Lecturers > Felicia Yap

Name
Dr. Felicia Yap

College
Wolfson College

What is your field of history?
My research work focuses on the Japanese occupation of East and Southeast Asia and the history of the British Empire. I have recently completed a study of civilian internment camps of the Japanese in British Asia during the Second World War (Stanley in Hong Kong and Changi in Singapore). For my next research project, I hope to undertake a comparative historical study of Eurasians in British Asia, with particular emphasis on issues of collaboration during the war.

How did you come to specialise in this area?
It is a long story. Several years ago, I flirted with the possibility of becoming a biochemist and spent a whole summer growing radioactive plant cells in a molecular biology institute in Heidelberg. During my spare moments in the hazardous materials laboratory, I read with fascination a memoir written by an ex-prisoner of the Japanese, who claimed that some 130,000 Allied civilians were imprisoned in hundreds of prison camps in Southeast Asia and the western half of the Pacific during the Second World War. Given that so many were incarcerated by the Japanese, I assumed that this was a field already well documented by historians. However, my interest in the area was seriously piqued, and I spent a few days trawling through the collections of the Imperial War Museum in London. When I realised, to my surprise, that very little academic research has been conducted on Japanese-held prisoners-of-war (POWs) and even less work had been carried out into the experiences of civilian internees, I saw an excellent opportunity to conduct research in this area myself. I can assure you that my research in history (despite its occupational hazards) has turned out to be much more exciting than growing radioactive cells.

What sort of source material do you tend to use, and what are its strengths and weaknesses?
I use a vast range of conventional and unconventional primary source material in my work. These include official documentation (such as War, Foreign, and Colonial Office papers), intelligence reports, newspapers and artifacts, medical, engineering, educational and missionary reports, journals, diaries, letters, memoirs, biographies, autobiographies, and other resources. As many of these sources are geographically scattered and often fragmentary, I have visited archives across four continents in my quest for primary material, such as repositories in the United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Australia and the United States. I have also utilised material from oral histories and from interviews conducted personally with ex-internees, which have been invaluable in providing a new and more personal perspective on events.

Many records written during the war take on a special rarity and value from the very danger involved in their existence and the difficulties of maintaining a daily ritual of writing. In fact, the fear of possible repercussions from the Japanese for keeping any sort of written record became so intense that some internees chose to destroy their diaries and other writings to avoid putting themselves or their friends in jeopardy. Those who continued to write secretly were often cautious about what they described, while some even deliberately made false statements in their diaries to protect themselves if their writings were ever confiscated. These pressures have resulted in unusually-circumscribed war memories which pose a unique challenge to the work of historical analysis.

I must say that one of the key virtues of records written during the war is spontaneity; to this end, they are less likely to suffer from the opaqueness of memory or intervening drapes of propriety. At the same time, they are also more likely to be reliable about names, details, amounts, descriptions and events. But despite their gifts of colour and intensity of emotion, wartime narratives do have several intrinsic limitations; they can, for instance, suffer from a lack of perspective and vision that is frequently limited to what the diarists can see or hear. And as far as oral histories and retrospective/post-war records are concerned, many of these are often filtered and mediated by time, and their historical value in terms of accuracy may consequently be suspect.

Which individuals, events or forces are especially important in your area of history?
The Second World War is the key event in my work. My study explores the broader impact of the war on colonial communities both inside and outside the internment camps, besides capturing the extraordinary dynamics of colonial captivity within the unusual context of European internment. For three and a half years, British colonial administrators, business chiefs, wealthy taipans, missionaries and ladies of high society were forced to co-exist in close, fettered proximity with Americans, Europeans, Eurasians, Jews, policemen, beachcombers, sailors, prostitutes and clerks. My research focuses very strongly on the wartime experiences of these individuals, and I am particularly interested in how various tensions of colonial empire (such as tensions of race, class and gender) became intensified by the pressures of war and imprisonment.

How has your field developed over the course of your career?
Certainly. A significant number of scholarly books have been published in recent years on the Second World War in British Asia, both for academic audiences and a general readership, and this has brought a new dynamic to the field. Many of these books have also explored new approaches and methodologies, and especially in terms of bringing to life the stories of ordinary men and women - soldiers, civilians, refugees, Asians and Europeans - who were swept into the turmoil of war. Personal memories of the war have in fact attracted increasing attention over the past decade, with memories of ‘ordinary people’ making a significant contribution to official histories of the war.

Which areas of your field most urgently need further exploration?
Very little is still known about the experiences of peripheral but significant communities in the British Empire both during and after the Second World War, such as Eurasians, Jews, third nationals and neutrals (these people were never interned by the Japanese and remained free in the occupied territories). Also, to date, few scholars have seriously examined the psychological impact of military defeat and prolonged wartime incarceration on the confidence and capacity of European colonials to maintain their rule in British Asia. I would say that these are two key areas that urgently require further exploration.

What characterises good history?
Good history breathes new life into the past. It challenges us to think, reason, and ask new questions. It helps us to understand ourselves, and the forces shaping our societies today. While it should be presented in a clear and accessible manner, it should also be underpinned by solid historical evidence and rigorous scholarship. Good history is usually written by those who believe strongly in it.

How did your understanding of history change during your time as a university student?
It taught me that knowledge is hard won; it is extremely difficult to know something reliable about the past, and especially when there are problems associated with various forms of historical evidence. My time as a student also helped me to learn more about the raw materials and building blocks of history, as well as the profound impact and importance of neighbouring disciplines, such as literature, sociology, economics and anthropology on our understanding of the past.

Where should somebody interested in your area of history go for further information?
I would suggest the Imperial War Museum in London; the museum is unique in its coverage of conflicts, and especially those involving Britain and the Commonwealth from the First World War to the present day. One can spend hours on the exhibits, and there is also a Reading Room which provides access to an unparallelled amount of material on war and conflict, such as unpublished diaries, letters and memoirs, historical sound recordings, film, videos, photographs, books, maps and other military ephemera. I emerged from the IWM a few years ago with an idea for a whole new project (which was subsequently translated into reality), and I am sure that others will find the museum’s collections to be similarly informative and inspiring.