Conference: Re-assembling Manchukuo from below: Invisible Minorities, Politics, and Imagination
Organized by Prof. Olga Khomenko and Prof. Sho Konishi, this interdisciplinary conference explores Manchukuo—the so-called “puppet state” created by Japan in occupied Manchuria—not from the perspective of the empire, but from the ground up. Moving beyond dominant narratives of imperial control, the event centers on the lives, political visions, and cultural productions of often-overlooked minority communities: Ukrainians, Russians, Tatars, Poles, Hungarians, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, and others.
Over two days, scholars from across the globe will examine how these groups—operating outside official power structures—created their own institutions, publications, and networks. Case studies range from Ukrainian newspaper publishing with Japanese support, to Tatar media and religious life, to the transnational aspirations of Korean and Taiwanese students. These stories highlight the ways minoritized peoples imagined alternative futures, resisted domination, and built forms of solidarity within a complex imperial setting.
The conference will feature keynote lectures, thematic panels, and a closing roundtable reflecting on new methodological directions in Manchukuo studies.
Alongside the academic program, the conference will host an immersive exhibition titled: “Freedom, Identity, and Persistence: The Transnational Story of Ukrainian Diaspora in Asia and Its Continuity.”
Curated by Prof. Olga Khomenko with Yuliia Krulova (design) and Miyu Hosoi (sound), this exhibition combines soundscapes, visual materials, and personal narratives to tell the century-long story of Ukrainian forced migration, cultural resilience, and identity formation in Asia. It offers a powerful reflection on the enduring impact of displacement, linking past and present.
Free and open to the public. Sign up via Eventbrite!
We welcome scholars, students, and anyone interested in history, migration, memory, and the unseen layers of empire.
Programme
Friday 9th May 2025
Pavilion Room, 4th Floor, Gateway Building, St. Antony’s College
9:30 – 10:00 Registration
Tea/coffee/biscuits
10:00-10:30 Welcome Keynote Speech by Professor Sho Konishi (Nissan Institute, University of Oxford)
10:30- 12:30 Panel I Educating Empire: Knowledge, Identity, and Power in Colonial Manchukuo
Chair: Dr. Chinami Oka
Discussant: Alok Ranpise
Presenters
Prof. Takeshi Nakashima
“Educating Russian Engineers in Manchukuo” (Tokyo Metropolitan University, Japan)
Prof. Angelina Nechaeva
“Introducing a new education system into society of "co-prosperity": policy and prospects for new way of learning. As seen from different generations of Russian emigrants.” (Doshisha University, Japan)
Prof. Yoshihiko Okabe
“Japanese Pre-War Perspective of Ukraine and first Ukrainian textbook in Japanese Language (1937)” (Matsuguchi Tadashi Ukrainian Research Centre, Kobe Gakuin University, Japan)
Prof. Yuka Hiruma Kishida
“Student Dormitories as a Space for Interchanges among Youths with Diverse Ethnic and National Backgrounds: A Case of Kenkoku University’s Juku” (Bridgewater college, USA)
12:30-14:00 Lunch
14:00-16:00 Panel II Media, Representations and Gender: Diasporas, Family, and Images in Manchurian Memory
Chair: Dr. Alice Baldock
Discussant: Toma-Jin Morikawa-Fouquet
Presenters
Prof. Petr Podalko
“Russian Emigrants' life in the Orient on screen, its lights and shadows: From “My Nightingale” to “White Countess” (Aoyama Gakuin University, Japan)
Prof. Naho Igaue
“Intermarriage reflected in Japanese novels set in "Manchukuo” (with a focus on Japanese-Russian cases) (Chuo University, Japan)
Dr. Mátyás Mervay
“Forgotten Hungarian diaspora in Manchuria and its media coverage” (New York University, USA)
Tyuki Imamura
“Photographs, Banknotes, and a Four-horse-drawn Hearse: Interpreting Historical Voids and Fragmented Family Memories of Manchukuo” (University of Oxford)
16:00-16:30 Break - Afternoon Tea/Coffee/biscuits
16:30 - 18:30 Panel III Minority Voices and Political Imaginations: Ukrainians, Tatars and Poles at the contact zone of Manchukuo
Chair: Prof. Hugh Whittaker
Discussant: Dr. Jessica Fernández de Lara Harada
Presenters
Prof. Larisa Usmanova
“Religious and national practices of Turk-Tatar Muslim immigrant communities in Manchuria” (Russian State University for Humanities, Russia)
Mariusz Borysiewicz
"The Polish Tavern Association in Harbin, 1907-1947. From business opportunities to patriotic activities" (Ruhr University Bochum, Germany)
Prof. Olga Khomenko
"Ukrainian Futures in Manchuria: Nationhood, Minorities, and the Political Vision of the Manchurian Herald (1932–1937)" (Nissan Institute, University of Oxford)
Dr. Marcel Garbos
"Between Civilizational Bridge and Colonial Outpost: Manchuria and its peoples in the interwar Polish geopolitical imagination"(University of Aberdeen, UK)
18:30-19:30 Drinks reception – – Old Fellows Dining Room, Hilda Besse Building
Followed by High Table for invited guests only
Saturday 10th May 2025
Pavilion Room, 4th Floor, Gateway Building, St. Antony’s College
9:30-10:00 Tea/coffee/biscuits
10:00 -11:00
Keynote immersive exhibition
Prof. Olga Khomenko
“On immersive exhibition “Freedom, Identity, and Persistence: The transnational story of Ukrainian Diaspora in Asia and its continuity "(Nissan Institute, University of Oxford)
11:00 – 12:15 Panel IV Rethinking Manchukuo: Sources, Methods, and New Directions
Chair: Prof. Olga Khomenko
Speakers
Prof. Sören Urbansky, Prof. Larisa Usmanova, Prof. Petr Podalko, Prof. Takeshi Nakashima, Prof. Yuka Hiruma Kishida
12:30 -14:00 Lunch
