| Born in Pennsylvania, he is said to have made friends in college with a number of students of East Asian descent, and from these interactions gained an interest in East Asian history. After completing a Master's degree at the University of Hawai'i in 1935, he received a subsidy allowing him to travel to Japan. There, while continuing his studies in Japanese history and culture, he gained an expertise in art and antiques. Kerr then took a job as a middle school English teacher in [[Taipei]], beginning in 1937; there, he happened to meet and speak with a number of professors from [[Taipei University|Taihoku Imperial University]], who inspired in him an interest in Okinawan history and culture. Once World War II broke out, he became a commissioned intelligence officer in service to the US military, heading the Formosa Research Unit associated with the US Navy Naval School of Military Government and Administration at Columbia University. | | Born in Pennsylvania, he is said to have made friends in college with a number of students of East Asian descent, and from these interactions gained an interest in East Asian history. After completing a Master's degree at the University of Hawai'i in 1935, he received a subsidy allowing him to travel to Japan. There, while continuing his studies in Japanese history and culture, he gained an expertise in art and antiques. Kerr then took a job as a middle school English teacher in [[Taipei]], beginning in 1937; there, he happened to meet and speak with a number of professors from [[Taipei University|Taihoku Imperial University]], who inspired in him an interest in Okinawan history and culture. Once World War II broke out, he became a commissioned intelligence officer in service to the US military, heading the Formosa Research Unit associated with the US Navy Naval School of Military Government and Administration at Columbia University. |
− | As a lieutenant in the US Navy Reserve, he penned an essay entitled "Sovereignty of the Liuchiu Islands" in which he asserted that [[Commodore Perry]] and other agents of the United States actively, intentionally, ''chose'' to treat the [[Ryukyu Kingdom]] as an independent kingdom in their interactions with Ryukyu in the 1850s, and that the post-WWII American Occupation of Okinawa was, in an important sense, a return to that friendly stance, opposed to Japanese colonialism and supportive of Okinawan distinctiveness, decolonization, and autonomy.<ref>Tze May Loo, ''Heritage Politics: Shuri Castle and Okinawa's Incorporation into Modern Japan, 1879-2000'', Lexington Books (2014), 150.; Kerr, "Sovereignty of the Liuchiu Islands," ''Far Eastern Survey'' 14:8 (1945), 96-100.</ref> | + | As a lieutenant in the US Navy Reserve, he penned an essay entitled "Sovereignty of the Liuchiu Islands" in which he asserted that [[Commodore Perry]] and other agents of the United States actively, intentionally, ''chose'' to treat the [[Ryukyu Kingdom]] as an independent kingdom in their interactions with Ryukyu in the 1850s, and that the post-WWII American Occupation of Okinawa was, in an important sense, a return to that friendly stance, opposed to Japanese colonialism and supportive of Okinawan distinctiveness, decolonization, and autonomy.<ref>Tze May Loo, ''Heritage Politics: Shuri Castle and Okinawa's Incorporation into Modern Japan, 1879-2000'', Lexington Books (2014), 150-151.; Kerr, "Sovereignty of the Liuchiu Islands," ''Far Eastern Survey'' 14:8 (1945), 96-100.</ref> |
| Following the end of World War II, he served for a time as vice consul at the US consulate in Taipei. He was a vocal critic of the [[Guomintang]] (KMT, Chinese Nationalist Party), and after the KMT violently suppressed popular protest in the 2-28 Incident of 1947, Kerr returned to the United States. He then worked for the Hoover Institution at the University of Washington for a time, and contributed to a study of the US military administration of the [[Ryukyu Islands]], publishing his first book on Okinawa in 1956. He also oversaw another such study, the [[Ryukyu Cultural Survey]], in 1960 to 1962. | | Following the end of World War II, he served for a time as vice consul at the US consulate in Taipei. He was a vocal critic of the [[Guomintang]] (KMT, Chinese Nationalist Party), and after the KMT violently suppressed popular protest in the 2-28 Incident of 1947, Kerr returned to the United States. He then worked for the Hoover Institution at the University of Washington for a time, and contributed to a study of the US military administration of the [[Ryukyu Islands]], publishing his first book on Okinawa in 1956. He also oversaw another such study, the [[Ryukyu Cultural Survey]], in 1960 to 1962. |