54
History of East and South East Asia
UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI NAPOLI "L'ORIENTALE"
Overview
Date/time interval
Syllabus
Course Objectives
OBJECTIVES AND EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES
Students will acquire mastery of methodological, conceptual, and informational frameworks to explore the most significant aspects of ancient and medieval Japanese civilization. They will also be able to interconnect political-institutional, socio-economic, and cultural phenomena and processes in chronological order and within the East Asian context, using appropriate terminology and historiographical categories. They will be able to interpret historical, social, and cultural dynamics through the use of translated sources (in Italian, English, and French).
KNOWLEDGE AND APPLIED COMPREHENSION SKILLS
Students will be able to critically apply historical and cultural-historical research methodologies; they will be able to use content, terminology, and study methodology for the comparison of phenomena across time (premodern, modern, and contemporary history of Japan), across regions (East Asian history), and globally (history of other geocultural areas). They will also be able to effectively apply the acquired knowledge and terminology in related disciplinary fields (literature, religions and philosophy, archaeology and art history, modern and contemporary history of Japan).
ADDITIONAL EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES
- Autonomy of Judgment
Students will be able to collect and interpret data from sources and critical bibliography to formulate independent judgments and solid arguments, free from stereotypes and reductionisms, regarding political-institutional, socio-economic, and cultural phenomena of ancient and medieval Japan, with a view toward enhancing their intercultural aptitude.
- Communication Skills
Students will be able to rework content and present sources and issues using appropriate disciplinary terminology and the most suitable argumentative methods for the context in which they are operating and the audience they are addressing.
- Learning Skills
Students will be able to integrate textbook study, source analysis, and critical historiographical reading with other texts and reference tools (online materials, videos, libraries) recognized by the scientific community, including in languages other than Italian. They will also be able to identify theses and arguments in an academic essay.
Course Prerequisites
Nothing.
Teaching Methods
Interactive lessons with the instructor: in each class, various types of sources (textual, iconographic, material) and key pages of historical criticism will be read and discussed. It is recommended to read the sources before the lesson, also based on guiding questions provided by the instructor. Various support and enrichment activities will be offered through the Teams platform.
Assessment Methods
The final exam will consist of an oral interview in which students will be asked to:
1. present and interpret facts, phenomena, and processes addressed in the course;
2. recognize, contextualize, and critically engage with the sources (also in relation to readings);
3. critically present a scholarly article on one of the topics covered in the course, highlighting the thesis, use of sources, and argumentation.
Language of the exam: Italian (foreign students may opt for English, French, or Japanese).
Evaluation criteria:
The final grade, expressed out of thirty, will assess the acquisition of the knowledge, skills, and competences specified in the expected learning outcomes. The evaluation criteria are: knowledge of the topics; critical use of sources; ability to analyze problems and make connections between topics; coherence, accuracy, and fluency of exposition; appropriateness in the use of specialized terminology.
Texts
A. Handbook
Satō Makoto, Gomi Fumihiko, Takano Toshihiko, Japanese History for High School, Tokyo: Yamakawa shuppansha, 2024 [pp. 1–176]
B. Sources
Provided by the teacher
C. Article
Harold Bolitho, “The Myth of the Samurai”, in Alan Rix & Ross Mouer (eds.), Japan’s Impact on the World, Melbourne: Japanese Studies Association of Australia, 1984, pp. 2-9.
D. One chapter to be chosen from chapters 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 of:
Amino Yoshihiko, Rethinking Japanese History, Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 2012.
For 9 cfu: A+B+C+D
Fro 8 cfu: A+B+C
For 6 cfu: A+B
Students who will not be able to attend the lessons are kindly requested to write to the instructor to receive the source materials. To deepen the study of the sources, the following is recommended:
David J. Lu, Japan. A Documentary History. The Dawn of History to the Late Tokugawa Period, London & New York: Routledge, 2005. [I-VI]
Contents
1. Environment and periodization
2. Sources and historiography
3. The Jōmon culture
4. The Yayoi culture
5. Japan in Chinese dynastic histories: the Wajinden
6. The tombs and the emergence of Yamato
7. The reception and adoption of Chinese models
8-9. The formation and development of the code-based state
10-11. The ideologies of regality
12. The oligarchic state
13. Ancient society: the officialdom
14. Ancient mentality: the state as a liturgic community
15. Everyday life at Court
16. Ancient economy: the shōen system and the agriculture
17. The rise of samurai, the wars, the Kamakura bakufu
18. The Muromachi bakufu and the warring-province period
19. The samurai: myths and stereotypes
20. Medieval economy and society: farmers, from the shōen to the village communities
21. Medieval economy and society: merchants and artisans
22. Medieval mentality between mujō and gekokujo
23. Everyday life of medieval élites
24. Medieval knowledge systems
25. Medieval Japan in global history
26. Middle Ages and medievalism: analysis of Rashōmon by Kurosawa Akira
27. Guide to the reading of a scientific article
Course Language
Italian
More information
Please note: studying only the textbook or the lecture summaries (slides) is insufficient to achieve the course objectives. It is therefore necessary to read and analyze the sources (textual, iconographic, etc.) and the excerpts of historical criticism provided.