Call for Papers: The Memory and Legacy of the Pacific War in the Philippines

By Kathleen Cruz Gutierrez on July 16, 2024

Sent on behalf of Karl Ian Cheng Chua, special issue editor

As we approach the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in 2025, it is essential to reflect on the profound impact of the Pacific War on the Philippines, the most devastated Allied nation in the Asia Pacific region. The liberation of the Philippines from Japanese occupation in 1945 marked a pivotal moment in the nation's history, leaving a lasting imprint on its social, political, and cultural landscape. The subsequent rehabilitation period posed numerous challenges, including rebuilding infrastructure, restoring social order, and establishing a new republic amidst the emerging global dynamics of the Cold War.

The Pacific War and its aftermath in the Philippines have rarely been analyzed through the lenses of memory and peace studies. Research on this period has predominantly been limited to national audiences, resulting in a gap in the broader, transnational understanding of the war's legacy. War memory remains complex in the region, with recent instances such as the removal of the Filipina comfort women statue in 2018 and United Nations findings in 2023 highlighting persistent issues. Additionally, national commemoration often neglects the broader civilian cost of the war, exemplified by the removal of World War II heroes from the redesigned 1,000 Philippine Peso banknote. These gaps underscore significant deficiencies in historical understanding and collective memory.

We invite scholars from across the humanities and social sciences to submit articles for a special issue that we plan to propose to an international journal. We seek papers that examine how the Pacific War has been remembered, commemorated, and interpreted across different generations and regions in the Philippines, while critically analyzing the complexities of the rehabilitation period that followed. Key questions include:

How have the experiences of the Pacific War been remembered and transmitted across generations?
What roles have state institutions, educational systems, and cultural practices played in shaping these memories?
How do these memories influence contemporary understandings of national identity, historical justice, and reconciliation?
What were the key challenges and contradictions faced during the postwar rehabilitation period, and how have these influenced the Philippines' long-term development?
How has the memory of the war impacted the diplomatic and economic relationship between the Japanese and Filipino governments?

We are particularly interested in interdisciplinary articles that provide new insights into the memory and legacy of the Pacific War in the Philippines and critically examine the postwar rehabilitation period. Suggested themes include:

Personal and Collective Memories: Examining oral histories, memoirs, and family narratives to understand how individuals and communities remember the war and the immediate postwar period, including (but not limited to) oral and digital transmission of war memories.
State and Institutional Commemorations: Analyzing the role of government policies, monuments, and national holidays in shaping collective memory and addressing the challenges of rehabilitation.

Educational Narratives: Investigating how the Pacific War and the rehabilitation period are taught in schools and universities, and how educational narratives have evolved over time.
Cultural Representations: Exploring representations of the war and postwar rehabilitation in literature, film, and the arts, and their impact on public memory.
Historiographical Debates: Reviewing scholarly debates on the interpretation of the Pacific War, its aftermath, and the rehabilitation efforts in the Philippines, and their implications for historical understanding.
Transnational Perspectives: Considering the influence of international relations and global history on the memory of the Pacific War and the postwar rehabilitation period in the Philippines.
Reconciliation and Justice: Reflecting on efforts towards reconciliation and justice for wartime atrocities and the challenges of rebuilding a just society, and their significance for contemporary peacebuilding.
Challenges of Rehabilitation: Critically examining the economic, social, and political challenges faced during the rehabilitation period, including the role of international aid, local governance, and community resilience.

To support prospective contributors, we have compiled a reading list that includes foundational texts and key studies relevant to the memory and legacy of the Pacific War in the Philippines. We encourage reviewing these works to gain a deeper understanding of the themes and contexts pertinent to this special issue project.

Assmann, A., & Conrad, S. (Eds.). (2010). Memory in a global age: Discourses, practices and trajectories. Palgrave Macmillan.

Baxter, J. C. (Ed.), Globalization, localization, and Japanese studies in the Asia-Pacific region. International Research Center for Japanese Studies. https://doi.org/10.15055/00001272

Berger, T. U. (2012). War, Guilt, and World Politics after World War II. Cambridge University Press.

Freeden, M. (2022). Concealed silences and inaudible voices in political thinking. Oxford University Press.

Santhiram, R. (2021). From decolonization to ethno-nationalism: A study of Malaysia's school history syllabusses and textbooks 1905-2020. Strategic Information and Research Development Centre.

Silberman, M., & Vatan, F. (Eds.). (2013). Memory and postwar memorials: Confronting the violence of the past. Palgrave Macmillan US. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137343529

Simangan, D., Katayanagi, M., & van der Does, L. (2024). Introduction to the Special Issue: Hiroshima +75: building peace in Japan and beyond. War & Society, 43(1), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1080/07292473.2024.2288747

Wu, C.H. (Ed.). (2022). Cultures of Memory in Asia: Dynamics and Forms of Memorialization (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003242253

Yang, D. & Mochizuki, M. (Eds.), Memory, identity, and commemorations of World War II: anniversary politics in Asia Pacific (pp. 69–88). Lexington Books.

Prospective contributors should submit abstracts (approximately 250 words) and brief author biographies in a combined MS Word document. Materials must be submitted by 15 August 2024 to leecandelaria@hiroshima-u.ac.jp and kchengchua@gmail.com with the subject line, "PH War Memory Abstract: [your last name/s]". Contributors will receive feedback by 31 August 2024, and manuscripts (approximately 8,000 words) are due by 15 December 2024.

Contact information: John Lee Candelaria (leecandelaria@hiroshima-u.ac.jp) Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hiroshima University

Karl Ian Cheng Chua (kchengchua@gmail.com) Professorial Lecturer, Asian Center, University of the Philippines Diliman