Energy Connections: Rethinking Japan’s Energy History in the Global Context, 1860s-1940s
Hiroki Shin (University of Birmingham, UK)
Le 6 février 2024 de 10h30 à 12h30
54 boulevard Raspail, 75006 Paris – Salle A06-51
Dans le cadre du séminaire « Explorations in Global History of Energy and Innovation » animé par Aleksandra Kobiljski (CCJ-CNRS/EHESS) et Antoine Missemer (CIRED-CNRS/EHESS)
Abstract: Historians of Japan have long considered the nation’s modernisation in terms of westernization. This westernization narrative emphasises the adoption of western industrial technology, including carbon energy technology, as a key factor making Japan the leading economic power in early twentieth-century Asia. However, with their preoccupation with technological transfer, historians have often overlooked global and local connections in the movement of resources, technology, and people. Drawing upon recent energy historiography, which has foregrounded global connections and local teleconnections, this presentation recontextualises Japan’s energy history within a global framework. It explores the global, regional, and national connections that shaped Japan’s modern energy development during what I call Japan’s “failed energy transition” from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century.