H421: Asia’s Emerging Nations
Office: Arts & Letters 538
Spring 2013 T, Th. 9:30-10:45am
Room: PSFA 318
Professor: Dr. Kate Edgerton-Tarpley
Office Hrs: Mon. 2:30-3:30; Thurs. 2:15-4:15pm
E-mail: edgerton@mail.sdsu.edu
Office Phone: (619) 594-6985
Asia’s Emerging Nations
Course Description:
This course concentrates on the history of India, China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines,
and Vietnam from 1600 to the present. After gaining a foundational understanding of
the geographies, religious traditions, and family and gender norms of Monsoon Asia,
we will compare and contrast different Asian responses to eighteenth and nineteenthcentury European and American imperialism. We will then examine anti-colonial
nationalism, revolutions, and wars in twentieth-century Asia, and conclude by exploring
the diverse paths taken by India, Japan, China, and Vietnam between World War II and
the present. By the end of the course, you should know the geography, broad chronology,
major themes, and key historical figures of modern East, South, and Southeast Asian
history. Most importantly, you should be able to connect these people, themes, places,
and historical eras within a broad “story” of modern Asian history.
Student Learning Outcomes:
1. Students will discuss the following questions individually and as a group: What is
“Asia?” Does it exist as a culture area? What do we mean by “Asian?”
2. Students will analyze how political, intellectual, social, religious, and economic forces
have shaped the history of Asia since 1600.
3. Students will compare and contrast how South, East, and Southeast Asian societies
experienced imperialism, nationalism, revolution, and social and economic change in the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
4. Students will trace how understandings of “proper” gender roles have changed in many
Asian societies between 1800 and the present.
5. Students will evaluate the successes enjoyed and the challenges faced by Asian
societies from World War II until today, as well as the impact of those successes and
challenges upon the United States.
This is an Explorations course in the Humanities and Fine Arts.
Completing this course will help you to do the following in greater depth:
1) analyze written, visual, or performed texts in the humanities and fine arts with
sensitivity to their diverse cultural contexts and historical moments;
2) describe various aesthetic and other value systems and the ways they are
communicated across time and cultures;
3) identify issues in the humanities that have personal and global relevance;
4) demonstrate the ability to approach complex problems and ask complex questions
drawing upon knowledge of the humanities.
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Course Requirements:
- Attendance and Participation
-Reading Quizzes
- In-Class Essay
-Map Test of Asia
15%
10%
10 %
10%
- Take-Home Paper I
- Take-Home Paper II
- Final Exam
15%
20%
20%
1. Class Participation (15% of total grade):
a. Attendance and Participation: Your active participation is welcomed in this class.
- Regular attendance is vital -- you cannot engage in course discussions if you are not
present. I will pass around a written register of attendance at the beginning of class
each day. Your class participation grade will drop by one full grade for every class
that you miss after your third unexcused absence. This means that 4 unexcused
absences will lower your class participation grade to an 80%, 5 to a 70%, and so on.
b. Regular and informed participation in weekly discussions and debates: We will
spend roughly 40 minutes per week discussing or debating the primary source
readings for that week. To receive full credit for participation, you need to bring the
assigned reading to class for each discussion and make relevant contributions to the
discussions. I will call on you at random during discussions in order to ensure that
everyone gets a chance to participate, so please come prepared to respond.
Make-up Activities: You may make-up for one unexcused absence and one missed
or failed reading quiz by attending a total of two out-of-class activities concerning
Asia and writing a short (1-2 typed page) analysis of each activity. Activities include
going to showings of Asian films or Asia-related lectures, taking a trip to the Asian
art exhibition or the Zen garden in Balboa Park, or attending other Asia-related
cultural activities. I will announce relevant activities in class as I learn of them.
To receive make-up credit, your write-ups must be typed, must relate each activity
you attended to one or more of the themes introduced in History 421, and must be
submitted on or before the last day of class.
2. Reading Quizzes (10% of total grade): To encourage lively class discussions and
help all of you to keep up with the assigned readings, there will be several reading
quizzes over primary source readings. Quizzes will be announced in class one day in
advance. No make-ups will be given for missed reading quizzes, though you can recover
the points for one missed or failing quiz by attending and writing about an out-of-class
activity concerning Asia (see above). Readings must be done prior to the day for which
they are assigned.
3. In-Class Essay (10% of total grade):
You will write the in-class essay during the last 40 minutes of class on Tuesday,
February 5th. It will cover material from class lectures, readings, and discussions from
the first two and a half weeks of class. To receive a passing grade, you must use specific
evidence from the Murphey textbook and course lectures. To earn an A or B grade, you
must draw concrete examples from not only the textbook, but from the Endo, Ebrey,
Kim, and “Most Fortunate Women” readings.
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-
Please bring a small blue-book and a pen on the day of the essay.
There will be no make-ups except in cases where you are ill and call me before
the hour of the exam. You will need written documentation of your inability to
attend class on 2/5 in order to write a make-up essay.
4. Map Test (10% of total grade): A map test of East, South, and Southeast Asia will be
given at the beginning of class on Thursday, February 14th. It will take about 15
minutes.
5. Take-home Paper I (15% of total grade):
- Your first Take-home Paper is due at the beginning of class on Tuesday, March 5th.
It will concern comparative Asian responses to Euro-American imperialism. I will give
you the take-home question one week before the due date. Your essay should be 5-7
pages long, double-spaced, and typed in 11 or 12-point font with 1-inch to 1½-inch
margins. It must be based on multiple in-class readings. Late papers will not be
accepted without written documentation of a verifiable emergency. Papers will be
graded down for poor grammar and spelling. Make sure to staple your paper and print
page numbers on each page. Use Chicago style footnotes or endnotes to document all of
your sources.
**For detailed guidance on how to write a history paper and for specific
examples of the proper use of Chicago style footnotes or endnotes, please see the
Writing Guides listed on the SDSU History Department’s website, found at:
http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/dept/histweb/index.htm (Click on “Writing Guides” and
then “Chicago Format for Citations”)
- For additional examples of Chicago Style, consult the SDSU Library’s guidelines on
Chicago style. http://infodome.sdsu.edu/research/guides/styles/chicago_style.shtml
5. Take-home Paper II (20% of total grade):
- Your second Take-home Paper is due at the beginning of class on Thursday, April 11th.
It will concern issues covered in the “Revolt, Revolution, and War” unit of the course.
I will give you the take-home question one week before the due date. Your essay should
be 6-8 pages long, double-spaced, and typed in 11 or 12-point font with 1-inch to 1½inch margins. It must be based on multiple in-class readings. Late papers will not be
accepted without written documentation of a verifiable emergency. Use Chicago
style footnotes or endnotes to document all of your sources
6. Final Exam (20% of grade): The final will be held in our classroom from 8:0010:00am on Thursday, May 16th. It will be part short identification and part essay in
format.
A Note on Plagiarism: Students who cheat or plagiarize on any exam or paper will
receive a zero on that assignment, and I will formally document the incident in an
Academic Dishonesty Incident Report. Academic integrity is expected of every student.
Students must not plagiarize the work of others. This means that if you quote from any
work (including internet sites), you must put quotation marks around that material, and
you must cite it in a footnote or endnote. Plagiarism also includes using someone else’s
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phrases, strings of words, special terms, or ideas and interpretations without citing your
source, even if you have not quoted directly from that source. In short, you must give
credit where it is due. If you have doubts, feel free to come and ask me, or check the
SDSU General Catalogue for more information.
Course Readings:
Books to Purchase: The following books have been ordered from KB Books at 5187
College Avenue (Tel. 619-287-2665). I urge you to purchase all of these books because
they will be very useful during class discussions and for course assignments. If you are
unable to purchase all of them, however, you will find at least one copy of each book
on reserve at Love Library.
1. Rhoads Murphey (M) A History of Asia – 6th edition, 2009. (The 5th edition
is also acceptable).
2. Shusaku Endo. Deep River
3. Patricia Ebrey, ed. Chinese Civilization and Society: A Sourcebook – 2nd ed.
4. Louis Fischer, ed. The Essential Gandhi
*5. Blackboard Readings (BB): In addition to the above-listed books that you
need to buy or read on reserve, I will also post required primary source readings
concerning India, China, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Japan on blackboard.
Course Outline:
Date:
Topic:
Reading Assignment:
INTRODUCING ASIA
Week 1:
Jan. 17
Introductions; Film images of Asia
Week 2:
Jan. 22
Mapping Asia
Murphey (M) Intro. & ch. 3
Jan. 24
Religious Traditions
M ch. 2; begin Endo’s Deep River
Week 3:
Jan. 29
Gender and Family
Jan. 31
Discussion:
Religion & Gender in Endo
Finish Endo; Ebrey sections 55
& 56; Blackboard (BB): Helen Kim pp. 18; BB: “Southeast Asia: The Most Fortunate
Women in the World,” 207-226.
Review Endo, Ebrey, Kim, & “Most
Fortunate Women.”
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COMPARATIVE ASIAN RESPONSES TO IMPERIALISM
Week 4:
*Feb. 5
In-Class Essay – last 40 minutes (Bring a small blue book and a pen)
Mughal India
M chap. 14, up to “Anglo-French Rivalry”
Feb 7
Week 5:
Feb. 12
*Feb. 14
Rise of British power in India; Indian responses M ch. 14, second half
History through Film: Lagaan
BB: Elite responses: Roy, Jones,
Discussion: Evaluating British rule in India
& Naoroji (pp. 17-19, 572,
577-595; 306-308)
Map Test; Qing China to the 1850s M ch. 13 (China), pp. 256-272;
(M 5th edition 249-263; 317-321)
M ch. 15 (China), pp. 328-332.
Week 6:
Feb. 19
Feb. 21
Week 7:
Feb. 26
Opium and External Threats to the Qing Empire
M ch. 16, pp. 342-350
Pacific Century Video:
(5th ed. pp. 330-339)
The Two Coasts of China
BB: Elite responses:
Lin Zexu, Feng Guifen, Woren, & Ye Dehui
(pp. 344-347, 353, 356-359, 278-80)
Popular Rebellions and Elite Discontent;
Discussion: Internal and External
Threats to Qing China
Tokugawa Roots of Modern Japan
Ebrey sections 68, 69, 70;
Review BB, Lin Zexu, Feng
Guifen, Woren, & Ye Dehui.
M ch. 13 (Japan), pp. 272-285;
M ch. 15, pp. 333-340
(M 5th edition 263-275; 321-328)
Feb. 28
The Meiji Moment
BB: Ii Naosuke, Fukuzawa & Meiji
Documents (pp. 355-356, 623-647).
Discussion: Meiji Japan - Revolution or Restoration?
REVOLT, REVOLUTION, AND WAR
Week 8:
*March 5
Take-home Paper I due at beginning of class;
Colonialism and Nationalism in Southeast Asia M. ch. 15 pp. 312-316 &
325-328; M ch. 17 pp. 369-376. (M 5th edition pp.
302-306; 314-317; 357-363.)
March 7
The Philippine Revolution and the Philippine-American War
DEBATE: Evaluating the U.S. decision to take the Philippines as a colony
BB: Rizal 371-394; Kalaw (Aguinaldo) 36-41;
BB: The Philippines Reader pp. 5-8, 20-33.
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Week 9:
March 12
India Under British Rule
M ch. 15 pp. 316-325, ch. 16 pp. 355-367;
ch. 17 pp. 376-380. (M 5th ed. pp. 306-314;
343-355; 364-367).
March 14
Week 10:
March 19
Gandhi and Indian Nationalism;
Discussion: The Gandhian Way
Essential Gandhi,
chapters 1, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 14, 15, 18, 19, 21 22, 23, 26, 27, 28-29.
National Rivalry in East Asia;
Korea & China
M pp. 351-355; 380-384 (China);
M pp. 432-436 (Korea);
BB: Helen Kim pp. 70-82;
Ebrey sections 73, 74, 77
(M 5th ed. pp. 339-343 & 367-372 (China); 418-422 (Korea)
March 21
Week 11:
March 26
History through Film: China and Japan collide
Pacific Century video: Writers and Revolutionaries
Japan’s Road to War
M ch.17, pp. 384-398 (5th ed. pp. 372-385);
BB: “Revolutionary Nationalism,” pp. 795-801
March 28
World War II in Asia;
Discussion: Causes and Experiences of the Pacific War
BB: Japan at War: An Oral History (Nogi, Tamura,
Anh, Sato, Araki interviews)
SPRING BREAK (April 1-April 5)
Week 12:
April 9
The Decision to Drop the A-Bomb M ch. 18, 401-404 (5th ed. 388-391);
and the U.S. Occupation of Japan
BB: Japan at War (New Weapon,
Yamaoka, Shin, Kawachi, Hayashi documents).
POST-WAR ASIA: ALTERNATIVE PATHS AND COLD WAR TENSIONS
*April 11
Take-Home Paper II due at beginning of class
The Capitalist Road? - Japan’s “Economic Miracle” M ch. 18, 404-411;
M ch. 21 (all)
(M 5th ed. pp. 391-398; ch. 21).
Week 13:
April 16
April 18
The Indian Alternative: Nonalignment
Those Trapped in the Middle:
The Cold War in Korea and Vietnam
M. ch. 20
M ch. 19 (all);
BB: Vietnam: A Portrait of
its People at War, intro., xv-xxii;
Xuan Vu’s story
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Week 14:
April 23
April 25
Layers of the Vietnam War;
Discussion: Vietnamese Perspectives on the War
BB: Vietnam, Nguyen Cong Hoan’s story; Le Thanh’s
“Coming of Age in the North;” “The Bombing.”
Choosing the Communist path: China in Revolution
M ch. 18 pp.
History through film: To Live
411-429 (5th ed. pp. 398-415);
BB: Quotations from Chairman Mao
Zedong; BB: Mao’s “Report on the Peasant
Movement in Hunan,” 41-48, 62-66.
Week 15:
April 30
Revolutionary Excess:
Ebrey, 86, 89, 91, 93
The Great Leap, the Famine, and the Cultural Revolution;
- Continue To Live
Discussion: Why did so many Chinese people choose to follow Mao? How did
things go so wrong, so quickly?
May 2
Week 16:
May 7
“Socialism with Chinese Characteristics:” Ebrey 96, 97, 99, 100
Reform-Era Successes and Challenges
Fragile Superpowers?
Discussion: China and India in the 21st
Century World
*All out-of-class activity reports due.
BB: to be announced
FINAL EXAM: The final exam will be held in our classroom from
8:00-10:00am on Thursday, May 16th.
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WRITING TIPS:
ABBREVIATIONS:
I will use several abbreviations when grading your papers. Here is my abbreviation “code.”
TS: Topic sentence needed
CON: Conclusion needed
EV: Lack of concrete evidence
UC: Unclear, needs further explanation
FR: Sentence fragment
RO: Run-on sentence
TRANS: Insert a transition
IC: Improper citation
AWK: Awkward wording; rephrase
SPA: Subject-Pronoun agreement error
VT: Verb tense: keep verb tense consistent
SVA: Subject-Verb agreement error
ILLOG: Illogical. The sentence/idea does not logically follow from the previous one.
I will mark the grammatical errors in your first Take-Home Paper. It is up to you to take note of
the stylistic errors you made and refrain from repeating them in later assignments. Here is a list
of the most common errors I see in student writing assignments. Please seek to avoid them.
a. Subject-Pronoun agreement errors, such as:
Incorrect: “China is a large country. They have 1.3 billion people.
Correct: China is a large country. It has about 1.3 billion people. OR: There are 1.3
billion Chinese people. They are concerned about overpopulation.
b. Use of it’s instead of its (it’s = it is)
c. Incorrect use of their, there, and they’re
d. Subject-Verb agreement errors.
e. Confusion over when to use effect (noun) versus affect (verb). Example: What
effect did the 9/11 attacks have on the U.S.? The attacks affected America’s
economy and political landscape in complex ways.
f. Confusion over when to use an apostrophe
h. Incorrect use of commas versus semicolons versus colons
i. Writing “confusionism” instead of “Confucianism” or “confusion” instead of
“Confucian” – no, Chinese civilization was NOT based on confusion!!
j. Gandhi, not “Ghandi” or “Ghandhi”
k. Oppressed pheasants instead of peasants
l. Sentence fragments and run-on sentences
m. Frequent changing of verb tense in the same paragraph or sentence. Choose a
tense and stick with it. In general, write in the past tense when discussing past events.
n. Lack of or incorrect use of citations. You must use Chicago style footnotes or
endnotes for your papers for H-421.
**For detailed guidance on how to write a history paper and for specific examples of the
proper use of Chicago style footnotes or endnotes, please see the Writing Guides listed on
the SDSU History Department’s website, found at: http://wwwrohan.sdsu.edu/dept/histweb/undergraduate_program/writing_guides.htm
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