2022 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 / Pacific islands / colonialism |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
I co-organized an international conference on exoticism (June 3-5, 2022), with 23 speakers at Sophia University. We will include selected contributions in an anthology, to be published by Fink (Germany) in 2023. For the book, I prepared an introductory history of the concept of exoticism from the 18th century to the present. While Anglo-Saxon post-colonialism sharply criticizes exoticism, the Francophone tradition celebrates exoticism as an art of living. I also elaborated a study on sexual exoticism comparing Pierre Loti and Robert Mueller against the background of the spread of venereal diseases on Pacific islands. Archival studies in Europe have shown that medical discourse functions as a counter-discourse to sexual exoticism. Exoticism thus turns out to be a highly controversial field.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
3: Progress in research has been slightly delayed.
Reason
Since my proposal for a new edition of Robert Mueller's novella "The Girl of the Island" (1919) has been rejected, I am looking for a new publisher. 2024 marks the 100th anniversary of Robert Mueller's death. I hope that the forthcoming commemorative year will also bring renewed attention to this author. My studies on the Marshall Islands during the German colonial period have not progressed to the extent expected because of restrictions on access to the Berlin Federal Archives.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
In 2023, I am planning to continue my research at the German Federal Archives on the colonization and the exoticist imagination of the Pacific while presenting the results at meetings and conferences. We would like to present the anthology on exoticism at a conference at Meiji University in early November. The plan for February 2024 field studies in the Marshall Islands is still pending. The implementation of this project is not only dependent on the success of the preparatory research, but also on overcoming various obstacles to travel. At the center of the stay on the island of Majuro should be research in the Alele Museum. The library houses an extensive collection of historical photographs (de Brum collection).
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| Causes of Carryover |
In connection with the corona pandemic, last year's budget could not be used as originally planned, mainly due to travel restrictions and restricted access to archives. International research collaborator Professor Rolf Parr (University of Duisburg-Essen) did not join the Sophia Symposium in Tokyo on the spot as planned, but only on zoom. Therefore, we saved the money for his travel expenses. Instead, I will try to bring him or another researcher from my network to Tokyo in November 2023 for a conference at Meiji University for a presentation about travel literature in the age of colonialism.
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