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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2017/2018

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures : Asian Studies

Postgraduate Course: East Asian Cultural Relations (ASST11087)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Literatures, Languages and Cultures CollegeCollege of Humanities and Social Science
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryChina and Japan and in general the East Asian regions maintained close relations over many centuries impacting on foundational formations of language, script, philosophy, religion and literature. Long before international treaties and law applied the tributary system provided for continuous cultural exchanges. This course will provide understanding of these historical cultural links, while focussing on the intricacies of these relations involved in the tremendous transformations of both countries starting from the late 19th century. With both countries facing the challenge of responding to the Western expansion, the different solutions found were often based on intra-regional cultural exchanges and intellectual negotiations about the integration of East Asia into a cultural ¿family of nations¿ within the new hierarchical world order, rather than often quoted and direct ¿response to the West¿. While on the international arena since then, milestones of Sino-Japanese relations are mainly marked by wars and political conflicts, the continuous flow of cultural exchanges based on shared traditions as well as the increasingly entangled economies in contemporary East Asia had a significant influence on the nature of East Asian international relations.
Course description Introduction: History of First Encounters

Foundations of Communication: Language and Script

Scholarly Exchanges in Late Qing China and Meiji Japan

International Travel of New Terms for New Ideas

Glocal Literary Movements (the Political Novel, Drama Reform Movements)

Student Migration and Radicalism

The Sino-Japanese War and Fragmentation of the Literary Field

Cultural Flows, Consumption and the Idea of East Asia

Manga, Pop culture and ¿soft power¿

New Media and the Formation of an East Asian Cultural Identity

Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Course Delivery Information
Not being delivered
Learning Outcomes
¿ Solid understanding about the history of interregional relations in East Asia and its impact on the foundational cultural traditions
¿ Critical perspective of commonalities and differences of China/Japan¿s ¿response to the West¿
¿ Critical knowledge of the impact of flows of cultural products in the region
¿ Knowledge of key actors and main cultural movements influenced by mutual engagement
¿ Overview of key issues which shaped and continue to impact on cultural interactions between China and Japan
¿ Critical assessment of sources, literary/cultural representations and autobiographical accounts of intercultural encounters
¿ Skills in oral presentation and academic writing
¿ Understanding of Sino-Japanese foreign policy in relation to history of cultural exchanges
¿ Skills in oral presentation and academic writing
Reading List
* Joshua A. Fogel, ed. Late Qing China and Meiji Japan, Political and Cultural Aspects, Norwalk: Eastbridge, 2003.
*Akira Iriye (ed.), The Chinese and the Japanese. Essays in Political and Cultural Interaction, Princeton: Princeton Univ. Pr., 1980.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
KeywordsEACR
Contacts
Course organiserProf Natascha Gentz
Tel: (0131 6)50 4229
Email: natascha.gentz@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMr Alan Binnie
Tel: (0131 6)51 1822
Email: Alan.Binnie@ed.ac.uk
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