Doctoral project: Rule by Association: Japan in the Global Trans-Imperial Culture 1868-1912
This PhD project highlights Japan's engagement with globally-circulating colonial ideas and practices during the period 1868-1912. Through a comparative analysis of scholarly and popular texts aimed at international and Japanese audiences, this project investigates the origin and development of specific colonial ideas in Meiji Japan and their policy effects. In particular, it demonstrates that despite the fact that imperial Japan is commonly linked to assimilation, before 1919 the competing philosophy of colonial association also had powerful proponents in Japan, consistent with trends in the other great empires of the age.