This course explores the formation of modern East Asian nations and of the idea of East Asia itself in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It examines the interrelated histories of China, Japan, and Korea and the forces that forged modernity in East Asia: wars, colonialism, imperialism, Cold War geopolitics, nationalism and socialism. The course presents an overview of large historical processes, but introduces different perspectives by looking at how individuals narrated their experiences in memoirs, diaries, short stories, novels, and films.
Course Credits
3