BA East Asian Studies / Course details

This course will make use of selected cultural texts and film to introduce students to the politics and complex colonial history of East Asia in the period of Japanese Empire. Lectures incorporating discussion of novels and screenings will introduce to students the formation of colonial and postcolonial Asia and open dialogue about how Japanese expansionism influenced the development of national identities in China, Korea and Japan and across South East Asia. During weekly lectures students will have the opportunity to consider a small selection of representative works, from novelists and directors from China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, each bringing different perspectives the Japanese era. Interspersed between lectures students will view and discuss representative films such as The Last Emperor, Mud and Soldiers, The Human Condition, Karayuki, Dankichi the Adventurer and Warriors of the Rainbow. Literary texts to be included include classics of the East Asian empire period such as Xiao Hong’s In the Field of Life and Death (1932) and Wu Zhuoliu’s The Orphan of Asia (1945, Taiwan). Through this introductory survey of modern Asia forged through the expansion of Japan into the continent and de-colonisation of India and Southeast Asia and China from Europe, and a sampling of literature and film about this process, students will explore structures of feeling across the region, and consider the legacy of empire for the regional relations and coherence of a  postcolonial Asia.  

• to introduce the major points of conflict and unity necessary for a fuller understanding of modern culture and regional relations in Asia serving as a grounding into the East Asian Studies Major

• to provide students with an understanding of the key events and conceptual issues surrounding the Japanese empire in Asia and its legacy

• to enable students to analyse cultural problems and dynamics in contemporary East Asia in an informed and critical way

• to nurture and build skills for source reading and interpreting to support robust essay writing in the following years

• to provide guidance and a preliminary experience of essay planning, class presentations, and class discussion in the first year of the East Asian / Chinese/ Japanese Studies Major

• demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the history and cultural reaction to the development of East Asia as a region

• demonstrate critical understanding of key analytical concepts related to the study of history and culture

• show detailed knowledge of some representative cultural works (novels and films) from across East Asia

• engage in informed critical analysis of East Asian history and culture

• read and watch critically

• write analytically

• Construct ideas and arguments from own research and apply knowledge to finding solutions to authentic real world problems

• Improve basic skills for academic writing

• Improve presentation skills

• will have honed their skills for reasoned discussion and argument

• will be able to find and use critically a range of materials such as books, journals and web-based resources relevant to the topics studied in the course

• will be able to better participate in world affairs and informed global citizens

• Louise Young, Japan’s Total Empire (1998) ebook
• Joshua Motow. ed. The Columbia Companion to Modern East Asian Literature (2003)
• Peter Duus et al.  Japan’s Wartime Empire (1996) ebook