Between 1941 and 1945, Axis and Allied nations (aided by neutral Swiss and Spanish diplomats) created a network of political negotiations and legal alliances that determined the incarceration, removal, and trade of Japanese civilians. Because of these networks, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, the U.S. government worked with countries like Peru and Panama to detain Japanese Latin Americans in U.S. internment camps. Likewise, the Australian government imported and confined Japanese residents of New Zealand, Great Britain, the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), New Caledonia, the New Hebrides (Republic of Vanuatu), and the Solomon Islands. When these civilians reached their final destination, U.S. and Australian governments either held detainees in internment camps for the duration of the war or exchanged imported Japanese civilians for British and American citizens overseas.

 

Importing the Enemy seeks to understand Japanese internment by centering the analysis on wartime diplomacy between the United States, Australia, and Japan. Whereas prior studies either focus on the relocation of Japanese U.S. and Australian citizens or discuss internment within a single country, Importing the Enemy will connect internment with a global network of politics and transnational agreements.

My research analyzes the complex multi-national networks that emerged during the Second World War. As such, the dissertation will enrich studies on World War II, transnational history, and diplomatic history.

 

My project will communicate the overarching narrative of transnational internment as a story of multinational injustice against populations uprooted by global warfare. Importing the Enemy will also engage critical conversations on wartime frenzy, national belonging, and the construction of international networks that continued to influence political structures during the late twentieth century.

 

Though Japanese civilians are largely forgotten in conversations about victims of World War II, Importing the Enemy will promote a deeper understanding of the Second World War and its forgotten victims in the Pacific theatre.