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“This is one of the finest studies to appear in the field of East Asian studies in recent years. In this highly readable book, Fujitani offers superior thinking and analysis on race relations, empire, and wartime collaboration with the enemy.” —Bruce Cumings, University of Chicago
“Pushing against national archives and historiographies and linguistic and disciplinary formations, Race for Empire is a singular, remarkable achievement.” —Gary Y. Okihiro, author of Pineapple Culture: A History of the Tropical and Temperate Zones
“Race for Empire offers a profound and thought-provoking re-interpretation. Through excellent use of a wide range of material, Fujitani presents a meticulously researched analysis. This is a milestone in the study of wartime Japan and the U.S.” —Teresa Morris-Suzuki, author of Borderline Japan: Foreigners and Frontier Controls in the Postwar Era
List of contents
List of Illustrations
Preface and Acknowledgments
Note on Romanization and Naming
Commonly Used Acronyms
Introduction: Ethnic and Colonial Soldiers and the Politics of Disavowal
Part One: From Vulgar to Polite Racism
1. Right to Kill, Right to Make Live: Koreans as Japanese
2. “Very Useful and Very Dangerous”: The Global Politics of Life, Death, and Race
Part Two: Japanese as Americans
3. Subject to Choice, Labyrinth of (Un)freedom
4. Reasoning, Counterreasonings, and Counter-conduct
5. Go for Broke, the Movie: The Transwar Making of American Heroes
Part Three: Koreans as Japanese
6. National Mobilization
7. Nation, Blood, and Self-Determination
8. The Colonial and National Politics of Gender, Sex, and Family
Epilogue: “Four Volunteer Soldiers”
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
About the author
T. Fujitani is the Dr. David Chu Professor in Asia-Pacific Studies and Professor of History at the University of Toronto. He is the editor of Perilous Memories: The Asia Pacific War(s) and is the author of Splendid Monarchy: Power and Pageantry in Modern Japan (UC Press).
Summary
Offers a profound reinterpretation of nationalism, racism, and wartime mobilization during the Asia-Pacific war. This book demonstrates that the United States and Japan became increasingly alike over the course of the war, perhaps most tellingly in their common attempts to disavow racism even as they reproduced it in new ways and forms.
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“Truly impressive archival work and rigorous conceptualization. . . . Provides compelling narratives and analyses of Japanese colonialism in Korea.”
