Call for Papers: Transnational Asia
Natural Disaster and Social (In)Justice:
One hundred years since the Great Kanto Earthquake in Japan
September 1, 2023 will mark the one hundredth year of the Great Kanto Earthquake in Japan that killed hundreds of thousands of people and damaged vast areas in the vicinity of Tokyo and Yokohama. By the end of that day, 1923, rumors began circulating blaming Koreans for the fire, looting, and rape. As a result, thousands of Koreans in Japan in these areas were hunted down and lynched by Japanese civilian vigilantes. These Koreans were colonial immigrants who moved to Japan seeking work opportunities following Japan’s colonial annexation of Korea in 1910. To this day, we often witness disasters that reveal various forms of xenophobia and racial and ethnic discrimination. For instance, following the recent catastrophic earthquake in Turkey, many Syrian refugees who had settled in the disaster-affected areas were harassed and discriminated against when trying to seek assistance. In this year of the one hundredth anniversary of the Great Kanto Earthquake, the Transnational Asia editorial committee calls for papers that address responses to natural disasters such as earthquakes, storms, floods and famines––responses that are historically conditioned, prioritizing some people and leaving others behind––or worse, eliminating some populations altogether. We interpret “natural disaster” broadly, since more often than not “natural” disasters are not completely natural. Send your 500-word abstract to transnational.asia@rice.edu.