ASIAN 2211 - [Introduction to Japan]

(GHB) (CA-AS)

Fall. (May be offered winter or summer) 3 credits. Letter grades only.

Next offered 2013-2014.

J.M. Law.

This course surveys major disciplinary approaches in the social sciences and humanities to the study of Japan by focusing on different historical formulations of Japanese native and national identity: Japan the sacred nation, Japan the aesthetic, Japan the warrior (and victim) nation, Japan the ritual nation, Japan the industrious economic superpower and Japan the hyper-modern. We introduce Japanese performance traditions, read fiction, poetry and plays, see classical films and recent anime, and study historical cases relating to each of these formulations. (GE)