After enduring weeks in lockdown in Melbourne, a job interview via Zoom and months of COVID-19-induced delays, Dr Gwyn McClelland has finally set foot on UNE's Armidale campus. #UNEpeople
The lecturer in Japanese studies and early-career researcher started work with UNE last June, "so it's nice to finally be meeting my colleagues and students in person".
"I'm enjoying getting to know Armidale, and recently my wife and I made a trip to Ebor to take some walks through the stunning World Heritage forests. We're looking forward to exploring further."
Gwyn says the initial six-week Melbourne lockdown, which was subsequently extended to 14 weeks, was "full-on" - but he was able to jog each day and the reduced traffic noise was a blessing in disguise.
"Everyone experienced lockdown in different ways, but you end up realising your privileges in that kind of situation."
Now he's preparing to teach Introductory Japanese to his first group of UNE students, furthering a personal passion that started in childhood.
"I grew up in Asia, but it was a fictional cartoon manga about a young boy's experience of the bombing of Hiroshima in 1945 that captivated me as a 12-year-old."
"My interest was galvanised when I spent time living and teaching English in Japan, and visiting museums in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
"I realised there was a story in Nagasaki that hadn't been told - the way the Catholic community interpreted the atomic bombing. That became the subject of my Master of Divinity and later my PhD."
The PhD saw Gwyn make several trips to Japan to interview 12 elderly Nagasaki bombing survivors.
"I reflected on how their beliefs and thoughts about the aftermath of the bombing, lost family members and transcendence varied, and had transformed with time," he says.
"This is very challenging subject matter and I had to tread very sensitively. Hiroshima is dominant in much commentary about the atomic bombings and Nagasaki is the forgotten afterthought. The bomb further divided two populations already separated by class and religion.
"The Catholics of Nagasaki in the area around Ground Zero avoided talking about the bomb for many years; they were already survivors of bitter persecution dating back 250 years that involved torture and mistreatment in detention camps. The bombing meant their struggling community was marginalised further.
"I hope my research provides a better understanding of their experience."
For more details on the book Gwyn produced from his research - Dangerous Memory: Prayers, Protests and Catholic Survivor Narratives - visit https://newbooksnetwork.com/dangerous-memory-in-nagasaki.
A symposium for Japan-interested scholars is being held February 18-19 via Zoom, convened by The Japan Foundation and UNE’s Japanese Studies Department – for more information, go to: https://jpf.org.au/japanese-studies/projects/beyond-japanese-studies-symposium/.
