Introduction to Modern East Asia

Catalog description

This course is an introduction to the histories of modern China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam from the "dawn of the global world" in the 17th century to present. Taken together these regions make up the geographic and cultural unit commonly referred to as "East Asia." Over the course of the term, we will investigate the usefulness of this concept of "East Asia" by examining its origins as well as the sometimes convergent, sometimes divergent relations between this region and the rest of the world. We will also challenge the stereotype of a monolithic and static East Asia and see to develop a critical understanding of the internal and external forces integrating and dividing this region. We will examine how international diplomatic, commercial, military, religious, and cultural relationships shaped the individual countries as well as their relationships with each other and the world. The course sweeps over large regions of time and space. It aims to put the contemporary discussion of globalization into historical perspective by examining the long-lasting interactions of East Asian countries with each other and the rest of the world. These connections were economic, political, cultural, and psychological. Topics include: global silver and trade flows, warfare and military technology, imperial domination and revolutionary resistance, and the role of historical memory, as in Nanking or Hiroshima. Sources include historical documents, pictures, films, and memoirs. As we move through the course material our goal is not to gain total knowledge of modern East Asia, nor of China, Japan, Korea nor Vietnam. Rather, by the end of the term you should be able to identify some of the main organizing themes in modern East Asian history and develop a greater understanding of the construction and nature of historical knowledge itself. Offered as HSTY 132 and ASIA 132 . Counts as a CAS Global & Cultural Diversity course.