Scholarship on racial politics in Japan has tended to take a dichotomous view of Japan as either a culturally homogenous, racially exceptional society where racism does not exist or a perniciously racist one. This talk examines how racism and antiracism have interactively shaped modern Japan’s political development, focusing on national and international coalitions, social movements, empire, and postwar liberal democracy.

Michael Sharpe is Professor of Political Science at York College and The Graduate Center of CUNY, and Adjunct Research Scholar at the Weatherhead East Asia Institute, Columbia University.

This event is co-sponsored by the Department of Political Science, the Program in International Studies, the Program in Racism, Immigration, and Citizenship, and the Critical Responses to Anti-Asian Violence (CRAAV) Initiative..