ABSTRACT

The wartime shōkokumin discourse of Japan rested on two competing premises, each catenated with a different part of the compound word: the “shō” that emphasized children’s immaturity and vulnerability and the “kokumin” that activated them immediately as mobilizable citizens. This paper charts how the tensions innate in shōkokumin discourse became manifest both at home and in the colonial territories abroad, focusing especially on the exceptionally ambiguous category of settler children in Manchuria. By employing settler children’s tsuzurikata essays from the late 1930s and early 1940s as a central source of examination, the current study fleshes out the particulars of their lives in Manchuria – the trials and tribulations, as well as the privileges and prestige. Neither metropolitan shōkokumin nor colonial kōmin, the settler children in Manchuria had the double duty of becoming Manchurian and Japanese, embracing their role as the gatekeepers of Japan’s Manchuria. Ranging from language acquisition and assimilating into local customs to declaring Japanese ethnic membership, settler children’s writings expose how they articulated their relationship to the naichi metropole, and emphasized their identities as Japanese kokumin. Whether these children ever gained legitimate status as imperial shōkokumin during the turmoil and exigencies of war remains an unresolved question; however, what is clear is that the shōkokumin discourse itself operated as an imperial pedagogy, binding settler children to their double duties while not necessarily guaranteeing their rights at war’s end.

摘要

战时shōkokumin日本的话语搁在两个相互竞争的前提下，每个复合词的不同部分链中了：“笑是强调儿童的不成熟性和脆弱性和”“ kokumin立即激活他们作为公民可动用” 。本文说明了国民党话语中固有的紧张局势如何在国内和国外殖民地地区表现出来，特别关注了满洲的定居儿童类别。通过雇用定居者的儿童tsuzurikata1930年代末和1940年代初的论文作为考试的主要依据，目前的研究充实了他们在满洲生活的细节-磨难和磨难，以及特权和声望。无论是都市人shokukmin还是殖民地kōmin，在满洲定居的孩子都没有成为满洲人和日本人的双重责任，而是拥护他们成为日本满洲人的守门人的作用。从语言习得到融入当地风俗，再到宣布日本民族身份，定居儿童的著作揭露了他们如何表达与Naichi Metropole的关系，并强调了他们作为日本国民的身份。这些孩子在动乱和紧急情况下是否曾获得过作为帝国国民的合法地位仍未解决。然而，显而易见的是，国民党的话语本身就是一种帝国主义的教学法，使定居者的孩子们承担起双重职责，而并不一定在战争结束时保证他们的权利。