Prisoners of the Asia Pacific War Seminar

This August 15 2024 seminar held in Melbourne, Australia, celebrates the forthcoming release of a special issue of the British Journal of Military History on "Prisoners of the Asia Pacific War." The seminar and journal special draw on over three years of collaborative work. 

Part 1 (Panels 1 and 2) feature presentations by contributors to that special. 

The seminar will also celebrate the release of the Japanese-language Prisoner of War and Civilian Internment Camp Encyclopedia by POWRNJ. Presentation 3 in Panel 2 will discuss this new and pioneering publication.

We will also be joined by a session of scholars of related fields in East Asian studies. These presenters make up Part 2.

Schedule and map below.

PART 1: Prisoners of the Pacific War Seminar (2:00- 3:50)
2:00-2:15. Introduction to the forthcoming special issue of the British Journal of Military History, "Prisoners of the Pacific War".

Daniel Milne (Kyoto University), Anoma Pieris (Melbourne University) and Beatrice Trefalt (Monash University).

2:15-2:50. Panel One: Transnationalism, Diaspora, Colonialism
Discussant: Anoma Pieris (Melbourne University)
1) "Transcolonial Carceralities: Memories of Algerian and Japanese Civilian Internment and Denaturalisation" Benjamin Hiramatsu Ireland (Texas Christian University)

2) “Civilian Internment in India – Omissions and Exceptions” Anoma Pieris (Melbourne University)

3) "Nouville and Purana Qila Internment Camps and Collective Memory"
Rowena Ward (University of Wollongong)

3:00-3:45. Panel Two: Captivity and Memorialization 

Discussant: Beatrice Trefalt (Monash University)
1) "Captive Fathers, Captive Children: Legacies of the War in the Far East" Terry Smyth (University of Essex)

2) "War Cemeteries and the Thai-Burma Railway" Nipaporn Ratchatapattanakul (Thammasat University) 

3) “Prisoner of War and Civilian Internment Camp Encyclopedia”
Daniel Milne and Taeko Sasamoto (POW Research Network Japan)
3:45-3:50. Closing remarks: Daniel Milne (Kyoto University)

PART 2: East Asia Research Collaborations Workshop (4:00-5:30)
4:00-4:20 "Landscape as Changemakers." Jillian Wallis, Heike Rahmann and Saran Kim.

4:20-4:35 "Life on the Line: militarised modernity and the everyday life at the inter-Korean border." Alex Seo. 

4:35-4:50 "Adaptive reuse and renovation in contemporary Japan" Nancy Ji.

4:50-5:10 "POWs, Veterans, and Pineapples: 100th Battalion and Kyoto." Daniel Milne.
5:10-5:20 "Eucalypts of Hodogaya." Anoma Pieris and Athanasios Tsakonas.