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SCSNEI organises a seminar by Makiko Kimura

SCSNEI organises a seminar by Makiko Kimura

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SCSNEI organises a seminar by Makiko Kimura
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MONTHLY SEMINAR SERIES

 

Special Centre for the Study of North East India

Jawaharlal Nehru University

 

Did Sarengla Marry a Japanese Soldier?

Rethinking India-Japan relationship through World War II

 

Makiko Kimura

Associate Professor, Tsuda University, Tokyo

 

Abstract :  During the Second World War, a young woman named Sarengla from the Tangkhul Naga community was asked to serve as an interpreter for a Japanese army officer. She spent several months with him and helped him communicate with the local people. The officer was later killed on his way back to Burma. This story became well-known among the people of the Tangkhul Naga community, who came to understand the woman as the officer’s wife or mistress. There are still folk songs in the area about the love and relationship they had during the war.

Sarengla got married after the war and lived until the 1990s. Her family and relatives believe that she did not have a relationship with the officer, and have expressed discontent about their love story. Recently, a plan arose to shoot a film based partly on the story, but Sarengla’s family did not allow the director to use her name, stating that some of the scenarios were not based on fact.

Based on interviews with Sarengla’s family and the people of the Tangkhul community, this presentation seeks to explore why it was important to the community to know whether or not Sarengla had had a relationship with the officer, or become pregnant by him. In doing so, I will examine why and how women’s chastity became an important issue to them, especially at a time of war.

 

DATE: August 30, Friday, 2019

TIME: 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm

VENUE: Room No.324, 3rd Floor, SSS-I, JNU

 

All are Cordially invited

A warm welcome to the modified and updated website of the Centre for East Asian Studies. The East Asian region has been at the forefront of several path-breaking changes since 1970s beginning with the redefining the development architecture with its State-led development model besides emerging as a major region in the global politics and a key hub of the sophisticated technologies. The Centre is one of the thirteen Centres of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi that provides a holistic understanding of the region.

Initially, established as a Centre for Chinese and Japanese Studies, it subsequently grew to include Korean Studies as well. At present there are eight faculty members in the Centre. Several distinguished faculty who have now retired include the late Prof. Gargi Dutt, Prof. P.A.N. Murthy, Prof. G.P. Deshpande, Dr. Nranarayan Das, Prof. R.R. Krishnan and Prof. K.V. Kesavan. Besides, Dr. Madhu Bhalla served at the Centre in Chinese Studies Programme during 1994-2006. In addition, Ms. Kamlesh Jain and Dr. M. M. Kunju served the Centre as the Documentation Officers in Chinese and Japanese Studies respectively.

The academic curriculum covers both modern and contemporary facets of East Asia as each scholar specializes in an area of his/her interest in the region. The integrated course involves two semesters of classes at the M. Phil programme and a dissertation for the M. Phil and a thesis for Ph. D programme respectively. The central objective is to impart an interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of history, foreign policy, government and politics, society and culture and political economy of the respective areas. Students can explore new and emerging themes such as East Asian regionalism, the evolving East Asian Community, the rise of China, resurgence of Japan and the prospects for reunification of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, the Centre lays great emphasis on the building of language skills. The background of scholars includes mostly from the social science disciplines; History, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, International Relations and language.

Several students of the centre have been recipients of prestigious research fellowships awarded by Japan Foundation, Mombusho (Ministry of Education, Government of Japan), Saburo Okita Memorial Fellowship, Nippon Foundation, Korea Foundation, Nehru Memorial Fellowship, and Fellowship from the Chinese and Taiwanese Governments. Besides, students from Japan receive fellowship from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.