港大歷史學者成第一位榮獲國際著名書獎 “Grace Abbott Book Prize” 的日本研究學者

日本研究系助理教授鮑蘭雅博士 (Dr. Janet Borland) 以《Earthquake Children: Building Resilience from the Ruins of Tokyo》(麻薩諸塞州劍橋: 哈佛大學亞洲中心，2020) 榮獲2020年度「​格麗斯雅博書獎(Grace Abbott Book Prize)」。

該獎項每年由兒童及青年歷史學會(Society for the History of Children and Youth)頒發給有關兒童、童年、及青少年歷史的最佳英語著作。鮑博士透過網上會議出席於愛爾蘭高威舉行的雙年會議之頒獎儀式。她是第一位榮獲此國際著名書獎的日本研究學者。

「日本人面對災難之復原力是從他們固有的沉著性格而來」一直是主流的想法。鮑博士的著作正正挑戰該想法。她指日本當代備災文化是由1923年摧毀東京的關東大地震後，日本人對備災工作不斷的學習和演練而成。

「1923年，在東京的廢墟裡，兒童絕對沒有被忽視。地震後四星期內，他們回到臨時學校，並以在地震中的經歷和對未來的希望為題寫文章和畫圖畫。」鮑博士解釋說。「日本專家意識到，兒童坦率的聲音能在正從災難中復原的社會扮演重要角色。因此，兒童和他們的創作皆獲重視，並為各種紀念、教育學、和政治目的成為希望的先驅、復原力的標誌、和感恩的使者。」

「鮑博士發掘了地震前後精彩的檔案資料，從而展示兒童在日本發展其獨特的災難防備方法之過程中擔當關鍵角色 ，」獎項委員會說，「這書提供了一個模範例子，展示出歷史學者如何把兒童創作的資料分析和囊括到他們的著作中。」

國際獎項委員稱他們對鮑博士「​​廣闊而富創意的檔案資料使用、以及她對兒童各種各樣有關災難的創作 (包括敘述、圖畫和詩詞)之細緻分析」感到「​尤其印象深刻」。

獎項委員會亦稱讚「此書行文優美、清楚易明，而且關於研究方法的討論有助理解。」他們一致認同該兩優點「令這書對多個領域的學者和學生都有價值。」

「對於獲頒Grace Abbott Book Prize 我深感榮幸，」鮑博士說，「我最大的願望是《Earthquake Children》能繼續吸引廣大讀者，並幫助突顯歷史上以及將來兒童在推動災難防備中扮演的重要角色。」

這獎項為鮑博士以她第一本著作獲得的第二個獎項。2020年7月，《Earthquake Children》獲香港人文學院 (Hong Kong Academy of the Humanities) 頒授「第一本書獎」(First Book Prize)。

鮑博士獲美國科羅拉多大學波德分校邀請，將於7月11至12日在「2021自然危害工作坊」(Natural Hazards Workshop)分享她的著作。她是於主要為資深社會科學學者的領域中唯一一位展示書作的日本歷史學者。此工作坊齊集危害和災難研究者，更包括來自聯邦緊急事務管理局 (Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) )和美國地質調查局(United States Geological Survey (USGS))的聯邦和州份官員。這些組織在美國帶領並推進災難研究和防備。

鮑蘭雅是屢獲獎項的現代日本歷史學者。她集中研究人類、大自然、及建設環境之間的基礎關係。鮑博士在香港大學積極融合她的研究、教學、和知識交流活動。她的研究為先教學理念啟發她開拓「青年領袖日本遊」(Young Leaders Tour of Japan)。此獨特的遊學團由三菱商事支持，為港大學生親身體驗宮城和福島在2011年東日本大震災、海嘯、及核子危機後的重建和復原而設。她分別在2021年度及2018年度獲香港大學頒授「學院知識交流獎」及「傑出教學獎(個人)」，以表揚她的成就。

有關兩項書獎之詳情，請瀏覽以下網頁：
https://www.shcy.org/news-announcements/janet-borland-wins-2020-grace-abbott-book-prize/
https://www.humanities.hk/news/borland-wins-first-book-prize-2020

有關鮑博士及《Earthquake Children》之詳情，請瀏覽以下網頁：
https://japanese.hku.hk/staff/JBorland.html
https://bulletin.hku.hk/books/children-of-the-quake/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiFY4VCTKkk

傳媒查詢，請聯絡文學院​執行主任葉小姐(電話: 3917 4984 / 電郵: natalie.yip@hku.hk)

HKU Historian becomes First Scholar of Japan to Win Prestigious International Book Prize

Dr. Janet Borland, Assistant Professor in the Department of Japanese Studies, has won the 2020 Grace Abbott Book Prize for Earthquake Children: Building Resilience from the Ruins of Tokyo (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2020).

The prize is awarded annually by the Society for the History of Children and Youth for the best book published in English on the history of children, childhood, or youth (broadly construed). Dr. Borland received the prize in an online ceremony at the biennial conference in Galway. She is the first scholar of Japan to win this prestigious international book prize.

Dr. Borland’s book challenges the popular idea that Japanese people owe their resilience in the face of disaster to some innate sense of calm. She believes that Japan’s contemporary culture of preparedness is the result of learned and practiced behaviors that began in earnest after the 1923 Great Kantō Earthquake that destroyed Tokyo.

“In 1923, children were anything but invisible in the ruins of Tokyo. They returned to makeshift schools within four weeks of the earthquake, where they wrote essays and drew pictures about their experiences of the earthquake, and their hopes for the future,” Dr Borland explained. “Japanese experts recognised that children’s candid voices could play an important role in a society recovering from disaster. As such, children and their creations were valued and used as harbingers of hope, symbols of resilience, and ambassadors of gratitude, for a variety of commemorative, pedagogical, and political purposes.”

“By mining a remarkable archive of materials generated before and after the earthquake, Dr. Borland demonstrates that children played a critical role in the development of Japan’s distinctive approach to disaster-preparedness,” noted the prize committee. “It provides a model for how historians might analyze and incorporate sources produced by children into their scholarship.”

Members of the international prize committee were “particularly impressed” with Dr. Borland’s “expansive and creative archive, and her nuanced analysis of the diverse material children generated about the disaster, including narratives, images, and poems.”

The committee likewise praised the “book’s graceful narrative rendered in clear and accessible prose, along with its helpful methodological discussions.” Both features, they agreed, “will make it valuable to scholars and students in many fields.”

“I am deeply honoured to win the Grace Abbott Book Prize,” Dr. Borland said. “My greatest hope is that Earthquake Children will continue to attract a wide readership and help to highlight the important role that children have played as agents of disaster preparedness in history, and can play in the future.”

Notably, this is the second book prize awarded to Dr. Borland for her first book. In July 2020, Earthquake Children won the Hong Kong Academy of the Humanities First Book Prize.

On July 11-12, Dr. Borland has been invited to showcase Earthquake Children at the 2021 Natural Hazards Workshop, University of Colorado, Boulder. She is the only historian of Japan to present her book in a field largely dominated by eminent social scientists. The workshop will bring together hazards and disaster researchers, alongside federal and state officials from agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the foremost institutions in the United States dedicated to advancing disaster research and preparedness.

Dr. Janet Borland is an award-winning historian of modern Japan whose research focuses on fundamental relationships between people and the natural and built environment. At HKU, Dr. Borland has actively developed synergies between her research, teaching, and knowledge exchange activities. Her research-led teaching philosophy inspired her to pioneer the Young Leaders Tour of Japan, a unique field trip supported by Mitsubishi Corporation and designed to give HKU students firsthand experience of recovery and reconstruction in Miyagi and Fukushima following the 2011 Great Eastern Japan Earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear crisis. In recognition of her achievements, Dr. Borland was awarded the 2021 Faculty Knowledge Exchange Award, and the 2018 University of Hong Kong Outstanding Teaching Award (Individual).

For further details about the book prizes, please visit:
https://www.shcy.org/news-announcements/janet-borland-wins-2020-grace-abbott-book-prize/
https://www.humanities.hk/news/borland-wins-first-book-prize-2020

For further details about Dr Borland and her book, please visit:
https://japanese.hku.hk/staff/JBorland.html
https://bulletin.hku.hk/books/children-of-the-quake/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiFY4VCTKkk

For media enquiries, please contact Ms Natalie Yip, Executive Officer, Faculty of Arts, Tel: (852) 3917 4984 / email: natalie.yip@hku.hk