Educational reconstruction and the promotion of local identity: Okinawa in the American occupation 1945–1972

ABSTRACT

This article examines how and why the US reconstructed Okinawa in Japan, with a focus on the theme of ‘self’ and ‘others’ in educational interaction. I argue that during the occupation of Okinawa, the US tried to detach Okinawa from Japan socio-culturally, using the historically based racial tensions between them by promoting the local ‘Ryukyuan’ identity. The US goal was to enhance its military and ideological presence in Okinawa, projecting its long-term role as a keystone in Cold War Asia. The US policy of transforming Okinawan identity is viewed in three ways: the transmission of political and socio-cultural values through foreign education reform and transfer of American models; the ideological rationales that legitimised the reform; and the political and historical context in which the reforms were enacted. The US educational intervention in Okinawa illuminates the scheme of global governance that the new ‘empire’ mapped out in the post-WWII geopolitical context.

摘要

本文探究美国如何以及为何重塑日本的冲绳县，聚焦教育互动中“自我”和“他者”这一主题。笔者认为，在其占领冲绳期间（1945–1972），美国试图利用该县与日本之间源于历史的种族矛盾，通过推广本土“琉球人”身份，使冲绳在社会文化层面脱离日本。美国的目标是突显其在冲绳的军事与意识形态存在，这展现其在冷战中亚洲的长期核心地位。本文从以下三个方面审视美国转换冲绳人身份之政策：通过外国教育改革和美国模式迁移，传播政治和社会文化价值观; 赋予改革合法性的意识形态依据; 以及改革被付诸实践的政治与历史情境。美国在冲绳的教育举措展现这个新“帝国”在二战后的地缘政治中所谋划的全球治理方案。

KEYWORDS:

• The US occupation
• Okinawa
• the Cold War
• foreign education reform
• identity politics

关键词:

• 美国占领
• 冲绳县
• 冷战
• 外国教育改革
• 身份政治

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank the staff at Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum and Yaeyama Peace Memorial Museum for their cooperation in my research in Okinawa.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The Okinawa prefecture was established by the coercive annexation of the Ryukyu Kingdom by the Japanese empire in 1879.

2 The occupying power shifted from the US Navy to the Army, and ultimately converged into the USCAR in December 1950. The USCAR also established an Okinawan governing body, the Government of the Ryukyu Islands (GRI), whose head was appointed by the USCAR. Although the authority shifted from the ‘Military Government’ to the ‘Civil Administration’ in name, the actual occupying power of the USCAR was in the hands of the US military organisations and their personnel.

3 All photos used in this paper belong to Okinawa Prefectural Archives. http://www2.archives.pref.okinawa.jp/opa/searchpics.aspx.

4 While senmon gakko in the pre-war school system were vocationally-oriented higher education institutions, the English translation of ‘college’ was loosely used in SCAP’s documents.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Masako Shibata

Masako Shibata is an Associate Professor of Comparative and International Education. Her current research interest is the history education regarding World War II in Europe and Asia. She has a number of publications on Holocaust education in Europe and history education in Japan.