History 201-206 seminars are open to history majors only during pre-registration. If the course does not reach its enrollment maximum, it will be open to all students beginning with drop/add on a first-come first-serve basis.
HIST 206 Greater East Asian War
Taught as schedule allows (consult the Course Directory)
SEM
This seminar will explore the Second World War from the perspective of modern Japan. A major source of popular assumptions about the peculiarities of Japanese history and culture, the chronicle of Japanese war and empire building from 1931 to 1945 will be examined from several angles—political, military, social, cultural and intellectual. What was the basis and form of Japanese war and empire building in these years? What was the meaning of "Greater East Asia Co-prosperity"? To what extent do the symbol of a divine emperor, kamikaze pilots and the record of Japanese atrocities distinguish Japan from other belligerents in the 20th and 21st centuries? What is the real and imagined legacy of the "Greater East Asia War" in Japan? In what ways may the Japanese war experience of 1931 to 1945 inform our understanding of the current "war on terror"? We will take a consciously comparative thematic tour of the 1931 to 1945 years (empire, race, war, memory, etc.) in an effort to shed light upon both the history of modern Japan and the more general record of war and empire building in the 20th century.
