The WIAS Seminar Series “Humanities in the Anthropocene” Vol. 8, Open Lecture – “A Perspective from the History of Industrial Policy: Pollution Countermeasures under the Conservative Political System in the Second Half of the High-Growth Period” was held on December 17, 2022. Keitaro Nagai, a Research Associate of Waseda’s Faculty of Political Science and Economics, School of Political Science and Economics, gave a presentation followed by a discussion with 12 participants.
Based on the ongoing discussion of the “Anthropocene” in the field of economic history (environmental history), Nagai’s specialty, he discussed air pollution in Ichihara City, Chiba Prefecture. Pollution history research has traditionally focused mainly on reformist local governments.
However, by daring to focus on Ichihara City, Chiba Prefecture, the ground of a conservative political party, and analyzing air pollution and damage to pears in the 1960s, as well as pollution lawsuits mainly by pear growers, based on primary historical documents, the lecture presented a method to understand the historical development of the social issue of pollution from multiple perspectives.
The research method of meticulously verifying primary historical documents and the empirical views derived from them have a high affinity with the humanities, which contrasted favorably with the earlier discussion of the Minamata issue through the literature of Michiko Ishimure at the 7th Seminar.
The lecture brought to light the significant difference between the 1950s, when pollution became an issue in Minamata, and the 1960s in Ichihara, in terms of lawsuits over pollution and the process of finding corporations liable (especially the number of years required for a trial to be concluded), and also developed into a discussion of new issues such as the impact of environmental problems in the 1960s on the literature and culture of that period.
Event Details
- Date/Time: December 17, 2022 (Sat), 10:00-12:00 (JST)
- Location: Online meeting via Zoom
- Language: Japanese
- Program
10:00-10:05 Opening Address: Satomi Yamamoto (Professor, Faculty of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Waseda University)
10:05-11:35 Lecture: “A Perspective from the History of Industrial Policy: Pollution Countermeasures under the Conservative Political System in the Second Half of the High-Growth Period” Keitaro Nagai (Research Associate Faculty of Political Science and Economics, School of Political Science and Economics）
11:35-11:40 Break
11:40-12:00 Discussion between Speakers and Participants - Prospected Audience: Faculty members, Researchers, Graduate students
