डॉ. बी. आर. अम्बेडकर विश्वविद्यालय दिल्ली 
| Course Type | Course Code | No. Of Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Discipline Core | NA | 4 |
Course Coordinator: Dr Dharitri Narzary
Email id : dharitri@aud.ac.in
Course East Asia as a region has emerged to become relevant globally since the World War II and there has been a growing interest among international communities to understand the region‘s history, traditions and cultures that mark it out as distinct. Post ‗globalization‘ period the region has become more accessible in terms of its interaction with the global world. The course is thus designed as a survey course to introduce students to the histories, societies and cultures of China, Japan and Korea covering a period from 19th century, when colonialism was at its peak, to the contemporary period and intends to provide a base for further studies on the region. The purpose of the course is to engage students with the currents and trends of the region, enable to understand the shared commonalities and unifying characters of the region as a whole as well as to identify, compare and contrast key features of the individual societies and cultures. The objective of the course is to encourage students to develop multi- or interdisciplinary perspective to the study of East Asia. The course evaluation will be based on continuous assessment process: a written assignment, mid-term, class presentation and end-semester examination. Apart from regular class lecture, films on one or two themes will be an integral part of the course instruction.
Objectives:
- familiarise students with the geopolitics of the region and the relevance of east Asia in the global context.
- introduce various aspects of regional history and historical journeys that played crucial role in defining the region
- teach about multi and interdisciplinary approach in studying the global
- encourage to engage with the region
At the end of the course, the students are expected to know more about East Asia as a region as well as about the individual distinctiveness of each society in the region. They should be able to demonstrate a critical understanding of the region, and the importance of it in global politics and economy.
The course is composed of five modules.
Module 1- History and Geopolitics of East Asia (2 weeks)
Locating the region in a geopolitical context, this module will engage with the historical experiences of the region and the processes of change it underwent in the geopolitical context.
Module 2: Confucianism and its Relevance in East Asian Societies: (2 weeks)
This module will discuss Confucianism, its teachings and its spread across the region of East Asia as an overarching philosophy.
Module 3: Society and State (2 weeks)
The module will examine the societies of East Asia in relational context to the state. The idea of seeing collectivism as opposed to the concept of individualism in the west will be explored.
Module 4: Nature, ideology and religion in East Asia (2 weeks)
This module will examine the way societies of East Asia engage with religion and spirituality. Dotted with famous temples, monasteries and shrines, the long history of religion in the region is visible
Module 5: Popular culture (2 weeks) T
he popular Culture of East Asia has taken over the imagination of the young world. From regional to global - what makes the popular culture of East Asia distinct?
Module 6: Globalization and East Asia (2 weeks)
This module will focus on the globalizing aspects of East Asia. The presence of East Asia in the popular imagination of the global world is undeniable and is important for understanding the geopolitics of the region.
Instructional design:
The course will be transacted through a combination of lectures, discussion, film show, participation and presentations.
Assessment structure (modes and frequency of assessments)
- One take home assignment 20%
- Mid-semester: 20%
- End semester: 40%
- Attendance and Class participation which will involve re-writing exercise: 10%
- Class presentation on a selected topic: 10%
Readings
- Takeshi Hamashita, 2013. China, East Asia and the Global Economy: Regional and Historical Perspectives, Routledge
- Manuel Perez Garcia and Lucio Des Sousa (eds), 2018. Global History and New Polycentric Approaches: Europe, Asia and the Americas in a World Network System, Palgrave Macmillan
- Md Nazirul Islam Sarker, Md Altab Hossin, Xiaohua Yin and Md Kamruzzaman Sarkar, 2018. ―One Belt One Road Initiative of China: Implication for Future of Global Developmentǁ, Scientific Research Publishing (Modern Economy).
- Xinzhong Yao, 2000. An Introduction to Confucianism, Cambridge University Press.
- John King Fairbank and Merle Goldman, 2009. Chapter 2: ―The First Unification: Imperial Confucianismǁ in China: A New History, second enlarged edition, PHI Learning.
- Jana S Rosker and Natasa Visocnik, 2015. Contemporary East Asia and The Confucian Revival, Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
- Patricia Ebrey, Anne Walthall, James Palais,(edts.) 2006. Modern East Asia: A Cultural, Social and Political History. NY: Houghton Mifflin.
- Reiko Ogawa, Raymond Kwok. Hong CHAN, Akiko Oishi, Lih-Rong Wang (eds), 2018. Gender care and Migration in East Asia, Palgrave Macmillan
- Aike P. Rots, Shinto, Nature and Ideology in Contemporary Japan: Making Sacred Forests, Bloomsbury, 2017
- Mary Evelyn Tucker, John H. Berthrong (eds), 1998. Confucianism and Ecology: The Interrelation of Heaven, Earth and Human, Harvard University Press.
- Shu-Wesi Hsieh, 2017. ―Daoism and Nationalism in Modern and Contemporary Chinaǁ in Cheng-tian Kuo (ed), Religion and Nationalism in Chinese Societies, Amsterdam University Press.
- E. Taylor Atkins, 2017. A History of Popular Culture in Japan: From the seventeenth century to the present, Bloomsbury.
- Tai Wei Lim, et al., 2016. Globalization, Consumption and Popular Culture in East Asia,
- Koichi Iwabuchi, Eva Tsai and Chris Berry (eds),2016. Routledge Handbook of East Asian Popular Culture.
- Harumi Befu and Sylvie Guichard-Anguis, 2001. Globalizing Japan: Ethnography of the Japanese Presence in Asia, Europe and America, Routledge: London and New York.
- Pempel, T.J. ed. 2005. Remapping East Asia: The Construction of a Region, Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
- Hiromi Mori, 1997. Immigration Policy and Foreign Workers in Japan, Macmillan Press