Friday, September 24, 2004

by Maki Sato and Victoria Swisher
Gazette Reporters

Professor John Dower of MIT lectured students on the U.S. occupation of
Japan yesterday, bringing home its relevance to a modern audience by
comparing the occupation in Japan to the occupation in Iraq. Speaking
to a standing-room only crowd in the Scheuer Room, he began with a
brief overview of the conclusions presented in his Pulitzer
Prize-winning book, “Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War
II”, and concluded with a slide show presentation.

Dower summarized the different circumstances surrounding the current
occupation in Iraq versus the post-World War II occupation in Japan,
emphasizing a few key points. He asserted that no one questioned the
legitimacy of the U.S. occupation in Japan after World War II: World
War II was a formal war recognized by the world, and the Japanese
government presented unconditional surrender to the Allied Forces.
Unlike the government in Iraq, the Japanese government, including the
emperor and the bureaucratic organization, remained relatively intact.
Also, there was no strong violent group that wanted to usurp power from
the U.S. Dower also explained that there were aspects of democracy
apparent in Japanese history – a trend absent from Iraqi history.
Finally, he detailed the differing economic policies used in Iraq and
Japan. Most notably, Japan was allowed no privatization, and the “state
had a proper role in planning out the economy”. Reconstruction in Iraq
is done by outside private contractors, while the reconstruction in
Japan was the responsibility of the Japanese people. Dower’s arguments
warn that it would be misleading to assume that a successful occupation
in Japan would lead to a likewise successful occupation in Iraq.

Dower used the slide show to describe the different cultures and
attitudes in Japan during the U.S. occupation. Using images from his
book, he explained the “kyodatsu” condition, characterized by
depression and despair, felt by many Japanese living in the devastation
that followed the war. Although depression and despair were inevitably
widespread, other images illustrated the sense of hope and relief that
the Japanese felt after their liberation from a government focused on
war. He also showed slides that demonstrated the use of propaganda by
both the U.S. and Japan during World War II, and how both sides
struggled to change the demonized images of their former enemies into
more welcoming images of friendship during the occupation. He concluded
the slide show after describing the rise of indulgence, eroticization
and feminization of Japan, subordination to the U.S., and the
psychological implications of unlearning the previously indoctrinated
nationalistic values of the former militaristic government.

A brief question and answer session followed the lecture in which
audience members were invited to express their thoughts on the topic.
One older gentleman commented on how close U.S. ties remain with Japan
after the Occupation, saying, “Today, we have so much from Japanese
culture. It’s amazing how it’s a two-way process.” Ahhmed Brown ’07,
who is currently taking a sociology class on post-World War II Japanese
culture, appreciated the lecture, stating, “He provided perspectives on
historical issues in reference to contemporary issues.”

*****

by Megan Mills
Gazette Reporter

2004 Pulitzer Prize winner Steve Hahn called for a rewrite of the
history of the modern era in his Thursday evening talk, entitled “The
Greatest Slave Rebellion in History.” The lecture, spearheaded by
Professor Allison Dorsey and sponsored by the History Department and
the President’s Office, took a new look at the American Civil War by
attributing rebellious agency to the slaves of the South, recasting
them as important players in the social and political world of their
time.

After a brief reminiscence of college days with Dorsey and fellow
Pulitzer winner John Dower, Hahn launched into his quarrel with
contemporary historians for not seeing what Southern slaveholders had
seen – the behavior of slaves during the Civil War was, in actuality, a
rebellion. Current historical thought usually places slaves of that
time period as soldiers, while Hahn believes that they instead were
revolutionary actors that changed the course of history by using
techniques typical to more widely-accepted definitions of “slave
rebellions.”

Offering detailed evidence for his claims, Hahn described the
characteristics typical of slave rebellions that also held true in the
case of the Civil War: the slaves possessed complex communication
networks and made use of rumors of freedom and allies; individuals and
groups participated in acts of escape; and Southern blacks, once
accepted into the Union Army, committed violence against their former
owners. Taking advantage of the bitter atmosphere, the slaves had
merely “waited until their imagined allies struck the first blow” to
initiate the largest, longest, greatest slave rebellion in history.

In particular, Hahn compared the events of the Civil War to the famous
successful slave rebellion of Haiti in the eighteenth century. While
many similarities exist, the American instance, in contrast, saw the
slaves outnumbered, owned by powerful masters, and isolated on
comparably small plantations. The results, however, were much farther
reaching — the rebellion in the South destroyed slavery in the United
States and allowed the slaves to “[remake] a nation as they remade
themselves,” the course of which “shifted the social and political
course of the Atlantic.”

After concluding his presentation, he accepted questions from the
engaged audience about hypothetical situations, his particular
evidence, and other topics.

Hahn is currently a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and has
written numerous articles and books, as well as winning teaching awards
and promoting history teaching in diverse communities.

*****

With 70% of the class voting in the election, easily the highest
participation rate in the past ten years, seniors elected the duo of
“Jorge and Eugene” to the positions of President and Vice President of
the senior class. The complete slate for the class of 2005 is:

Jorge Aguilar, President
Eugene Palatulan, Vice President
Jessica Zagory, Class Secretary
Eric Golynsky, Class Agent

*****

by Victoria Swisher
Living and Arts Editor

This weekend presents yet another opportunity to get off-campus.
Already feel like you’ve been here forever? Enjoy a change of scenery
in Philly and other areas surrounding Swarthmore. For the more
adventurous (who own a car or have access to one), go canoeing,
kayaking, tubing, or rafting before the weather gets too cold. To see
their hilarious motto and for more details, check out
www.rivercountry.net.

If you’re looking for a more quiet scene, like dinner and a movie, try
going to the aptly named “Friday Saturday Sunday” restaurant in Philly
(hint: their lunch prices are only half of their dinner prices). Go to
http://www.frisatsun.com for more information.

Finish off your outing with a movie at one of the Ritz movie theaters
in Philly, where you can see a movie that combines documentary,
animated, and narrative film styles called “What the Bleep Do We Know”
(http://www.ritzfilmbill.com/showtimes/index.php?theater_id1). Enjoy
your weekend!

*****

* In a joint speech in the White House Rose Garden on Thursday, US
President George Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi declared
that, as scheduled, Iraq would hold free elections in January. However,
Bush, Allawi, and Vice-President Dick Cheney all agreed that the
elections would be far from perfect and may only be held in parts of
the war-torn country. The speech quickly became a campaign issue, with
Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry using the opportunity to
paint a bleak picture of Bush’s involvement in Iraq.

* The Florida supreme court ruled on Thursday that Governor Jeb Bush’s
efforts to keep a woman alive by reinserting her feeding tube violated
separation of powers. Michael Schiavo had long sought to end his wife’s
life despite her parents’ efforts to keep her alive in a vegetative
state through the use of a feeding tube. The governor now has 10 days
to ask for a rehearing or to decide to bring the case to the US Supreme
Court.

* Hurricane season continues to cause damage to the US, as Ivan,
formerly a hurricane but now classified as a tropical depression,
dumped 5 to 10 inches of rain on Texas and Louisiana. Though Hurricane
Ivan had hit the east coast last week, it then turned south and was
reborn in the warm waters of the Gulf. Meanwhile Hurricane Jeanne is
scheduled to hit Florida this weekend, giving that state the record for
most hurricanes received in a single season.

*****

Friday:

Amnesty on the Beach
Parrish Beach, 2:00 p.m.

Extern Orientation
Parrish 140, 2:00 p.m.

Physics and Astronomy Colloquium: “Measuring the Magnetic field in the
Solar Corona”
Science Center 128, 4:30 p.m.

Yom Kippur Services
Bond Memorial Hall, 4:30 p.m.

Movie: You Got Served
Black Cultural Center, 7:30 p.m.

Movie: Airplane!
Science Center 158, 7:30 and 10:00 p.m.

Anime Club showing: Last Exile 5-9
Kohlberg 228, 8:00 p.m.

Saturday:

J’ouvert BBQ
Olde Club, 6:00 p.m.

Yom Kippur Services
Bond Memorial Hall, 6:00 p.m.

Movie: Airplane!
Science Center 101, 7:30 and 10:00 p.m.

WRC Champagne Formal
Women’s Resource Center, 9:00 p.m.

J’ouvert Party
Olde Club, 10:00 p.m.

Sunday:

Celebration of Mass
Bond Memorial Hall, 11:00 a.m.

Student Storage Sale
Parrish Beach, 12:00 p.m.

ML Student Storage Sale
Mary Lyon, 3:00 p.m.

Orchestra 2001 Concert
Lang Concert Hall, 3:00 p.m.

*****

SPORTS UPDATE

Today:
There are no contests scheduled for today.

Tomorrow:
Field Hockey hosts Gettysburg; 1:00 p.m.
Men’s Cross Country at Paul Short Invitational (Lehigh), 10:00 a.m.
Women’s Cross Country at Paul Short Invitational (Lehigh), 10:00 a.m.
Volleyball at McDaniel, 12:00 p.m.
Women’s Soccer at Gettysburg, 12:00 p.m.
Men’s Soccer at Gettysburg; 2:00 p.m.

Sunday:
There are no contests scheduled for Sunday.

*****

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses
interests in its students.”
–John Ciardi

*****

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