Knowledge Production in Cold War Asia: US Hegemony and Local Agency

From the end of the Second World War to the early 1970s, new paradigms began to form in academic, scientific, and professional knowledge in various disciplines and fields—not only in the United States, but also in East Asia. Drawing on a wealth of archival documents from East Asia, Knowledge Production in Cold War Asia focuses on the building and rebuilding of these different forms of knowledge in or about East Asia during the first half of the Cold War. It explores how this newly constructed knowledge came to assume certain "norms" professionals and bureaucrats of these countries tried to comply with and sometimes wrestled with. The essays within this collection explore a wide variety of this knowledge production: state-centered promotions of construction and normalization of knowledge; the ways in which non-state actors were involved in the construction and normalization of knowledge; and how individuals and groups who resisted or protested the hegemonic knowledge were constructed by state or non-state actors. A distinctive look at the Cold War through the research and perspectives of scholars from East Asia, Knowledge Production in Cold War Asia insightfully highlights the role of knowledge production, normalization, and resistance in the Cold War era, contributing to a fuller understanding of international relations.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Introduction, by Yuka Tsuchiya Moriguchi, Shin Kawashima, and Somei Kobayashi Part I: Area Studies 1. The United States and Taiwanese Sinology during the Cold War: The Ford Foundation and the Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, by Shin Kawashima 2. Cold War Collaborations: Japanese Studies in the United States, 1945–1960, by Miriam Kingsberg Kadia 3. Debates on Modernization Theory at the Hakone Conference: Discrepancies in Value Systems and Perspectives on History, by Masaki Fujioka 4. The Dawn of Korean Studies and Knowledge Production on Korea during and after the Pacific War, by Somei Kobayashi Part II: Scientific Knowledge 5. The Emergence of China's Nuclear Research: Between the Civil War and the Cold War, by Yuko Sato 6. The Michigan Memorial Phoenix Project and Taiwan: Nuclear Technological Aid by a US Public University, by Yuka Tsuchiya Moriguchi 7. Rediscovery of a Cold War Space: The Politics of Science in the DMZ Ecological Survey, by Manyong Moon Part III: Practicing Knowledge 8. US Aid, Journalism Education in Taiwan, and a Transnational Network of Chinese-Speaking Journalists, by Mike Shichi Lan 9. The Cold War, US International Educational Exchange, and the Development of Hong Kong's Journalism and Communication Education, by Yang Zhang 10. US Educational Exchange Programs for Foreign Journalists and Changes in South Korean Journalism, by Jae Young Cha 11. Civic Action as Counterinsurgency in South Korea: Cold War at the Grassroots within and beyond the National Borders, by Eun Heo Index

About the Author :
Yuka Tsuchiya Moriguchi is a professor of American History at Kyoto University. She is the author of Science, Technology and the Cultural Cold War in Asia: From Atoms for Peace to Space Flight and many other books and articles on US cultural/science diplomacy during the Cold War.Shin Kawashima is Professor of International Relations at the University of Tokyo. He authored China in the 21st Century and Frontier of China, among others, and edited Xi Jinping's China and many other volumes.Somei Kobayashi is Professor at College of Law, Nihon University. He is the author of Media Space of Koreans in Japan: Newspapers During the Allied Occupation of Japan and many articles on East Asian History in the Cold War era and Korean Studies.

Review :
"This book lends a fascinating view into the competition for scientific and professional authority that erupted as Cold War battle lines were drawn across Asia. Expertise symbolized legitimacy, progress, and a universal reason that could transcend ideological divides. In compelling detail, the authors reveal an unpredictable time when knowledge itself was up for grabs: who could claim and control it, where it could be exported, and what institutions would house it. An outstanding contribution to the intellectual history of twentieth-century Asia."—Nick Cullather, author of Illusions of Influence: The Political Economy of United States-Philippines Relations, 1942-1960 "This book offers English readers deeper insight into the wide-ranging layers of how the US finessed selling its knowhow and infrastructure education to Asia. Conversely, the reception these programs received in East Asia as aid or propaganda is analyzed in equal measure. The result offers a holistic view on the unequal balances of power through knowledge during the Cold War."—Barak Kushner, author of The Geography of Injustice: East Asia's Battle between Memory and History "This is an extremely valuable contribution to filling the intellectual vacuum of the Cultural Cold War. The immensely informative and well-researched chapters in this work illuminate how academic and professional knowledge was generated in post-WWII East Asia, leading us to reevaluate the nature of the Cold War in the region."—Hsiao-ting Lin, author of Taiwan, the United States, and the Hidden History of the Cold War in Asia: Divided Allies "The essays in Knowledge Production in Cold War Asia offer a comprehensive and essential exploration of the knowledge exchange between the US and East Asia during the Cold War. The book highlights East Asia's pivotal role in reshaping global intellectual landscapes—not merely as a recipient but as a dynamic producer of Cold War knowledge through adaptation, resistance, and innovation."—Ran Zwigenberg, author of Hiroshima: The Origins of Global Memory Culture