A cartoon picture of men cutting a cake which is supposed to be a metaphor for China

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.

Caption: Japan and other imperial powers carve up China in a political cartoon from 1898. Detail from Louis Dalrymple, "No Chance to Criticize," Puck, 25 May 1898. Retrieved from the Library of Congress.

Project information

Project manager
John L. Hennessey
Participating organizations
Linnaeus University, Nationella Forskarskolan i historiska studier
Financiers
Linnaeus University Institution for Cultural Sciences, Linnaeus University Centre for Concurrences in Colonial and Postcolonial Studies, Nationella Forskarskolan i historiska studier
Timetable
1 February 2012–9 March 2018
Subject
History