Tuesday 23rd February  2010, 6.00pm – 8.00pm

Admission free, book here 

Daiwa Foundation Japan House
13/14 Cornwall Terrace, London NW1 4QP
Nearest tube station: Baker Street – Map

As a courtesy to the speakers we are unable to admit members of the audience arriving after 6.15pm.  We would appreciate your kind co-operation.This second seminar in the 2010 series, States in Change: National Identity in the UK and Japan, explores the historical development of national identity in modern Japan. In doing so, it attempts to situate the Japanese experience in a wider comparative framework with reference to the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy. What were the sources of national identity in these countries? How important were ‘wars’ and shifting boundaries in the construction of national identity? How did pre-1945 circumstances influence the post-war sense of ‘nationhood’? Our three speakers will consider whether contemporary debates on national identity are informed by such historical experiences, or whether new forces may emerge to influence conceptions of our identity.

Contributors:

Dr Naoko Shimazu is Reader in Japanese History at Birkbeck, University of London. Her most recent publication is Japanese Society at War: Death, Memory and the Russo-Japanese War (Cambridge University Press, 2009). She is also the author of Nationalisms in Japan (Routledge, 2006), and Japan, Race and Equality: The Racial Equality Proposal of 1919 (Routledge, 1998).

Dr Jan Rueger teaches modern history at Birkbeck, University of London. His research focuses on the history of Britain and Germany in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  He was a convener in the Capital Cities at War project, a comparative history of London, Paris and Berlin in the First World War.  His recent book, The Great Naval Game: Britain and Germany in the Age of Empire (CUP, paperback, 2009), explores the theatre of power and identity that unfolded between Britain and Germany in the decades before 1914.

Professor Lucy Riall teaches modern Italian history at Birkbeck, University of London. She is the author of Garibaldi: Invention of a Hero, Risorgimento: The History of Italy from Napoleon to Nation State, and Sicily and the Unification of Italy: Liberal Policy and Local Power (1859-1866) (New Heaven: Yale U.P., 2007).

The Rt Hon the Lord Howell of Guildford (Chair) is Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords and Shadow Spokesperson in the House of Lords on Foreign Affairs. After being elected an MP in 1966, he held a number of government posts, including Minister of State in Northern Ireland (1972-74), Secretary of State for Energy (1979-81), and Secretary of State for Transport (1979-83). He was Chairman of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee (1987-97) before being made a life peer in 1997. He is the author of several books, including The Edge of Now: New Questions for Democracy in a Precarious World, (Macmillan, 2000), and writes columns for The Japan Times, the International Herald Tribune, and the Wall Street Journal. He was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure in 2001 for his work in furthering UK-Japan relations.

For full profiles of the contributors please visit www.dajf.org.uk/changing

To book, please go to www.dajf.org.uk/booking. Alternatively, please send your name, affiliation and address by email to events@dajf.org.uk.

In partnership with:

The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation