2015 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 | Kyoto University |
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Principal Investigator |
今村 真央 京都大学, 東南アジア研究所, 研究員 (60748135)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
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| Keywords | Sino-Myanmar boundary / Kachin / Yunnan |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
The first year of this project turned out to be very fruitful. Firstly, it was a productive year in building the basic infrastructure for the research. Equipment necessary for the project was acquired and arranged, and a superb network was built or rebuilt. For the first year the overall achievement has been more than satisfactory.
In the summer of 2015, I visited Myanmar and spent a substantive amount of time in the Sino-Myanmar border (Kachin) region, and I was able to assess the situation of the local research efforts. Because this was my first trip in several years to the border region, it was very beneficial to reconnect with the local research community. I was able to conduct archival research and make arrangements necessary for future collaboration efforts.
The workshop was held in December. The participants included two scholars based in Myanmar and one scholar based in Taiwan. It was helpful to have them especially in making plans for the next two years; I plan to conduct a research trip in Taipei next year.
The primary purpose of the year was to make a comprehensive assessment of the scholarly literature on the topic, and this has been achieved better than expected. I discovered that to my surprise no was working on the long history of the boundary demarcation, and it made me realize the importance of this project.
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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
While I was able to have far more discussions and seminars this year, I was not able to make much progress on the other major goal, namely the digitization of the archival documents. This had to do with the technological issue; discovered at Kyoto University that while it was easy to digitize microfilm it was not so easy to digitize microfiche. The documents I needed to study were, at Kyoto University, on microfische; therefore it turned out to be difficult to digitize the data. As I learned that the technological difficulty would likely be overcome in late 2016, I decided to postpone this part of the project. This is a task that could be completed quickly as soon as the technological issues are solved.
While the diginization was delayed, this project achieved more than expected as it collaborated with benefitted with other research projects such as the Zomia Study Group, which also started at Kyoto University this year. Thanks to the collaborations, I was able to invite a series of scholars working on the topic of this project; the history of the China-Myanmar border region. I had originally planned to convened one workshop in Kyoto, but as it turned out I was able to host nearly ten meetings and seminars. These events allowed me to meet and discuss the project with leading scholars (both Japanese and foreign) working in this this field. The discussions I had with them proved to be extremely helpful in assessing the state of affairs for this research project.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
One major discovery relates to the existence of French archival documents, especially the diaries penned by Colonel Inselin,. I was aware of the roles played by Colonel Inselin, who who led the Joint Boundary Commission in 1935-36, but I did not know that his diaries were available in an archive in Paris until I learned it from Prof. Fiskesjo (Colonel U). These diaries would likely fill a major gap in the research on the Joint Commission, which for some reason has not been studied in depth. I also benefitted from discussing this research project with leading scholars of Yunnan history including David Bello, Kumiko Kato, and Kazutaka Nishikawa, who all kindly came to Kyoto.
Next year, I will focus more on the archival texts, starting with the digitazation at Kyoto University. A trip to Taipei is likely. Since I have moved to Yamagata, I will seek ore collaboration with scholars in the region--especially scholars of modern Chinese history.
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