2016 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
From Frontiers to Boundaries: How was the borderline drawn between British Burma and China (1886-1941)?
| Project/Area Number |
15K03317
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| Research Institution | Yamagata University |
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Principal Investigator |
今村 真央 山形大学, 人文学部, 准教授 (60748135)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
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| Keywords | India-China relations |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
The second year of this project proved to be another fruitful period, produced significant findings. Discussing with him, I was able to invite to Japan Prof. Eric Vanden Bussche, the leading scholar on this particular topic (the modern history of the Sino-Myanmar boundary). I was able to understand and map the current scholarship, especially those based on Chinese archival materials, better than before. This led me to realize that my own research should focus on the Myanmar/India side because the knowledge gaps are there. India is important not only because Myanmar was part of British India for the historical period covered by this study but also because China-India relations directly influenced the China-Myanmar boundary demarcation.I realized that a proper way to investigate the topic of this research project (the China-Myanmar boundary) was actually to approach the history of three boundaries (China-Myanmar, China-India, Myanmar-India) together. If I take this approach, I will be able to present a more original study and for a broader audience. While a case study of boundary demarcation is usually treated as a matter of bilateral relationship today, I aspire to present a framework that can bring case studies together.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
This research project has made a significant turn during this period (the second year). Now it is going to expand the scope both historically and geographically. The biggest reason for this change is that I have discovered that the original scopes have been covered already by another scholar (Eric Vanden Bussche), whose monograph will probably appear in 2019. Because there is no reason for me to reinvent the wheels, I need to modify my own research project. I should broaden the historical and spatial scopes and synthesize the findings at a higher scale. Fortunately, I was able to visit India this year quickly after realizing that I needed to expand the geographical frame of this study to incorporate India, and I was able to find immediately useful materials there.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
The project is entering the third and final year, and I will be needing to shift from the “date collection and analysis” mode to the “presenting findings” mode. While the data collection will still continue, I will need to tighten the thematic framework as the expanded scopes will necessarily bring more empirical data. Selecting relevant data will require modified and tighter criteria on my part. I will need to address specific theoretical concerns sooner than later. Ethnic classification has been identified as a major thematic focus since the project proposal, but "war" is likely to be added as another major theme, now that I will be considering military conflicts between China and India as a major topic. In the third year, I plan to travel less in order to focus on reading and writing.
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| Causes of Carryover |
The main reason is that my oversea research trips were covered by other funds. I made trips to Myanmar, China, and India this year but I was able to cover most of the trips with other funds. I decided to use the funds with more restrictions first and to save some of my own funding for the next fiscal year.
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| Expenditure Plan for Carryover Budget |
I have been already accepted to a conference in England (at Oxford University) in August; I will be presenting findings from this research project there.The left-over amount from the second year will be used to make this possible, allowing both the conference presentation and archival research there.
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