IDOCS 05/06-4
At the May 4, 2006 faculty meeting, IDOCS will move the approval of HIST TA 255 as the Field Supervised course for the Fall 2007 Term in Asia. Robert Entenmann, Instructor.
Course: HIST TA 255: The United States and East Asia in Historical Perspective
Offered: Term in Asia, Fall 2007
Catalog description: This course examines interactions between the United States and East Asia from 1785 to the present.The themes include commerce, missionaries, the opening of Japan, Chinese and Japanese immigration, the Philippines, America’s response to nationalism and Japanese expansion, World War II, the occupation of Japan, the Cold War in Asia, the war in Indochina, the rapprochement with China, America’s response to growing Japanese and Chinese economic power, and recent Asian immigration to the U.S. and Asian-Americans.
GE credit: HWC, MCS-D
Other credit: History and Asian Studies major, Asian Studies concentration
Rationale: This course is the field supervisor’s contribution to the academic content of the Term in Asia for 2007-2008. It will place students’ experiences into the broader historical context of relations between the United States and East Asia. Students will visit various historical sites in East Asia and examine the way that this history is presented. (Because Term in Asia students will take a course on modern Vietnamese history, the treatment of the Vietnam War in this course is designed to complement, not duplicate, that Vietnam course.) The focus of the course is on the United States as an actor in East Asia, in terms of the expansion of American culture (e.g. the Protestant missionary effort, the promotion of American political models and ideas, American consumer culture) and institutions (political, diplomatic, and military). The course examines the American role in the context of American westward expansion, the creation of an American empire, and American responses to Asian nationalism and Communism. An integral part of the course is an examination of the experiences of Asian immigrants and their descendants and the creation of an Asian-American identity. The course develops students’ sophistication in historical analysis by helping them formulate historical questions, analyze primary sources, and evaluate competing historical arguments.
