Race and Asia in World History

Catalog description

This course explores the development of the concept of race as applied by and to Asian populations and societies. We also examine the idea of Asia and its others in global discourse, including through lenses such as Orientalism, Occidentalism, Pan-Asianism, and Afro-Asianism. Our focus is on the history of East Asia and trans-Pacific entanglements with Western empires from the early modern era to the present. A major theme is race science, or the scientific investigation and construction of race, as it was practiced on and by East Asian peoples. We also explore intersections of race with nationalism, imperialism, warfare, law and citizenship, and sex and the family. (ASIAN-SC, HIST-HAN)