Download Honors Asian Studies - Cathedral Catholic High School

CATHEDRAL CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL
Social Studies Department
Title:
Honors Asian Studies
Course Number: 1635/1636
Course Description
Honors Asian Studies is offered as a year-long course, covering the fascinating world of
the East from both a chronological and thematic approach. The first semester of the
course focuses on the area of East Asia, specifically the People’s Republic of China,
North and South Korea, and Japan. The second semester will focus on South and
Southeast Asia, beginning with India. Athough emphasis will be upon these areas as they
have evolved geopolitically, historically, economically, culturally, and ideologically,
reference will regularly be made to their relations to one another, to Asia as a whole, and
to their places in the world. The course incorporates map work, document analysis,
readings of translated literary works, research papers and regular lectures. Students will
be introduced not only to the rich and varied pasts of the world’s oldest civilizations, but
will heighten their awareness of the current importance of Asia as a major player on the
economic and political world stages.
Student Learning Outcomes:
1. Students will study the concept of Geopolitics, or the power of place through
frequent map study and through the regular analysis of the impact of geographical
setting upon a region’s economy, religious development, type of government
system, and cultural expression.
2. Students will view the history of countries within East Asia thematically,
developing a framework throughout the semester for understanding singular
events within a larger historical context.
3. Students will learn to recognize the influence of China and India upon other Asian
cultures as we examine the prevalence of varying forms of the Confucian ethical
code, Buddhism, Islam, the importance of writing, the power of family, and the
presence of an integral reverence for nature within all of the differing cultures of
East and South Asia.
4. Students will develop perspective as Eastern ideas and Eastern concepts are
regularly presented as juxtaposed with Western ideas and Western concepts (law,
order, privacy, happiness, beauty, time, success) through lectures, mythology, art,
and sacred texts.
5. Students will recognize the concept of the balance of power and shifting alliances
as well as the rise and fall of powers as they research and study the history of the
nations of East and South Asia.
6. Students will develop a working knowledge of places and important people in the
area’s historical development.
7. Students will study the connection between wars in Asia and the immigration
patterns in the U.S. through the study of the Spanish-American War, the Boxer
Rebellion, the Chinese Nationalist Revolution, the Indian independence
movement, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.
8. Students will develop skills in interpretive thinking (cause/effect,
similarities/opposites) by using the define-relate testing methodology.
9. Students will study the pattern of cultural borrowing between East and West by
researching Chinese, Japanese, and Indian inventions brought by the West (gun
powder, porcelain, spices) and Western ideas emulated by the East (capitalism,
imperialism).
10. Students will study the concept of cultural diffusion and collision by studying the
impact of Western Imperialism upon Eastern cultures in the 19th and 20th centuries
REQUIRED COURSE TEXTBOOKS
“A History of East Asia: From the Origins of Civilization to the 21st Century”
Charles Holcomb ISBN# 9780521731645
“The Good Earth”
“India”
Pearl Buck
Stanley Wolpert
ISBN# 9780743272933
ISBN# 9780520260320
“A Short History of Southeast Asia” Peter Church ISBN# 9780470824818
“Dispatches” Michael Herr ISBN# 978067973525
COURSE CONTENT – 1st Semester
I.
Summer Assignment
2014 – NO SUMMER ASSIGNMENT
II.
Daily Activities
A. Current Events
B. Daily Lessons/Lectures/Work Sheets
III.
Introduction to Asian Geography
A. Monsoon Asia
B. Four Geographic Areas of Asian Study
C. Populations, Cultures, Societies (some Pre-History)
IV.
Introduction to China
A.
B.
C.
D.
V.
Why Study China? Different Scholarly Approaches
Creation Myths/Philosophies
Threads of Continuity
Stereotypes, Western Views
Chinese Imperial Dynastic Cycles
A. Rise, Rule, and Fall of Chinese Dynasties
B. Student Project on a Dynasty
VI.
China and the West
A.
B.
C.
D.
VII.
Marco Polo – Ming Voyages West, 1450
European Imperialism & Chinese Reactions
War with Japan, 1894
The “Sick Man” of Asia
1912-1949 – Struggle for China
A.
B.
C.
D.
KMT and Sun Yat Sen, Chiang Kai Shek
Birth of Taiwan, The Republic of China
Chinese Communist Party and Mao Tse Tung
War with Japan, 1931, 1937-1945
VIII.
Mao Tse Tung
A. Libertarian, Revolutionary, Hero?
B. Despot, Legalist, Monster?
IX.
China after Mao
A.
B.
C.
D.
X.
Korea
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
XI.
Legalism (Li Ssu, Chin Shih Hwang-ti, Mao Tse Tung)
Confucianism (Kung Fu Tsu, Mencius, Tu Fu)
Taoism (LaoTzu, Li Po, Mo-ti)
Buddhism (imported)
Communism-Maoism
Japan Introduction
A.
B.
C.
D.
XIII.
Cultural Filter for China to Asia
War-time “runway” to and from China
Korea under Japanese Colonial Rule, 1910-1945
Korea: Cold War and Korean War
North Korea: Nuclear “loose cannon”
Chinese Ideologies
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
XII.
Deng Xiao Ping (One Child Policy, Tien An Men Square)
Ziang Zemin (Creeping Capitalism, Hong Kong)
Hu (G7 Plus 1, “Made in China”)
“One China Policy” – Which does the World Acknowledge?
Physical Settings – Geopolitics
Creation Myth
Ideologies: Shinto, Buddhism
Stereotypes
Japan: Historical Overview
A. Imperial Japan to 1853
B. Meiji Restoration
XIV. The Warrior Spirit: Samurai Japan, 1333-1945
A. Western Contributions
B. Warrior Heroes
C. Bushido Code of the Warrior
XV.
Japan and the West: 19th Century Contrasts with China’s Experience
A. “Rich Nation – Strong Military”
B. Only Asian Imperialist/Industrial Nation
C. Experiences in World War I
XVI. Japan 1853-1945
A. Hegemonic Power – “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere”
B. Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima – Japan in World War II
XVII. From Enemy to Ally
A.
B.
C.
D.
Article 9: War Outlawed
MacArthur’s legacy
Economic miracle
Current “push” for return to “normal” military
COURSE CONTENT – 2ND Semester
I. Daily Activities
A.
B.
Current Events
Daily Lessons/Lectures/Work Sheets & Maps
II. Introduction to South & Southeast Asia
A.
B.
C.
Monsoon Asia
Geographic areas of Southeast Asian study
Populations, cultures, societies (some Pre-History)
III. Introduction to India
A.
B.
C.
Why study India?
Creation myths/Philosophies/Hinduism
Stereotypes, Western views
IV. The Contributions of Invading Cultures to Indian Culture
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Rise,Rule & Fall of Greek, Aryan, & Muslim empires
Student Project on Indian deities
Vedic culture
Mauryan & Guptan Dynasties
Delhiu Sultanates
V. Mughal India
A.
B.
C.
D.
Barbur’s rule & achievements
Akbar’s rule & achievements
Sha Jahan’s rule – Taj Mahal
Aurangzeb’s rule, and the collapse of the Mughal India
VI. The West & India
A.
B.
C.
VII.
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
VIII.
A.
B.
C.
Portugal, France, & England in India
British East India Company
The Sepoy Mutiny
British Empire in India
The Colonial system
The Raj
Indian nationalism
Gandhi/World War I/Hindu-Muslim conflict
India in WWII
Partition & Independence
Assassination, Nehru as ruler
Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh
India today
IX. Southeast Asia
A.
B.
C.
Early people & kingdoms
Geography, role of rivers
Rise of Islam, Indian cultural impact
X. Western Imperialism
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Dutch, Portuguese, British, French
Colonies, Plantation system
Southeast Asian nationalism
America in Southeast Asia
WWI, WWII in Southeast Asia
XI. The Indochina Wars
A.
B.
C.
XII.
A.
B.
C.
Viet Minh & France
Ho Chi Minh
The 2nd Indochina War
Southeast Asia Today
Radical Islam
Interaction with the West
Politics & Economies