This lecture uses the concept of promissory talk to critically analyze one way of thinking “against history.” Promissory talk is a future-oriented version of counterfactual speculation. Rather than asking “what if…?” questions of historical events when the outcomes are already known, promissory speech says “if only… then…” as a way of linking present policy actions to anticipated future results. Drawing on examples from Japan and the United States, I show how recent efforts to reframe children’s historical consciousness reflect a dubious promissory premise: “If only the kids had more national pride, then all of our problems would be solved.”
Back to All Events
Earlier Event: March 16
AAS Roundtable: Denaturalizing Culturalism and Essentialism in the Research and Teaching of Japan
Later Event: May 15
How Japanese Buddhists Tried to Make Bad Kids Good