HIS567: Modern Asia: Contested Histories

How and why do different national histories define themselves in competition with those of their neighbors? This course will focus on how recent trends in the writing of history are applied to the context of contemporary Asia including China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. These topics will be explored through a range of sources including film, memoirs, fiction, periodicals and scholarly assessments that reflect the diversity of experiences across Asia. Topics will include Marxist history, cultural history, gender, memory, modernity and ethnicity. This course will rely on students to conduct independent research throughout the term in digging through contested topics and historical controversies, including but not limited to competing national histories of imperialism, colonization, and nationhood in the 20th century.