With Dr Felicia Yap (Cambridge University)
Series: Regional comparison: Taiwan and Hong Kong in Comparative Perspective
Date: Wednesday 4 December 2013, 5.30pm-7.30pm
Venue: Room G.17, 32 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London School of Economics
Chair: Dr Fang-Long Shih (LSE Taiwan Research Programme)
Abstract
This paper explores a number of intriguing (and largely forgotten) aspects of the Japanese conquest of East and Southeast Asia between 1941 and 1945. While most Allied nationals were incarcerated by the Japanese in POW or internment camps, a large number of 'third nationals' were nevertheless permitted by the invading forces to remain free during the conflict. These included the Swiss, Irish, Norwegians, Hungarians and other citizens of neutral states, as well as various groups at the colonial margins such as the Portuguese, Eurasians and Baghdadi Jews. This paper examines the gripping wartime experiences of these communities and how these were often linked with issues of wartime resistance, collaboration, dislocation and ambiguity.
About the speaker
Felicia Yap’s research centres on the Japanese occupation of East and Southeast Asia during the Second World War. She has held research and teaching fellowships at the London School of Economics, the University of Cambridge and the Institute of Historical Research.