Contribution to Book
Interpreting with "human sympathy": Missionaries in uniform during the Pacific War and occupation of Japan
Towards an Atlas of the History of Interpreting
(2023)
Abstract
Utilizing language skills and cultural knowledge obtained through their
time proselytizing or by virtue of growing up in Japan, a number of
repatriated Christian missionaries and their children took part in the Allied
war effort during the Pacific War (1941–1945) and the postwar occupation of
Japan (1945–1952), including as interpreters and trainers of interpreters for
military intelligence. By examining what language-related activities these
missionary-connected Americans and Canadians engaged in and how they
viewed their own participation in the defeat and occupation of
communities among which they had recently lived and worked, this chapter
adds to the discussion of roles missionaries play as linguistic mediators,
informants, and advisors in colonization, trade, diplomacy, and conflict.
Keywords
- Christian missionaries,
- missionary children,
- Pacific War,
- occupation of Japan,
- military interpreters,
- military intelligence
Disciplines
Publication Date
February, 2023
Editor
L. Ruiz Rosendo, J. Baigorri-Jalón
Publisher
John Benjamins
ISBN
9789027254054
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.159
Citation Information
Kayoko Takeda. "Interpreting with "human sympathy": Missionaries in uniform during the Pacific War and occupation of Japan" Towards an Atlas of the History of Interpreting (2023) p. 145 - 170 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/kayoko_takeda/66/