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Thu 11/3: Dawn of the Nuclear Age

11/2/2016

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Introduction:
  • The goal of today’s class is to consider the following question:
    • How should we remember the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
  • ​We will address this question by reviewing two common narratives used to articulate the significance of these incidents on 6 August and 9 August 1945, considering a handful of short primary source excerpts, and then selecting a photograph that best represents our own view of the events.

Two narratives:

The following selections are from a book written by historian John Dower in which he explains two different ways that the dropping of the atomic bombs is remembered. The source for both passages is John W. Dower, “Three Narratives of Our Humanity,” in Edward T. Linenthal and Tom Engelhardt, eds., History Wars: The Enola Gay and Other Battles for the American Past (New York: Metropolitan Books, 1996). Both passages (and this lesson) are adapted from the Stanford History Education Group (SHEG).

  • Viewpoint #1: Hiroshima as Victimization

    • Japanese still recall the war experience primarily in terms of their own victimization. For them, World War II calls to mind the deaths of family and acquaintances on distant battlefields, and, more vividly, the prolonged, systematic bombings of their cities.

      If it is argued that the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima was necessary to shock the Japanese to surrender, how does one justify the hasty bombing of Nagasaki only three days later, before the Japanese had time to investigate Hiroshima and formulate a response?


  • Viewpoint #2: Hiroshima as Triumph

    • To most Americans, Hiroshima — the shattered, atomized, irradiated city — remains largely a symbol of triumph, marking the end of a horrendous global conflict and the effective demonstration of a weapon that has prevented another world war.

      It is hard to imagine that the Japanese would have surrendered without the atomic bomb. Japanese battle plans that were in place when the bombs were dropped called for a massive, suicidal defense of the home islands, in which the imperial government would mobilize not only several million fighting men but also millions of ordinary citizens who had been trained and indoctrinated to resist to the end with primitive makeshift weapons. For Japanese to even discuss capitulation (surrender) was seditious (against the law).


Initial discussion:
  1. How would you summarize (in a sentence) the core elements of each viewpoint?
  2. Which narrative resonates most with you? Why?
  3. Drawing from our course so far, what additional narratives might exist about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

Analyzing documents:
  • Take a few minutes to read the document packet handed to you twice:
    • The first time you read the excerpts, respond in the form of brief annotations from the perspective of viewpoint #1.
    • The second time you read the excerpts, again respond in the form of brief annotations, but do so from the perspective of viewpoint #2.
  • Consider (and discuss together):
    • How these documents support one, both, or an entirely different viewpoint(s)?
    • Has your own viewpoint shifted as you read these documents?
    • What kinds of additional documents might you look for as a historian to develop your own argument?

Final task:
  • Search online to find a photograph that best supports your own viewpoint on the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
    • Write a 1-2 sentence caption to accompany your photograph.
    • Be prepared to defend your selection to the class.
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Wed 11/2 Oral Histories of World War II

11/2/2016

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Preparation:
  • Before class, you should read the passages above and briefly respond in writing to the following questions. Even though you will be working as a team, you should complete this activity on your own. (6 points).
    • “Serving the Nation in Battle”
      • How would you sum up each of the servicemen’s stories? Respond to this question by creating a title for each story.
      • Identify at least one example in the servicemen’s accounts that reflect the education described by Saburō Ienaga in chapter 1 (“Misconceptions about China and Korea”) of The Pacific War, 3-12.
      • Compare the descriptions of the samurai discussed in “Transformation of the Samurai Class” to that of the samurai and/or the kamikaze pilots as found in the servicemen’s accounts. How are they similar? How are they different?
      • After reading the soldiers’ accounts and the introductory essay, how might you explain the 1937 Nanjing massacre?
    • “At the Home Front”
      • How would you sum up each of the civilians’ stories? Respond to this question by creating a title for each story.
      • Identify at least one example in the civilians’ accounts that reflect the education described by Saburō Ienaga in chapter 1 (“Misconceptions about China and Korea”) of The Pacific War, 3-12.
      • What were some of the most significant ways in which civilians contributed to the Japanese war effort?

Team readings review:
  • Team discussion. Share your responses with your classmates on each team. As you listen to others in your group, you may revise your responses.
  • Create a bio. Depending on your set of readings, take the role of a civilian or an ex-serviceman recalling the war many decades later. To help you create your role, write your response to the following:
    • Whether you are male or female.
    • Your age during the war.
    • Where you lived or fought during the war.
    • Whether your parents were alive during the war.
    • Whether you had brothers and sisters, and if so, how many of each.
    • Your general attitude toward the war.

Pair discussion:
  • Introductions. Next, you will sit in pairs: one ex-serviceman and one civilian will face one another and introduce yourselves according to your responses to the questions above.
  • Prompts. Next, you will hear a series of prompts to begin a conversation. Together with your partner, engage in a conversation around each prompt from the perspective (and voice) of your character. Compare and contrast the experiences of your character (drawn from evidence of oral histories that you read for homework) with those of your discussion partner. Each discussion will last about 5 minutes.
    • List of prompts:
      • Prompt A: Everyone was expected to give heart and soul to the war effort. Our goal was total victory!
      • Prompt B: Opposing views were unacceptable. Few dared express them.
      • Prompt C: We sacrificed ourselves for Japan.
      • Prompt D: The war brought untold suffering to countless people.

Writing assignment:

Now that you know something about the experience of both servicemen and civilians, write a long letter from the perspective of your character immediately after the war to a(n imagined) friend abroad who might be unfamiliar with the experiences of the Japanese people during the war. Use prompts A-D as guides in writing your letter. You may want to reference the other set of oral histories (servicemen or civilians) and re-read your own assigned set before composing your letter. End your letter with some closing thoughts on the war. This letter will be graded out of 20 points.
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Mon 10/31 Why did Japan go to war with the United States?

10/31/2016

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Picture
Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" long-ranger fighter above Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941.
Today we will examine the following question:
  • Why did Japan go to war against the United States in December 1941?

​We will begin by recording possible answers on one half of the whiteboard.


Then, each student will be assigned to read one document from the documents packet and report the following to the class:
  1. Summarize the contents of the document.
  2. Provide relevant context might you add to make sense of this document.
  3. Explain how this document helps to answer the key question.

After taking notes on introductions from their classmates, students then continue reading the remainder of the documents.

Together as a class, we revisit the question discussed at the beginning of class.
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10/28 Nanjing Massacre

10/28/2016

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Opener
  • You may have heard the expression “All’s fair in love and war.” With a partner, consider:
    • What would it mean to say “all’s fair in war”?
    • Is it true or should there be rules for warfare?
  • Then, write up a possible list of rules that might be effective in times of war. Be prepared to defend your list. If you believe that no rules are needed or possible, please explain and be prepared that position.

Overview
  • Nov. 1937, Japan invaded Shanghai, destroying 60% of the modern core of the Chinese (Guomindang) army
  • Next, the Japanese pressed inland toward the capital at Nanjing
    • Most of the rest of the Chinese army (87th and 88th divisions) stalled Japanese approach.
    • When resistance collapsed frightened Chinese troops robbed clothes from civilians to escape Japanese.
    • The Guomindang government fled inland (eventually to Chongqing)
  • Japanese troops entered Nanjing committed violence on staggering scale:
    • 200,000-340,000 Chinese civilians murdered
    • Other indiscriminate atrocities: rape, theft, torture
  • Today, more than 70 years after the end of World War II, the Nanjing massacre has become the most vivid – and painful – memory of the war, and is marked by an impressive museum and memorial complex.
Picture
Japanese soldiers enter Shanghai, November 1937
Picture
Executions in Nanjing, during or after December 1937
Picture
Initial questions for discussion on Minter
  • What was the incident in 2012 that resulted in Minter’s article?
  • Describe the Chinese response and suggest what they might tell us about discussion of World War II in contemporary China.
  • Why was the Nanjing massacre largely “ignored and off-limits for almost 50 years”? What were some of the effects of this?

Presentation and discussion of student articles

Homework: U5 assessment due Monday.
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Thu 10/13: Assimilation efforts in Korea

10/13/2016

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Preparation for class
  • Read “Becoming Japanese” in Under the Black Umbrella: Voices from Colonial Korea, 1910–1945 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2001), 111–122.
  • As you read, please reflect on the following two questions:
    • What can you infer about the larger goals of the Japanese policies discussed in these passages? Based on these accounts, do you think the policies were successful? Why or why not?
    • Consider the terms assimilation, accommodation, collaboration, and resistance. Which of these do you see reflected in these accounts?

Front matter
  • Accessing grades
  • Select a note taker

Introduction to unit 2
  • Up until this point, our discussion of empire has focused largely on the story of empire as seen from Japan: its internal political and social transformations as well as the way the nation responded to external threats, both real and perceived. In our next unit, we will instead consider empire as it was encountered by Japan’s subject peoples. Our readings (and viewings) draw on similar human geographies, including areas where Chinese, Korean, and Taiwanese aboriginal languages were most commonly spoken. We will also employ a few new approaches. We will reflect on why ordinary, non-elite voices like those we encounter in Under the Black Umbrella are difficult to come by and what value and challenge they pose for historians. We will also put on our “historian hats” and think about the issue of collaboration from our present-day perspective. And finally, we will delve into the medium of film to see how the dynamic conflict of assimilation, collaboration, and resistance are resolved – or not resolved – in narrative form.

Charting key terms
  • Define each term: assimilation, accommodation, collaboration, and resistance.
  • Locate examples of each term.

Discussion
  • Follow the information on the chart and consider questions that emerge from analyzing the information gathered, for example:
    • What are the similarities and differences between the ways different groups defined these terms?
    • How does reflecting on assimilation from the perspective of colonized peoples differ from a Japanese-centered or even textbook-centered approach?
  • Continue the conversation by focusing on other aspects of the text and its potential use for historians:
    • Reference the first homework question: What can you infer about the larger goals of the Japanese policies discussed in these passages? Based on these accounts, do you think the policies were successful? Why or why not?
    • What do the gaps we have encountered here between the plans of the Japanese colonizers and actual implementation?
    • What can differences between personal experiences show us about the nature of colonization?
    • What are some of the challenges associated with utilizing non-elite oral history sources like this? How might you implement something like this into a history paper or project?

Today's class notes prepared by Charlie Arresty.
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Fri 10/7 and Mon 10/10 Formal and informal empire

10/10/2016

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Picture
Picture
The two books under discussion on Friday and Monday are Peter Duus, The Abacus and the Sword: The Japanese Penetration of Korea, 1895-1910 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998) and Peter Duus, Ramon H. Myers, and Mark R. Peattie, eds., The Informal Empire in China, 1895-1937​ (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989).

Duus on Formal Empire in Korea

Complete and share map exercise

Discussion on Korea
  • Surprising or confusing to you?
  • What does this article help us understand about Japan’s colonization of Korea?
    • What role did economic forces (especially investment in industry and railways) play in Japan's colonization of Korea?
  • In what ways did Japan's experience with the West shape its interactions with Korea?
    • Where do models of imperialism come from? Do any countries “perfectly fit” a model of imperialism? And if not, what makes Japan stand out for Duus?
  • What does the concept of “feudalistic-militaristic imperialism” contain? What does it help us explain? What does it obscure?
    • In what sense was Japan “backward” in the Meiji period?
    • Distinction drawn here between “external” and “internal” causes?
  • Assimilationism challenge or amend our views on race?
    • What is a “civilizing mission”?
    • Analyze discussion of family
    • Convincing argument? Why or why not?
  • How did Japanese imperialism in Korea differ from British and other Western examples?

Duus on Informal Empire in China

Assign notetaker

Mindmapping key terms
  • In this activity, we will start out by identifying several key terms from last night’s reading. This activity should be conducted with a partner.
  • Our first step will be to very briefly define each term.
  • Next, we will trace their relationship to one another by linking them visually on a sheet of paper, general sketching software like Google Drawing, or a dedicated “mind mapping” program like MindNode Pro. There are no firm rules on how to do this, but you should be able to explain why you have charted the terms together as you have.
  • ​The terms for this activity are below:
    • Most favored nation (MFN) clause
    • Informal imperialism
    • Formal imperialism
    • Open Door
    • Strategic advantage
    • Economic penetration
    • Unequal treaties
    • Partition
    • Additional key terms you feel are important to include
​
Discussion
  • How does Duus define “informal imperialism”?
  • To what extent was Japanese “informal imperialism” in China a product of its own initiative and to what extent was it part of a larger collaborative enterprise begun by the British in 1838?
  • What do we learn here from this article to deepen our understanding of Japanese views toward China?
    • How would you summarize Japanese feelings about China between 1895 and 1930?
  • “Backwardness” was a major theme in our previous reading on formal empire. To what extent does this tendency express itself in Japan’s relationship with Korea? With China?
  • What factors influenced how Japan interacted with Korea vs. how it interacted with China?
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10/6 Japan's New Phase of Imperialism

10/6/2016

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Initial discussion

Annotated mapping exercise

Today we will be working with a partner on two interrelated tasks:
  • First, you will visually map Japanese imperialism through 1931 (before the Manchurian Incident).
  • Second, you will provide annotations to your map focusing on how people with varying views, social backgrounds, and nationalities might have felt about Japan’s expanding reach. Your annotations should aim to use evidence from our readings (especially from Huffman) to decenter our narrative by turning our focus away from Japan’s political, military, and economic elites.
    • Annotations may be handwritten or typed. If typed, please print them, cut them out, and attach them to your map before the beginning of next class.
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10/5 Meiji Imperialism: Planned or Unplanned?

10/4/2016

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Looking ahead
  • Overview plans for Units 4-8 and solicit feedback.
  • Time to begin thinking about final project topics.

Review readings together
  • Work together to put up on the board some of the key events mentioned in the readings and briefly explain their significance in the process of of Japanese empire-building.
  • Point to areas of possible confusion worth clarifying as a class.
  • Identify areas where the contributors to Japan Examined seemed to agree.

Prepare
  • The resolution under consideration is: “Meiji imperialism was the result of a long-term plan.”
  • To address this question we will split up into two teams (odds and evens using online list randomizer)
  • Prepare for debate using chapters from Japan Examined (including the chapter by Duus). You may also draw on additional information from Unit 3 (Huffman as well as readings and discussions on race) as needed.
  • Plan for each member of the team should play a speaking role in the debate.

Debate
  • 4 minute opening statement from the affirmative
  • 4 minute opening from the negative
  • 10 minute clash between the two (back and forth between sides, can impose time limit on state
  • ments)
  • 4 minute break for preparation for closing statements
  • 3 minute negative closing statement
  • 3 minute affirmative closing statement

Concluding remarks
  • What were the strongest points raised by each side?
  • Which points did both sides end up agreeing on?
  • How did this debate shape your understanding of Japan’s imperial expansion before 1910?
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10/3 Russo-Japanese War (1904-05)

10/3/2016

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Picture
Anti-Russian satirical map produced by a Japanese student at Keio University during the Russo-Japanese War. Source: Wikimedia.
Complete discussion on visual sources from Sino-Japanese War (1894-95)
  • Thematic analysis
  • Conclusions

Western images of the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05)
  • Anticipate: What patterns might you expect to find in popular Western images produced during and after the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05)?
  • Examine: Take a look at Western postcards from the period (Google Slides link) collected by MIT’s Visualizing Cultures Project.
    • What patterns do you actually see?
    • What key terms might you associate with these postcards?
    • Which stand out to you? Are any particularly surprising?

Mapping empire
  • With a partner, create an annotated map that shows how Japanese imperialism had progressed by 1905. All major conflicts and territorial acquisitions should be labeled. Annotations should explain how people with varying views, social backgrounds, and nationalities might have felt about Japan’s expanding reach.
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9/30 First Sino-Japanese War (1894-95)

9/30/2016

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Complete 5-minute reflection on yesterday's student-led discussion activity.

Step 1: Background

Read the introduction to woodblock prints by John W. Dower. Together, we will consider the following questions:
  • How would you summarize what we will be looking at today?
  • What might historians find useful about looking at woodblock prints?
  • What pitfalls or dangers might these images pose for historians?

Step 2: Visual analysis

Prints for: Group 1; Group 2; Group 3.

Examine the selection of woodblock prints assigned to your group using the following categories:

  • Context. When was this made? What is the subject matter? What clues are given for a time frame? Consider material objects such as clothing, tools, machines, weapons, architecture, etc.

  • Characters. Who or what is portrayed here? A person or people? Specific groups? Symbol? What clues are given about who/what they are?

  • Color. What colors, if any, are used? What role do the colors play in conveying a message about the scene? Do you think they were used just for visual appeal? What is the mood or tone established by these colors?

  • Composition. Look at the use of space and the layout of figures and activity in the visual. Where is your eye drawn?  Is this the main subject? Why do you think so? Is one image bigger than another? Is that to suggest a relationship? What kind of relationship? Is the entire space used? Why or why not? What is in the foreground? The background? Does either suggest importance?

  • Construction. Someone consciously constructed this image for a purpose. Who do you think made this? Why? For what audience? Who would connect with this image? Who would not?

Step 3: Thematic analysis

After analyzing your woodblock prints, identify at least two or three themes or patterns you see emerging in your set of prints. Be sure to draw evidence from at least three prints to support your claims.

All of your themes should be based on your group’s own set of prints. If needed for further evidence, you may also consult the full set of woodblock prints.

Step 4: Conclusions

Drawing on thematic observations from all three groups, consider how the creators of these woodblock prints aimed to answer the following two questions:
  • What did it mean to be Japanese and “new” (modern)?
  • What did it mean to be Chinese and “old” (backward or obsolete)?        
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  • Courses
    • Archived Courses >
      • Chinese History >
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            • In-Class >
              • The Death of Woman Wang
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            • In Class
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      • Global Thinking (grade 9 seminar) >
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          • Schedule >
            • JE Unit 1
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            • JE Unit 4
            • JE Unit 5
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              • Checkpoint #2: Annotated Bibliography
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      • Breaking Down History with the SPICE Factors
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      • Note Cards
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