Victor Louzon, the 2016-2018 International Network to Expand Regional and Collaborative Teaching (INTERACT) Postdoctoral Scholar at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, published the article “From Japanese Soldiers to Chinese Rebels: Colonial Hegemony, War Experience, and Spontaneous Remobilization during the 1947 Taiwanese Rebellion” in the Journal of Asian Studies. His article was published online on December 27, 2017 and will appear in print in an upcoming journal volume.
From the Journal of Asian Studies article abstract: “A former part of the Qing Empire, Taiwan was colonized by Japan in 1895 and returned to China, upon Tokyo’s defeat, in 1945. Two years later, a revolt broke out against the mainland Chinese authorities and was brutally crushed. This episode, known as the February 28 Incident, has been at the center of memory wars in Taiwan since democratization. Historical accounts have tended to focus on the background causes of the Incident and on the role played by the Taiwanese elite. Dr. Louzon’s article argues that devoting more attention to grassroots participants and their repertoire of action can shed new light on the events. During World War II, many young Taiwanese were mobilized in the Japanese army and paramilitary structures. This experience persisted in collective memory after Japan’s defeat. During the revolt, young Taiwanese spontaneously “remobilized” the repertoire of actions and symbols formed during the war, with important consequences.”
Dr. Louzon holds his PhD from Sciences Po. He received his undergraduate training at SciencesPo, the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales(Paris), and the University of British Columbia (Vancouver). He was a visiting graduate student at Qinghua (Beijing), NCCU (Taibei) and was a Fox Fellow and Fulbright doctoral student at Yale University. Dr. Louzon originally specialized in modern Chinese history, but his research interests now extend to war and political violence in East Asia in the 20th century, and to contemporary tensions in the region. His PhD dissertation deals with the 1947 “February 28th” incident against Chinese Kuomintang rule in Taiwan, considered as an aftershock of the Sino-Japanese War.
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