A Basic Reserach Toward the Comparative Cold War Literary History in Transpacific and Transatlantic Regions (the Caribbean and East Asia)

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K00512
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 02050:Literature in general-related
• Research Institution: Tokyo University of Science
• Principal Investigator: Yoshida Yutaka 東京理科大学, 教養教育研究院葛飾キャンパス教養部, 准教授 (20734958)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 帝国主義 / 冷戦 / 米軍統治 / 脱植民地化 / カリブ文学 / 沖縄文学 / 朝鮮戦争 / 人種

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research project aimed at unravelling the difficulties and comparability between the trans-Atlantic regions including the British Caribbean islands (such as Trinidad and Jamaica)and the trans-Pacific region (most notably, Korean Peninsula and Okinawa), by focussing on literatures that illustrate specific events in history such as the Korean War, militarization, and decolonization under the U.S. Cold War regime. At the same time, I used and hopefully renewed a framework of comparative literature to untie the knot that connects what have happened in the seemingly separate hemispheres. I published my first monograph, articles, and translations, related to this project, which does not mean that my initial plan for this research project was fully accomplished. It is partly because the whole project itself covers such a wide range of subjects and historical events that it necessarily takes an amount of time and energy to carefully investigate the possibility of comparison alone.

Free Research Field

カリブ文学研究

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

植民地の歴史が関わる外国文学研究は、対象それ自体を真摯に探求するのは当然であるが、必然的に自らの足元の歴史の痕跡を引き寄せずには置かない。その双方を見極めるに適切なアプローチが、自身の足場たるカリブ文学研究にどのように見出せるかを数年間、調査・研究・執筆の結果、仮説として捻り出したのが、比較冷戦文学史なるアイディアである。イギリスに支配されていたカリブ海地域、帝国日本に支配されていた朝鮮半島や沖縄といった地域を単に旧植民地ということで一括りにするのではなく、その後の自立に当たっての困難が米軍支配と冷戦であるという共通項を、いかにして異なりつつも、同時代の現象として比較可能かを探求した。