BA Sociology and Japanese

Why are Japanese people so focused on punctuality? Why did only China implement such a drastic population measure as the ‘one-child policy’? Why did South Korean professor Hwang Woo-suk feel compelled to fabricate his biomedical research, and why did it become a global scandal? This course adopts the perspectives of social and cultural history, the History of Science, Technology and Medicine (HSTM), and, where appropriate, Science and Technology Studies (STS), to address these kinds of questions. It examines key issues such as colonialism, nation-building, and globalisation by exploring the interactions between science, culture, and civilisation in East Asia.

We begin with a question posed more than half a century ago by Joseph Needham—British biologist, first head of the science division at UNESCO, and one of the twentieth century's most influential Sinologists. Needham dedicated much of his career to the monumental Science and Civilisation in China series, asking why modern science, as understood in the West, did not develop independently in China. 

From there, the course explores how modern science, technology, and medicine emerged in East Asia during the nineteenth century, considering their sociopolitical, cultural, and economic contexts. We also examine what the concepts of civilisation and modernity have meant for East Asia. Finally, we delve into contemporary issues, uncovering how science and technology have come to occupy a central role in East Asia's self-image and its engagement with globalisation.

This module comprises two components: a two-hour lecture and a one-hour seminar session each week. The lectures will introduce key concepts and ideas, while the seminars will focus on discussion and the development of academic writing skills. Active participation is expected in both components to ensure a thorough understanding of the material.

This unit aims to:

• Provide students with an understanding of major issues pertaining to the relationships between science and civilization in East Asia.
• Introduce major concepts necessary to develop an understanding of how scientific endeavours were understood in relation to culture and societies in East Asia.
• Help students critically analyse sources. 

On successful completion of this course unit, students will be able to:
•    Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of key issues pertaining to science and civilization in East Asia;
•    Demonstrate critical understanding of key analytical concepts related to the study of the history of science, technology and medicine in East Asia (HEASTM).

On successful completion of this course unit, students will be able to:
•    Broaden intellectual interests and nurture cultural awareness for areas beyond English-speaking countries;
•    Read critically;
•    Write analytically.

On successful completion of this course unit, students will be able to:
•    Improve their skills to approach sources about regions in East Asia;
•    Improve basic skills for academic writing, in particular reviewing academic literature.

On successful completion of this course unit, students will be able to:
•    Have honed their skills for reasoned presentation, discussion and argument;
•    Develop personal qualities of independence of mind in order to make ethical judgments;
•    Have been encouraged to confront their own values as global citizens.

 Resit Assessment Task: Essay

• Science and Civilisation in China series. 1954-. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Bartholomew, James R. 1989. The Formation of Science in Japan: Building a Research Tradition. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. Location: Blue Area Floor 2 (509.52 B1)
• Brazelton, Mary Augusta. China in Global Health: Past and Present (Cambridge University Press, 2023)
• DiMoia, John P. Reconstructing Bodies: Biomedicine, Health, and Nation Building in South Korea since 1945 (Stanford University Press, 2013).
• Elman, Benjamin A. 2006. A Cultural History of Modern Science in China. Location: Blue Area Floor 2 (509.51 E2)
• Lu, Yongxiang, Chuijun Qian, and Hui He. 2014. A History of Chinese Science and Technology Volumes 1, 2 & 3. Online access
• Hashimoto, Takehiko. Historical Essays on Japanese Technology. Collection UTCP Tokyo: University of Tokyo Center for Philosophy, 2009. Online access at: http://utcp.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp/publications/2010/04/historical_essays_on_japanese/index_en.php
• Nakayama, Shigeru ed. A Social History of Science and Technology in Contemporary Japan, Volumes 1-4. Melbourne: Trans Pacific Press 2001. Blue Area Floor 2 (509.52 N1)
• Tsu, Jing ed. 2014. Science and Technology in Modern China, 1880s-1940s. Leiden: Brill. Location: High Demand 509.51/09041.
• Whittner, David G. and Philip C. Brown eds. Science, Technology and Medicine in the Modern Japanese Empire (Routledge, 2015).

Further reading will be recommended in the class.