Prisoners of War and Civilian Internees of the Japanese in British Asia

The Similarities and Contrasts of Experience

Bibliographic Data

ID10074192
AuthorsFelicia Yap (London School of Economics and Political Science, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume47
Issue2
Pages317-346
Publication date2012-03-29
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Contemporary History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-0094 • E-ISSN: 1461-7250
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0022009411431715
OpenAlexW2096737750
LanguageEN
Citations received6

The similarities and differences between the experiences of prisoners of war and civilian internees of the Japanese have largely been overlooked by studies of Japanese-held prisoners. This article aims to provide this critical comparative perspective by examining the experiences of prisoners of war and civilians in four key theatres of the war in British Asia: Hong Kong, Malaya, Singapore and Borneo. It draws largely, however, on the intriguing case study of the Lintang Camp in Borneo (Sarawak) where prisoners of war were imprisoned alongside civilian internees during the war. It argues that there were overarching similarities and constraints to both sets of experiences, but key differences in Japanese wartime policies and a variety of other factors such as combatant status, class, rank, active agency, leadership, and gender also contributed to how captivity was experienced during this tumultuous period

Aesthetics · Agency (philosophy · Combatant · Criminology · Decolonization · Period (music · Perspective (graphical · Political science · Politics · Prisoners of war · Social science · Sociology · Variety (cybernetics · World War II · Australian History and Society · Gender Studies · History · Japanese History and Culture · Law

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