『Southeast Asia in World History: Crossroads That Change History』（Nagoya Univercity Press、2021）
Jun Ota,Noriyuki Osada,Waka Aoyama,Masao Imamura,Takashi Hasuda
To be recognized by the Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Prize is such an honor for us. We would like to convey our sincere gratitude to the Masayoshi Ohira Foundation, the prize committee, Nagoya University Press, and all those who have kindly made possible the publication of this book.
Our book is a Japanese translation of A History of Southeast Asia: Critical Crossroads (2015) written by Anthony Reid, who has led Southeast Asian Studies since the 1980s. History of Southeast Asia had already been written by other scholars prior to Reid, but they tended to divide the region into separate states and focus on politics. Bucking this trend of national histories, Reid has presented a cross-boundary history for the entire region with thick descriptions of economic and cultural matters. This book discusses a wide range of themes, including climate, disasters, and commerce. Some of the themes, such as women, non-state society, and performance (i.e., dance, recitation, play, music, etc., contrasted to written literature), had received very limited attention in conventional historical narratives. Reid explains the difficulties for powerful states to emerge in Southeast Asia in light of the natural environment and agrarian conditions, pointing out that stateless societies too were connected to other places through trade and other activities. Known for pioneering studies of nationalism, he also illuminates how the development of performances played in local vernaculars eventually contributed to the formation of nations. Reid clearly shows why we need to study the history of Southeast Asia. Because we are still learning how to live with nature harmoniously, maintain a balanced gender relationship, and prevent excessive dependence on state powers. For this learning, Southeast Asian history can provide a critical reference point.
Translating this book covering such a wide range of themes turned out to be an immensely challenging and humbling project. We the five translators not only spent countless hours discussing and debating among ourselves but also had to consult sixteen external experts from different fields. We sent more than 120 questions to the author. Five historians read the entire manuscript and gave us detailed comments. This book is a product of all these people, to whom we remain truly grateful. We have learned that translating is a collaborative undertaking, and how we proceeded with this translation project points to an exemplary method for translating a scholarly book. We sincerely hope that through this prestigious award, our translation will gain an even wider readership and enjoy a long life.
Profile
Fuminori Minamikawa was born in Aichi in 1973. He finished the doctoral program in 2001 and received Ph.D (Sociology) from the Graduate School of Social Sciences, Hitotsubashi University in 2006. He is now a Professor at the Graduate School of Global Studies, Doshisha University. He was an Associate Professor at Kobe City University of Foreign Studies and Professor at the College of International Relations, Ritsumeikan University. His major is sociology and American studies, focusing on race and ethnicity, multiculturalism and Japanese American history. His major works in Japanese include E Pluribus Unum: A Historical Sociology of Multicultural America, New Edition (Horitsubunkasha, 2022) and Historical Sociology of “Japanese America”: Ethnicity, Race and Nationalism (Sairyusha, 2007)
