Soldiering through time and space taiwanese mobilizations under the japanese and u.s. empires, 1930s - 1970s Shang Kaho Yasuda

Format:

Book

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Yasuda, Shang Kaho, author.

Contributor:

University of Pennsylvania. History., degree granting institution.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

History.

Political science.

Asian American studies.

0578.

0343.

0615.

Local Subjects:

History.

Political science.

Asian American studies.

0578.

0343.

0615.

Genre:

Academic theses

Physical Description:

1 online resource (236 pages)

Contained In:

Dissertations Abstracts International 87-12A

Place of Publication:

Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, 2026

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This dissertation traces the changing place and meaning of "Taiwan" and the trajectories of Taiwanese people under Japanese colonialism (1895-1945), Martial Law under the incoming Nationalist (or KMT) regime (1949-1987), and the concurrently expanding U.S. Empire across the Asia-Pacific (1945-1979). Conversely, it also investigates how people on the ground navigated and lived their lives at the intersections of global wars, regime changes, and imperial violence. The dissertation analyzes how imperialism(s) and militarism(s) extend beyond the battlefield and into everyday life. In particular, these stories reframe how we think about the military, war, and who is part of these institutions and processes, through the framework of "soldiering." The dissertation uses the framing of "soldiering" as a capacious process that not only involved "soldiers" who were fighting on the battlefield, but also medical personnel, laborers, anti-colonial activists, and more, who were caught within these same infrastructures of imperial militarism. As the chapters demonstrate, the process of "soldiering" was not only about sending young men straight to the battlefield, but also the effort to turn men, women, and children into productive components of Taiwan's capitalist economy under all three regimes. In the case of Taiwan during the mid-twentieth century, civil society and the military were tangibly interlinked. Under the Japanese empire and KMT Martial Law, becoming "productive" citizens or full members of society was tied to participation in infrastructures of militarization, including through compulsory education and (mandatory) military service. After 1945, as the U.S. empire expanded across the Asia-Pacific, the institution of the military was a way to mold modern citizens in newly emerging "democratic," capitalist, state regimes that were now under U.S. control, or at the very least, had substantial U.S. backing. This was conversely a way for the U.S. empire to facilitate the creation of subjects abroad. Therefore, the dissertation aims to blur the stark divide between "the military/military society" and "civilian society/civilian life," that were in fact deeply intertwined across the mid-twentieth century

Notes:

Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 87-12, Section: A.

Advisors: Azuma, Eiichiro Committee members: Dickinson, Frederick R.; Offner, Amy C.; Lan, Shichi Mike

Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania 2026

Vendor supplied data

Local Notes:

School code: 0175

ISBN:

9798247983019

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license