17496		4:00-6:30	R			KEIRSTEAD
	
A portion of the above section reserved for majors
Above section meets with EALC-E 600

This course will focus on the historical literature concerning the
millennium between about 600 and 1600--Japan’s “ancient” and
“medieval” periods. By most accounts this era is significant
because, as one scholar put in 1906, “the era witnessed the single
greatest progress in our history--the Japanese people became aware
of themselves as an independent nation.” And although the overt
expression of nationalist pride evidenced by that “our” is now
largely absent from scholarship, the overall theme remains a defining
element of work on the premodern era. For it was during this period,
the argument goes, that crucial elements of modern Japan--notably,
the Japanese people and their culture, as well as certain uniquely
Japanese institutions--were forged. The aim of the course is,
then, twofold: to engage in a critical examination of the
(English-language) historiography on premodern Japan, and to
interrogate the frameworks historians have used to make sense of the
period. The course title notwithstanding, we will ask whether Japan
in the period before 1600 was either “premodern” or particularly
“Japanese.” Our readings will therefore include comparative and
theoretical works that might help to reorient our understanding of
the premodern period and its meanings. I hope the course will be of
interest not only to those students who envision an exam in an East
Asian field in their future, but also to students interested in
making comparisons between various parts of the ancient and medieval
worlds.