JAP107 Modern Japan Identity

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2009
Extent and Intensity
0/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
Bc. Mgr. Jakub Havlíček, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. RNDr. Václav Blažek, CSc.
Japanese Studies Centre – Department of Linguistics and Baltic Languages – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Mon 8:20–9:55 zruseno D22
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 35 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/35, only registered: 0/35
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The course aims to introduce the problematic of constructing and re-producing social and national identity in Japan. It is focused on the mechanism of creating national identity of modern Japan. The classes provide the survey of sociological and anthropological theories dealing with Japanese society and culture.
At the end of the course students will be able to
define the processes of constructing social identities in modern Japan;
explain those processes in the context of contemporary sociological and anthropological theories;
demonstrate the modes of constructing and reproducing social identities in modern societies on the example of modern Japanese society;
analyze the processes of selecting and establishing specific phenomena as distinctive features of majority culture in modern Japan;
evaluate critically the role of the processes of constructing social identities in the history of modern Japan.
Syllabus
  • 0. Introduction to the course;
  • 1. Theories of „identity“ in social sciences;
  • 2. National identity: theories of ethnicity, nationa and nationalism; 4. Etnhnogeneseis on Japanese islands;
  • 5. Creation and „de-construction“ of Japanese national identity;
  • 6. Nihonjinron – theories of „Japaneseness“;
  • 7. Process of making majority culture in modern Japan;
  • 8.Japan and stereotypes: study projection of „Know Your Enemy: Japan“ (Frank Capra);
  • 9. Gender, family, work – male and female roles in Japanese society;
  • 10. Japanese educational system and its role in the process of creating and reproducing identities in modern Japan;
  • 11. Local identity, local traditions;
  • 12. Minorities, natives and newcomers, foreigners in Japan, multiculturalism;
  • 13. Final review, discussion.
Literature
  • Yoshino, Kosaku (1992), Cultural Nationalism in Contemporary Japan, A Sociological Enquiry, London, New York: Routledge.
  • A companion to the anthropology of Japan. Edited by Jennifer Robertson. 1st pub. Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2005, xxiii, 518. ISBN 9780631229551. info
  • Morris-Suzuki, Tessa (1998), Re-Inventing Japan. Time, Space, Nation, New York: M. E. Sharpe, Inc.
  • Befu, Harumi (2001), Hegemony of Homogeneity. An Anthropological Analysis of Nihonjinron, Melbourne: Trans Pacific Press.
Teaching methods
Lecture, study projection with commentary (Frank Capra: Know Your Enemy: Japan), discussion.
Assessment methods
Final written test (score 70% or higher on the final exam). Students are expected and required to attend seminar classes of this course.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
Information on course enrolment limitations: Zápis mimo japanistiku je podmíněn souhlasem vyučujícího
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2008, Autumn 2011, Autumn 2012.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2009, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2009/JAP107