Comparative Post-WWII

[missmend]

Hopefully I'm in the right forum for this - my focus has been shifting over the past year or so to comparative studies between Germany and Japan, post-WWII (particularly on memory politics and construction of war memory during the Cold War). I know it's a fairly specific topic so I'm unlikely to find POI with that exact area of interest - and haven't had too much luck researching on my own. Does anybody know of programs or professors with a strong focus on both modern Germany and modern Japan?

 

I've been looking pretty strongly at Boston College (Franziska Seraphim and Devin Pendas, together, make the history department pretty intriguing) and Indiana-Bloomington (Mark Roseman). 

 

(I'm happy to provide more information on myself and my background if needed).

[Heimat Historian]

I'd think you'd like to find a faculty that has both Japanese and German historians.  I know there are several gender historians who work on postwar Germany that may be helpful to what you're interested in.  For example, Elizabeth Heineman at Iowa looks at marriage in postwar Germany and other gender issues.  

[elinen]

You can either focus on Germany and Japan specialists or look for professors who specialize in the themes you're interested in (memory politics, making histories et cetera). I'm not sure which one is more important for you? And would you want to study in the US? (I know more about Europe )

[nerdguy]

You may find a number of specialists in each field (Germany and Japan) who are interested in comparisons between the two. And most historians who study the post-war histories of those countries may have a decent interest in that topic. Indiana seems like a great choice - Mark Roseman's book A Past in Hiding is maybe the most interesting piece of history I have ever read. But Berkeley and Columbia, as well as Harvard, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Vanderbilt would also be great. I'm sure there are many other schools that could accommodate you. Send out some emails early on so you know where to focus your energy.

[missmend]

@Heimat Historian - that's primarily what I've been thinking. I'm looking at schools whose history departments have both a modern Germanist and a modern Japanologist that work on post-war issues. Elizabeth Heineman's work looks pretty interesting just from what U Iowa has posted on her page, so I'll have to check her out, even though our interests don't seem to overlap beyond time and place.

 

@elinen - I know Sebastian Conrad is at Frei Universitaet in Berlin and his work is absolutely phenomenal on this exact topic. Mainly, my ignorance of European academia is keeping me US focused, but happy for suggestions or advice on Europe.

 

I've been looking at MA programs for the most part - I have a pretty strong German background but nothing on East Asia, and I'm pretty sure that puts the kabosh on applying to PhD programs on the subject. So places like Columbia and Harvard and Vanderbilt I've avoided looking at, at least for this round of applications, until I feel more confident as a PhD candidate. 

[TMP]

http://history.tamu.edu/faculty/kim.shtml

 

Just may be your dream guy.  You might e-mail him for suggestions.  I suspect that he trained with David Blackbourn at Harvard (before he moved to Vanderbilt).

[wacyeah]

 

Hi my MA focus revolved around US-JP comparative view on victimhood (collective memory) of a-bomb, but i also do know a bit of JP-German comparative scholars as well. Why not search for Dr. Susan Crane at Univ Arizona? or Ohio State Univ and Temple Univ? i think her focus is on Germany war collective memory. For my potential phd topic, im tryin to use much more definition from criminology,sociology, and psych (in terms of memory/identity construction). If you have any questions, just hit me up, im always welcome for questions

[Way Out East]

You may want to take a look at Janis Mimura from Stony Brook. Her focus is mostly on Japan, but does have interest in Germany too. I would tend to think most scholars who focus on the postwar/Cold War period of one would have some degree of interest in that same period in the other.

 

http://history.sunysb.edu/blog/janismimura/