Asian Identities

School of Cultures, Languages, & Linguistics: Asian Studies

 

City Campus, Semester 1, 2015

COURSE DESCRIPTION

 

Who am I?  Who are we?  Who are they?  Questions of identity drive the relationships between individuals, societies and nations.  This course will examine a range of theorisations of identity and explore how these can be applied in modern Asia.  Our exploration will embrace two themes: nationalism and gender and then continue to examine the way identity can be multiple, hybrid, fractured or contested, with particular reference to minorities and diaspora.

 National identity in the region is a striking issue.  Where does China begin and end?  Can Indonesia be considered a single nation?  What does the division of the peninsula mean for Korean nationalism?  How is Japanese nationalism expressed?

Gender identity raises issues of the traditional or expected role of men and women in societies undergoing rapid change.  How are customary notions of male and female roles being challenged or undermined?

Our approach to these issues combines two pathways.  The first is the reading and discussion of key theoretical works on the main themes.  The second is the examination of these themes in works of popular culture from the societies and nations involved. 

 

Short Loan texts       

*Colin Mackerras, ed., Ethnicity in Asia. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003.  

*David Birch, Tony Schirato and Sanjay Srivastava. Asia: Cultural Politics in the Global Age, New York: Palgrave, 2001.

Supplementary recommended reading

Erich Kolig et al. Ed. Identity in Crossroad Civilisations: Ethnicity, nationalism and Globalism in Asia. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2009. 

 

Lectures:         Mondays, 12:00 p.m in Arts 1 Building Room 201 (206-201)

                        Tuesdays, 12.00pm in Human Sciences Building East Wing Room 704 (201E-704)

 

Tutorials:        Asian 200 Tutorials start in Week 2 and are on Thursdays 12-1 in Arts 1

                       Building, room 21

                       Asian 303 Tutorials start in Week 2 and are on Thursday 2-3 in Old Choral Hall, room G07

 

Coordinator:  Dr. Hilary Chung (HC), Room 437, Arts 2 Building

                      Phone: 373-7599 ext. 84603    h.chung@auckland.ac.nz

                      Office Hours:  Tuesdays 1-2 and Thursdays 3-4

Concurrent teaching statement

This course is taught concurrently as Asian 200 and Asian 303, and lectures are common to both courses. However, please be aware that the course requirements, assessment tasks, and expectations for achievement are different. Please be sure to complete the assessment requirements at the appropriate level outlined below.

 

 Learning outcomes Asian 200

• building on Asian 100, you will develop further your knowledge of events, developments and trends in East and Southeast Asia focussing on the post World War II era;
• you will explore and use theoretical ways of examining identity as applied to the main themes;
• you will gain familiarity with analysing visual, historical and contemporary  texts as representations of issues of identity;
• you will gain practice in expressing your new knowledge in reports and essays formatted in standard scholarly ways.

Learning outcomes Asian 303

• building on Asian 100 and other study for the major, you will develop further your knowledge of events, developments and trends in East and Southeast Asia focussing on the post World War II era;
• master academic theories and scholarship on issues of identity to analyse topics of your interest and to advance your own arguments;

 

Your responsibilities

• Full attendance three hours per week;
• Completion of the weekly readings specified in the schedule in preparation for lectures and other assignments relating to the discussion class as directed by the course organiser;
• completion of coursework as follows:

 

Asian 200

• One assignment of 1,500 words
• One mid-semester class test;
• One essay of 2,500 words.

 

Asian 303

• One assignment of 2000 words
• One mid-semester class test;
• One essay of 3,000 words.

 

Course Prerequisites

Asian 100: Images of Asia 

Note:

Asian 100 and Asian 200 are core courses for the Asian Studies minor

Asian 100 and Asian 303 are core courses for the Asian Studies major

If you are doing a major in Asian Studies you need to be enrolled in Asian 303 NOT Asian 200.