HISTORY OF MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE THOUGHT

This course falls within the characterizing teachings of the "Japan" curriculum of the course "Language and Civilisation of Asia and Mediterranean Africa".
Its formative objectives are within the area of cultural and humanistic skills learning.

By the end of the course, students will be able to:
• critically understand key debates in modern and contemporary Japanese thought;
• contextualize theoretical and critical texts within their historical and political frameworks;
• employ concepts such as modernity, nation, identity, translation, gender, memory, and responsibility in a comparative and reflective manner;
• apply theoretical tools to the analysis of concrete cases (public discourse, historical events, cultural practices).

A general knowledge of Japanese history and society is advisable.

This course offers a critical introduction to modern and contemporary Japanese thought as a historically situated response to the challenges of global modernity. Through the reading of theoretical, critical, and interdisciplinary texts, the course examines the formation of Japanese identity, the relationship with alterity, critiques of modernity, the role of translation, colonialism, disaster and responsibility, and the transformation of subjectivity in contemporary Japan.
Rather than presenting Japanese thought as a closed or culturally essentialized tradition, the course approaches it as a dynamic field of discursive tensions, shaped by global historical, political, and cultural processes.

Compulsory readings are selected from the monography edited by Calichman, R. (Ed.). (2005). Contemporary Japanese Thought. New York: Columbia University Press:
• Introduzione
• Ehara Yumiko, The Politics of Teasing
• Kang Sangjung, The Imaginary Geography of a Nation and Denationalized Narrative
• Kang Sangjung, The Discovery of the “Orient” and Orientalism
• Karatani Kōjin, Overcoming Modernity
• Naoki Sakai, Two Negations: The Fear of Being Excluded and the Logic of Self-Esteem
• Ueno Chizuko, In the Feminine Guise: A Trap of Reverse Orientalism
• Takahashi Tetsuya, From the Hinomaru and Kimigayo to the Symbolic Emperor System
• Ukai Satoshi, Reflections Beyond the Flag
• Ukai Satoshi, Colonialism and Modernity

To complement the monography, the following list of paper is reccomended:
• N. Geyer, “Teasing and Ambivalent Face in Japanese Multi-Party Interaction”, Journal of Pragmatics 42 (2010)
• Edward W. Said, Orientalism (Introduzione)
• Richard H. Minear, “Orientalism and the Study of Japan”, Journal of Asian Studies 39/3 (1980)
• Nishihara, Daisuke, “Said, Orientalism, and Japan / ﺳﻌﻴﺪ ﻭﺍﻻﺳﺘﺸﺮﺍﻕ ﻭﺍﻟﻴﺎﺑﺎﻥ.” Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics, no. 25 (2005): 241–53.
• John W. M. Krummel, “The Symposium on Overcoming Modernity and Discourse in Wartime Japan”, Historická sociologie 13/2 (2021)
• Lie, John, ‘The Contemporary Discourse of Japaneseness’. In Multiethnic Japan. Harvard University Press. (2001): 27-52.
• Harutoshi Funabashi, “Why the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Is a Man-Made Calamity”, International Journal of Japanese Sociology 21 (2012)
• Hirokazu Miyazaki, “The Temporality of No Hope”, Cultural Anthropology 27/2 (2012)
• Anne Allison, “Ordinary Refugees: Social Precarity and Soul in 21st Century Japan”, Anthropological Quarterly 85/2 (2012)
• Aspinall & Cave, “Lowering the Flag”, Social Science Japan Journal 4/1 (2001)

All the articles are available on Moodle.

The exam consists of three parts:
- participation in the 5 online activities (30% of the final grade);
- individual essay (around 3000 words). The selected topic will be agreed upon with the lecturer. The essay (.doc) should be sent to the lecturer through Moodle at least two weeks before the day of the oral exam (60% of the final grade);
- discussion of the essay (10% of the final grade).

oral

Regarding how grades will be assigned,

A. Scores in the 18-22 range will be awarded in the presence of:
- sufficient knowledge and applied comprehension skills;
- limited ability to analyze and interpret philosophical and religious texts;
- sufficient communication skills, especially concerning the use of specific language.

B. Scores in the 23-26 range will be awarded in the presence of:
- fair knowledge and applied comprehension skills;
- discrete ability to analyze and interpret philosophical and religious texts;
- fair communication skills, especially concerning the use of specific language.

C. Scores in the 27-30 range will be awarded in the presence of:
- good or very good knowledge and applied comprehension skills;
- good or excellent ability to analyze and interpret philosophical and religious texts;
- fully appropriate communication skills, especially concerning the use of specific language.

D. "lode" will be awarded in the presence of excellent knowledge and applied understanding, excellent judgment and excellent communication skills.

This course is offered in a blended mode, with 10 in-person lectures and 5 online lectures.
In-presence lectures aim to introduce students to a given topic by providing the tools to understand it and to connect it to knowledge gained in other courses.
During the online lectures, students are required to work on a critical analysis of sources of different nature (textual primary sources, visual sources, academic sources) applying the knowledge acquired during the previous in-presence lectures and developing the skills necessary to write the paper required for the exam.
For each lesson scheduled as “online,” (the calendar will be presented during the first lesson) students will find on Moodle a short video introduction to the topic and an activity to be completed and handed in via the appropriate tool within a week.

Bibliography and further readings are available on the Moodle platform.

The complete Syllabus is available on Moodle.
This exam (with this syllabus) will be available only for the 4 "appelli" of the 2025-26 academic year. Starting from 2026-27, a new syllabus will be in use.