Sattar, Sadia
(2009)
Old Friendships: Exploring the Historic Relationship Between Pan-Islamism and Japanese Pan-Asianism.
Master's Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
This thesis examines the relationship between Japanese pan-Asianists and pan-Islamists from the end of the nineteenth century till World War II. The materialization of pan-Asianism in Japan and pan-Islamism in the Ottoman Empire was a response to the perceived acts of aggression against a fictive and universal "West." Both pan-Asianism and pan-Islamism emerged as a reaction to the strong currents of anti-Western discourse. The trajectories of both pan-Asianism and pan-Islamism intertwined with major turning points in international history, such as the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), WWI, and later in the 1930s after the Japanese occupation of Manchuria. Intellectuals involved in both these movements engaged in intense debates about race, civilization, and empire. It was such transnational imaginations that laid the foundations of Japanese-Ottoman interactions. Pan-Islamists, keen on uniting the social, religious, and political recesses evident in the Islamic world, sided with Japanese pan-Asianists in the Early Meiji Era. It was the desire of pan-Islamic intellectuals to join forces with Japan for the purpose of constructing a twentieth century utopia under the banner of Islam, which was suitably modern, spiritual, and able to withstand Western hegemony. According to them, the strength of Japanese pan-Asianism combined with the universality of pan-Islamism's message was an integral force in the "awakening" of Muslims around the globe. Also, Japanese pan-Asianists were keen to engage in diplomatic discourse with Ottoman intellectuals so as to overturn the Orientalist framework that had condemned the Eastern nations to a status of inferiority by the Occident. This thesis, therefore, connects Japanese history to the world of Islam and investigates how the accepted notions of Orient and Occident, East and West, Self and Other, engineered a relationship between two very different nations. The embracing of Japan by pan-Islamist intellectuals and the affinity of pan-Asianism's message as the East's answer to the West (as an equal in matters of race, civilization, and culture) is indicative of an association incumbent upon restructuring the global power politics of the time.
Share
| Citation/Export: |
|
| Social Networking: |
|
Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
|
| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
|
| ETD Committee: |
|
| Date: |
14 January 2009 |
| Date Type: |
Completion |
| Defense Date: |
18 April 2008 |
| Approval Date: |
14 January 2009 |
| Submission Date: |
4 August 2008 |
| Access Restriction: |
No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately. |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > East Asian Studies |
| Degree: |
MA - Master of Arts |
| Thesis Type: |
Master's Thesis |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
Pan-Islamism; Islam; Japan; Pan-Asianism; Ottoman Empire |
| Other ID: |
http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-08042008-100733/, etd-08042008-100733 |
| Date Deposited: |
10 Nov 2011 19:57 |
| Last Modified: |
15 Nov 2016 13:48 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/8880 |
Metrics
Monthly Views for the past 3 years
Plum Analytics
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
![[feed]](/images/feed-icon-32x32.png){kind=icon}