2020 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Legal Practices, Colonial Rivalry, and Identity in China's Borderlands, 1880-1940
| Project/Area Number |
19K23102
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| Research Institution | The University of Tokyo |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Project Period (FY) |
2019-08-30 – 2022-03-31
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| Keywords | China's borderlands / border disputes / legal practices / ethnic identity / colonial rivalry |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
During the 2020-2021 fiscal year, I conducted four types of activities to achieve the goals outlined in my project. First, I carefully examined the dozens of files that I collected during my research trips in the United Kingdom and Myanmar during the previous year. These files consisted of three kinds of sources: legal case proceedings adjudicated by joint frontier courts in the Sino-Burmese borderlands (1900s-1930s); correspondence from the British consuls in Tengyue (1910s-1930s); and government reports from British colonial officials. Second, I collected Chinese archival materials made available online by the Institute of Modern History at Academic Sinica in Taiwan. Third, I presented papers on issues related to state-building along China's borderlands at the following venues (held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic): V Symposium of the International Society for the History of the Map (June 2020) and the Faculty Research Forum at the University of Tokyo (November 2020). Finally, I am completing a journal article that examines how joint Sino-British frontier courts in the Sino-Burmese borderlands reshaped the relationship between the border populations, state agents, and colonial officials during the 1930s. The article will be submitted for publication shortly.
The activities that I engaged during the past fiscal year enabled me to examine the role of frontier courts in state-building efforts, in particular the formation of ethnic identities along the Sino-Burmese borderlands and will result in the publication of the partial results of my research.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
3: Progress in research has been slightly delayed.
Reason
Due to travel restrictions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, I was unable to conduct archival research abroad as originally planned. While I managed to obtain archival sources from Taiwanese archives (since they are available online), I still need to collect sources in archives in France and Russia. I plan to complete archival research in these two countries during the 2021-22 fiscal year.
In addition, two conferences that accepted papers proposals on my JSPS research were postponed due to the pandemic: the European Association of Chinese Studies biannual conference (to be originally held in Leipzig in 2020) and the Asian Studies Conference Japan (to be held at Sophia University, Tokyo).
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
During the 2021-22 fiscal year, I plan to complete the process of collecting sources in the following archives during summer: the State Archives of the Russian Federation (Russia) and the Archives Nationales d'Outre-mer (France). These sources will provide me with the sufficient sources to engage in a comparative approach of pluralistic legal practices along China's borderlands with Russia, Vietnam, and Burma during the late nineteenth century and first half of the twentieth century. Through this comparison, this research will provide original insights on Chinese attempts to extend the reach of the state in its borderlands and forge ethnic and national identities. I will also be presenting my research in Japan and at conferences abroad. I already have two paper presentations confirmed (which were postponed last year due to the pandemic) and I am waiting for the notice on a proposal that I submitted to the British Association of Chinese Studies.
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| Causes of Carryover |
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I was unable to conduct my archival research trips abroad, as originally scheduled for the 2020-21 fiscal year. As a result, I will use the remaining funds to conduct archival research during the next fiscal year.
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