Events

Past Event

Everyday Practices in the Science of Governing Japan’s Population

October 15, 2024
4:30 PM - 6:00 PM
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School of International and Public Affairs, 420 West 118th Street, Room 918, New York, NY 10027

Registration is required for non CUID holders to access the Morningside campus. Attendees must present a government-issued ID with their name matching exactly the name registered for the event, along with an one-time QR code (via email), for entry. For non CUID holders, please register by 4 pm on Oct. 14 for entry onto campus.

Speaker: Aya Homei, Reader in Japanese Studies, University of Manchester

Moderator: Paul Kreitman, Associate Professor of 20th Century Japanese History, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Columbia University

Medical and scientific studies of population began to develop in Japan from the 1860s along with the development of Japan as a modern nation-state-empire. The human and social sciences concerning population played a pivotal role in naturalizing ‘population’ (jinkō) as a crucial subject of state intervention, thereby maintaining a symbiotic relationship with state sovereignty based on population management. But was this relationship between population science and governance always smooth? This seminar will explore this question by examining the activities of population bureaucrat-cum-scientists, some of which have been obscured through history due to a lack of sources. By focusing on everyday practices, we can understand how the symbiotic relationship often faltered, despite claims of its existence.

Speaker's Bio: Aya Homei is a Reader in Japanese Studies at the University of Manchester. She specializes in the history of medicine and science in modern Japan, with a focus on reproduction and population. She is the author of Science for Governing Japan’s Population (Cambridge University Press, 2023) and has guest-edited special issues for East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal (2016), Japan Forum (2021), and the British Journal for the History of Science (2024). Aya is currently collaborating with Hiro Fujimoto (University of Heidelberg) and Ellen Nakamura (University of Auckland) on Women and Medicine in the Japanese Empire (Routledge) and a monograph tentatively entitled Negotiating for Asia’s Population: Japan in the Transnational Network of Family Planning, Development Aid, and Global Health.

This event is hosted by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute.

Registration:

  • To attend this event in-person, please register HERE.
  • To attend this event online, please register HERE.

Contact Information

Julie Kwan