History 1910

Introduction to Modern Asian History

S. Cochran and T. Loos Lectures, WF 10:10 in McGraw 165

Fall 2008 Sections M 10:10 in GSH G20

Sections M 11:15 in RCK B15

This course introduces students to Asian history in modern times and to Asia as a region, not just as a collection of disparate nation-states. For this purpose we plan to explore topics in the histories of Southeast and East Asia through four overlapping chronological phases: under Sinocentrism between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries; under Western imperialism in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; under Japanese imperialism in the first half of the twentieth century; and under American influence during the second half of the twentieth century. Each week (from Wednesday through the following Monday) we intend to concentrate on aspects of either Southeast Asia or East Asia within this historical framework, examining what changes took place and how people reacted to those changes. The Wednesday and Friday lectures will address these questions broadly, while the section meetings on Mondays will provide opportunities for students to respond.

Each student is required to write two papers (each about five double-spaced, typewritten pages): one paper on any week of readings assigned by Professor Loos and one paper on any week of readings assigned by Professor Cochran. Students cannot write both papers on the same historical phase nor can they write a paper on a topic assigned on the final phase, “America’s Asia.” These papers should be based primarily on the required readings each week. You may consult other texts (and we will happily suggest relevant items), but you are not required to read any more than the assigned readings in preparing for discussions or in writing papers. Each paper should address the “Question for Discussion and Essays,” which is listed for each week, and must be handed in at or before that particular week’s section meeting. In a week when you have written a paper, you also write a twenty-five word abstract of your paper and read this abstract aloud at the beginning of section meeting at which your paper is due. For example, if you write a paper on Kartini’s “Give the Javanese Education!” you will turn in your paper at or before the beginning of the meeting of your section on Sept. 29, and you will read aloud your abstract at the beginning of the meeting on the same day. Papers submitted on this subject after the section meeting on Sept. 29 will not be accepted.

In addition to writing two papers, students take two fifty-minute examinations. Each exam is given in class, one on October 10 and the other on December 5. There is no exam given during the final exam period. The exams will cover the readings, the lectures, and the discussion sections.

The texts in paperback (marked “^pb”) are for sale at the Campus Store and are on reserve in UrisLibrary. Other texts are available on e-reserve through History 191’s Blackboard website (marked “^er”). All students must create a Blackboard account in order to log in to the course. Through this account you have access to the ereserve materials and other materials. Sign up at www.blackboard.cornell.edu.

Grades will be based on the two papers (20% each), participation in weekly discussion sections (20%), and the two in-class examinations (20% each). You are welcome to consult us about paper topics and other matters during the semester. Visit during office hours, which will be announced, or speak to us after class to arrange an appointment. We allow one rewrite of each paper. Before you rewrite a paper, you are required to discuss what is expected in the revised paper with the instructor who graded the original. The rewrite must be handed in within three weeks after the original paper was due. For example, if you write a paper on Kartini which is due in the section meeting on September 29, your rewrite is due by October 20. The rewrite must be turned in with the original paper, as marked by the original grader, or it will not be accepted.

Week 1 (Aug 27-Sept. 1): Introduction

Fri 29 Aug Introduction to the course

Mon 1 Sept No meeting

I. Sinocentrism

Week 2 (Sept 3-8): The Sinocentric World: Views from the Center (SC)

Wed 3 Sept 1. The Unification of China during the 17th and 18th Centuries

Fri 5 Sept 2. Sino-Foreign Relations between the 17^th and 19th Centuries

Mon 8 Sept Question for Discussion and Essays: Did China's imperial center effectively control China and states on its periphery between the 17th and 19th centuries?

Assigned Readings:

Rhoads Murphey, East Asia (2007), 1-18, 147-157, 170-172, 187-189. ^pb

John K. Fairbank, “A Preliminary Framework,” in Fairbank, ed., The Chinese World Order (1968), 1-14.^er

Takeshi Hamashita, “The Intra-regional System in East Asia in Modern Times,” in Peter J. Katzenstein and Takashi Shiraishi, eds., Network Power: Japan and Asia (1997), 113-128.^er

Philip A. Kuhn, ed. and transl., Documents, 1.1-1.7.^er

Week 3 (Sept 10-15): Maritime Asia: Views from the Periphery (TL)

Wed 10 Sept 3. 18th-Century Southeast Asia: Political Culture

Fri 12 Sept 4. Intra-regional, Inter-regional, and Global Connections

Mon 15 Sept Question for Discussion and Essays: In 18^th and early 19^th c. Southeast Asia, is “slavery” the appropriate term to use for those lowest on the social hierarchy?

Assigned Readings:

Mary Somers Heidhues, Southeast Asia (London: Thames & Hudson, 2000), 7-13, 87-102.^pb

Anthony Reid, “Introduction: Slavery and Bondage in Southeast Asian History,” in Anthony Reid, ed., Slavery, Bondage and Dependency in Southeast Asia (NY: St. Martin’s Press, 1983), 1-43.^er

Tamara Loos, trans., Selections of Slave Laws from Siam’s Three Seals Laws.^er

Week 4 (Sept 17-22): Sinocentrism under Siege (SC)

Wed 17 Sept 5. The Opium War

Fri 19 Sept 6. The Taiping Rebellion

Mon 22 Sept Question for Discussion and Essays: Were peasants and other non-elites mobilized by Sinocentrism in China during the 19th century?

Assigned Readings: Murphey, East Asia, 162-169 and 245-264.^pb

Frederic Wakeman, Strangers at the Gate (1966), 3-58, 126-131.^er

Kuhn, Documents, 2.1-2.3.^er

II. Western Imperialism in Asia

Week 5 (Sept 24-29): Maritime Asia and Western Imperialism (TL)

Wed 24 Sept 7. Western Imperialism in Maritime Asia

Fri 26 Sept 8. Imperial Ideologies

Mon 29 Sept Question for Discussion and Essays: How do Southeast Asian elites appropriate parts of an imperial idea or technology? Do you consider them nationalists?

Assigned Readings:

Mary Somers Heidhues, Southeast Asia (London: Thames & Hudson, 2000), 102-108.^pb

Murphey, East Asia, 329-338.^pb

Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities (1991), 163-185.^er

King Chulalongkorn’s Speech on Reform.^er

R.A. Kartini, “Give the Javanese Education!” in Letters from Kartini (1992), 529-547.^er

Week 6 (Oct 1-6): Japan and Western Imperialism (SC)

Wed 1 Oct 9. Wars in China

Fri 3 Oct 10. Treaty Ports in China

Mon 6 Oct Question for Discussion and Essays: Did modernization go “wrong” in China compared with Southeast Asia?

Assigned Readings:

Murphey, East Asia, pp. 286-305.^pb

W.G. Beasley, Japanese Imperialism, 1894-1945 (1987), pp. 14-26.^xc

Rhoads Murphey, “The Treaty Ports and China's Modernization,” in Mark Elvin and G. William Skinner, eds., The Chinese City between Two Worlds (1974), pp. 17-74.^xc

Week 7 (Oct 8-13): Colonial States and Resistance (TL)

Wed 8 Oct 11. Modern Colonial States and Resistance

Fri 10 Oct 12. Exam I (includes this week’s readings)

Mon 13 Oct (No meeting—Fall break). Question for Essays: Can peasant rebellions ever be nationalistic or are they always localized & traditional in their goals?

Assigned Readings: Papers due in class Wed. Oct. 10.

Murphey, East Asia, 338-344.^pb

Mary Somers Heidhues, Southeast Asia (London: Thames & Hudson, 2000), 109-123.^pb

“Millenarian Prophecy II” and “Report of a Peasant Revolt,” in Chatthip Nartsupha and Suthy Prasartset, The Political Economy of Siam, 1851-1910 (1981), 465-475.^er

Michael Adas, “From Avoidance to Confrontation,” in Nicholas B. Dirks, ed., Colonialism and Culture (1992), 89-126.^er

Patricia Herbert, “The Hsaya San Rebellion (1930-1932) Reappraised,” (1982), 1-13.^er

III. Japanese Imperialism in Asia

Week 8 (Oct 15-20): Japanese Imperialism and Colonialism (SC)

Wed 15 Oct 13. Japan and Sinocentrism

Fri 17 Oct 14. Japan and Western Imperialism

Mon 20 Oct Question for Discussion and Essays: From what did Fukuzawa seek independence—Sinocentrism, Western imperialism, or some other threat?

Assigned Readings:

Murphey, East Asia, pp. 265-285, 306-320, and 325-329.^pb

Beasley, pp. 27-40.^xc

Yukichi Fukuzawa, The Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa, 4-140 and 239-242.^pb

Week 9 (Oct 22-27): Postwar Political Identity (TL)

Wed 22 Oct 15. Political Identities in SEA up to the Pacific War

Fri 24 Oct 16. The Japanese Occupation of SEA

Mon 27 Oct Question for Discussion and Essays: Was the Japanese occupation a watershed for modern political development in Southeast Asia?

Assigned Readings:

Mary Somers Heidhues, Southeast Asia (London: Thames & Hudson, 2000), 124-138.^pb

Benda and Larkin, “Japanese Blueprint for Southeast Asia,” The World of Southeast Asia (1967), 219-223.^er

Alfred McCoy, “Introduction,” in McCoy, ed., Southeast Asia Under Japanese Occupation (1985), 1-13.^er

Pramoedya Ananta Toer, The Mute’s Soliloquy (NY: Hyperion East, 1999), “Death in a Time of Change” and “Working for the Japanese,” 153-191.^er

Mary Callahan, Making Enemies: War and State Building in Burma (Ithaca: Cornell U. Press, 2003), 45-67.

Week 10 (Oct 29- Nov 3): Japanese Imperialism and Chinese Nationalism (SC)

Wed 29 Oct 17. The Mobilization of Maritime and Inland China

Fri 31 Oct 18. The Sino-Japanese War

Mon 3 Nov Question for Discussion and Essays: Were peasants and other non-elites mobilized by nationalism in the early 20th century?

Assigned Readings:

Murphey, East Asia, 346-350 and 365-406.^pb

Chalmers A. Johnson, Peasant Nationalism and Communist Power (1962), 1-91 and 176-187.^pb

Donald Gillin, “‘Peasant Nationalism’ in the History of Chinese Communism,” Journal of Asian Studies, vol. 23, no. 2 (Feb. 1964), 269-289.^er

IV. America's Asia and Beyond

Week 11 (Nov 5-10): America's Asia (TL)

Wed 5 Nov 19. Decolonization and the Onset of the Cold War

Fri 7 Nov 20. Cold War Manifestations in Indochina

Mon 10 Nov Question for Discussion: Was neutralism possible for Southeast Asian leaders during the Cold War? To what extent can the US be held accountable for deaths perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge and the Indonesian army?

Assigned Readings:

Mary Somers Heidhues, Southeast Asia (London: Thames & Hudson, 2000), 138-162.^pb

Audrey and George Kahin, Subversion as Foreign Policy (1995), 3-19.^er

Kathy Kadane, “Ex-agents say CIA compiled death lists for Indonesians” and “More from Kathy Kadane,” www.namebase.org/kadane.html^er

NSC 68: United States Objectives and Programs for National Security (April 14, 1950)

http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/nsc-hst/nsc-68.htm Sections I-IV.

David Chandler, Voices from S-21: Terror and History in Pol Pot’s Secret Prison (Berkeley: U. of California Press, 1999), 41-68, pictures between pages 76-77. Available as an ebook through the online catalog.

Optional but strongly encouraged: Film, The Killing Fields. Showing time TBA

Week 12 (Nov 12-17): China and the Chinese in Contemporary Asia (SC)

Wed 12 Nov 21. From Inland Reconstruction to Maritime Expansion

Fri 14 Nov 22. “Greater China” and Sinocentrism in Asia

Mon 17 Nov Question for Discussion: Where is the Chinese center for controlling contemporary China and states on its periphery?

Assigned Readings:

Murphey, East Asia, pp. 407-433.^pb

Chalmers Johnson, “Nationalism and the Market: China as a Superpower,” JPRI Working Paper, 22 (July 1996): 1-13.^xc

Tu Wei-ming, “Cultural China: The Periphery as the Center,” in Tu, ed., The Living Tree (1994), pp. 1-34, 261-268.^xc

Week 13 (Nov 19-24): Who Is Hegemonic in Southeast Asia?(TL)

Wed 19 Nov 23. Authoritarianism and Economic Growth in SEA

Fri 21 Nov 24. Western Neo-Imperialism or Global Terrorism?

Mon 24 Nov Question for Discussion: What is the impact and limit of US influence in Southeast Asia and how are Southeast Asians countering or utilizing US power?

Assigned Readings:

Mary Somers Heidhues, Southeast Asia (London: Thames & Hudson, 2000), 163-184.^pb

Jim Glassman, “The ‘War on Terrorism’ Comes to Southeast Asia,” Journal of Contemporary Asia 35, 1 (2005), 3-28.^er

(Nov 26-29 Thanksgiving break. No class on Mon 1 Dec)

V. Reflections

Week 14 (Dec 3-5): Inland and Maritime Asia (TL and SC)

Wed 3 Dec 25. Review Session

Fri 5 Dec 26. In-class Exam