2018/19 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

EAST1266 Japan: A Cultural History from Buddhism to Murakami Haruki

10 creditsClass Size: 60

Module manager: Jonathan Hall
Email: j.m.hall@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2018/19

Pre-requisite qualifications

No knowledge of Japanese language is required.

Module replaces

EAST1260 Japan Inside OutEAST1261 Japan in the WorldEAST1262 Inside Japan

This module is approved as a discovery module

Module summary

The module introduces Japan's cultural history from ancient times to the present, emphasizing larger aesthetic paradigms and focusing on literature and the visual arts. It is entirely taught in English and no knowledge of Japan or of the Japanese language is necessary.

Objectives

The module aims to introduce the students to key terms and developments in the cultural history of Japan from ancient times to the present. It takes a narrative approach which emphasizes major aesthetic paradigms, authors and texts, but also keeps into focus the socio-historical contexts of culture.

Learning outcomes
By the end of the module students should:
- have a solid grasp of key names, terms, texts and developments in Japanese cultural history
- be familiar with the major introductory works on Japanese cultural history
- have developed certain generic skills for cultural analysis and would be able to locate individual works and practices in the historical constellations in which they emerged.

Skills outcomes
Students will be expected to have:
- gained knowledge of key debates in the field of Japanese cultural history, as well as the ability to approach those critically;
- enhanced their skills of expression and communication in both written and oral form;
- developed their abilities to plan, organize, gather, comprehend and analyze materials relevant to Japanese studies.

Syllabus

1. Introduction; ancient Japan
2. Heian Japan
3. The Age of the Warriors
4. Edo and the culture of play
5. The Culture of the Meiji Period
6. Pre-war Japanese literature: fictions of the self
7. Japanese culture in the interwar period.
8. Post-war Japanese literature: politics, gender, margins
9. Murakami Haruki
10. Japanese animation and the transnational.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Lecture	10	1.00	10.00
Seminar	4	1.00	4.00
Private study hours			86.00
Total Contact hours			14.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			100.00

Private study

- Background reading in preparation for lectures
- Reading the set texts in preparation for seminars.
- Revision for exam.

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Students will be monitored through their performance in, and contribution to, the seminars and during in-class discussions.

Methods of assessment

Exams

Exam type	Exam duration	% of formal assessment
Standard exam (closed essays, MCQs etc)	2 hr 00 mins	100.00
Total percentage (Assessment Exams)		100.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 22/02/2019

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