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