The Foreign Contours of Tradition: Global Catalysts in the Construction of Interwar-period East Asian Conservatism

11th Annual International ADI Conference

Conveners: Lisa Lindkvist Zhang and Bruce Grover, Heidelberg University

Karl Mannheim has astutely noted that ‘conservative’ political movements in the post-enlightenment era do not represent an aspiration to return to an actual past, but rather represent a consciously crafted counter-proposal to progressivism which seeks to integrate its perceived strengths requiring a concerted reformulation of tradition. As a force for nationalism, this constructed conservatism has had a profound and lasting impact on modern global society.

This panel will seek to explore the political phenomenon of conservatism in East Asia during the height of nationalism in the interwar-period. It will grapple with the ways in which East Asian traditions have been reconceived to adapt to the tumult of the 20th century and pursue political agendas which continue to be relevant for contemporary East Asian politics. As a dynamic and multifaceted political phenomenon, conservatism and nationalism have been constructed in broad and unpredictable patterns of thought and have been embraced for a range of motives.

This process of reinventing past social and cultural systems, often in the crucible of imperialist pressures and social Darwinist challenges to identity, manifested itself both in the transfer of ideas across global boundaries and in the mobility of political actors who worked to form new networks and institutions. The papers endeavor to elucidate an important cross section of interwar conservative efforts, and include ideological formulations, party politics, and ideals of rural reconstruction.

19 June
Room 22.0.47

09:00-11:00:

Bruce Grover, Heidelberg University
Pan-Asianist Developmentalist Thought in 1930s Japan: Concepts of Asian national revitalization seen through the political action of the Zenrin Kyokai (Good Neighbor Society) and the Dai Nihon Kaikyo Kyokai (Greater Japan Islam Society)

Kyonghee Lee, Heidelberg University
Volition for Tradition: Europe in East Asian Traditionalist Agrarian Thought

Aymeric Xu, École Normale Supérieure de Lyon
Chinense Conservatism of the Republican era: origin and typologies

Lisa Lindkvist Zhang, Heidelberg University
Chinese Guomindang (Nationalist) Portrayals of India: The Vision of ‘New Asia’