Our systems are now restored following recent technical disruption, and we’re working hard to catch up on publishing. We apologise for the inconvenience caused. Find out more

Recommended product

Popular links

Popular links


Mooring the Global Archive

Mooring the Global Archive
Open Access

Mooring the Global Archive

A Japanese Ship and its Migrant Histories
Martin Dusinberre , Universität Zürich
October 2023
Paperback
9781009346528

    Martin Dusinberre follows the Yamashiro-maru steamship across Asian and Pacific waters in an innovative history of Japan's engagement with the outside world in the late-nineteenth century. His compelling in-depth analysis reconstructs the lives of some of the thousands of male and female migrants who left Japan for work in Hawai'i, Southeast Asia and Australia. These stories bring together transpacific historiographies of settler colonialism, labour history and resource extraction in new ways. Drawing on an unconventional and deeply material archive, from gravestones to government files, paintings to song, and from digitized records to the very earth itself, Dusinberre addresses key questions of method and authorial positionality in the writing of global history. This engaging investigation into archival practice asks, what is the global archive, where is it cited, and who are 'we' as we cite it? This title is also available as Open Access.

    • Tells a new story of Meiji Japan's engagements with the Asia-Pacific world
    • Demonstrates how historians of the modern world might use non-European histories to frame narratives of global transformation
    • A major contribution to the fields of Japanese history, global history, oceanic history and historical method and theory
    • Available as Open Access

    Reviews & endorsements

    'Martin Dusinberre challenges us to engage critically with the idea of a 'global archive' in writing global history in this fascinating study of the 'Yamashiro-maru', a Japanese steamship which transported Japanese migrants in the Pacific Ocean. This is an innovative and thought-provoking book, sensitively written.' Naoko Shimazu, Yale-NUS College and Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore

    'In this engaging study, Martin Dusinberre situates migrant Japanese plantation workers, sex workers, and others in relation to imperialism, extractive capitalism, and formations of indigeneity in the Pacific. Challenging the epistemologies of the modern discipline of history, Dusinberre demonstrates how scholars might listen for other voices when assembling their archives.' David Ambaras, Professor of History, North Carolina State University

    '… those who embark on the reading journey will gain a variety of insights, inspiration and entertainment from this book.' Susanne Quitmann, Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Geschichte

    See more reviews

    Product details

    October 2023
    Adobe eBook Reader
    9781009346498
    0 pages
    This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.

    Table of Contents

    • Note on the Text
    • Preface
    • 1. Archival traps
    • 2. Between the archives
    • 3. Outside the archive
    • 4. Archival country, counter claims
    • 5. The archive and I
    • 6. The burned archive
    • Epilogue.
      Author
    • Martin Dusinberre , Universität Zürich

      Martin Dusinberre is Professor for Global History at the University of Zurich.