Gavan McCormack (Professor, East Asian History, Australian National University)
| DATE: | Friday, April 19, 2002 |
|---|---|
| TIME: | 12:00 noon-2:00 p.m. |
| PLACE: | O'Neil Room, Faculty Club |
| FORMAT: | Seminar |
| SPONSOR: | Center for Japanese Studies |
In January 2000, Constitutional Reform Councils were set up in both houses of the national Diet to debate the constitution and its possible reform. The inherent implausibility of the notion that Japanâs constitution, drawn up under American occupation, would remain unchanged for so long is such that dispute is hard to avoid. The debate is no mere narrow or legal matter, but goes to the heart of how Japan should see itself and its role in the coming century. This seminar will analyze this debate and its implications.
Gavan McCormack is Professor of Japanese History in the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University. He was educated at Melbourne and London universities, with a Ph.D. in History from London University in 1974. he taught at the Universities of Leeds (UK), La Trobe (Melbourne), and Adelaide, before being appointed to his current position in 1990. He has lived and worked in Japan on many occasions since first visiting as a student in 1962, and has been a visiting professor at Kyoto and Kobe universities. He has written a dozen books on aspects of modern Japanese, Korean, and Chinese history. He is well known in Japan (where many of his works have been translated and published) and his work has also been translated and published in Chinese, Korean, Thai, Arabic, and the main European languages.
