An Analysis of the Impacts of Anti-Nuclear Weapons Movements in the Mid-Twentieth Century Africa From a Perspective of History of Japanese-African Relations

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K03096
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: History of Asia and Africa
• Research Institution: Meiji University
• Principal Investigator: MIZOBE YASU'O 明治大学, 国際日本学部, 専任教授 (80401446)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 核兵器廃絶運動 / アフリカ現代史 / ガーナ / クワメ・ンクルマ / パンアフリカニズム / 日本アフリカ関係史 / 非同盟運動 / アクラ会議

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In June 1962, a week-long international conference titled ‘The World Without the Bomb’ was convened in Accra, Ghana, attracting approximately 130 participants, mainly from the Non-Aligned Countries, who discussed the issues of disarmament and denuclearisation. Among the convention attendees were three Japanese: Shinzo Hamai, the then mayor of Hiroshima City; Ichiro Moritaki, a professor at the Hiroshima University and a leader of the anti-atomic and hydrogen bomb movement and Tomi Kora, a leading female activist and a former member of the House of Councilors. Through an examination of official documents, press reports and private papers collected in Japan and Ghana, this study analysed how the anti-nuclear arms conference held in Ghana impacted campaigns against atomic and hydrogen bombs in Japan as well as how Japan, as a victim of nuclear bombing, influenced disarmament and denuclearisation movements in Africa in the early 1960s.

Free Research Field

アフリカ近現代史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

20世紀中葉の日本アフリカ関係史はこれまで、政治・経済および学術交流の側面から論じられることがほとんどであったが、アフリカが主導する核兵器廃絶運動を通して日本とアフリカの関係性を考察した本研究の視点・成果は、同時期の日ア関係史研究の深化を促すものとなった。また、20世紀中葉以降の核兵器廃絶運動の歴史的展開を論じる研究は数多く存在するが、日本とアフリカの関係を軸に平和運動の国際的連帯を検証する研究はなく、アクラ会議に参加した3名の日本人(高良とみ、浜井信三、森瀧市郎)らによる日本語資料を用いた英語による本研究の発信(学会発表・論文)は、国際平和運動史を照射する新たな視座を提示した。