Join the Department of History and John Leisure, University of Oregon, for a talk on “Public Housing in Postwar Japan, 1945-1960."

Tuesday, June 3^rd
4:00 pm
EMU Cedar & Spruce Rooms (231 & 232)
Free and open to the public. 

This talk examines how large-scale public apartment complexes reshaped the contours of everyday life in Japan after World War II. Emerging out of experimental projects in the late 1940s, public apartments—colloquially known as danchi—became visible markers of postwar rehousing and domestic reform. Spurred by government money with strings attached to design objectives, these concrete projects touched scores of cities throughout the archipelago. By 1960, danchi apartments already functioned as residential urban infrastructure operating in a biopolitical mode. Danchi housing projects promoted productivist publics, privatized domestic space, and rationalized communities in an effort to establish a new postwar paradigm: governance through dwelling. 

The Department of History Seminar Series runs throughout the academic year and features guest speakers from the top universities who share their perspectives on history. Visit history.uoregon.edu for more information about the seminar series.