FALL SEMESTER 2007

AKP-Doshisha Joint Seminar

Professor Thomas H. Rohlich, Smith College, AKP Resident Director
Professor Masami Izumi, Doshisha University

The Joint Seminar represents a unique opportunity to explore issues in comparative culture in a class comprised of both AKP and Doshisha students. The class format includes panel presentations, discussions, joint projects, and a series of guest lectures by Japanese and foreign experts from the Kyoto environs who will address various aspects of American and Japanese culture from a multi-disciplinary perspective.

One of the main purposes of the course is to promote discussion between Doshisha and AKP students on issues related to the course topics. Strategies for promoting good class discussion, including pairs and small groups, will take precedence over organizational purity and continuity. There will be a course packet of readings, but no required texts for this course. Students will complete fieldwork and give a presentation in small groups, and also write a final paper.

 

Premodern Japanese Literature and Performance: Focus on Kansai

Professor Shinko Kagaya, Williams College

Some of Japan’s performance traditions, which developed in different historical settings, have survived to this day, and continue to coexist and compete for the attention of audiences both domestically and abroad. This course examines the Japanese literature of three major periods in Japan’s history, focusing on how literary and performance traditions have been interrelated in the unfolding of Japanese literary history. We will begin by looking into the Heian period (794-1185), when the work of female authors occupied center stage and some of the canonical texts of the Japanese literary and cultural tradition were born. Next we will consider the medieval period (1185-1600), which saw the rise of the samurai class and the consequent shift in the domain of artistic creation. Then we will look at the Edo period (1600-1867), when a new bourgeois culture flourished and audiences were greatly transformed. We will also explore the continuing force of premodern literary traditions in contemporary performing arts. Benefiting from our location, Kyoto, our focus will be literary and performing arts works that feature the Kansai area.

 

Ai-no-Ma: Constructing Space in Japan

Professor Joel Upton, Amherst College

This course will offer a direct encounter with a selected group of masterpieces of traditional Japanese architecture, including both Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines in and around Kyoto and Nara. Our purpose will be to learn how a thoughtful and alert person might respond more fully than normally to these surpassing exemplars of constructed space in Japan.

We will begin with several in-class readings and discussions about the nature and function of constructed space in human experience generally. We will then proceed with weekly extended visits to particular architectural sites during which we will focus, through direct observation and analysis, on some of the fundamental ordering principles at work; including, for example, in the form, structure and function of roofs, walls, floors, and doors and on how these principles inform the lingering question for all architecture of interior and exterior space. By way of comparison with western constructions of space (the students’ two “homes” in America and Kyoto for example, or well known ecclesiastical equivalents such as the gothic cathedral of Notre Dame in Chartres, France), these site visits will provide occasions to review our preconceptions and assumptions about both constructing and occupying space. In discovering and experiencing the distinct character of space constructed in Japan, we might open a rare possibility of rethinking, expanding and reshaping our own more familiar experience of space. In this way, our encounter with a series of particular buildings and their surroundings (immediate and extended) might serve to reintroduce the social, political, economic, philosophical and even spiritual dimensions of the “invisible” reality we may have come to take for granted. Above all else, however, this course draws its first purpose from the possibility of re-imagining our engagement with each other and the world we inhabit together in the discovery, definition and direct experience of ai-no-ma.

This encounter with traditional architecture in and around Kyoto will position interested students to confront the dynamic world of contemporary architecture, one center of which is, of course, Kyoto and to measure their habitual awareness of space with the new potential of ai-no-ma.

 

Kansai Fiction(s)

Professor Kathryn Sparling, Carleton College

A survey of Japanese fiction of this century, designed to provide a variety of perspectives on the Kansai area, its history and traditions. We will focus first on Kyoto (with some attention to Nara), then on Osaka, and finally, briefly, on Wakayama. By the end of the term we may hope to form contrasting fictional images of the "Kansai" as it emerges in Japanese literature, and to become acquainted with many aspects and corners of the physical, geographical area that exists apart from books. There will be slides. Excursions will be encouraged, some of them organized. Special emphasis will be placed on critical reading and textual analysis, with attention to the Japanese literary context and special strategies for reading Japanese literature. The format will be mini-lectures and discussion. Students will be asked to write one five-to-seven page paper of literary analysis, to undertake one relevant group or individual project based on experiences outside the classroom, and to participate in an organized panel discussion on Kyoto or Osaka. There will also be regular small quizzes on the reading and a final examination.

 

Japan-US Relations: 1850s - Present

Professor Stephen Vlastos, University of Iowa

In this course we examine the relationship between Japan and America from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. The goal is to understand the complex and constantly changing relationship between these two nations and societies by considering both political and economic issues and cultural interactions. Accordingly, the texts we analyze will include visual and print media and popular and scholarly publications.

 

The History of Kyoto

Professor David Boggett, Seika University

This course will trace the history of Kyoto through successive Japanese historical periods, including such topics as the transfer of the capital from Nara to Kyoto, Muromachi and Momoyama era trade with China and South-East Asia, and cultural exchanges with Korea. The colonial era and Pacific War will be illustrated through the life of the poet Yun Dong-ju, a former Korean student at Doshisha. Making use of an extensive slide collection accumulated over years of research in Kyoto, course lectures will focus on a selected place (shrine, temple, city, area etc.), literary work, important event or historical figure from each period of history, and will also tend to emphasize "foreign" influences on the development of Japanese society. In addition, Kyoto's famous festivals, both grand and small, will be investigated through slides, historical documents, and field excursions to actual sites and events in order to understand how the Japanese past is being "re-imagined." We will also try to include various literary, religious and political sites on these local field excursions. The course will likely make connections with related material presented in other courses, as well as various homestay experiences, to enhance the students' understanding of Kyoto and its past.

 

SPRING SEMESTER 2008

Minorities and Immigration in Contemporary Japan

Professor Terry MacDougall, Stanford Center for Technology and Innovation

Massive waves of immigration in the past half century have touched, even transformed, every region and nearly every country of the world. A result of many factors, this "global migration crisis" has linked developed and developing countries, challenged the ability of nations to control their borders, activated international organizations, NGOs and other advocates of human rights, and brought into question many of the premises and policies of the modern nation-state and liberal democracy. Today, formerly "homogeneous" countries find themselves with significant minorities of diverse national, ethnic and religious origin. The new, or newly recognized, reality of diversity has resulted in a questioning of prevailing notions of citizenship based on ethnicity or a community of closely held values. Liberal democracies (including Japan) in particular discuss and debate, often in highly contentious terms, how to respond to these challenges.

This course examines the Japanese immigration case in the context of broader changes in the world, especially in North America and Europe, and examines both immigration and immigrant (integration) policy. This broad perspective on the Japanese case is essential because shaping forces are not confined within Japanese borders; and the experiences of other nations inform the debate within Japan. In addition to introducing some critical questions regarding immigration and immigrant policy more generally, this course seeks to inform the students of the specific challenges facing Japan, issues as perceived by various institutional and group actors, the obstacles and opportunities for change, what progress has already been made, and what factors most critically affect the policy options and choices for Japanese authorities, national and local.

The course will include several field trips and guest speakers. Among places we might visit are a major human rights center, Korea Town, other communities of both Japanese and foreign minorities, and a NGO that assist migrant laborers, trafficked persons, etc. Osaka is home to the largest concentration of Koreans in Japan, the largest concentration of Okinawans outside of Okinawa, and the largest number day laborers and burakumin. Hence, nearby Osaka provides particularly useful opportunities for group observation and individual research.

 

The Literature of Space and Place in The Tale of Genji

Professor Thomas Rohlich, Smith College, AKP Resident Director

The course will study the literature of place and space as depicted in The Tale of Genji, recognized by most as the greatest single work of Japanese literature. The principal text for the course will be Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Genji, which we will read in its entirety in English translation. While we will discuss both extrinsic and intrinsic elements of the novel, such as historical and social setting, religion, music and related arts, plot, characterization, style, imagery, and such, the main focus of the course will be on the role of place and space in The Tale of Genji.

Since this is a literature class, we will focus primarily on the literary text, but we will take advantage of the unique location to read the geographical text of Kyoto. In a sense the class will have two texts, the written text and the geographical text of Kyoto. the Kyoto of today is a palimpsest with a thousand years of writing covering Murasaki Shikibu's Heiankyo. It will be our challenge, and goal, to scrape through the many layers to see if we can make out traces of her original setting.

 

Kyoto: A Photographic Profile

Professor Chester Michalik, Smith College

The course, while using photography, is primarily designed to allow students from various disciplines and majors to “see” their work in new ways: that is, using photography as a means of investigation. Each student will photograph all of the urban elements at different times. That is, one week a team of two or three students would work on street life, while another team might photograph temples. This method would help to focus ideas rather than trying to work on everything at once.

During the following weeks the images will be critiqued weekly and students will discuss what they tried to express and what methods were used to communicate their ideas. If there are photography exhibitions in the Kansai area, it would be useful to make class field trips to see original prints. At appropriate times guests might be invited to discuss the students’ work, perhaps Japanese students from Doshisha University. Discussions will revolve around structure of presentation, number of images, selection of images, sound, etc. The end result of the course is a public presentation, open to Doshisha students, friends, host families, AKP faculty, staff and students.

 

Cultural Psychology: Japan and the U.S.

Professor Barbara K. Hofer, Middlebury College

For most of its history, the study of psychology has involved the search for universal aspects of human behavior and mental processes. A growing body of fascinating research, however, suggests that our cultural environments can shape ways of knowing, habits of thought, sense of self, emotions, and reasoning. In this course we will examine how development occurs within cultural contexts, how schooling contributes to this process, and what research suggests about the differences in how individuals in the U.S. and Japan, in particular, view themselves and others.

The goal of this course is to develop a broader understanding of multiple ways of viewing human reasoning, sense of self, and the social interactions that result. Students will be exposed to both quantitative and qualitative research in social sciences and will learn to read and critique empirical research. Students will also be expected to draw on their own experiences of living in Japan and to make use of field observations throughout the course. Our primary objective is to develop a broader understanding of the role of culture in psychological processes, towards a goal of both increased self- awareness as well as intercultural sensitivity in this era of globalization.

The course will be organized more as a seminar than in lecture format, with a focus on discussion of the readings and their application in our lives. We will also use experiential activities, out-of-class research, field trips, film clips, and guest speakers as a basis for class discussion and as a means of enhancing learning.

 

Japanese Antiquity and Its Political Uses in the Modern Era

Professor Walter Edwards, Tenri University

The arbitrary nature of tradition, and its attendant susceptibility to political manipulation, have been increasingly recognized since the 1980s. The Japanese case is no exception in this regard, and considerable attention has indeed been paid to the political uses of the imperial house – as a uniquely ancient institution, marshaled in support of claims for Japan’s moral superiority among nations of the world – from the start of the Meiji era through the end of the Pacific War. But political uses of the past constitute a broader topic of inquiry, both in terms of what has been taken from the realm of antiquity, and when and how it has been utilized.
The purpose of this course is to explore the full range of such political re-definition and re-presentation of Japanese heritage. To this end, our inquiries will have a dual focus. We will examine on the one hand the materials of antiquity themselves, including the archaeological and historical records, and the body of ancient Japanese myth, and evaluate on the other how these materials have been mobilized, since the end of the Tokugawa period up to the present day, to project specific images of Japan and its traditions. Observations made outside the classroom will constitute an integral part of the course, with three day-long field trips to Nara and Osaka planned.
Lectures rely heavily on PowerPoint presentations, profusely illustrated with slides, as students are likely to be unfamiliar with much of the course material (archaeological artifacts, sites, monuments). We will also devote considerable time in class to reading and discussing English translations of textual materials, both ancient and modern, to examine how Japanese traditions have been created and reinterpreted over time.

 

Kyoto and the History of its Housing: Japanese Lifestyles Through its Domestic Architecture

Professor Bettina Langner-Teramoto, Architect

This course is an introduction to the culure of Kyoto and the Kansai area by looking at the built environment, with a focus on housing and its historical and cultural background. A chronological overview from ancient times to the present will provide the background for introducing Japanese housing styles in historical prospective. Our analysis will look at the social status and culture of different members of society, and the basic characteristics of Japanse architecture.