Literature and the Memory of War
AY2012/2nd Meeting of the Study Group on Ars Vivendi and Literature*, Research Center for Ars Vivendi at Ritsumeikan University (*Support system for enhancing research quality of young researchers)
Project's Aims
Structured around the book Bones by Tsuyoshi Shima, the presentation will address the question of how people succeed to personal experiences of events they have never experienced themselves. The presenter will also try to look into the structure of opposition between Okinawa and the mainland Japan that has been continuing even after the war and its connection with the current citizens' movements.
A doctoral student at the University of Tokyo, Yoko Murakami is a front-line researcher of Shun Medoruma and other prominent Okinawan writers. Based on the book Bones by Tsuyoshi Shima, her presentation will address the problem of Battle of Okinawa as it is remembered in the Okinawan literature.
| Date | August 31, 2012 (Fri.), 14:00 to 18:00 |
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| Place | 3rd Research Meeting Room, Gakujikan Building, Ritsumeikan University |
| Host | Research Center for Ars Vivendi at Ritsumeikan University |
| Participation | free of charge, no prior booking required |
| Presenter | Yoko Murakami (doctoral student, University of Tokyo) cf. http://www.magazine9.jp/realpeace/06/index1.php (Japanese) |
| Moderator | Moriyasu Tanaka |
| Commentators | Mitsuaki Ono (graduate student, Graduate School of Core Ethics and Frontier Sciences), and Yoshiyuki Tomoda (research fellow, Society for the Promotion of Science) |
| Lecture Summary | Yoko Murakami “Creating Memories from Non-existence: an Analysis of Bones by Tsuyoshi Shima” Bones (1973) by Tsuyoshi Shima is set in Okinawa one year after Okinawa's restoration to Japan and tackles themes of development of Okinawa on the mainland capital and the issue of how the generations, who have not experienced the Battle of Okinawa, nevertheless make wartime experiences personal. The presenter will try to understand how someone without personal experience of an event envisages and constructs such experience on the one hand, and analyze the attitudes towards Okinawa of the companies from the mainland in the light of the present social movements by the citizens of Okinawa. |
Program
| 14:30-10:45 | Opening remarks and introduction of the Study Group on Ars Vivendi and Literature (Tanaka, Nishi); self-introduction of the participants |
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| 15:00-16:00 | Initial presentation (by Yoko Murakami) |
| 16:00-16:15 | Recess |
| 16:15-17:50 | Comments (Mitsuaki Ono), discussion |
