Asia in Western Eyes: Cases of Imperialism and Orientalism in Thought and Action, 2 ECTS

Organiser: University of Jyväskylä

Teachers: Jukka Jouhki (Phd/Docent), Henna-Riikka Pennanen (MA/Doctoral Student), Timo Särkkä (Phd/Senior Assistant).

Examinor: Jukka Jouhki from the Department of History and Ethnology, University of Jyväskylä.

Goals: The course aims to give students an understanding of how Asia has been constructed in Western thought and action. The leading question of the course is how Westerners and Western powers have viewed, acted on, and ruled Asian peoples and societies, managed it heterogeneity and defined "the East" as the counterpart of "the West".

Content: The lectures are divided into three sections, the first constructing a background for Western thought tradition towards Asia and the two other sections introducing cases of Western thought on and action in Asia. Section 1. Edward Said's notion of Orientalism and Western attitudes towards Asia. Section 2. Western views and interests in 19th century China, including economic, religious, academic and political ventures. Section 3. Colonized Asia: The case of the British Raj in India.

Target Group: The students of the Network member universities are eligible to apply. The course is recommended for advanced level (MA) students.

Note that only the students of the member universities can take this course for free. The study fee for students from other Finnish universities is 50 euro per credit.

Taken as:

Lectures (6 x 45 min.) and lecture diary (6-8 pages) including the content of lectures combined with the reading of three related articles (see below). The deadline for lecture diary is 30.11.2011. The student will attach the completed lecture diary (PDF, TXT or RTF) in an email and send it to examiner (jukka.jouhki@jyu.fi) with the following subject heading: Asia in the Western Eyes.

Required readings:

1. Jukka Jouhki: Orientalism and India. J@rgonia, No. 8 (2006). Stable URL: http://research.jyu.fi/jargonia/artikkelit/jargonia8.pdf.

2. a) Ryan Dunch: Beyond Cultural Imperialism: Cultural Theory, Christian Missions, and Global Modernity History and Theory, Vol. 41, No. 3 (Oct., 2002), pp. 301-325. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3590688.

or

2. b) Arif Dirlik: Chinese History and the Question of Orientalism. History and Theory, Vol. 35, No. 4, Theme Issue 35: Chinese Historiography in Comparative Perspective (Dec., 1996), pp. 96-118. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2505446

3. Andrew Sartori: The British Empire and Its Liberal Mission. The Journal of Modern History, Vol. 78, No. 3 (September 2006), pp. 623-642. Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/509149.

Note: Article 1. is freely accessible online but 2.-3. are accessible through JSTOR database (in any university library).

Grading: on a scale of 1-5

Time and Venue: course starts in autumn 2012

Application for the course:

APPLICATION PERIOD TBA.

Application form: -

Meanwhile please visit our webpages for other MA-level courses on Asia.

Before enrolling on the course the students should check with their own home department that this course can be accepted as part of their degree in their own university.