Subversive Voices in the Tropical Paradise: Decolonial Perspectives and Space-Time Narratives in Medoruma Shun’s Fiction

This thesis offers a wide reading of the fictional writings of Medoruma Shun, one of the most prominent contemporary Okinawan authors, public intellectuals, and activists, to frame his oeuvre as a voice of protest against the sociopolitical conditions of Okinawa. By looking at the portrayal and interconnections between the understanding of space and time in the Okinawan context, this research illuminates the literary representations of the colonial encounter between the Okinawan communities and external authorities – e.g. the American army, the Japanese central government. In doing so, it argues that the depiction of indigenous space and time in Medoruma’s fiction can be understood as an example of decolonial practice in Okinawan literature by emphasising the plurality of indigenous perspectives on their world and own positionality against the hegemonic political and ideological narratives proposed by mainland Japan and the United States in framing the Okinawa Prefecture.