Colonial Cover-up: Britain's Destruction of Sensitive Records Worldwide

• Project/Area Number: 17K03169
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: History of Europe and America
• Research Institution: Waseda University
• Principal Investigator: Sato Shohei 早稲田大学, 文学学術院, 准教授 (70597939)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2020)
• Budget Amount: ¥4,420,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,020,000); Fiscal Year 2020: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000); Fiscal Year 2019: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000); Fiscal Year 2018: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000); Fiscal Year 2017: ¥1,040,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥240,000)
• Keywords: 集合的記憶 / 忘却 / 文書管理 / 植民地独立 / 脱植民地化 / イギリス帝国 / マルタ / セイロン / スリランカ / 記憶 / 公文書管理 / 文書等毀棄 / 集団的記憶 / 歴史認識 / 協力者 / コラボレーター / 隠蔽 / 記録 / 植民地 / 帝国 / 史料批判

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The twentieth century was a period of imperial decline and national liberation, during which the Japanese and European empires retreated from around the world as dozens of their former colonies gained independence. Amid the decolonization processes, the aforementioned imperial powers are believed to have concealed many of the records of their unsavory past. While it is difficult to acquire a clear picture of how these acts of obfuscation took place, new information about the history of the British Empire is beginning to emerge. Drawing on newly-discovered sources, this research project examines how, throughout its colonies, the British Empire concealed and destroyed sensitive documents in the mid to late twentieth century, with a particular emphasis on the early stages of this process.

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

植民地独立期のイギリス帝国による文書隠蔽工作は、世界の現代史の理解を大きく歪めるものであった可能性がある。つまりこの文書隠蔽工作で何が起きたのかを解明することは、それ自体として学術的な意義があると言えるが、さらに事例を超えた社会的な意義を考えることも出来る。今日、多くの国家や民族は、自分たちの過去についての記憶を共有してアイデンティティの一部としている。その一方で、同じ集団が、自分たちにとって都合の悪い歴史からは目をそらしながら何とか社会としてのまとまりを保っているという場合もある。集合的記憶の裏にある意図的で集合的な忘却、言わば集合的忘却に、本研究は光を照らし得るのだ。

Research Products

• [Journal Article] 破棄された文書に光を当てる : イギリス帝国による植民地文書の隠蔽 (2019)
  • Author(s): 佐藤尚平
  • Journal Title: 歴史学研究 Volume: 985 Pages: 11-21
• [Journal Article] The Middle East and the Economy of the British Empire (2019)
  • Author(s): 佐藤尚平
  • Journal Title: イスラーム地域研究ジャーナル Volume: 11 Pages: 116-117
• [Journal Article] 西アジア・北アフリカ（近現代） (2018)
  • Author(s): 佐藤尚平
  • Journal Title: 史学雑誌 Volume: 127 Pages: 305-310
• [Journal Article] 'Operation Legacy': Britain's Destruction and Concealment of Colonial Records Worldwide (2017)
  • Author(s): Shohei Sato
  • Journal Title: The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History Volume: オンライン先行公開 Issue: 4 Pages: 1-23
  • DOI: 10.1080/03086534.2017.1294256
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Acknowledgement Compliant
• [Presentation] Towards a global comparison of selective amnesia: Britain’s colonial cover-up across Asia (2019)
  • Author(s): Shohei Sato
  • Organizer: The 11th International Conference of Asia Scholars (ICAS 11)
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] The economic decolonization of oil producers: ‘Kuwait gap’ and the formation of the ‘oil triangle’ (2017)
  • Author(s): Shohei Sato
  • Organizer: Workshop on ‘The 1970s as the turning point of the mwodern world system: the impact of the oil crises’ at National Chengchi University, Taipei
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Book] 中東・オリエント文化事典 (2020)
  • Author(s): 鈴木董、近藤二郎、赤堀雅幸
  • Total Pages: 826
  • Publisher: 丸善出版
  • ISBN: 9784621305539
• [Book] スポーツの世界史 (2018)
  • Author(s): 坂上康博・中房敏郎・石井昌幸・高嶋航（編）
  • Total Pages: 652
  • Publisher: 一色出版
  • ISBN: 9784909383044
• [Book] Routledge Handbook of the Global Sixties (2018)
  • Author(s): Chen Jian, Martin Klimke, Masha Kirasirova, Mary Nolan, Marilyn Young, Joanna Waley-Cohen (eds)
  • Total Pages: 616
  • Publisher: Routledge
  • ISBN: 9781138557321