Spring 2016
Cultures and Contexts: Transnational Asia
Core Number: CORE-UA 500
Instructor: Mikiya Koyagi
Email: mk5694@nyu.edu
Class Time: TBA
Classroom: TBA
Office Hours: TBA
Office Location: King Juan Carlos Center 519
Recitation Instructors: TBA
Course Description:
In this course, we examine how various groups of people understood, experienced,
and imagined the concept of Asia, with a primary focus on the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries. When and where did the concept of Asia emerge? How did its
meaning change over time? What kind of political, economic and cultural activities
did the concept of Asia generate among diverse peoples of Asia? How did the
concept impact these peoples’ collective identities? Answering these questions
requires us to study primary texts and other cultural artifacts, in which ideas and
actions of diverse groups of people are expressed, from medieval European
travelers to Malaysian and Singaporean statesmen in the 1980s, from nineteenthcentury Japanese reformers to early twentieth-century Chinese, Indian, and Central
Asian revolutionaries. Our aim is not to study a comprehensive overview of modern
Asian history. Rather, our aim is to examine Asian peoples’ diverse experiences with
the concept of Asia by reading the texts they produced. Studying primary texts will
allow us to think critically about the geographical and cultural boundaries that we
tend to take for granted in twenty-first century America. More generally, our aim is
to learn to think of ourselves as citizens of a larger world by gaining the ability to
comprehend how people remote from ourselves understand, experience, and
imagine their lives.
The course is organized into three parts. The first discusses how Europeans
constructed the image of Asia through their encounters with various peoples of Asia.
The second examines how peoples of Asia from Japan and China to India and the
Ottoman Empire developed “Asian” identities in the context of imperialism,
nationalism, and transnationalism. The final part explores leaders of newlyindependent Asian countries imagined the concept of Asia in the second half of the
twentieth century as decolonization took place throughout Asia.
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Goals:
At the end of the course, students will be able to:
1) read primary texts by “Asian” writers and place them in a broad historical
context
2) understand the modern history of “Asia” as a connected global experience
3) discuss the historical contexts in which Asians constructed the idea of “Asia”
4) evaluate the validity of such concepts of “Asia/the East” and “the West”
Striving to achieve these goals will require students to seriously engage in such
activities as writing short response papers in and outside class and sharing ideas
with their peers orally in class discussions. Through these activities that are based
on their readings of both primary sources (various forms of records from the past
produced during the period under study) and secondary sources (historians’
interpretations of primary sources), students will also improve essential skills to
construct an argument.
Textbooks:


Pankaj Mishra, From the Ruins of Empire: The Revolt Against the West and the
Remaking of Asia (Picador; Reprint Edition, 2013).
Other readings are available on NYU Classes.
We will be studying a number of primary sources every week, many of which are
accompanied by annotations to help you understand the historical contexts.
It is crucial that you finish the assigned readings prior to class. Although I will be
lecturing in almost all class sessions, we will also have frequent discussions and inclass writing activities based on the assigned readings. Thus, if you come
unprepared, you will not only miss a great learning opportunity for yourself but also
hinder your classmates’ learning process. Please be considerate to your classmates
and come prepared.
Assignments:
You can make a total of 100 points during the semester. Below is the distribution of
the points:
Map Quiz: 5
Final Exam: 30
Participation: 20
In-class Papers: 15
Essay 1: 10
Essay 2: 10
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Book Review: 10
Map Quiz: You will have a map quiz in the third week of the semester. I will provide
a list of places you are expected to be able to find on a blank map.
Exam: The final exam will be cumulative. It will consist of short ID questions and a
long essay.
Participation: Your participation grade is based on your active involvement in class
discussions during lectures and recitation sections.
In-class Papers: The recitation instructors and I will occasionally ask you to write a
short response paper based on the assigned readings. Each in-class paper is worth
no more than 1 point.
Essays: You are required to write two essays that synthesize the primary sources
and the secondary sources assigned for a particular week (6 pages each). You can
choose two weeks from the following weeks: Week 5, Week 6, Week 8, Week 9,
Week 10, Week 12, Week 13). You are required to submit the essay within two
weeks after the week of your choice (for instance, if you write about the readings for
Week 8 (March 22nd and 24th), the deadline for your essay is April 7th in Week 10.
More specific instructions for the essays will be distributed during the first week of
the semester.
Book Review: You are required to write a 5-page book review of Pankaj Mishra’s
From the Ruins of Empire (due on April 19th). Specific instructions will be
distributed early in the semester.
If you have any questions about a grade you receive, please talk to your recitation
instructor within ten days (excluding weekends) of when we return the
assignment/exam. If you are unable to resolve the issue with your recitation
instructor, please then bring your assignment/exam to me.
To Ensure Fairness to All Students:
Classroom behavior:
Cell phones must be on silent mode in class, and texting is strictly prohibited. Also,
please limit the use of your laptop to taking notes unless I ask you to find
information on the Internet. If you fail to follow these basic rules, you will receive no
point for the in-class assignment of the day. Furthermore, your participation grade
for the course will be adversely affected.
Attendance:
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More than three unexcused absences from lecture and recitation may result in a
failing grade for the course. If you have an emergency situation (documented illness,
serious accidents, funerals) and cannot make it to class, please let us know at least
three hours before class (me for lectures or your teaching assistant for recitation
sections).
Late work policy:
You must be ready to submit assignments whenever I ask you to during the class
session the assignments are due. It can be at the beginning, in the middle or at the
end of the session. Anytime after I collect the assignment in class is considered late. I
accept only stapled hard copies. No electronic submission is accepted without my
prior consent. If you do not have a printer, you can print it out at the library.
Late submissions will be penalized because it is unfair to give some students extra
time to complete the assignment while others submit on time. Each day after the
due date (including weekends), you will lose ten percent of the grade (a letter
grade). For instance, if you make 17 for a 20-point assignment but submit it an hour
late, 2 late points will be deducted. If you submit it 27 hours late, 4 late points will
be deducted, so your grade will be 13. In a nutshell, please be punctual.
Make-up Assignments/Exams:
Make-up assignments for in-class writing activities are permitted only in case of
emergency (serious illness and accidents) or observance of a religious holy day.
Keep in mind that, with the exception of the map quiz, each in-class writing
assignment is only 1 percent of the final grade.
Extensions for longer papers require my advanced approval, which is granted only
under special circumstances. If you simply need one more day to complete the
assignment, weigh the pros and cons of losing ten percent of your grade versus
submitting a half-baked essay.
There will be no make-up exams without my prior consent. If you would like to take
a make-up exam for a legitimate reason (religious holy days etc.), please let me
know at least five days in advance.
Students with Disabilities:
Students with disabilities may request appropriate academic accommodations from
the Moses Center for Students with Disabilities. Please bring me a letter at the
beginning of the semester that shows your accommodation.
http://www.nyu.edu/life/safety-health-wellness/students-with-disabilities.html
Email Policy:
I will be communicating with students via email on a regular basis and will use the
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email address you’ve provided to NYU in order to do so. It is your responsibility to
check that email account on a regular basis.
Course Schedule
*The schedule below is subject to change. It is your responsibility to check emails
regularly. I will also make an announcement in class if I make any changes to the
course schedule.
Week 1 (Jan 26th-28th): Where is “Asia”?
Readings:
 Martin W. Lewis and Kären Wigen, The Myth of Continents, pp. 1-46.

Find different maps of Asia on the Internet. Which areas are defined as Asia
in these maps? Do they match your definition of Asia?
Week 2: (Feb 2nd-4th): Europe’s “Asia” 1
Readings:
 Stuart Hall, “The West and the Rest: Discourse and Power,” pp. 184-227.
 Edward Said, Orientalism, pp. 1-28.
 Phillips, Before Orientalism: Asian Peoples and Cultures in European Travel
Writing, 1245-1510, pp. 15-49.
For Recitation Sections:
 Orientalism in Nineteenth-Century Art
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/euor/hd_euor.htm
Week 3 (Feb 9th-11th): Europe’s “Asia” 2
Feb 9th: Map Quiz
Readings:
 Strayer, “Empire in Collision: Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia, 18001914.”
 Pankaj Mishra, From the Ruins of Empire, pp. 1-45.
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For Recitation Sections:
 Be prepared to talk about your visitation to the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Week 4 (Feb 16th-18th): Imperialism in Asia
Readings:
 Pankaj Mishra, From the Ruins of Empire, pp. 46-123.
 Trautmann, India: Brief History of a Civilization, pp. 175-189.
For Recitation Sections:
 Study the pre-modern world maps from Japan, China, and Iran in the course
packet.
 Primary Source: Matsuda Koichiro, “The Concept of ‘Asia’ before PanAsianism,” pp. 45-51.
Week 5 (Feb 23rd-25th): From “Good-bye Asia” to “Asia is One”
Readings:
 Segal, Meiji and Taisho Japan: An Introductory Essay.
http://www.colorado.edu/cas/tea/becoming-modern/1-meiji.html
 Alastair, “Good-bye Asia: The Westernisers’ West, Fukuzawa and Gökalp,” pp.
63-78.
 Tankha, “Okakura Tenshin: Writing a Good History Upon a Modern Plan,” pp.
27-42.
For Recitation Sections:
 Primary Source: Selections from Fukuzawa Yukichi, An Outline of a Theory of
Civilization.
 Primary Source: Selections from Okakura Tenshin, The Ideals of the East and
The Awakening of Japan.
 Primary Source: He, “Okakura Tenshin and Pan-Asianism, 1903-1906,” pp.
101-111.
Week 6 (March 1st-3rd): Nationalisms and Pan-Asianism
Readings:
 Hotta, “Conceptual Roadmap: Tea, China, and Leadership,” pp. 19-52.
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Marks, “Bravo, Brave Tiger of the East! The War and the Rise of Nationalism
in British Egypt and India,” pp. 609-628.
Primary Source: Saaler, “Pan-Asianism, the ‘Yellow Peril,’ and Suematsu
Kencho, 1905,” pp. 141-148.
Primary Source: Worringer, “Hatano Uho: Asia in Danger, 1912,” pp. 149-160.
Primary Source: Duus, “Nagai Ryutaro: ‘The White Peril,’ 1913,” pp. pp. 161168.
For Recitation Sections:
 Study the primary sources in the readings above.
Week 7 (March 8th-10th): Post-WWI World Order
Readings:
 Mishra, “Liang Qichao’s China and the Fate of Asia,” and “1919, ‘Changing the
History of the World,’” pp. 123-215.
March 14th-18th: Spring Break
Week 8 (March 22nd-24th): Japanese Asianists
Readings:
 Nakamura, Depression, Recovery, and War, 1920-1945 (The Cambridge
History of Japan, Volume 6), pp. 451-493.
 Primary Source: Szpilman, “The Dream of One Asia: Okawa Shumei and
Japanese Pan-Asianism,” pp. 49-63.
 Primary Source: Swale, “Tokutomi Soho and the ‘Asiatic Monroe Doctrine,’
1917,” pp. 279-286.
 Primary Source: Saaler, “The Pan-Asiatic Society and the ‘Conference on
Asian Peoples,’ in Nagasaki, 1926,” pp. 97-105.
 Primary Source: Brown, “The Konoe Cabinet’s ‘Declaration of the New Order
in East Asia,’ 1938,” pp. 167-173.
For Recitation Sections:
 Be prepared to discuss primary sources of the week (Swale, Saaler, Brown)
Week 9 (March 29th-31st): Chinese and Korean Asianists?
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Readings:
 Ropp, China in World History, pp. 110-130.
 Duara, “Transnationalism and the Predicament of Sovereignty: China, 19001945,” pp. 1030-1051.
 Primary Source: Lee, “An Chung-gun: ‘A Discourse on Peace in East Asia,’
1910,” pp. 205-209.
 Primary Source: Matten, “Li Dazhao: ‘Greater Asianism and New Asianism,’
1919,” pp. 217-222.
For Recitation Sections:
 Primary Source: Saaler, “Germany, Sun Yat-sen, and Pan-Asianism, 19171923,” pp. 243-253.
 Primary Source: Brown, “Sun Yat-sen: ‘Pan-Asianism,’ 1924,” pp. 75-85.
Week 10 (April 5th-7th): Indian and Muslim Asianists
Readings:
 Mishra, “Rabindranath Tagore in East Asia: The Man From the Lost Country,”
pp. 218-240.
 Mark Frost, “’The Great Ocean of Idealists’: Calcutta, the Tagore Circle and the
Idea of Asia, 1900-1920,” pp. 251-279.
 Esenbel, “Japan’s Global Claim to Asia and the World of Islam: Transnational
Nationalism and World Power, 1900-1945,” pp. 1140-1170.
 Primary Source: Esenbel, “Abdürreşid İbrahim: ‘The World of Islam and the
Spread of Islam in Japan,’ 1910,” pp. 195-203.
 Primary Source: Mark, “Indonesian Nationalism and Wartime Asianism:
Essays from the ‘Culture’ Column of Greater Asia, 1942,” pp. 233-242.
For Recitation Sections:
 Primary Source: Selections from the Writings of Rabindranath Tagore
 Study the primary sources (see the reading list above)
Week 11 (April 12th-14th): Decolonization
Readings:
 Mishra, “Asia Remade” and “Epilogue,” pp. 244-310.
 Primary Source: Dennehy, “The Bandung Conference, 1955,” pp. 299-305.
 Christie, Ideology and Revolution in Southeast Asia, pp. 124-137.
For Recitation Sections:
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
Be prepared to discuss Mishra, From the Ruins of Empire.
Week 12 (April 19th-21st): “Asian Values”
April 19th: Book Review Due
Readings:
 Alastair, “From Soulless to Slacker: The Idea of the West from Pan-Asianism
to Asian Values,” pp. 107-122.
 Yang and Lim, “Asian Values in Capitalist Development Revisited,” pp. 23-40.
 Sen, “Human Rights and Asian Values: What Lee Kuan Yew and Le Peng Don’t
Understand About Asia,” pp. 1-9.
For Recitation Sections:
 Primary Source: Selections of interviews and writings by Lee Kuan Yew and
Mahathir Mohamad
 Primary Source: Selections from Mahathir and Ishihara, The Voice of Asia.
Week 13 (April 26th-28th): Contemporary Asian Economy and Culture
Readings:
 Komori, “Asia’s Institutional Creation and Evolution,” pp. 151-182.
 Iwabuchi, “Popular Asianism in Japan: Nostalgia for (Different) Asian
Modernity,” pp. 158-198.
For Recitation Sections:
 Primary Source: Japanese anime (title TBA)
Week 14 (May 3rd-5th): Conclusion
Readings:
 Acharya, “Asia Is Not One,” pp. 1001-1013.
Final Exam (TBA)
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