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Succoring strangers: Castaway humanitarianism in nineteenth century East Asia

Although the safety of castaway sailors was used to publically justify interventions such as Commodore Perry’s arrival in Tokyo Bay in 1852 or the Japanese invasion of Formosa in 1874, the historiography of this period has searched for alternative explanations, such as commercial expansion or cul...

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Main Author: Connolly, Daniel Phillip
Format: Conference or Workshop Item
Language:English
Published: 2014
Subjects:
DS Asia
JZ International relations
Online Access:http://repo.uum.edu.my/14450/1/15.pdf
http://repo.uum.edu.my/14450/
http://www.iaha2014.uum.edu.my/
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spelling my.uum.repo.144502016-05-12T03:19:04Z http://repo.uum.edu.my/14450/ Succoring strangers: Castaway humanitarianism in nineteenth century East Asia Connolly, Daniel Phillip DS Asia JZ International relations Although the safety of castaway sailors was used to publically justify interventions such as Commodore Perry’s arrival in Tokyo Bay in 1852 or the Japanese invasion of Formosa in 1874, the historiography of this period has searched for alternative explanations, such as commercial expansion or cultural chauvinism. This paper argues that the protection of castaways was more than a pretext for overseas military actions. Shipwrecks were a formidable problem of international relations in the period, demanding the creation of shared norms and mechanisms. In East Asia, European interlopers encountered a pre-existing system dedicated to regulating this problem that differed from their own.Although both systems protected shipwrecked sailors, they were in reality based on very different assumptions. Westerners made a conscious decision to subvert these indigenous institutions, even while benefiting from them. Ultimately, this struggle over the treatment and repatriation of shipwrecked sailors can be seen as a key component of imperialism. 2014-08-23 Conference or Workshop Item PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://repo.uum.edu.my/14450/1/15.pdf Connolly, Daniel Phillip (2014) Succoring strangers: Castaway humanitarianism in nineteenth century East Asia. In: 23rd International Conference of Historians of Asia 2014 (IAHA2014), 23 - 27 August 2014, Alor Setar, Kedah, Malaysia. http://www.iaha2014.uum.edu.my/
institution Universiti Utara Malaysia
building UUM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Utara Malaysia
content_source UUM Institutionali Repository
url_provider http://repo.uum.edu.my/
language English
topic DS Asia
JZ International relations
spellingShingle DS Asia
JZ International relations
Connolly, Daniel Phillip
Succoring strangers: Castaway humanitarianism in nineteenth century East Asia
description Although the safety of castaway sailors was used to publically justify interventions such as Commodore Perry’s arrival in Tokyo Bay in 1852 or the Japanese invasion of Formosa in 1874, the historiography of this period has searched for alternative explanations, such as commercial expansion or cultural chauvinism. This paper argues that the protection of castaways was more than a pretext for overseas military actions. Shipwrecks were a formidable problem of international relations in the period, demanding the creation of shared norms and mechanisms. In East Asia, European interlopers encountered a pre-existing system dedicated to regulating this problem that differed from their own.Although both systems protected shipwrecked sailors, they were in reality based on very different assumptions. Westerners made a conscious decision to subvert these indigenous institutions, even while benefiting from them. Ultimately, this struggle over the treatment and repatriation of shipwrecked sailors can be seen as a key component of imperialism.
format Conference or Workshop Item
author Connolly, Daniel Phillip
author_facet Connolly, Daniel Phillip
author_sort Connolly, Daniel Phillip
title Succoring strangers: Castaway humanitarianism in nineteenth century East Asia
title_short Succoring strangers: Castaway humanitarianism in nineteenth century East Asia
title_full Succoring strangers: Castaway humanitarianism in nineteenth century East Asia
title_fullStr Succoring strangers: Castaway humanitarianism in nineteenth century East Asia
title_full_unstemmed Succoring strangers: Castaway humanitarianism in nineteenth century East Asia
title_sort succoring strangers: castaway humanitarianism in nineteenth century east asia
publishDate 2014
url http://repo.uum.edu.my/14450/1/15.pdf
http://repo.uum.edu.my/14450/
http://www.iaha2014.uum.edu.my/
_version_ 1644281455570845696
score 13.211869

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