- Department: History
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: H
- Academic year of delivery: 2024-25
- See module specification for other years: 2023-24
One of the most enduring tropes about Japan is that it is a homogenous society characterised by a unique blend of ancient traditions and hypermodernity. Geisha and castles are juxtaposed with robots and bullet trains in journalistic accounts, tourism materials, and popular culture. By focusing on supposedly unique elements of Japanese culture, this portrayal often obscures the fact that modern Japan developed through an extensive engagement with the rest of the world. Understandings and uses of the past played an important role in this process. Between 1895 and 1945, Japan built a diverse, multi-ethnic empire that rivalled and threatened those of the Western powers. The fifty years of imperial expansion into Asia that dramatically changed the societies of Japan and the countries it occupied, and have had a lasting global impact.
This module examines the development of Japanese society from the late nineteenth century to the Second World War through a range of primary and secondary materials. We will consider especially how the past was used to construct new identities, and how ideas of gender, race, and nation were contested and disseminated within Japan, in spheres including culture, religion, politics, sport, and the military. We will explore these developments in light of Japan’s relationship with the wider world. As was the case with other imperial powers, even as Japan was constructing its empire, the empire was simultaneously constructing Japan.
Students taking this module must also take the first part in Semester 1.
Occurrence | Teaching period |
---|---|
A | Semester 2 2024-25 |
The aims of this module are:
Students who complete this module successfully will:
Students will attend a 3-hour seminar in weeks 2-4, 6-8 and 10-11 of semester 2. Weeks 5 & 9 are Reading and Writing Weeks (RAW). Students prepare for and participate in eight three-hour seminars in all. A one-to-one meeting between tutor and students will also be held to discuss assessments.
Seminar topics are subject to variation, but are likely to include the following:
Task | % of module mark |
---|---|
Essay/coursework | 100 |
None
For formative assessment, students submit an essay draft of 2000-words.
For summative assessment, students complete a 4000-word essay relating to the themes and issues of the module. This comprises 100% of the overall module mark. Summative assessments will be due in the assessment period.
Task | % of module mark |
---|---|
Essay/coursework | 100 |
Following their formative assessment task, students will receive a one-to-one meeting with the tutor to discuss the essay and their plans for the assessed essay.
Work will be returned to students with written comments in their tutorial and may be supplemented by the tutor giving some oral feedback to the whole group. All students are encouraged, if they wish, to make use of their tutor’s student hours. For more information, see the Statement on Feedback.
For summative assessment tasks, students will receive their provisional mark and written feedback within 25 working days of the submission deadline. For more information, see the Statement of Assessment.
For semester time reading, please refer to the module VLE site. Before the course starts, we encourage you to look at the following items of preliminary reading: