Uniquely Okinawan explores how American soldiers, sailors, and Marines considered race, ethnicity, and identity in the planning and execution of the wartime occupation of Okinawa, during and immediately after the Battle of Okinawa, 1945–46.
Price: $36.00
Pages: 272
Publisher: Fordham University Press
Imprint: Fordham University Press
Series: World War II: The Global, Human, and Ethical Dimension
Publication Date:
03 March 2020
Trim Size: 9.00 X 6.00 in
ISBN: 9780823287727
Format: Paperback
In a meticulously researched study including oral history accounts from both U.S. and Okinawan sources, Short composes a compelling narrative to explore constructions of race and identity amid the wartime and postwar encounters between the American military and Okinawans. The archival evidence she engages with reveals the multi-layered individual stories of a twice-colonized people. Short argues that Okinawan culture permitted the people to reclaim an identity distancing themselves from a defeated imperial Japan, while also negotiating an uneasy relationship with their new American occupiers that continues to evolve.---Annika A. Culver, Associate Professor of East Asian History, Florida State University
Courtney A. Short holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and specializes in military, American, and Japanese history, as well as race and identity studies.
Introduction | 1
1 Identifying the Enemy: US Army Wartime Occupation Policy | 21
2 US Marine Discipline: Strict Directives in Wartime
Marine Military Government | 32
3 “Japanese” Warriors? Okinawan Preparation for Battle | 45
4 The US Fights Overseas: Americans Charge
toward the Battlefield | 51
5 Having a Say: Okinawan Constructions of Identity | 59
6 Policy into Action: The US Army Hits the Shore | 74
7 Benevolent Captors? Okinawans Encounter the Americans | 90
8 No Initiative: Unbending Policy, Rigid US Marine Action | 102
9 The US Navy Period: Navigating the Transition to Peace | 124
10 New Visions, New Interpretations of Identity:
The Expansion of US Navy Military Government | 140
Conclusion | 155
Acknowledgments | 163
Notes | 167
Bibliography | 223
Index | 237
Photographs follow page 58
