HSS Assistant Professor John Kanbayashi has won the 2025 Charlotte J. Conroy Dissertation Prize.
John Kanbayashi: Author of Hydraulic Taiwan: Colonial Conservation under Japanese Imperial and Chinese Nationalist Rule, 1895-1964 (Harvard University, History, 2023)
Hydraulic Taiwan offers a pioneering exploration of the environmental history of colonial and postwar Taiwan. Drawing on a rich array of Japanese- and Chinese-language archival sources, John Kanbayashi examines the central role of Taiwan's rivers in shaping the island's political, social, and ecological landscapes. The study traces how Japanese colonial authorities, and later the Chinese Nationalist regime, undertook ambitious hydraulic projects—including dam construction, irrigation systems, and flood control measures—to extend state power, promote economic development, and reshape the Indigenous-dominated highlands and Han-dominated lowlands of Taiwan. Kanbayashi's beautifully written study makes a vital contribution to the intersecting fields of Japanese imperial history, Taiwanese studies, and environmental history, offering fresh insights into the ecological legacies of state-building and empire.
About the Conroy Prizes
The prizes in honor of Francis Hilary Conroy and Charlotte J. Conroy were established in 2024 thanks to a generous gift from O.B. Karp and family.
The Conroy Prizes celebrate the life and legacy of the Conroys and their dedication to Japanese Studies and cross-cultural exchange by recognizing the work and advancing the career of junior scholars working in the fields of Japanese history and Japan studies.