At this point, I have a nearly complete draft of my Tondenhei chapter and a working draft of my Hokkaido Former Aborigines Protection Act chapter.
While I want to work on both of these in my 'off-time' (especially in the sense that putting chapters down for a while now and again is a good thing for the creative process), I need to better figure out what kind of work I want to do next.
I'm going to sketch out some basic ideas for chapters based on the kind of data I have.
Introduction:
A basic overview of the colonization of Hokkaido, the origins of Japanese colonialism, esp. Saga-han, Nabeshima Naomasa, Soejima Taneomi, Ōkuma Shigenobu, etc. Very particular vision of colonialism coming out of the Koga school. In addition, I want to better round out Ainu critiques of Japanese settler colonialism and better articulate my own critique of settler colonialism. More widely, I want to look at Indigenous critiques of terra nullius (especially vis-a-vis 'rape culture' where land and the link between the colonization of Indigenous land and bodies).
"Aino Indians":
Exogenous Others: Details on how the Ainu were enveloped into the transcolonial imagination as either lost Caucasians or "Aino Indians", early encounters such as ethnographers as well as people like Ranald MacDonald, the place of the Ainu between Japan and its would-be colonizers, etc. Talk about the sale of Ainu bones, especially in the transnational context and how they were eventually 'sold out'. Ezo Kyowakoku too! But also, how Hokkaido was de-territorialzed and re-territorialized by Japanese colonial officials and Oyatoi Gaikokujin (esp. Capron and Clark) practically hand in hand as an "Eastern America". How American farming was overwhelmingly preferred and why, and how American food culture was adopted and why. Matsumoto Juro and Kuroda Kiyotaka sitting down and discussing their differences over beef and beer. Also, Qing subjects registered into koseki, plans for white American colonization of Hokkaido taken seriously. Settler colonialism as transnational and multiracial in the early Meiji period. Robinson Crusoe and the opening of Japan, Oyabe Zenichiro.
The Northern Gate:
Ainu long used as human capital in Japanese territorial claims vis-a-vis Russia. This seems to have influenced the Japanese decision to essentially push the Ainu in Sakhalin to move to the mainland. But the context is also a choice between war with Russia and a peaceful settlement -- even if not exactly in Japan's favour. But we have to look at the colonization of Karafuto in context: it wasn't going well. And, more, the Kuriles better represented (as far as Enomoto is concerned) a chance to enter the north pacific fur trade and the ice trade markets using Russian American models. Strange given the Aleutians, like the Ainu in southern Karafuto, were ethnically cleansed from the north Kuriles. But Russian Aleutian policy became the basic blueprint of how to colonize the Kuriles, even if the Ainu were forcibly moved. This movement of Ainu was in violation of the Treaty of St. Petersburg, but it seems the Russians did the same thing. Why? So, what of those Sakhalin Ainu, then? Discuss their forcible movement from Soya to Tsuishikari and the conflict between Matsumoto Juro and Kuroda Kiyotaka. Especially relevant are Matsumoto's view of the Ainu as being loyal citizens and Kuroda's view that the Ainu are savages. Talk about the epidemics that devastated the Ainu in Tsuishikari.
Capitalism as Civilization:
This early chapter will discuss the early stages of capitalist developmentalism in Hokkaido and the emergence of particular discourses of liberal governmentality and land management policies based on this notion. This splits the chapter in two, where the Ainu are categorically rendered rightless and without legal personhood when Hokkaido is claimed as terra nullius. Terra nullus will be analyzed as a performative act, and Japan's early 1870s colonial aggression vis-a-vis Korea and Taiwan will be analyzed accordingly. Within this context, Ainu legal personality is nulified-- so talk about the status of Indigenous people and international law, and maybe move a Hobbesian or Lockean analysis of land rights here. Soon after the annexation of Hokkaido, the Ainu are inserted into koseki. Discuss the koseki, what they're for -- especially as a tool of (differential) inclusion -- and discuss the process of registering the Ainu. But all the same, we need to get back to developmentalism. As the Ainu are included, they are precarized wth land rights nullified and Hokkaido developed as an American-esque settler colony. The food culture of Hokkaido -- not in what was consumed as much as what was grown -- was, yes, in part for export: especially to China and Russia, but it also was self-consciously Western/American. Why? This includes limiting Ainu access to food. Discuss Ainu famines which were a result of this process of capitalist developmentalism and exclusion of the Ainu. I should maybe ruminate about whether this was done intentionally.
