
PART IV: ANIMALS IN CULTURE AND RELIGION
11. From Lion to Tiger: The Changing Buddhist Images of Apex Predators in Trans-Asian Contexts (by Xing Zhang and Huaiyu Chen)
12. The Chinese Cult of the Horse King, Divine Protector of Equines (by Meir Shahar)
13. Animal Signs: Theriomorphic Intercession between Heaven and Imperial Mongolian History (by Brian Baumann)
Contributors
Bibliography
Index
ENDORSEMENT (BACK COVER)
"Animal studies is a vibrant field that renews humanities by breaking many barriers. This intense and beautiful volume exemplifies such breaking and renewing, as it connects Far-eastern and Near-eastern areas and the steppe world in between, and develops an engaged dialogue between archeology, history, religion, visual studies, economics, law, and more."
―Vincent Goossaert, Professor of Daoism and Chinese religions, EPHE, PSL, Paris
"An ambitious volume, as broad, diverse, and interconnected as Asia. A significant interdisciplinary contribution to the history of human-animal relations."
―Aaron Skabelund, Associate Professor of History, Brigham Young University, USA,
author of Empire of Dogs: Canines, Japan, and the Making of the Modern Imperial World
AMAZON
https://www.amazon.com/Animals-Human-Society-Asia-Perspectives/dp/3030243621/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=animals+and+human+society+in+asia&link_code=qs&qid=1564222263&s=gateway&sourceid=Mozilla-search&sr=8-1
Page Numbers: 412
Publication Date: 2019
Publication Name: London: Palgrave Macmillan