A cartographic fade to black: mapping the destruction of urban Japan during World War II

Fedman, David; Karacas, Cary

doi:10.1016/j.jhg.2012.02.004

Cited by 17 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…But the shattering of Hiroshima and Nagasaki added a horrifically vivid and specific materiality to the ‘imagination of disaster’. While dozens of other Japanese cities were intentionally demolished by US Army Air Forces incendiary weapons – ‘an embrace of urbicide as a legitimate form of warfare’ (Fedman and Karacas, 2012: 313), or what Hewitt (1983) called ‘place annihilation’ – and while some US war-planners saw a nuclear weapon as merely one more item at the military’s disposal, it is also undeniable that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were and continue to be treated differently (see Dower, 2010). The two cities became a single template for further exercises in (imagined) mass annihilation.…”

Section: Military Spectacles and The Emergence Of Nuclear Statesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nuclear landscapes

Pitkanen¹,

Farish

2017

Progress in Human Geography

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This article brings together the geographic literature on nuclear topics, and draws out the geographical dimensions of broader scholarship on ‘nuclearity’, to consider the premise of a nuclear landscape, and to offer a partial history of such landscapes. Places such as New Mexico’s Trinity Site have become iconic, at least in the United States, and a study of nuclear landscapes must consider the cultural force of spectacular weapons tests and related origin stories. But critical scholars have also looked beyond and below the distractions of mushroom clouds, to additional and alternative landscapes that are obscured by secrecy and relative banality.

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Section: Military Spectacles and The Emergence Of Nuclear Statesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nuclear landscapes

Pitkanen¹,

Farish

2017

Progress in Human Geography

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“…Such preparations, however, were of relatively little use in front of the colossal bombing capacity deployed by Allied planes (Taylor ; US Department of Defense ). In the case of Japanese cities, the careful mapping preparation of the bombing took into account the infrastructures of water and energy supply (Fedman and Karacas ). The water storage capacity of Japanese cities was low and its water supply systems were considered weak and highly dependent on electrical pumping systems.…”

Section: War Water and Cities: A Brief Accountmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Urban Ecology Under Fire”: Water Supply in Madrid During the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939)

2014

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This paper investigates the critical role of workers to enhance the resilience of water supply services in cities at war through analyzing the case of Madrid and the Madrid water company Canales del Lozoya during the Spanish Civil War (1936)(1937)(1938)(1939). We argue that securing the protection of vital urban flows mediated through infrastructures is a key objective of cities under attack. In doing so we contend that examining how those affected by the interruption of these flows cope with the situation represents a valuable but largely neglected form of water management. We illustrate how quotidian knowledge about the urban geography of water flows may have important repercussions for the war effort itself. In a nutshell, the case of Madrid offers an early account of the critical role of water workers in sustaining "urban ecologies under fire" securing the complex urban metabolism while also contributing to the struggle against invading forces.

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“…There were certainly excellent scholars who have contributed to Japanese (post)colonial geographies (Fedman & Karacas, 2012; Howell, 2005; Kinda, 1997; Takeuchi, 2000; Walker, 2007), but compared to the more extensive and detailed English‐language western colonial studies, the study of Japanese colonial geographies is found wanting. Existing publications on Japanese colonialism are either historical or sociological studies, with only a few appearing in geography journals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Historical geographies of Japanese colonial urbanism

2023

Geography Compass

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While historical geographers contributed to colonial projects as surveyors, explorers and map‐makers, since the 1990s they have contributed to the critical analysis of the imaginary and material geographies of empire. However, as the only example of Asian‐led colonialism, the study of Japanese colonialism has not received anywhere near the same degree of scholarly attention as western colonialism, especially in the English‐speaking literature. This study summarizes the historical geographies on both Japanese colonialism and colonial cities in Japanese Empire, arguing the vulnerable status of Japanese colonial cities in postcolonial urbanism, and concludes with a discussion of the particularities of Japanese colonialism. It argues that there is plenty of space for geographical research in the Japanese colonial context. Japan's colonial cities have special characteristics and should receive more attention in post‐colonial urbanism as it in line with the urban scholar's call for ordinary cities in global south. It is hoped that this review can be a complete summary of relevant research and will provide useful references for future geographers to comparatively research Japanese colonialism.

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A cartographic fade to black: mapping the destruction of urban Japan during World War II

Cited by 17 publications

References 2 publications

Nuclear landscapes

Nuclear landscapes

“Urban Ecology Under Fire”: Water Supply in Madrid During the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939)

Historical geographies of Japanese colonial urbanism

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