‘Missing bodies, missing voices’ engages critically with historical actors whose movements and words can deepen, challenge and change the accepted conceptual and chronological orders of historical knowledge of postwar Japan.

We bring together farmers from Tohoku, dancers from Tokyo’s backstreets, miners in Kyushu, and ordinary housewives, among other historical actors. We ask of them how they saw their lives in the 1950s and 60s, and indeed before 1952? For instance, when turning to the thoughts of female farmers in rural Japan, what does ‘democracy’ or ‘feminism’ mean? When shifting our focus from accepted narratives of environmental movements in the 1970s to the science experiments of ordinary housewives in their backyards in the 1950s, how does out understanding of ‘environmentalism’ deepen? What does the ‘body’ mean for those contending with what their bodies meant, and how they could use them?

Though our focus is largely on the postwar period, thinking with these historical actors will also expand our understanding of the transwar perspective. The embedded concept of pre- and post-war makes less sense when seen from the perspective of these actors. Many were subject to the same difficulties regardless of wartime. Moreover, many continued to engage in or projects they began pre-1945. When we turn to these ordinary lives, the divisions historians use to mark the twentieth century may collapse.

Bringing together scholars from both Japanese and Anglophone academia will also encourage a transnational exchange of knowledge and scholarly perspectives. Finally, we conclude with a performance on butoh, a genre conceived in this period. This allows participants to experience how ideas generated in this period have evolved up to today.

This event is organised by the Oxford Japanese History Workshop (https://ojhw.web.ox.ac.uk/) and any questions can be sent to alice.baldock@history.ox.ac.uk or chiara.comastri@history.ox.ac.uk

Admission Free