JPN405 Seminar in Asian Studies: Tokyo, Shanghai, Paris

TTh TR 4:00 pm - 5:15 pm

Professor Douglas Slaymaker

Dickey Hall Dickey Hall-Rm.135

977 Patterson Office Tower

Office Hour: T 3-3:50, Wed 1-1:50

and by appointment

Office Phone: 257-7557

e-mail: DSLAYM dot F09 (at) spamex dot com

(include name and course with e-mail)

Homepage:  http://www.as.uky.edu/Japan/

Class Schedule

Course Description

Required Texts

Papers

Grading Procedures

Policies

 

Class Schedule Jump to October, November, December

(Please note:  the on-line version of the schedule is the authoritative one.  Please check it regularly for updates.  There WILL be changes to this schedule, mostly additions.)

back to top

Week 1

8/27/09

Thursday

Syllabus, course mechanics, theoretical and historical placements

WEEK 2

9/1/09

Tuesday

READ: Pico Iyer selection from The Global Soul

Iyer_questions

9/3/09

Thursday

READ:   selections from Gottdiener, ed., Key Concepts in Urban Studies

Urry, "Sensing the City"

Gottdiener and Urry Questions

WEEK 3

9/8/09

Tuesday

READ: Sata Ineko, "Elegy"

Gottdiener, Urry  

(Note: the De Certeau reading has been removed; no need to prepare it)

Sata questions

9/10/09 Thursday

READ: Massey, ÒGlobal Sense of Place"

--discussion led by Adams and Bruno Massey questions

Hayashi Fumiko, "The Old Part of Town"

--discussion led by Cardwell and Crisp Hayashi Fumiko questions

WEEK 4

9/15/09

Tuesday

READ: Soseki Sanshiro (novel)

--discussion led by Bewley and Davis

Natsume Soseki questions

9/17/09

Thursday

back to top

READ: Simmel, "The Metropolis and Mental Life"

--discussion led by Bewley and Eiche Simmel Questions

Soseki Sanshiro

WEEK 5

9/22/09

Tuesday

Paper #1 due: apply Georg Simmel to Sanshiro

9/24/09

Thursday

READ:   McLain and Ugawa, "Visions of the City"

--discussion led by Sierp and Garrison McLain and Ugawa questions

WEEK 6

9/29/09

Tuesday

READ: From Nagai Kafū, selections from American Stories

("Long Hair", "Spring and Autumn," "Rude Awakening," "Ladies of the Night," "Fallen Leaves," "Chronicle of Chinatown," "Night Stroll," "A June Night's Dream,")

--discussion led by Cardwell and Newman Kafu questions

Baudelaire, Poems

--discussion led by McLeod and Townzen Baudelaire questions

10/1/09

Thursday

READ: from Jinnai, selections from Tokyo

--discussion led by Schildt and Walters Jinnai Questions

WEEK 7

10/6/09

Tuesday

READ: Maeda Ai, "The Panorama of Enlightenment" Maeda Questions

"Ryuhoku in Paris"

--discussion led by Jerrow and Pickle Maeda II Questions

 

10/8/09

Thursday

back to top

Read: Wassertrom, "Introduction" from Global Shanghai

--discussion led by Boissonneault and Bruno Questions for Wasserstrom

Selections from Han, The Sing-Song Girls from Shanghai Han questions

WEEK 8

10/13/09

Tuesday

READ: Zhang, "The City in Modern Chinese Cultural History"

--discussion led by Adams and Davis Questions for Zhang

10/15/09 Thursday

READ: selections from Mao Dun Midnight

--discussion led by Eiche and Sierp Questions for Mao

Shanghai notes (Zhang) pptx

WEEK 9

10/20/09

Tuesday

READ: Chang Ailang Lust, Caution (novel),

--discussion led by Garrison and Green Questions for Chang, "Lust"

"Red Rose, White Rose"

--discussion led by Newman and McLeod Questions for Chang, "Red"

10/22/09

Thursday

VIEW: Lust, Caution (dir. Lee) 

  10/17-24

  Asian Arts Festival

WEEK 10

10/27/09 Tuesday

READ: Epstein, The Painter from Shanghai

--discussion led by Townsend and Schildt Questions for Epstein

--Pan Yuliang paintings

10/29/09 Thursday

READ:  Epstein

 

WEEK 11

11/3/09 Tuesday

VIEW: In the Mood For Love (dir. Wong)

 

 

11/5/09 Thursday

back to top

READHayashi, "Rotabo's Alley",

--discussion led by Walters and Hughes Questions for Hayashi "Rotabo"

--discussion led by Hughes and Jerrow Questions for Whangpoo

Questions for Hayashi "The Whangpoo River"

WEEK12

11/10/09 Tuesday

READ:  Endo, Foreign Studies

--discussion led by Pickles and Boissonneault Questions for Endoh

11/12/09 Thursday

READ:  Endo, Foreign Studies

Watanabe, "Dissolution of Mythology"
--discussion led by Green and Crisp Questions for Watanabe

 

WEEK 13

11/17/09 Tuesday

READ: Malraux, Man's Fate

11/19/09 Thursday

READ: Malraux, Man's Fate

Eagleton, "The Writer and Commitment"

WEEK 14

11/24/09 Tuesday

No class

Paper #2 due: 4PM 977 POT

11/26/09 Thursday

back to top

Thanksgiving break

WEEK 15

12/1/09 Tuesday

Read: Wei Hui, selection from Shanghai Baby

12/3/09 Thursday

  View: Tony Takitani (dir. Ichikawa)

Read: Murakami Haruki, "Tony Takitani"

WEEK 16

12/8/09 Tuesday

  Read: Murakami Haruki, "Superfrog Saves Tokyo"

Murakami Takashi

12/10/09 Thursday

 

 

Final Paper Due: Wednesday December 16 at 1:00 PM, in hard copy, 977 Patterson

 

 back to top

Course Description

This course will examine three of the worldÕs greatest cities. These cities share a rich history of mutual influence and imagination, with artists from each area creating work that represents the other. We will examine how city life and urbanity has been discussed, in general, and then how it has been imagined in the Japanese, Chinese, and French traditions. We will also explore the experience of the city-space in three different cultural contexts and across three different historical moments (1920s and 1930s, 1950s and 1960s, 1980s-present). This will allow us to think of the particularities of each city while also providing a context to draw linkages provided in cross-cultural flows. Much of this exploration will rely on print (i.e. fiction) but we will also draw from visual representations (i.e. art and film).

 

Course goals:

Concerning the cities themselves and the traditions represented in each:

¥ We will end this inquiry with a fuller understanding of how the city and urban space has been imagined and imaged in the three traditions.

¥ We will end this inquiry with a fuller understanding of the range of images that have been associated with these three cities. This is important to more fully understand the cultural histories of these three places (i.e. Japan, China, France). This style of inquiry allows for cross-cultural and inter-disciplinary thinking.

Concerning the intellectual and pedagogic goals of the class:

¥ We will exercise the processing of difficult and demanding texts

¥ Think through other traditions

¥ Articulate positions and arguments in well-formed essay style.

 back to top

 

Grading

The course grade will be determined as follows:

 

classroom attendance and participation: 60%

papers: 40%

 

Students are expected to come to class having completed the readings and viewings, and be prepared to discuss them in depth. Each class is organized on the assumption that you have made notes about the readings. In many cases, you will be asked to summarize the main point of an article, a section, or a paragraph; you are to attend class able to provide this information. You will find much of this reading to be challenging. The fiction was written in different times for different audiences and, in most cases, in different languages. Students will be required to lead the discussion of one article or story.

 

Students will be assigned an article, and will work in pairs. Students are required to devise reading questions (4-6 questions) that will be distributed to the class ONE WEEK prior to the due date. Groups are not expected to summarize the article for the class; they are expected to lead a discussion that results in a summary of the relevant and important points of the reading. The discussion is designed to fill 20-30 minutes. Your discussion should help lead the class to elaborate the main ideas of each text, extrapolate its importance, and tie it to other works read and discussed.

 

Required texts:

back to top

 

Natsume Soseki Sanshiro

Malraux, Andre, Man's Fate

Chang, Eileen, Lust, Caution

Epstein, Jennifer, The Painter from Shanghai

Nagai, Kafu, American Stories

Endo Shussaku, Foreign Studies

 

Readings:  

Books are available on Reserve

 

You will need to print these (in some cases, download them first), read them, and bring them to class.  For technical assistance, contact the library.

 

Films

Films listed in the syllabus are required texts.  You are responsible to view them, and to do so with the care accorded to a written text.  We will be discussing them in class.

 

back to top

Papers:

 

This course will require three papers, two short (2-3 pages) and one longer (5-6 pages).  Papers are to be double spaced, with margins of no more than one-inch on all sides, with consecutive page numbers, 12-point font, and Times Roman (or a similar size) fonts.  Click here for more paper help; you will be linked to Professor Tannenbaum's very complete page.  The UK Writing Center is another recommended resource. If citing sources, use a proper bibliographic format, such as the MLA style sheet; click here for more on this.

 

All work must be the original product of your efforts, and all materials quoted from others must be properly credited. You should refer to the Students Rights and Responsibilities code (especially section 6.3.0) for a discussion of the University's policies regarding academic integrity.  Please note, the minimum punishment for cheating or plagiarism is an "E" for the course.

 

Paper 1 and 2: 2-3 pages in length. These papers focus on novels read for class. In the first instance, the novel is Sanshiro; in the second, you are to write about Man's Fate. In each case you are to write in dialoge with an accompanying essay. The essay is to provide an idea that you will develop in relation to the novel.

 

Paper 3: 5-6 pages in length. In this paper you will take one of the ideas that we developed in class and apply it to two or more of the fictional representations from class.

 

I am always available to discuss paper ideas and to read rough drafts.  I encourage you to discuss them with me.  You can submit any paper early.

back to top

 

 

  Classroom Policies

 

 

Tardiness is distracting to everyone, so be on time for class.  Leaving early is similarly not acceptable.  Turn off your phone for class. Texting is likewise unacceptable. Laptop use is reserved for note-taking. See me if you have problems with any of these policies.

 

If you need special accommodation due to medical conditions, please see me early in the semester.

 

Excused absences will be granted only for the reasons listed in the Student Rights and Responsibilities code (section 5.2.4.2).  The code can be found on-line at: http://www.uky.edu/StudentAffairs/Code/part2.htm.    For excused absences, you will be given an opportunity to earn participation credit for the missed class(es).  It is your responsibility to contact me to take advantage of this provision.

 

Academic learning and participation in a civil society necessitates a respect for the dignity of all and to value differences among members of our communities.  Discussion and debate, and even unpopular opinions, are significant parts of academic discovery.  Thus, disagreements would not include attacks of a personal nature or statements denigrating another on the basis of race, sex, religion, sexual orientation, age, national/regional origin or other such irrelevant factors.  Maintaining enrollment in this course signifies your willingness to respect all members of our classroom. 

 

Modified

November 20, 2009

 

 back to top

 

Back to homepage