Admission requirements
This course is only accessible for BA Japanstudies students. Students must have successfully completed all courses from BA1 (propedeuse), 10 EC in BA2 seminars and the course Texts IIb.
Admission to a cluster seminar happens only through application via the head of the programme board or coordinator of studies.
Description
Social Commentary and Critique in Early Modern Japan
In this course, Social Commentary and Critique in Early Modern Japan, we consider selected aspects of social and literary life in the long nineteenth century. We start by investigating Seji kenmonroku 世事見聞録 (Record of Things Seen and Heard in the World), a nineteenth-century collection of stories and essays criticising aspects of social life in the capital, from samurai morals to popular entertainment and natural disasters. This text forms the point of departure for discussing the interplay of social, political, cultural, and ecological factors in early modern Japanese literary culture. In addition to Seji kenmonroku, we consider a variety of textual and visual media, including popular literature, zuihitsu (personal writing), kawaraban (news broadsheets), maps, and other visual media. To help us think about these sources and the ideas they convey, we will contextualise our readings through a broad selection of secondary literature, including academic and other sources in Japanese.
During the semester, you will train how to reflect on these diverse sources in the form of short web postings. In addition, you will use skills acquired in the first two years of the Japan Studies programme to report on your own research in a research presentation and a final paper on a topic relating to a primary source related to this course.
Course objectives
When you finish this course, you will be able to...
...identify key media, genres, historical events and concepts related to social criticism and the world of 19th-century Japan.
...critically reflect on academic discussions that investigate these media, genres, events and concepts, and evaluate their merit.
...analyse, summarise and reflect on relevant Japanese language source material, both academic and popular.
...report on your analysis of English and Japanese language sources in written form.
...report on original research into a topic related to this seminar in verbal and written form.
Timetable
The timetables are available through My Timetable.
Mode of instruction
Seminar
Assessment method
Assessment and weighing
Assessment of the course is broken down into two categories.
Participation (50% of the final mark)
You are required to attend at least 70% of all sessions.
You are expected to show your individual engagement with classroom discussions of the sources studied before each session (attendance and participation together form 10% of the final assessment).
You are required to write at least five (5) out of the total six (6) web postings (20% of the final assessment).
You are to give an oral presentation about original research on a primary source related to this course (20% of the final assessment).
Final paper (50% of the final mark)
The final mark is established by determination of the weighted average with the added criterium that to receive a passing grade, you are to obtain at least a passing grade for the Final Paper.
Resit
There is no resit for the participation element. If you miss more than 30% of sessions, you cannot successfully finish this seminar.
If you miss a web posting, you will receive a fail (1) for that assignment. The best five web postings are included in the assessment. The sixth web posting is considered your resit opportunity.
Everyone will receive feedback on their presentation, but you do not have an opportunity to redo their presentation.
The resit for the final paper takes the format of a first draft and final version. After submitting a draft for the first deadline, you will receive feedback and may rewrite your draft for a final version. This rewritten version counts as the resit for the final paper.
Inspection and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Reading list
Compulsory reading material will be made available through a combination of online access and a physical reader which can be ordered at the following link: [link to Readeronline] (https://www.readeronline.leidenuniv.nl/)
Registration
Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.
General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office Herta Mohr