Race for empire

Race for Empire: Koreans as Japanese and Japanese as Americans during World War II was published by the University of California Press in 2011 as a scholarly investigation into the comparative history of the Japanese Empire and the United States. Takashi Fujitani, a professor of history, crafted this work to explore how both nations utilized similar ideologies regarding race and nationalism to mobilize their respective populations and consolidate power during the conflict. The book situates itself within the fields of comparative colonial and imperial studies, aiming to deconstruct the ways that democratic and fascist regimes alike employed racial logic to justify their military and social agendas.

The design and conceptual framework of the book were driven by Fujitani’s extensive research into archival materials from both Japan and the United States. His approach was lauded by peers for its rigorous analysis of the intersection between colonial policy and racial identity, serving as a critical intervention in how historians view the parallels between the Japanese experience in wartime Korea and the internment of Japanese Americans. The scholarly community received the work as an essential contribution to understanding how concepts of belonging, citizenship, and ethnic hierarchy were manipulated to serve imperial goals in the twentieth century.