Agenda

David Fedman (University of California Irvine)

Seeds of Control: Japan’s Empire of Forestry in Colonial Korea

Japanese colonial rule in Korea (1905–1945) ushered in natural resource management programs that p

profoundly altered access to and ownership of the peninsula’s extensive mountains and forests. Under the banner of “forest love,” the colonial government set out to restructure the rhythms and routines of agrarian life, targeting everything from home heating to food preparation. Timber industrialists, meanwhile, channeled Korea’s forest resources into supply chains that grew in tandem with Japan’s imperial sphere. These mechanisms of resource control were only fortified after 1937, when the peninsula and its forests were mobilized for total war. The talk examines the roots of Japanese ideas about the Korean landscape, as well as the consequences and aftermath of Japanese approaches to Korea’s “greenification.” Drawing from sources in Japanese and Korean, Fedman writes colonized lands into Japanese environmental history, revealing a largely untold story of green imperialism in Asia.

Discussant: Renata Soukand (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice)

Zoom link HERE

Meeting ID: 830 5104 2967
Passcode: Dw6vcv
 

This event is part of the Environments, Societies, and Histories in East Asia Lecture series, organised by NICHE in collaboration with Marco Zappa, Maddalena Barenghi, Daniele Brombal, Francesca Tarocco and the Department of Asian and North African Studies.