Culture and Mobility in Japan's Cold War centering Zainichi Korean Literature

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K12280
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 02010:Japanese literature-related
• Research Institution: Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
• Principal Investigator: Sakasai Akito 東京外国語大学, 世界言語社会教育センター, 講師 (50792404)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 戦後文学 / 冷戦 / 在日朝鮮人文学 / 移動

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research considered writers and literary works in Japan around the immediate post-Asia Pacific War period, especially Zainichi Korean writers and their literature that were severely monitored and censored during the Cold War. In the first year, I collected documents concerning the Occupation of Japan and US Military Government in Korea in university libraries in the United States and Canada. In the second year, I mainly analyzed zainichi Korean literary works and produced several academic papers. In the third (final) year, I utilized online meetings in the situation of the covid-19 global pandemic, in order to sustain the international research network that I built for these three years. The onlinezation of research environment allowed me to present my research outcomes domestically and internationally and also gave a new prospective for future research plan.

Free Research Field

日本近現代文学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究を通して、冷戦期の日本や朝鮮における文学や文化事象を国際的に議論するネットワークを構築することができた。このことは、冷戦という複数の国家や集団が交渉し相克するような状況に対して議論を国内に留めてしまうことを避けることに繋がり、より多角的な検討が可能になると考える。また、その様なプラットフォームにおいて、文学作品や作家について個別性にとらわれ過ぎない、より理論的な議論ができる様になり、日本文学研究の国際化に寄与することに繋がったと考える。