OKINAWAN STUDIES: LANGUAGE, CULTURE, HISTORY

Okinawa is considered one of the best-researched areas in the world. This is due to its geographic position, its long history as a maritime trade hub, its forced assimilation into the Meiji-state at the end of the nineteenth century, and its unique language, culture and modern history. In this course, we touch upon many of these issues and take a tour de horizon of Okinawan Studies that involve history, literature, political science, musicology, anthropology and sociolinguistics.

Students of this course will be provided with fundamental knowledge about Okinawa that surpasses the often cliched and incomplete perceptions about this region. They will be able to critically and indepentlòy reflect on Okinawa and on cultural, linguistic and spiritual diversity in Japan.

Students will have to read and discuss a text per week. No prior knowledge of Okinawa is required.

1. Introduction to the topic
2. Maritime Ryukyu
3. The Ryukyu Kingdom
4. Colonization and integration into the Meiji state
5. Modernization in the Ryukyus
6. Ryukyuans in the Japanese Empire
7. Ryukyuan diaspora in mainland Japan
8. Reversion to Japan
9. Meiji-period Okinawan literature
10. Occupation-period literature
11. Contemporary literature
12. Ryukyuan music
13. Tourism
14. Language endangerment and reclamation
15. Ryukyuan languages: Okinawan

Akamine, Mamoru (2017) The Ryukyu Kingdom: Cornerstone of East Asia. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press. ISBN 9780824879327
Bhowmik, Davinder L. & Steve Rabson (2016) Islands of Protest: Japanese Literature from Okinawa. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.
Figal, Gerald (2012) Beachheads: War, Peace, and Tourism in Postwar Okinawa. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.
Hein, Ina & Isabelle Prochaska-Meyer (eds) (2015) 40 Years since Reversion: Negotiating the Okinawan Difference in Japan Today. Vienna: Vienna University Press.
Heinrich, Patrick (ed.) (2021) Liminal Island: Essays on Yonaguni. Jesi: Skinnerboox.
Heinrich, Patrick, Shinsho Miyara & Michinori Shimoji (eds) (2015) Handbook of the Ryukyuan Languages. Boston: de Gruyter Mouton.
Kerr, George H. (2006) Okinawa: The History of an Island People. Tokyo: Tuttle.
Matsuda, Hiroko (2019) Liminality of the Japanese Empire: Border Crossings from Okinawa to Colonia Taiwan. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.
Molasky, Michael (1999) The American Occupation of Japan and Okinawa: Literature and Memory. London: Routledge.
Molasky, Michael S. & Steve Rabson (2000) Southern Exposure: Modern Japanese Literature from Okinawa. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.
Nishioka, Satoshi (2006) Okinawago no nyūmon: Tanoshii Uchinaaguuchi. Tokyo: Hakusuisha.
Rabson, Steve (2012) The Okinawan Diaspora in Japan: Crossing the Borders Within. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.
Smits, Gregory (2019) Maritime Ryukyu, 1050-1650. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.

There will be no exam in this course. In its place, participants are required to develop a short thesis (5-7 pages) in which they focus on one aspect of Okinawan Studies. In this way, students can also practice and improve their academic writing.

Critical reading and discussion, and group work.

English

written

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Poverty and inequalities" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development