You are invited to a workshop of the Global Asia Studies Research Center at Waseda University, which will be held on November 18 (Monday), 2019, 16:30-18:00

Title: Workshop: The Pope, the bomb and the survivors: Memory and the Catholics of Ground Zero (November 18)

Speakers: Gwyn McClelland, Ph.D. (Oral Historian and Associate, Japanese History, Monash University)

Abstract:
McClelland will introduce his new monograph, discussing how the understanding of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki by the Catholic community as somehow 'providential' and as a hansai, or 'necessary sacrifice', proved to be a problem, inducing silence for survivors: 'If God would allow this, then why speak about it?' The wider community was critical of this 'Catholic view' and when Pope John Paul II visited in 1981, the community understood he was signalling a new paradigm - which re-interpreted the bombing - by stating 'war is a work of humanity'. The atomic bombing could be condemned. In the years following the Pope's visit, the Catholic community engaged more than they had previously in peace activities.

In interviews discussed in the book, some were openly uncomfortable about the implications of a sacrificial view, resenting the idea of the bomb as providential, although a minority elaborated on, or accepted a 'providential' view. The monograph also considers through a theological framework, 'dangerous memory', drawing on three particular symbols of memory in the Catholic community, which emerged as significant for those with whom McClelland spoke. These were the symbol of Mother Mary, the Urakami Cathedral and a repeated 'cry for water' in the aftermath of the atomic bombing.

The book information is found here: https://www.routledge.com/Dangerous-Memory-in-Nagasaki-Prayers-Protests-and-Catholic-Survivor-Narratives/McClelland/p/book/9780367217754

Speaker Bio:

Gwyn McClelland holds a Master of Divinity from the University of Divinity, Melbourne, Australia and a Doctorate of Philosophy in Japanese history from Monash University. He first visited Japan in 1989, and his field research interviewing hibakusha led to the writing of a PhD dissertation and the monograph, 'Dangerous Memory in Nagasaki: Prayers, Protests and Catholic Survivor Narratives'. McClelland has published in Japanese Religions Journal, Journal of Religion, Japan, Social Science Japan Journal, Rethinking History and in edited books. He is the winner of the 2019 John Legge prize for best thesis in Asian Studies, awarded by the Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA).


Chair/Discussant: Jeffrey J. Hall (Waseda University)

Language: English

Event Information Page: https://www.waseda.jp/global-asia/article/2019/10/852

November 18 (Monday), 2019, 16:30-18:00

Place: Waseda University Campus, Building 14, Room 960

1-104 Totsukamachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 169-8050, JAPAN
Google Maps Link: https://goo.gl/maps/vJbYazrTj3s
A Campus Map can be found at: https://www.waseda.jp/top/en/access/waseda-campus