JK25001Research 1~3-Seminar (SEG/VMC)(Lecture)
| Numbering Code | G-LET36 6JK25 LE36 | Year/Term | 2022 ・ Intensive, Second semester | |
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| Number of Credits | 2 | Course Type | special lecture | |
| Target Year | Target Student | |||
| Language | English | Day/Period | Intensive | |
| Instructor name | Ｍｉｔｓｕｙｏ Ｗａｄａ－Ｍａｒｃｉａｎｏ (Graduate School of Letters Professor) | |||
| Outline and Purpose of the Course |
For natural meaning biological reasons are the last witnesses of the Second World War slowly but surely passing away. However, a demand for war remembrance and for tackling the issue of "War and Memory-studies" is still continuing in academia, the humanities, cultural and social sciences. The remembrance of World War II remains an important topic for societies across the globe maybe more than ever. In the early 21st century are debates on questions related with responsibility for war, war guilt and its admission or compensation still in progress in Asia, in East-Asia in particular. Prominent examples are territorial disputes, e.g. about Takeshima/Dokdo Island between Japan and South Korea, the controversy about ‘Ianfu’ (called "Comfort Women" by the Japanese wartime propaganda – a better term might be ‘forced prostitutes’ or ‘sex slaves’) and the debate on (financial) compensation for former forced labourers. The governments of the United States of America and Japan are mutually waiting for official gestures of apology – for the Pearl Harbor attack on the one hand and for the drop of the A-bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the other hand. The process of reconciliation is in Asia still in an early stage and far from coming to an end. In post-war Europe predominates a consensus about the remembrance of World War II and the Holocaust. Germany and its historical archrival France – two neighbouring countries, which had been in military conflicts for decades – became closest political and military partners after 1945. It looks like European countries are successful in overcoming the past – but is that actually true? This course will focus on the culture(s) of memory, the remembrance and commemoration of World War II I in a comparative global perspective by focusing on the Asia-Pacific region and Europe in particular. Diverse ‘memorial sources’ such as statues, memorials, cemeteries, remembrance days and festivities, war movies, graphic novels, manga etc. will be analyzed in this course. Study Focus: Society, Economy and Governance; Visual, Media and Material Culture Modules: Mobility & Research 1; Mobility & Research 2; Research 3. |
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| Course Goals | This course aims to provide students with an overview of the culture of World War II-memory in Asia and Europe in a comparative perspective. Students should get a better understanding for reconciliation processes and learn on how to deal with WWII-controversies in a global perspective. | |||
| Schedule and Contents |
A detailed plan will be determined at a later point, depending on the number of course participants, students’ feedback and interest in specific topics/case studies. After a short introduction into the historiography of World War II will the course be based on the following ‘four sub-topics’ which are considered as ‘core-topics’: a) Monuments and Memorial Sites (such as e.g. USS Arizona Memorial, Holocaust Memorial, ‘Stumbling Stones’) b) Controversies (such as e.g. Bombing of Dresden; Ianfu; History Textbooks) c) Museum Exhibitions (e.g. the ‘Wehrmacht-Exhibition’; Chiran Peace Museum for Kamikaze Pilots) d) Movies and Manga (e.g. The Bridge on the River Kwai; ‘Grass’) |
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| Evaluation Methods and Policy | To JDTS/MATS students: This is course can be taken as a reduced (4 ECTS) or full seminar (8 ECTS). Required are active participation in class and in its discussion (25%), a (short) presentation (25%) and a term paper/essay (50%). The length of the paper will be in accordance with the number of Credit Points. | |||
| Course Requirements | 3rd year or above | |||
| Study outside of Class (preparation and review) | TBA | |||
| Textbooks | Textbooks/References |
For each session, students need to prepare two readings (two short book chapters or articles). Depending on the topic, there can be other tasks instead of a reading, e.g. watching a short video or writing a short photo/image analysis (less than one page). Each student will give one brief ‘stimulus presentation’ (as introduction into a new topic) in class. The course materials will be made available via the course PandA webpage. |
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| References, etc. |
Memory in a Global Age: Discourses, Practices and Trajectories, Assmann, Aleida and Conrad, Sebastian, (Basingstoke, Palgrave MacMillan, 2010) The Pacific War: Clash of Empires in World War II, Ford, Douglas, (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2011) Pearl Harbor. Japan’s Attack and America’s Entry into World War II, Melber, Takuma, (Cambridge: Polity Press,2021) The Bombing War: Europe 1939-1945, Overy, Richard J., (London: Allen Lane, 2013) War Memory and Social Politics in Japan, 1945-2005, Seraphim, Franzisk, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press,2005) A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II, Weinberg, Gerhard L., (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012) |
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