CSAAD Afro-Asia Project

May 2025

Booker T. Washington’s Global Impact: Transimperial Entanglements Between Pan-Africanism and Pan-Asianism

This lecture discussion explores the influence of Pan-Africanism in Japan. At the turn of the 20th century, Booker T. Washington emerged as one of the most well-known Pan-African figures in Japan. While he embodied the ideal of a self-uplifting man of color, the practical education model he promoted at the Tuskegee Institute also influenced Japanese intellectuals in their policies toward the indigenous Ainu people and colonized Koreans. This study examines the reception of the “Tuskegee model” both in Africa and imperial Japan. The model’s expansion into colonial Africa highlights the inherent paradox of Pan-Africanism as both anti-imperialist and, at times, complicit in imperialism. This ambiguity is further mirrored in its complex interactions with Japanese Pan-Asianism.

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March 2025

Echoes from the Border: Africa Town in Korea

This film screening and discussion explores the formation of Africa Town near Camp Casey, a U.S. military base located close to the Korean Demilitarized Zone. As one of the first African communities of its kind in Korea, this town emerged not just as a result of voluntary migration but also as a consequence of U.S. military policy shifts. The relocation of American troops led to a natural movement of African migrants, reshaping the socio-economic landscape of the region. This session examines the lives, identities, and cultural dynamics of this unique community, situated at the intersection of migration and militarization. Through a documentary film and a music video produced in collaboration with African migrants, the program offers a critical lens on how marginalized communities navigate space, belonging, and representation in a militarized border region. By contextualizing this phenomenon within broader discussions on migration and multiculturalism in East Asia, it also invites a reconsideration of the impact of U.S. military presence on local communities.

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January 2025

Too Dark for the World: Oceania, Anti-Colonialism, and the Black Pacific

Quito J. Swan’s talk, Too Dark for the World, explores Black internationalism and decolonization in Oceania. Drawing from archival research conducted across Oceania, the Americas, Africa, and Europe, it will discuss how Melanesian liberation struggles engaged Black Power, Negritude, and Pan-Africanism in their insurgent battles for self-determination. It is based on Swan’s Pasifika BlackOceania, Anticolonialism, and the Africana World (NYU Press, 2022), which was awarded ASALH’s 2023 Best Book in African American History prize.

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