Ideology in Science Textbooks for Japanese Students in East Asian Colonies: Focusing on Plant Species that Appear in Manchuria Textbooks

Masafumi Ikeda,Masaya Yamamoto

doi:10.29333/ejmste/9757

Abstract

Colonial education worldwide has relied on various concepts, from trying to mirror the content of the sovereign country to developing unique content pertaining to the colonies themselves. In this paper, we examined the nature of colonial education for the Japanese in northeast China (“Manchuria”) during the colonial period from the viewpoint of the kinds of plants that were the subject of science textbooks. We categorized land plants based on their distribution range and/or usage and quantitatively evaluated their appearance frequencies. We found that useful plants appeared most frequently in the textbooks, suggesting a specific agricultural policy intent. From the perspective of species distribution, plant taxa that are distributed across both Japan and Manchuria frequently appeared, whereas only three Japanese endemic species were cited. Our study suggests the goal of educating students who were likely to be accepted in both the colony and the sovereign state.

Highlights

Revealing the actual state of education in Japan’s colonies is a meaningful effort that allows us to reflect on the past and learn lessons to ensure that wartime education does not reoccur
We examined the nature of colonial education for the Japanese in northeast China (“Manchuria”) during the colonial period from the viewpoint of the kinds of plants that were the subject of science textbooks
This study revealed that Manchurian science textbooks dealt with many “useful plants” and that, while they placed an emphasis on learning content centered on Manchuria, they dealt with plants that could only be found in the Japanese mainland

Summary

Introduction

Revealing the actual state of education in Japan’s colonies is a meaningful effort that allows us to reflect on the past and learn lessons to ensure that wartime education does not reoccur. Colonization was conducted through physical control and through mental control, which was achieved through education (Mart, 2011). White (1996) compared Britain’s and France’s respective educational approaches in their African colonies. He indicated that the British approach can be summarized as indirect domination, whereas the French approach was generally centralized and direct. Such a complex matter suggests that the sovereign state’s influence in the colonies does not always affect schools and curricula, highlighting the fact that education varies from colony to colony (Sweeting & Vickers, 2007)

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