New Books on Japan: "Provincializing Empire: Omi Merchants in the Japanese Transpacific Diaspora"

November 16, 2023 | 7:00-8:30 PM EST | REGISTER FOR ZOOM

Provincializing Empire: Omi Merchants in the Japanese Transpacific Diaspora (University of California Press, 2023)

Author: Jun Uchida, Associate Professor of History, Stanford University

Discussant: Mark Metzler, Giovanni and Amne Costigan Professor in History, University of Washington

The Modern Japan History Association invites the wider community to a conversation with Jun Uchida (Associate Professor of History, Stanford University). Professor Uchida will be speaking about her new book, Provincializing Empire: Omi Merchants in the Japanese Transpacific Diaspora (University of California Press, 2023). Provincializing Empire explores the global history of Japanese expansion through a regional lens. It rethinks the nation-centered geography and chronology of empire by uncovering the pivotal role of expeditionary merchants from Ōmi (present-day Shiga Prefecture) and their modern successors. Tracing their lives from the early modern era, and writing them into the global histories of empire, diaspora, and capitalism, Professor Uchida offers an innovative analysis of expansion through a story previously untold: how the nation's provincials built on their traditions to create a transpacific diaspora that stretched from Seoul to Vancouver, while helping shape the modern world of transoceanic exchange. Mark Metzler (Giovanni and Amne Costigan Professor in History, University of Washington) will serve as discussant.