Social Science Japan Journal Advance Access originally published online on October 5, 2006
Social Science Japan Journal 2006 9(2):187-202; doi:10.1093/ssjj/jyl028
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Social Science Japan Journal 9:187-202 (2006)
© 2006 Oxford University Press
Uncovering Shokumin: Yanaihara Tadao’s Concept of Global Civil Society
NAKANO Ryoko is a research fellow in the Nanzan University Institute for Social Ethics in Nagoya. She earned her doctorate from the University of Oxford writing about the work and contribution of Yanaihara Tadao in the history of International Relations in Japan. She can be reached at the Nanzan University Institute for Social Ethics, Nanzan University, 18 Yamazato-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, 466-8673, Japan, or by e-mail at r_nakano1{at}hotmail.com
This article develops the argument that Yanaihara Tadao (1893–1961), a Japanese social scientist at Tokyo Imperial University, embraced the concept of global civil society in which culturally distinct groups would voluntarily cooperate for the benefit of the whole. This important aspect of his work is much less explored than his critique of Japanese colonial policy in Taiwan and Korea. In the period of imperial Japan, Yanaihara reinterpreted the commonly used term for colonization, shokumin, as population migration. Such a reinterpretation allowed him to illustrate the significance of transnational interactions as part and parcel of the globalizing civil society. This article examines his specific understanding of population migration and ethnic nationalism in relation to the concept of global civil society. I argue that his call for colonial autonomy in response to ethnic nationalism implies that he considered the collective struggle for creating an ethnic nation state not only a negative example of a conflict over differences but also a positive opportunity to explore the potential of global civil society.
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  Z. Baber A Name for a Stray Dog -- Global Civil Society International Sociology, March 1, 2008; 23(2): 237 - 245. [PDF]
|
|