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STORIA DELL'ASIA ORIENTALE E SUD-ORIENTALE
Dati Generali
Periodo di attività
Syllabus
Obiettivi Formativi
Knowledge of the main events that mark the historical path of Taiwan in the modern and contemporary age, explored as a "local reflection" of the main regional and global dynamics and tensions of the period under examination (from the Qing colonization to the end of the "tributary system", from Japanese colonialism to the Cold War up to the rise of Chinese power in the 21st century).
ABILITY TO APPLY KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
The student must demonstrate familiarity with the historical, geopolitical, diplomatic and cultural dynamics that characterize the history of Taiwan, with particular attention to the transformation in both internal and international power relations; furthermore, students must be able to observe and critically comment on the contemporary legacies of the pre-modern and modern historical phenomena addressed during the semester.
FURTHER EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES
Autonomy of judgment:
-ability to evaluate secondary sources related to the topics covered during the course
-ability to independently and critically evaluate long-term historical processes and their connection with the present
Communication skills:
-ability to use specialized language (both orally and in writing) appropriate to communicate the contents learned during the course
-ability to express oneself in public through verbal communication, and using audiovisual tools
-ability to participate in group discussions
-ability to illustrate, defend and support one's ideas, using both the tools of formal logical argumentation and rhetoric.
-ability to critically summarize and present academic essays and articles related to the course
Learning skills:
-ability to develop autonomous observations on the interconnections between strategic, diplomatic and military issues, and intellectual developments in the field of political thought in the Taiwanese and Chinese context, but also more broadly "Asian", so as to also be able to provide analyses and forecasts on the present and future scenarios on the chessboard of the South China Sea.
Prerequisiti
No prerequisites are required. A basic knowledge of East Asian modern and contemporary history is recommended.
Metodi didattici
After a methodological introduction on "global history", the first part of the course will offer a chronological survey of Taiwanese history. For each lesson, attending students will be required to read relevant materials beforehand, in order to facilitate their active participation in class. In the second part of the course, students will present their "report" on a selected reading, which will offer further opportunities for in-depth analysis and collective discussions on different aspects of Taiwan's historical experience.
Verifica Apprendimento
The final exam will consist of an oral interview on the texts indicated in the bibliography.
Students who actively and regularly attend classes ("attending students") can "anticipate" part of the oral exam through the following activities:
6 CFU: a reading report on a selected book dealing with any aspect of Taiwan's history, to be presented in class.
8 CFU: a research project of at least two pages, plus bibliography, related to Taiwan's history, to be delivered to the teacher before the exam (a template will be provided during the course).
9 CFU: reading report + research project
Further details will be provided at the beginning of the course.
Testi
6 CFU:
- J. Clemens, Rebel Island: the incredible history of Taiwan. Scribe, 2024.
- T. Brook, M. van Walt van Praag, M. Boltjes (eds), Sacred Mandates. University of Chicago Press 2018, CHAPTERS 6-7.
8 CFU:
- J. Clemens, Rebel Island: the incredible history of Taiwan. Scribe, 2024.
- T. Brook, M. van Walt van Praag, M. Boltjes (eds), Sacred Mandates. University of Chicago Press 2018, CHAPTERS 6-7.
- Stephen J. Hartnett, A World of Turmoil. The United States, China, and Taiwan in the Long Cold War. Michigan State University Press, 2021.
9 CFU:
- J. Clemens, Rebel Island: the incredible history of Taiwan. Scribe, 2024.
- T. Brook, M. van Walt van Praag, M. Boltjes (eds), Sacred Mandates. University of Chicago Press 2018, CHAPTERS 6-7.
- Stephen J. Hartnett, A World of Turmoil. The United States, China, and Taiwan in the Long Cold War. Michigan State University Press, 2021.
- ONE READING CHOSEN AMONG THE FOLLOWING OPTIONS:
- Sabella O. Abidde, China and Taiwan in Africa. The Struggle for Diplomatic Recognition and Hegemony. Springer 2022 (Part I-II).
- Dean P. Chen, US-China-Taiwan in the Age of Trump and Biden. Towards a Nationalist Strategy. Routledge 2022.
- Marcus P. Chu, China, Taiwan, and International Sporting Events. Face-off in Cross-Strait Relations. Routledge 2023.
- Ming-sho Ho, Challenging Beijing’s Mandate of Heaven. Taiwan’s Sunflower Movement and Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement. Temple University Press 2019.
- Hans Tao-Ming Huang, Queer Politics and Sexual Modernity in Taiwan, Hong Kong University Press 2011
- Hsiao-ting Lin, Accidental State. Chiang Kai-shek, the United States, and the Making of Taiwan. Harvard University Press, 2016.
- Pang Yang Huei, Strait Rituals. China, Taiwan and the United States in the Taiwan Strait Crises, 1954-1958. Hong Kong University Press 2019 (CHAPTERS 1-6)
- Zlatko Sabic and David W. F. Huang, Parliamentary Diplomacy of Taiwan in Comparative Perspective. Bristol University Press 2021.
- Seiji Shirane, Imperial Gateway. Colonial Taiwan and Japan’s expansion in South China and Southeast Asia. 1895-1945, Cornell University Press 2022.
- Emma Jinhua Teng, Taiwan’s Imagined Geography. Chinese Colonial Travel Writing and Pictures, 1683–1895. Harvard University Press 2006.
- Emilie Yueh-yu Yeh, Early Film Culture in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Republican China. University of Michigan Press 2018.
- Kirk A. Denton, The Landscape of Historical Memory, The Politics of Museums and Memorial Culture in Post–Martial Law Taiwan. Hong Kong University Press 2021
- Czeslaw Tubilewicz, Chinese Constructions of Sovereignty and the East China Sea Conflict, Routledge 2021 (CHAPTERS 1-6)
Contenuti
Contested Island: a global history of Taiwan, from the Qing Empire to the “new cold war”.
The course looks at the historical events of Taiwan from the 17th to the 21st century as a “microcosm” of the most significant regional and global dynamics of the modern and contemporary age in East Asia. The history of the island will serve to trace the rise and fall of the Manchurian imperial project, the transition from the tributary system to the Westphalian one, the spread of European colonialism and the birth of Japanese colonialism, the development and consequences of the Chinese civil war, the reflection of the Cold War tensions on the Asian chessboard, and finally the growing rivalry between the USA and China. The current state of “ambiguity” in relation to the problem of “Taiwanese sovereignty” will therefore be observed in a historical-global perspective, while placing a special emphasis on the connection between international dynamics and Taiwanese socio-political transformations.
TOPICS COVERED:
1. Introduction: the paradigm shift in East Asia, from the crisis of the Chinese imperial system to the spread of the “international system”
2. Taiwan and the Qing: Manchu imperialism?
3. The Republic of Formosa in 1895
4. Taiwan under Japanese rule: colonial experience and modernization
5. The Chinese civil war and the birth of the Republic of China in Taipei
6. Chiang Kai-shek in Taiwan: authoritarianism and Chinese identity
7. The Cold War: the Straits crises of the 1950s and the China-US-Taiwan triangle
8. Nixon's shock and the freezing of US ambiguity on Taiwan
9. Socio-political transformations since the 1980s, between Taiwanization and globalization
10. Lee Teng-hui's presidency and the democratization of the island
11. China's rise and tensions in the South China Sea: Taiwan at the center of a new "cold war"?
12. Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao: China and "disputed sovereignties".
Lingua Insegnamento
English