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June 18, 2024
Historians' and CIRJE Workshop
From: Michiko Suzuki <misuzuki@e.u-tokyo.ac.jp>
Date: 2024/06/10
Dear SSJ Forum members,
We are pleased to announce that the Historians' Workshop, based at the Graduate School of Economics, the University of Tokyo, will co-host the CIRJE Workshop. The Historians' Workshop is one of the leading platforms of historical studies in Japan. Please join our event.
Date and Time: 28 June 2024, 10.00 am - 11.30 am JST | Registration for Workshop
Venue: #3 Seminar Room, Kojima Hall (2F), Hongo Campus, The University of Tokyo MAP
Speaker: Dr Maika Nakao (Associate Professor, Hiroshima University)
Language: Japanese
Title: Body for Eulogy and Investigation: Science, Religion, and Atomic Bomb Victims in Postwar Nagasaki
Abstract:
Since the atomic bombing, the remains of atomic bomb victims have been the subject of both medical investigation and religious like veneration and eulogies in Nagasaki.
Nagasaki, Japan's main port from the 17th to the 19th century, has a deep history of Christian oppression and nuclear victimhood. At the same time, exemplifying the multiplicity of meanings of both science and religion, Nagasaki Christians and others held a generally positive image of science. After the atomic attack, the atomic bomb was often presented as the ultimate scientific achievement. Significantly, such positive views on science related to religious belief, as was found in the writings of Nagasaki's "saint", Nagai Takashi. All the while, starting immediately after the bombing, scientists engaged in the process of turning victims' corpses into scientific data. There arose an ideology that could be described as 'faith in science', which affirmed the sacrifices made for scientific progress. This paper asks how the positive image of science and the atomic bomb emerged and how it was related to the investigation of, and the eulogy given for, the atomic bomb victims. By focusing on the religious rituals by locals and scientific investigations conducted by the physicians of Nagasaki University and the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC), this paper seeks to uncover the local daily practices that connected science and religion. Such connections were literally embodied in A-bomb victims' bodily remains and the way they were treated by both scientists and the community.
Nagasaki, Japan's main port from the 17th to the 19th century, has a deep history of Christian oppression and nuclear victimhood. At the same time, exemplifying the multiplicity of meanings of both science and religion, Nagasaki Christians and others held a generally positive image of science. After the atomic attack, the atomic bomb was often presented as the ultimate scientific achievement. Significantly, such positive views on science related to religious belief, as was found in the writings of Nagasaki's "saint", Nagai Takashi. All the while, starting immediately after the bombing, scientists engaged in the process of turning victims' corpses into scientific data. There arose an ideology that could be described as 'faith in science', which affirmed the sacrifices made for scientific progress. This paper asks how the positive image of science and the atomic bomb emerged and how it was related to the investigation of, and the eulogy given for, the atomic bomb victims. By focusing on the religious rituals by locals and scientific investigations conducted by the physicians of Nagasaki University and the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC), this paper seeks to uncover the local daily practices that connected science and religion. Such connections were literally embodied in A-bomb victims' bodily remains and the way they were treated by both scientists and the community.
--
Dr Michiko Suzuki
Project Researcher
Graduate School of Economics, The University of Tokyo, Japan
Email: misuzuki@e.u-tokyo.ac.
Approved by ssjmod at 07:44 PM