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X-WR-CALNAME:Geisha girl nurse: Women of the Japanese empire on the front l
 ines during World War II
X-WR-TIMEZONE:Pacific Time (US & Canada)
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DTSTAMP:20261008T095252Z
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DTSTART:20250424T233000Z
DTEND:20250425T010000Z
DESCRIPTION:Traditional understanding of Japanese women’s roles during WW
 II places them on the homefront. This talk introduces my current research 
 which challenges this narrative by looking at women who as subjects of the
  Japanese empire\, fought and died in the Asia-Pacific War. They fought wi
 th weapons like guns\, grenades and explosive devices. They died not as 
 “casualties of war” but by being shot by Allied troops or struck by en
 emy artillery in battle. That they fought and died was not supposed to hav
 e happened. That they did and that fact seems surprising shows us the limi
 tations of postwar Japanese historiography.\n\nThis talk will discuss how 
 and why certain kinds of women (civilians\, nurses\, and comfort women) of
  the Japanese empire came to be on the frontlines during the Second World 
 War and the evidence that points to some of them fighting in battle. Howev
 er\, their presence does not seem so unlikely when we look at the opposing
  forces\, which included female guerilla resistance fighters in China and 
 the Philippines who fought against the Japanese. It will explore why it is
  so hard to imagine women in the Asia-Pacific theater as combatants today.
  It previews just one part of a larger book project funded by a NEH grant 
 that focuses on the role of colonial people in the Japanese military as we
 ll as how Indigenous people living on the islands where war came in the Pa
 cific theater also got coerced into fighting\, laboring\, and dying for th
 e Japanese –part of a larger transimperial phenomenon– that the Allied
  forces were involved in as well as the Japanese.\n\nThis talk is free and
  open to the public. Please RSVP here.\n\nAbout the speaker: \n\nKirsten Z
 iomek is an associate professor of history and director of Asian Studies a
 t Adelphi University in New York. Her research focuses on the Japanese emp
 ire\, colonial subjects\, Indigenous people\, World War II\, visual cultur
 e and imagery\, and comparative imperialisms.\n\nHer articles have appeare
 d in the Journal of Asian Studies and Critical Asian Studies and her first
  book\, Lost Histories: Recovering the Lives of Japan’s Colonial Peoples
  was published in 2019 by Harvard University Asia Center. Her current book
  project reimagines the Asia-Pacific War by focusing on the experiences of
  colonial and Indigenous people throughout the Pacific region- some who fo
 ught for the Japanese military- others who were coerced into providing for
 ced labor\, resources or sex.  A fellowship from the National Endowment fo
 r Humanities and the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission is supporting her re
 search leave during 2023-2024. \n\n(See more at www.kziomek.com)
GEO:37.429468;-122.167272
LOCATION:Lathrop Library\, 224
SUMMARY:Geisha girl nurse: Women of the Japanese empire on the front lines 
 during World War II
URL;VALUE=URI:https://events.stanford.edu/event/geisha-girl-nurse-women-of-
 the-japanese-empire
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