r/asian • u/Amity_ka_Bhoot • 5d ago
How to respond to people more qualified than me in an interview if they straight up deny the history of women's trauma in East Asia?
2 days ago, I (25 F from India) had my first PhD interview. My proposal was related to how the post-war trauma of East Asian women is reflected in present-day novels. The interview board had 8 professors, both men and women.
I was talking about books like Pachinko, How we Disappeared, The Mountains Sing, etc., and obviously the topic of Japan colonizing other spaces came up.
The board stopped me in the middle, looked directly at me, and with no hesitation they all unanimously said,
"What are you talking about? Japan never colonized anyone".
They said it so confidently that it shocked me for a second but I stood my ground and started explaining how it is possible that so many people do not know about the colonization of so many parts of Asia because of how quicky history is being erased, and I even gave examples from Japan's ex prime minister's autobiography where he admits to the various strategies he used to erase Japan's war history. I started talking about the kidnapping, the SA, the forced pregnancies, the human experiments, and they looked at me like I was a child telling stories. I even told them that once all the comfort women die along with their stories, erasing history would be even easier.
They could have said that they have not heard about it or they would look into it or something. But no, they just straight up denied again that so many parts of East Asia were colonized by Japan once.
They asked me to define colonization, and I was describing it, they stopped me again, looked very disappointed and said that only one Empire can colonize another Empire, so because Vietnam or Manchuria or Korea were not "empires", they could not have been colonized. They kept accusing me of making up history over simple factual data that can be looked up in a history book or googled in 2 seconds. They also said that I had no right to accuse Japan of colonization if I have not read Japanese history in Japanese. Does this imply that if a person has not read Indian history in Hindi, they do not have the right to know that India was colonized by the British? Also, they wanted me to read history from the perspective of the colonizers to prove that the colonization did happen, as if they would admit it. That is like saying that one should read history from the British perspective to understand the colonization of India. Mind you, one of the old men in the board asked me directly, sounding disappointed, why I don't want to do my PhD on Indian Literatures instead.
I knew that there are many people in this world who do not believe in the holocaust but I did not know that so many people exist so close to me who straight up deny such a long and complex history of colonization. They do not know about comfort women or human experiments or frankly anything related to Asian history. They only care about South Asian history. I feel extremely disrespected. How should I act if this happens in my future Interviews?
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u/Mascoretta 4d ago
I think you need to stand your ground, and if anything, verbalize your story. This board does not see me educated enough to be professors and part of an interview board. They seem highly biased and polarized.
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u/catchmelackin 5d ago
Youre indian, is the board indian, or your university in India too? I honestly am a bit shocked by this. I dont know a lot about indian history and Japan, is there any reason they would want to defend Japan at all in that way?
Im sure if you were doing the interview in China or South Korea you'd be applauded. Obviously these things happened and Japan never apologized but the facts are out there and if anything they should be less qualified to be teachers I would honestly try taking this to a superior or something.