Gavan McCormack is a researcher specializing in East Asia who is Emeritus Professor and Visiting Fellow, Division of Pacific and Asian History of the
Australian National University
The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...
. He is also a coordinator of an award-winning
open access journal
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Law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...
and
Arts
The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creativity, creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive ...
at the
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...
from 1955 to 1959, then spent the years 1960–1962 completing an MA in
history
History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
. He spent the 1962–1963 academic year at Osaka University of Foreign Studies (OUFS), where he took a Diploma in Japanese Language and Culture. From 1963 to 1966 he studied Chinese at the
School of Oriental and African Studies
The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS University of London; ) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury area ...
(SOAS) in London, taking a second-class degree. He then spent two years completing a second MA at SOAS in Area Studies (Far East). From 1969 to 1974 he worked on a
PhD
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
at SOAS. His thesis was '' Chang Tso-lin, the Mukden Military Clique, and Japan, 1920–1928: The Development and interrelationships of Chinese warlordism and
Japanese imperialism
The territorial conquests of the Empire of Japan in the Western Pacific Ocean and East Asia began in 1895 with its victory over Qing China in the First Sino-Japanese War. Subsequent victories over the Russian Empire (Russo-Japanese War) and the ...
in northeast China''. It was later published as a book.
McCromack's academic career took him to the
University of Leeds
The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...
in the United Kingdom, then to
La Trobe University
La Trobe University is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora, Victoria, Bundoora. The university was established in 1 ...
University of Adelaide
The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...
in South Australia. In 1990 he was appointed Professor in Japanese at the
Australian National University
The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...
. He was elected a Fellow of the
Australian Academy of the Humanities
The Australian Academy of the Humanities was established by Royal Charter in 1969 to advance scholarship and public interest in the humanities in Australia. It operates as an independent not-for-profit organisation partly funded by the Australi ...
in 1992.
McCormack's main research interest is "modern Japanese (and East Asian) political, intellectual, and environmental history".Professor McCormack's ANUbr>Profile. He has published widely in both academic and popular journals on the "liberation" struggles in
South East Asia
Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...
. In more recent times he has become more interested in environmental issues and in 1996 he published ''The Emptiness of Japanese Affluence'', in which he attacked Japanese economic success as a mirage based on environmental exploitation that posed the single greatest threat to stability in the region. He has been a critic of the American government in general and has claimed that North Korea's efforts to obtain nuclear weapons are justified by American belligerence.
He has been a visiting professor at Kobe University,
Kyoto University
, or , is a National university, national research university in Kyoto, Japan. Founded in 1897, it is one of the former Imperial Universities and the second oldest university in Japan.
The university has ten undergraduate faculties, eighteen gra ...
,
Ritsumeikan University
is a private university in Kyoto, Japan, that traces its origin to 1869. In addition to its main campus in Kyoto, the university also has satellite campuses in Ibaraki, Osaka and Kusatsu, Shiga.
Today, Ritsumeikan University is known as one o ...
International Christian University
is a non-denominational private university located in Mitaka, Tokyo. With the efforts of Prince Takamatsu, General Douglas MacArthur, and Bank of Japan, BOJ Governor Hisato Ichimada, ICU was established in 1949 as the first liberal arts coll ...
and
Tokyo Institute of Technology
The Tokyo Institute of Technology () was a public university in Meguro, Tokyo, Japan. It merged with Tokyo Medical and Dental University to form the Institute of Science Tokyo on 1 October 2024.
The Tokyo Institute of Technology was a De ...
.
Editorial career
Gavan McCormack had contributed as a guest editorial staff of the
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...
n newspaper,
Kyunghyang Shinmun
The ''Kyunghyang Shinmun'' () is a major daily newspaper published in South Korea. It is based in Seoul. The name literally means '' Urbi et Orbi Daily News''.Jon Halliday), London and New York,
Penguin
Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a sm ...
and
Monthly Review Press
The ''Monthly Review'' is an independent Socialism, socialist magazine published monthly in New York City. Established in 1949, the publication is the longest continuously published socialist magazine in the United States.
History Establishment ...
, 1974, 279 pp. .
* ''Crisis in Korea'', co-edited with John Gittings, Nottingham, the Russell Press, Spokesman University Paperback No.17, 1977; 190 pp. .
* ''Chang Tso-lin in Northeast China, 1911–1928: China, Japan and the Manchurian Idea'',
Stanford University Press
Stanford University Press (SUP) is the publishing house of Stanford University. It is one of the oldest academic presses in the United States and the first university press to be established on the West Coast. It is currently a member of the Ass ...
, 1977, 334 pp. .
* ''Korea North and South'', co-edited with
Mark Selden
Mark Selden (born 1938) is a coordinator of the open-access journal ''The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus'', a senior research associate in the East Asia Program at Cornell University, and Bartle Professor of History and Sociology at Binghamton ...
, New York, Monthly Review Press, 1978, 240 pp.
* ''Twice Victims: Koreans at Hiroshima'', edited and introduced, jointly translated from Japanese with Kang Ok Su, Tokyo, The Korean Peace Committee in Japan, 1981, 44 pp.
* ''Cold War Hot War: An Australian Perspective on the Korean War'', Sydney, Hale and Iremonger, 1983; 191 pp , (pbk).
* ''The Price of Affluence: Dilemmas of Contemporary Japan'', translator-in-chief and editor of Rokuro Hidaka's ''Sengo Shiso o Kangaeru'' (Tokyo), Iwanami, 1980). Tokyo and New York, Kodansha International, 1984
* ''Japanese Society: Ins and Outs in Showa 60'', translated and edited by Gavan McCormack and Yoshio Sugimoto, Papers of the Japanese Studies Centre, Melbourne, No. 8, December 1986, 30 pp.
* ''Democracy in Contemporary Japan'', co-edited with Yoshio Sugimoto, Sydney, Hale and Iremonger, and New York, M.E. Sharpe, 1986, 272 pp , (pbk).
* ''The Japanese Trajectory: Modernization and Beyond'', co-edited with Yoshio Sugimoto. Cambridge University Press, 1988, 300 pp .
* ''Bonsai Australia Banzai: Multifunctionpolis and the Making of a Special Relationship with Japan'', Gavan McCormack, ed., Pluto Press, Sydney, 1991, 228pp.
* ''The Burma-Thailand Railway: memory and history'', (co-edited with Hank Nelson), ed, Sydney, Allen and Unwin, 1993, 175pp .
* ''Korea Since 1850'', (co-authored with Stewart Lone), Melbourne, Longman Cheshire, and New York,
St. Martin's Press
St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan in New York City. It is headquartered in the Equitable Building (New York City), Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishe ...
, 1993, 226 pp. , .
* ''Peace and Regional Security in the Asia-Pacific: A Japanese Proposal'', translated, edited and introduced, Peace Research Centre, Research School of Pacific Studies, ANU, Working Paper No 158, September 1995, 59pp.
* ''The Emptiness of Japanese Affluence'',
Armonk, New York
Armonk is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town of North Castle, New York, North Castle, located in Westchester County, New York, United States. The corporate headquar ...
: M.E. Sharpe, 311pp. 1996. (Co-published with Allen and Unwin, Sydney). , (pbk).
* ''Multicultural Japan: Palaeolithic to Postmodern'',
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
,
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...
, 1996. (co-edited with Donald Denoon, Mark Hudson, and Tessa Morris-Suzuki). 296 pp.
* (with Glenn Hook), ''Japan's Contested Constitution – documents and analysis'', London and New York,
Routledge
Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...
, 2001, 212 pages. (hbk), (pbk).
* ''Target North Korea: Pushing North Korea to the Brink of Nuclear Catastrophe'', New York, Nation Books, and Sydney,
Random House
Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...
Australia, 2004. 228 pp. .
Articles and book chapters
* "Some Radical Utopian Movements in Early Europe and China" in ''Afrasian'', School of Oriental and African Studies,
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...
, 1969, pp. 16–22.
*
:Reproduced in part in
* "The Tokyo-Taipei-Seoul Nexus" (with Jon Halliday) in ''Journal of Contemporary Asia'', Vol.2, No.1, Spring 1972, pp. 36–55.
* (With Jon Halliday.)
* "The Politics of Korean Studies in Europe" in ''Journal of Contemporary Asia'', Vol.7, No.3, 1977, pp. 387–392.
* "The South Korean Phenomenon" in ''Australian Outlook'', published by the Australian Institute of International Affairs, Vol.32, No.3, December 1978, pp. 262–278.
* "The Kampuchean Revolution, 1975–1978, The Problem of Knowing the Truth" in ''Arena'' (Melbourne), No.53, September 1979, pp. 40–82.
* Revised and expanded version in ''Journal of Contemporary Asia'', Vol.10, 1–2, 1980, pp. 75–118.
* "Kampuchea: Nationalism, Intervention, Revolution", Working Paper No.11, Antropologisch-Sociologisch Centrum, Universiteit van Amsterdam, 1982
* "Cambodia: Rationale for a Rural Policy" (review article) in ''Journal of Contemporary Asia'', Vol.11, No.2, 1981, pp. 231–236.
* "Korea North and South" in ''Arena'' (Melbourne), 56, pp. 34–40, November 1980.
* "Letter from Pyongyang" in ''Far Eastern Economic Review'', 15 August 1980.
* "1930's Japan: Fascist?" in ''Social Analysis'' (Adelaide), No.5/6 December 1980, pp. 125–43, also in ''Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars'', 14, 2, April–June 1982, pp. 20–33.
* "North Korea: Kimilsungism – Path to Socialism?" in ''Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars'', 13, 4, October–December 1981, pp. 50–61.
* "The Reunification of Korea: Problems and Prospects" in ''Pacific Affairs'' (
Vancouver
Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...
:
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...
), 55, 1, pp. 5–31, Spring 1982.
* "Yellow Rain" (review article discussing Grant Evans' The Yellow Rainmakers: Are Chemical Weapons being used in Southeast Asia? in ''Arena'', No.66, 1984, pp. 196–205).
*