Earthquake Relief and the Transfer of Scientific Knowledge in the Asia-Pacific Region of the 1920s - Chinese, Japanese and U.S. Perspectives

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Sabine Dabringhaus
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: from 2016 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 285919149

On December 16, 1920, one of the most devastating earthquakes in contemporary history shook northwestern China. Three years later on September 1, 1923, the Japanese metropolis Tokyo was largely destroyed. Both catastrophes exposed the East Asian societies to extreme burdens. At the same time they became subjects of the newly developing scientific seismology and occasions for disaster relief of a new type of complexity which connected local and international initiatives. Both the humanitarian commitments and the scientific communication related to these natural catastrophes took place in the newly emerging Asian-Pacific sphere of interaction. Beyond geopolitics and the power relationships between governments, this project examines the non-governmental interdependency in this Pacific space in the period between 1918 until the Japanese invasion of Manchuria from 1931/32. The 1920s were characterized by transnational disaster management and unprecedented scientific exchange between Chinese, Japanese and Americans. While this cultural-scientific transnationalism failed to prevent further wars, it did establish new contacts, which could be reconnected in the late twentieth century. Through the integration of the aims of this project and objectives together with the tools of environmental disaster research, this project connects the macro-level of cross-border relationships with the local dimensions of the earthquakes and their impact on the affected societies. The division of the complete project into three complimentary projects enables a diversification of perspectives into Chinese, Japanese, and American experiences as they are both connected and interconnected to philanthropy, science, and politics. With the help of the resilience approach both the differences and commonalities between these regions in their overcoming of disaster will be unraveled comparatively. The goal of the overall project is to better understand cultures of catastrophe in both China and Japan, and their relationship to the United States as an emerging Pacific actor from the perspective of the transnational formation of the Asian-Pacific cultural region.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants