| The so-called Rape of Nanking, or the Nanjing Massacre, occurred in 1937. Well-known for wholesale atrocities committed by the Japanese military after the fall of the city, the Nanjing Massacre has become increasingly controversial and politicized, particularly since the early 1980s. The proliferation of accounts of the history of the Massacre, changes in international politics in Asia, and emotional issues relating to ethnic and national identity have all contributed to the battle over how the Nanjing Massacre is to be recounted and remembered. My dissertation examines the views of the Massacre in history writing and public memory in Japan, China, and the United States from 1937 to the present.; The study has two major purposes. It aims to trace the political and social developments that affected historical evaluations and re-evaluations of the Massacre in Japan, China, and the United States across six decades. It also attempts to analyze how ethnic nationalism influenced the process of the internationalization of the history and memory of the Massacre. |
