Humanizing War Histories
Japanese Names in the Asan Bay Overlook Memorial Wall By Maria Cynthia Barriga Assistant Professor, Waseda University Abstract: The presentation centers on the Japanese locals included in Guam’s Asan Bay Overlook Memorial Wall with the aim of humanizing racialized war histories. To situate the study, the presentation first shows the challenge in Guam’s war historiography. Since the 1980s, CHamoru/Chamorro studies has critiqued the US Liberation grand narrative, particularly its portrayal of CHamorus as passive loyal subjects. Despite this historiographical development, however, "The Japanese Enemy" remains to be a racial trope from which Guam’s Japanese locals have often needed to dissociate themselves. To address this problem, the presentation zooms in on the Japanese names in Guam’s war memorial for Americans and CHamorus who died and suffered during the war against Japan. By searching for these Japanese names in prewar sources, oral histories, and other contemporary war memorials, the presentation reveals their humanity as well as their inclusion in the island community on the eve of the war, the immediate postwar, and even today. In juxtaposing the "Japanese Enemy" trope in war narratives and the plurality of Guam’s Japanese locals, I wish to invite the audience to rethink how war experiences are narrated and how their narratives can make enemies of fellow locals in the island community.
Presentation Recording
Presenter’s note: Work- in-progress. Do not cite. Select references on the following page.