Uncovering Shokumin: Yanaihara Tadao’s Concept of Global Civil Society

Abstract

This article develops the argument that Yanaihara Tadao (1893–1961), a Japanese social scientist at Tokyo Imperial University, embraced the concept of global civil society in which culturally distinct groups would voluntarily cooperate for the benefit of the whole. This important aspect of his work is much less explored than his critique of Japanese colonial policy in Taiwan and Korea. In the period of imperial Japan, Yanaihara reinterpreted the commonly used term for colonization, shokumin, as population migration. Such a reinterpretation allowed him to illustrate the significance of transnational interactions as part and parcel of the globalizing civil society. This article examines his specific understanding of population migration and ethnic nationalism in relation to the concept of global civil society. I argue that his call for colonial autonomy in response to ethnic nationalism implies that he considered the collective struggle for creating an ethnic nation state not only a negative example of a conflict over differences but also a positive opportunity to explore the potential of global civil society.

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