2021 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Exoticism and the Spread of Disease on Pacific Islands
| Project/Area Number |
21K00444
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| Research Institution | Nihon University |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Project Period (FY) |
2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
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| Keywords | exoticism / colonialism / Pacific islands |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
In 2021, I went for research to Berlin, where I met Prof. Meitaka Kendall (College of the Marshall Islands) for a discussion of photographs on German colonialism available in the Alele National Archive. I organized the meetings of a research group on exoticism in Tokyo. I elaborated entries about exoticism and Pacific travel literature for an encyclopedia of travel writing, to be published by Metzler (Stuttgart) in 2022-23. The major achievement is an article about the circumnavigation of Carl Friedrich Behrens. He was a member of the scurvy-ridden crew of a violent Dutch expedition landing on the Pacific Islands of Rapa Nui and Samoa in 1722.
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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
In the summer of 2021, access to archives was partially restricted due to Corona. Instead of presenting my paper on Carl Friedrich Behrens at the Conference of the Pacific History Association, I took the opportunity to present my research results as part of a lecture series at a German university (Paderborn) on ZOOM. Studies on colonial violence and exoticism in general have taken more time than planned. I compared Carl Friedrich Behrens' historical travelogues about Easter Island with contemporary literature by Judith Schalansky and Christoph Ransmayr and was thus able to reconstruct the difference between a colonial and a postcolonial, ecocritical perspective.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
I am co-organizing a symposium on exoticism at Sophia University. The research group involved plans to publish an anthology on this topic. Because of Corona it may be difficult to travel to the Marshall Islands for field studies as planned. Therefore, I would like to prioritize my research on sexual exoticism in Robert Mueller's novella "The Island Girl". In summer 2022, I would like to continue my research in Germany's Federal Archives, in Berlin's and Bavaria's State Library. In the event that travel restrictions are lifted in 2022, I would like to use the budget more flexibly to attend conferences and meetings with other researchers.
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| Causes of Carryover |
I could not spent last year's budget because of travel restrictions. I would like to invite Prof. Michael Wetzel (Bonn) and Prof. Shiori Kitaoka (Osaka) to a symposium at Sophia University (June). Acquisition of a computer with a German keyboard in Germany is essential for the conference proceedings. I want to continue my archival research in Germany (Aug./Sept.). I am planning to participate in conferences (Japanese Association of German Studies, JGG, etc.). If there are no travel restrictions in place, I would like to do field work in the Marshall Islands (February 2023).
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[Journal Article] G. Aly: Das Prachtboot2021
Author(s)
Thomas Schwarz
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Journal Title
H-Soz-Kult. Kommunikation und Fachinformation fuer die Geschichtswissenschaften, https://www.hsozkult.de/review/id/reb-97653?title=g-aly-das-prachtboot
Volume: 0
Pages: 0-0
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