CONTEMPORARY EAST ASIAN SOCIETIES

This is one of the complementary courses within the "Japan" curriculum of the master degree programme in "Lingue, economie e istituzioni dell'Asia e dell'Africa Mediterranea". The course offers lectures on contemporary East Asian societies, including Japan. The course aims to provide knowledge of East Asia in terms of cultural, economic, political, religious, and social perspectives.

Knowledge and understanding:
- to know and understand the cultural, economic, political, religious, and social aspects of contemporary Asia, including Japan

Applying knowledge and understanding:
- to use the knowledge of the contemporary Asian cultural, economic, political, religious, and social aspects in the research and job.

Making judgments:
- to exercise judgment within a global and multi-dimensional perspective.

Communication:
- to write a research essay using the knowledge of contemporary Asia and global perspectives.

I recommend that students possess an intermediate level of Japanese (Level N3 JLPT) to integrate and deepen the issues presented during the course. Moreover, students should already have a basic knowledge of contemporary Japanese society.

The first half of this course will provide a chronological interpretation of the history of East Asia in the 20th century by focusing on transnational connections and interactions that are not limited to East Asia. The second half of the course will consider how to research contemporary issues in East Asia, that is, how to set up research questions, collect data, and write a paper, drawing on the knowledge of East Asian history from the first half of the course.

The schedule of classes is as follows:

① Outline of lessons
② The eve of the 20th century
③ Racism, nationalism, World War I
④ Coordination for peace, national independence movements and World War II
⑤: Lectures by Japanese researchers
⑥: research workshop (1): research question
⑦: World War II
⑧: Unending wars
⑨: Global civil resistance
⑩: The end of the Cold War
⑪: Contemporary East Asian Societies (1)
⑫: Contemporary East Asian Societies (2)
⑬: Contemporary East Asian Societies (3)
⑭: Research workshop (2): Methods
⑮: Research workshop (3): Methods of writing

East Asian history and current situation
Gordon, Andrew, 2020, A Modern History of Japan, Fourth Edition, Oxford University Press. （『日本の200年　上、下』）
Goto Kenta, Endo Tamaki, Ito Asei, 2021, The Asian Economy: Contemporary Issues and Challenges, Routledge.
Kottmann, Nora and Cornelia Reiher (eds.), 2020, Studying Japan: Handbook of Research Designs, Fieldwork and Methods, Nomos. 
Oguma Eiji (ed), 2019, Heisei-Shi, Kawade Shobo Shinsho.（『平成史　完全版』）
Pieke, Frank N. and Koichi Iwabuchi (ed.), 2021, Global East Asia: Into the Twenty-First Century, University of California Press.
Sato Shiro, Ishizaka Shin‘ya, 2022, Gendai Ajia wo tsukamu: shakai, Keizai, seiji, bunka 35 no ishu [Contemporary Asia : issues and debates], Akashi shoten.（『現代アジアをつかむ』明石書店）

Research
Alvesson, M., & Sandberg, J., 2013, Constructing Research Questions: Doing Interesting Research, SAGE Publications.
Booth,  Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, Joseph M. Williams, Joseph Bizup and William T. FitzGerald, 2016, The Craft of Research, Fourth Edition, the University of Chicago Press.
Chaubey, Varanya, 2018, The little book of research writing: the structural challenge of communicating knowledge + a method to meet it, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
Oguma Eiji, 2022, Kiso kara Wakaru Ronbun no Kakikata, Kodansha. （『基礎からわかる論文の書き方』）
Punch, Keith F, 2013, Introduction to Social Research: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches, SAGE Publications Ltd.
Silvia, Paul J., 2019, How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing, 2nd ed, American Psychological Association.
Wadsworth, Yoland, 2020, Do It Yourself Social Research: The bestselling practical guide to doing social research projects, Routledge.

To successfully finish the course, students are required to complete the following two tasks:

1) Pass an exam on the computer testing knowledge of Asian history as covered in class. (18/30 superati; 50%)

2 )Write a research plan focusing on a topic of interest to you about Japan. The paper must consider the research question and the method of collecting data. Students should write the paper in English or Japanese, within around 1,000 words in English or 1,500 to 2,000 characters in Japanese. (50%).

Non-attending: The exam program is the same as the attending students.

Frontal lessons in Japanese.

All materials of the lessons and further readings will be available on the moodle platform dedicated to the course.

All course materials will be available on the moodle platform dedicated to the course.

written

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Poverty and inequalities" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development