As is the tradition here, I am posting my syllabi so people can make suggestions, although I m doing so too late to take much advantage of your helpful advice.
Three classes this Fall
Drugs in Asian History (senior history capstone/research class)
Modern Japan 1850-Present (upper division history class)
Rise of Modern Asia –(Gen Ed class for non-majors, two sections)
Drugs in Asian History (HIST 495) is something I have done before, although this time they actually picked this topic, since I sent out a list of possible choices to the students and that was the most popular.
This version of it is a lot less “surveying the literature on the topic” and a lot more working with the students on their individual papers. As we become more and more student-centered I am cutting back a lot on the reading, and eliminating having them buy books as much as possible. Still, this is a good topic, with all sorts of things they can work on, so hopefully it will turn into a fun little research seminar.
Modern Japan (HIST 437) does have a textbook, McClain, since I think they need it, but rather than just assigning sections and hoping they read them there will be more specific textbook linked assignments. There is a lot less for additional readings and those that we do will all be split up and discussed in class. I toyed with the idea of using Perusall for this, but that may be a bit too complex, as much as I like that system. Ideally they will come out of it having actually read a good textbook and done at lest some stuff with primary sources and a bit of scholarly reading. This may be the first upper division class I have ever taught where they don’t have to read a monograph. I almost always have them select something to read and write on themselves. This time it will be two articles/chapters they find on JSTOR or wherever.
Rise of Modern Asia (HIST 198) is my contribution to our (soon to be revised) Gen ed. It is a mostly lecture class with on-line multiple choice tests. (No real writing.) I am keeping Glass Palace, since it is a nice survey of a lot of themes in Asian history and the students who read it really like it. It is also a widely enough taught book that there are plenty of summaries out there for those who don’t want to read it. I always used to try to put something more academic after that (usually Esherick’s Ancestral Leaves), but this time I am going to have them watch To Live, which also traces a family through time, and may fit better with them. We will see how this goes.
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