The history problem: The politics of war commemoration in East Asia

• Main Author: SAITO, Hiro
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2017
• Subjects: East Asia; memory; commemoration; history; Asia-Pacific War; nationalism; cosmopolitanism; Asian Studies; Political Science
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/2383; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/3640/viewcontent/article_5061__1_.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

This essay summarizes my argumentin The History Problem: The Politics of WarCommemoration in East Asia. The historyproblem is essentially a relational phenomenonthat arises when nations promote self-servingversions of the past by focusing on whathappened to their own citizens with littleregard for foreign others. East Asia, however,has recently also witnessed the emergence of acosmopolitan form of commemoration takinghumanity, rather than nationality, as itsprimary frame of reference. Whencosmopolitan commemoration is practiced as acollective endeavor by both perpetrators andvictims, a resolution of the history problem willfinally become possible.