EAST-UA 953: Meiji Japan and the Nation-State

When did the samurai become Japanese? It’s not as absurd a question as it seems. Using Japan’s transformation from the samurai warrior government to a modern nation-state in 1868, we will move back and forth between general theories of nationalism and the concrete experience of Meiji Japan as a way to interrogate the rise of both the nation-state of Japan and its location within a global system of nation-states. In the process we will explore the concepts of national borders, the idea of national progress, the invention of national culture, forms of government and representation, the struggles over national identity, managing populations, and the role played by contingency, accidents, ideology, and violence.

College of Arts and Sciences, East Asian Studies
EAST-UA 953 | 4 units | Class#: 19354