Dear friends and colleagues,

I am writing to invite you to the next meeting of the PhD Workshop, hosted by the Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo, from 12:20-1:45pm on April 26th (Thursday).

Speaker: Michiko Suzuki (SOAS / University of London)
Title: "Treatment of Prisoners of War and Civilian Internees by the Japanese Red Cross Society during the Second World War"
Time: April 26 (Thu), 12:20-1:45pm
Location: Rm. 307, ISS / Shaken Main Building
http://www.iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp/guide/index.html

The presenter will be Michiko Suzuki, a doctoral candidate in History at SOAS, University of London. She is also a special research fellow at the International Center for Japanese Studies at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. Her project explores the wartime humanitarian relief activities of the Japanese Red Cross Society (JRCS) personnel, and their involvement in the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement between 1877 and 1945 in a global historical context.

ABSTRACT
Historiographies of POW treatment by the Japanese Red Cross Society (JRCS) during the Second World War have hitherto remained un-researched, lost to the larger historical narrative. Most research about the history of Allied POWs has been dominated by studies based on the records of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in the nation state framework. Historians even failed to examine the humanitarian treatment of Chinese and Soviet POWs, Allied civilian internees, Asian forced labourers, Japanese POWs and Japanese civilian internees by the JRCS in its transnational operations. This research explores primary sources of the JRCS, which were once closed within the institution. Thus, this presentation will reveal a number of unknown stories, which will provide a comprehensive picture of the history of detainees. It analyses the extent to which Japanese humanitarian principles and the JRCS's global Red Cross network imposed the discourse of neo-humanitarianism and nation states. It scrutinises how the JRCS international relief activities strove to resolve massive humanitarian crises amidst extreme political and military uncertainty.


Kenneth Mori McElwain

Associate Professor
Institute of Social Science
University of Tokyo
www.kennethmcelwain.com <http://www.kennethmcelwain.com/>
mcelwain@iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp <mailto:mcelwain@iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp>