{"id":5931,"date":"2007-06-25T02:11:26","date_gmt":"2007-06-25T07:11:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.froginawell.net\/korea\/2007\/06\/asian-history-carnival-15\/"},"modified":"2014-08-30T14:21:54","modified_gmt":"2014-08-30T14:21:54","slug":"asian-history-carnival-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/froginawell.net\/frog\/2007\/06\/asian-history-carnival-15\/","title":{"rendered":"Asian History Carnival #15"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Korea<\/a>
\nWelcome to the Fifteenth edition of the Asian History Carnival<\/a>! The picture is of the beautiful pavilion at the Center for Korean Studies at UH-Manoa, where ASPAC just met<\/a> and I was elevated to the illustrious ranks of Secretary pro tem<\/i> and<\/b> Secretary-elect in a heady rush.1<\/a><\/sup> I didn’t have the time to blog during the conference, so I’m doing my conference blogging afterwards, staring with South Asian issues<\/a> (textbook controversies, identity, and a new South Asian Studies Conference<\/a>).2<\/a><\/sup> I’ve also been helping Ralph Luker<\/a> with a little Blogroll Revision<\/a>, so the non-US history blogs are much more accessible. Finally, there’s a new way to keep track of the History Carnival community: the History Carnival Aggregator<\/a>, your one-stop shop for announcements! Well, enough about me, let’s see what the rest of the blogosphere’s been up to this last month!<\/p>\n

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Asian Wars<\/b><\/p>\n

It’s been a great month for historical analogies to recent wars in Asia, naturally. The big headline was the “Korea Model”<\/a> for post-war occupation and security, which prompted a lot<\/i> of people to start remembering the “forgotten war.” Then there’s the “never-forgotten war”: Vietnam. I’ll just highlight one post which came across my desk: James Livingston<\/a> on how Vietnam analogies are not good for supporters of the “surge.”3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Clint Eastwood’s movies about the Battle of Iwo Jima are still getting a lot of reaction. The Japanese government is going to change the name on maps back to Iwa-to<\/a>, which is what it was before US mapmakers mucked it up and the battle stuck it in our heads. Andrew Meyer does a comparative review<\/a> of Eastwood’s Iwo Jima films, with a highly presentist reading of Japan, Iraq and the films themselves. Speaking of WWII, Brett Holman discusses early air attacks on urban populations<\/a> as reported in the British press, including Canton.<\/p>\n

Going back a bit further, Kenneth Swope went to an Imjin War<\/a> (that’s the Hideyoshi invasions, for my Japanese studies friends) conference in Korea recently, and focused particularly on Admiral Yi Sunshin [via<\/a>].4<\/a><\/sup> <\/p>\n

Memorials and Museums<\/b><\/p>\n

Anniversary posts seem to have been popular this month: apparently May and June are historically rich months for Korea. Our own Owen Miller has been blogging<\/a> press reactions to the upheavals in Korea 20 years ago<\/a>.5<\/a><\/sup> Matt at Gusts of Popular Feeling<\/i> has been on a solid run of anniverary notices, including his own thoughts<\/a> and a news roundup<\/a> on the anniversary of the Kwangju uprising and massacre, as well as a remembrance of Park Chung-hee’s 1961 coup<\/a>. Matt’s also got a fantastic collection of Post-liberation photographs<\/a>, very rare images.<\/p>\n

Konrad Lawson visited NY Museum of Natural History’s “Hall of Asian Peoples”<\/a> and was not impressed. Alan Baumler’s been tracking changing names of memorials in Taipei<\/a> and changing views of Chiang and Sun on the mainland<\/a>. Eric Muller unveils new commemorative plaques at a Japanese American internment camp site<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Penny Richards marked the birthday of the original “Siamese Twins”<\/a> (ethnic Chinese born in Siam) who — I sure didn’t know this — married and settled down on a plantation with slaves in North Carolina. While we’re doing biography, I’ll note Prof. Kitsuno’s two part<\/a> Death of Takeda Shingen<\/a> post.<\/p>\n

Debates and Disputes<\/b><\/p>\n

Apparently the Korea-China History Wars<\/a> have claimed a new victim: Taekwondo<\/a>, the Korean martial art.6<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Joel Martinson reports on a textbook controversy<\/a>, this one a college history text in China, which is taking internal brickbats. Speaking of internecine warfare, Aidan reports on a French Sinological debate<\/a> and comes to what seems to me the obvious conclusion: they’re both wrong, but not because they’re French.<\/p>\n

Ideas and Influences<\/b><\/p>\n

The key theme this month seems to be the tension between Nationalism and everything else. <\/p>\n