Imperial Refugees: Evacuating Southeast Asia during the Japanese Invasion, 1941-1948

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I intend to research the experiences and conditions of displaced persons of non-European origin in the British Empire during and following the Japanese invasion of Southeast Asia. My research aims to contribute to global, connected, imperial, and transnational historic fields by studying the ties between imperialism, colonialism, and human rights. While scholars of the Second World War have focused on the experiences of displaced persons in Europe, few have delved into the colonial experience of displaced people in the Empire during and after the war. On the other hand, most specialist studies of refugees and displaced persons in Southeast Asia have concentrated on the 1970s Indochinese refugee crisis that resulted from the three Indochina wars (1946-79), the Khmer genocide, and the post-Pol Pot Vietnamese invasion of Democratic Kampuchea. Reducing these gaps in both historiographies is relevant to paint a more comprehensive and discerning picture of the displacement of persons during World War II to understand how such refugee movements underpinned the development of human rights and international relief.The Japanese Empire's expansion in Southeast Asia during the Second World War caused the displacement of Europeans and Asians. It led to a vast logistical operation orchestrated by British authorities to evacuate individuals from Southeast Asia and relocate them throughout the British Empire and the Commonwealth. How did the British use their Empire as an outlet valve to reduce the pressure created by the mass displacement of persons? What place did refugees occupy in the colonial hierarchy? My research aims to bridge the gaps in the historiographies at whose intersection it lies. It is of social importance because it allows us to comprehensively understand the recent and globalised history of population displacement and refugees in different parts of the world. It is in continuity with the works of academics that, in recent years, have started to grasp the tangible links between the emerging policies on asylum seekers and refugees during and after the Second World War and colonialist thoughts and practices. It also responds to calls underlining the importance of studying pre-Indochina wars refugee movements. This research allows to better understand the development of International Human rights Aid and organisations during the critical years surrounding the Second World War. In 1943, the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) was created to provide relief to displaced persons and help their repatriation to their "home" country. While the UNRRA mission in Europe has been the object of extensive work, little research has been conducted on their mission in Asia outside mainland China. How did the institutions established to provide relief and repatriation venues articulate their missions in the territories under colonial rule? How did they make sense of their role even as they worked alongside imperial powers? This proposal is novel in examining UNRRA's involvement in the relief and repatriation effort of displaced persons in Southeast Asia. It will seek to answer key issues, notably how relief and repatriation organisations articulated their missions in the territories under colonial rule and how they rationalised their roles when working alongside imperial powers. I intend to answer my research questions by analysing the diverse correspondence and official documents in the large corpus of sources in English held by the British Library in London. The records of the India Office and the Burma Office document these issues and provide a wide array of sources detailing the evacuation, reception, and assistance given to the individuals relocated from Southeast Asian colonies throughout the British Empire. Another crucial source's depository for completing this research is the UNRRA's archives held by the United Nations Archives and Records. The files stored encompass a broad scope of territories