War and its representation in modern and contemporary East Asia

From the mid XIX Century to the second half of the XX Century, East Asia has been the theatre of several conflicts. Those conflicts had ever lasting effects on East Asia Countries, shaping their national identities and casting a shadow on their relations, until nowadays.
This history of war and peace, tragedy and hope has been widely represented in visual media, which are one of the most interesting sources for the historian, when used in connection with other sources. The first part of the Course will focus on methodological issues, using the approach to visual sources suggested by Peter Burke. In the second part of the Course, such methodology will be applied to a number of cases connected to Japan (and to some extent to Korea and China). The third and last part of the Course will be devoted to presentations by the students attending the Course.

Peter Burke, Eyewitnessing: the uses of images as historical evidence, 2001.
Further readings will be provided during the Course.

This course is a seminar. The first part of the lessons will be devoted to standard lessons from the professor, while the second part to  presentation (single or group) given by each attending students. Both parts have to be regularly followed by attending students.

For attending students: In class activity and individual presentation will account for the 40% of the vote. Attending students are also required to submit a paper, accounting for 60% of the vote.

For not attending students: Each student, during an individual interview, shall reply to questions on the agreed program. Students who are unable to take such kind of exam, are requested to visit me during office time, to look for alternative solutions.