Lecture by Dr. Cemil Aydin: Between Imperial Visions and Anti-Imperialist Thought: Grand Strategy Dilemmas of the Japanese and Ottoman Empires

The Japanese Empire of the late 1930s, like other modern empires, was fraught with contradiction: Japanese Asianists believed in their imperial mission while advocating the destruction of the Eurocentric imperial
world order. The ideals of liberation and progress were not unique to Japan; the Ottoman Empire, another non-Western, non-Christian modern empire provides an important point of comparison. Both imperial regimes
had to respond to the formidable challenge of articulating legitimacy in a Eurocentric world order.

In this lecture, Dr. Cemil Aydin will examine Japanese and Ottoman writings on empire, imperialism, the west and civilization, and discuss globally circulating notions or imperial legitimacy during the 19th century.
He will also explain the appeal of Pan-Islamic and Pan-Asian thinking for both nationalist movements and two non-Western empires of the globalizing world order.

Dr. Aydin received his Ph.D. in History from Harvard University in 2002. His first book, The Politics of Anti-Westernism in Asia: Visions of World Order in Pan-Islamic and Pan-Asian Thought was published in 2007
(Columbia University Press).

Date: Monday, February 9, 2009
Time: 12:00 – 1:15 PM
Venue: Thomson Hall 317, University of Washington

For more information: (206) 685-9997 or japan@u.washington.edu or visit http://jsis.washington.edu/japan/colloquia.shtml