-Notice-

The lecture titled "The Promise of Freedom: Rethinking Modernity through Japan," which was postponed from its originally scheduled date of Tuesday, November 19th, will now take place on Wednesday, December 18th as outlined below.

We look forward to your interest and participation.

Thirty years have passed since the end of the Cold War and globalization, and the "region" is in the midst of a drastic change in redistricting. Accordingly, the knowledge system that looks at the "region," that is, the content and method of "regional research," is being newly constructed across boundaries.

The era of "post-regional research" is now opening. Meanwhile, Seoul National University's Institute for Japanese Studies(IJS), which celebrated its 20th anniversary, invited experts from the front lines of each field to prepare eight lecture series to explore the future of Japan and the future of Japanese research.
As the last lecture in the series, we will invite Professor Emeritus Takashi Fujitani from University of Toronto to give a lecture on the following topic.

Date: 15:00-17:00,  December 18th (Wednesday) KST 

Language: English 

Venue:SNU GSIS Bldg 140-2, International Conference Room (401) / Zoom

*Anyone can participate online without a reservation.

Zoom ID: 583 289 8745
Zoom Link : https://snu-ac-kr.zoom.us/j/5832898745

Lecturer: Takashi Fujitani, Dr. David Chu Professor Emeritus in Asia-Pacific Studies and Professor Emeritus of History, University of Toronto

Title:

Promise of Freedom: Rethinking Modernity through Japan

Summary:

Looking back upon the extra-long twentieth-century that began in the latter half of the nineteenth century and that continues today, it has become increasingly clear that “freedom” is not necessarily the antithesis of oppression and domination.

Instead, as Michel Foucault’s writings and critics of liberalism have shown, “freedom” has too often been the condition for the workings of power.

One of the most obvious examples in modern Japanese history of this relationship between freedom and power, is the Japanese empire’s promise to free those in the Asia-Pacific from the bonds of Euro-American colonialism and racism.

Yet this relation between the promise of freedom and new oppressions has been a recurring theme in modern history throughout the world, including in East Asia and Japan.

This talk grapples with this question through the example of Japanese history, and examines the complicity of freedom with the oppressions that have accompanied nationalism, imperialism, colonialism, the “emperor system,” and various forms of social discrimination.

Inquiry : ijs@snu.ac.kr