New Books in Intellectual History Kristin Roebuck, "Japan Reborn: Race and Eugenics from Empire to Cold War" (Columbia UP, 2025)
10 snips
Feb 10, 2026 Kristin Roebuck, historian of race, eugenics, and gender in modern Japan. She traces contested ideas of mixed blood, reproductive control, and adoption from empire to Cold War. Short, vivid stories cover prostitution research, shifting eugenic rhetoric, Sawada Miki’s role in collecting mixed‑race children, and US Cold War adoption policies.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Race Both Lumps And Splits
- Race can both lump people together and split them apart depending on political aims.
- Japan used blood mixing to include colonized peoples during empire and later excluded mixed children after defeat.
Discovery Through Prostitution Law Research
- Roebuck stumbled on Konketsuji research while investigating Japan's 1956 criminalization of prostitution.
- She found postwar campaigns including illegal abortions targeted at mixed-blood children during the occupation.
Translate Terms With Historical Care
- Meanings of racial terms shift with historical context, so translate cautiously.
- Roebuck leaves minzoku untranslated to let sources show how the term was used in situ.
