Sabbatical Jan Schmidt: Chambers of Power and Imperial Knowledge in Transition – Japanese Chambers of Commerce and Industry as Political and Cultural Actors connecting local, (trans)national, regional and global dimensions, 1910s-1970s

During this sabbatical period I would like to work on my next book project for a monograph on the political and cultural history of Japanese business associations in the relations to the Japanese State (Empire until 1945) in a global history perspective from the 1910s to 1970s. This is also related to part of a C1 application (C1I-21-00428: Non-Western Agency in the Development of Global Governance during the 1920s-1950s – The Case of Japan: Prevention Campaigns and Institutionalization Regarding Trade, Children’s Wellbeing and Infectious Diseases) to be submitted in January 2020 and to the preparation of a possible larger application on European level and for further funding in Japan (e.g. Japan Society for the Promotion of Science). The main research stay abroad will be in Japan (accepted by Waseda University and Kyoto University for 10-11 months, with the possibility to spend another month at the Department of History of Princeton University upon invitation by Prof. Dr. Sheldon Garon). It is further planned to organize a workshop on the global history of mediators from the “periphery” of the First World War with participants from Argentina, Mexico, South Africa, Portugal, Spain, China and Japan in Tokyo or Kyoto in March-April 2022 coorganized with Prof. Dr. Naraoka Sōchi (Kyoto University), Prof. Dr. Nabetani Ikutarō (Tokai University) and Prof. Dr. María Inés Tato (Historia por la Universidad de Buenos Aires/ Universidad de la Defensa Nacional). Aside from archival research also the organization of a network for global history between historians at Kyoto University, Waseda University, Princeton University, and possibly Yale National University Singaopore Campus is another major goal.