Diplomats, Drunkards, and Anarchists: Competing Visions of the Future in Japan’s Global Past

Catalog description

This course offers a broad introduction to the global and transnational dimensions of a cornerstone event in modern East Asian history: the ‘Opening’ of Japan. This historical moment connected the country with the wider world in a myriad of contradictory ways. It produced the first non-Western nation state to join the ranks of colonial ‘Great Powers’. It also inspired anti-imperialists and critics of Western modernity throughout the world: from Black internationalists and Muslim intellectuals to environmental activists and anarchist revolutionaries. We will study various sources, methods, and theories to make sense of these and many more cross-border connections. We will also reflect on competing notions of historical progress that inform our interpretations of the past. By the end of the course, students will have acquired foundational knowledge and skills to scour the past for lost imaginations of the future.