ASIAN 2211 - [Introduction to Japan]

(GHB) (CA-AS, ALC-AS, HST-AS)

Fall, Winter, Summer (not offered every year). Not offered: 2020-2021. Next offered: 2021-2022. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

A. Campana.

This course serves as a general introduction to the study of Japan in the humanities and social sciences. We focus on different themes that have dominated debates and conversations (primarily within Japan but also from outside, influencing internal understandings) about what constitutes Japaneseness. Our discussions examine how these themes are addressed in different academic disciplines. We will explore ways different groups of Japanese people (intellectuals, bureaucrats, business people, religious figures, etc.) have imagined themselves as members of a collectivity or nation, and how these ways of framing identity have been picked up, celebrated, contested and projected back onto Japan by people outside of Japan. (GE)