European/Japanese Colonialisms and 'Modernity' : Towards the Construction of an Holistic Paradigm for Comparative Research

我们的项目通过分析有关“现代性”的特定主题，从比较的角度重新审视了日本和欧洲帝国（英国、法国、荷兰、西班牙和德国）的殖民历史。充分意识到“比较”的必要性和危险性，该项目试图寻求可能的比较术语和框架。该项目汇集了一系列不同的殖民经验，并对其进行了全面分析。特别重要的是这些经验与现代制度和观念的复杂关系，如卫生，官僚，“种族”和教育。因此，我们注意到当代学者越来越重视“殖民现代性”的概念。我们试图澄清这一概念的范围和限制，详细考虑其对合作比较研究的影响。其次，但同样重要的是，我们发现“殖民主义比较研究”本身就是过去帝国形态的重要组成部分。帝国国家本身也在进行比较，以彰显自己的个性，并跨越帝国边界分享殖民治理的知识/技能。因此，我们今天研究殖民主义的学者需要做的是进行比较，但要超越这种比较，对殖民主义过去的帝国轨迹及其与我们后殖民时代的现实的挥之不去的相关性提出问题。

Our project reexamined the colonial histories of both the Japanese and European empires (the British, French, Dutch, Spanish, and German) from a comparative perspective through analyzing specific themes concerning 'modernity'. Duly aware of both the necessity and danger of the vary act to 'compare', the project sought to pursue the possible terms and frames of comparison. The project brought together a range of different colonial experiences, and conducted an holistic analysis of them. Of particular importance was the complex relationship of these experiences to modern institutions and ideas such as sanitation, bureaucracy, 'race', and education. As a result, we came to notice a growing importance attached by contemporary scholars to the notion of 'colonial modernity'. We tried to clarify the notion's scope and limits, considering in detail their implications for collaborative comparative research. Second, but no less importantly, we found that 'comparative studies of colonialism' were themselves part and parcel of the imperial formations in the past. Empire-states themselves practiced comparison both to claim their individuality and to share across imperial boundaries the knowledge / skills of colonial governance. Therefore, what is required of us scholars of colonialism today is to engage in comparison, but with a view to transcending it by problematising its imperial trajectories in the past and its lingering relevance to our post-colonial present.