Education About Asia: Online Archives

NEW FOR 2023: Beginning with Spring 2023, subscribers to the print edition of Education About Asia (EAA) will receive additional exclusive digital access to the current year’s three issues (spring, fall, and winter) as an online flipbook for the duration of their active subscription. Articles from the three print issues for 2023 will be uploaded to the EAA Digital archives in 2024. View the TOC and Editor’s Message for the Spring 2023 issue. Subscribe today to stay up to date with EAA!

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Feature Article

Cutting-Edge Samurai Theater: Noh Then, Noh Now, Noh Tomorrow

by Matthew R. Dubroff

Noh is the sung, danced, masked dramatic form of Japan. The performers depict stories where the shite, the main masked actor, interacts with the waki, a side actor, and the kyogen, an interlude performer. A Noh stage is a roofed pavilion (even indoors) that has an entry bridgeway and a back wall with a painted pine tree. The orchestra consists of two or three drummers and a flute player at the back of the stage in full view during performance, along with an eight-member chorus that sits to the s...

Online Supplement

Lesson Plan: “On Leaving Asia” Primary Source Document

by Aaron Pickering, Fukuzawa Yukichi

Editor’s Note: The following primary source accompanies “Lesson Plan: On Leaving Asia” by Aaron Pickering from the spring 2016 issue (vol. 21, no. 1, p. 66-67). Datsu-A Ron “On Leaving Asia”—from the Jiji shinpō newspaper, March 16, 1885 (Published anonymously but generally attributed to Fukuzawa Yukichi) International communication has become so convenient these days that once the wind of Western civilization blows to the East, every blade of grass and every tree in the ...

Resources, Teaching Resources Essay

Lesson Plan: “On Leaving Asia”

by Aaron Pickering

This lesson plan was developed in a National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA) professional development program funded by the Freeman Foundation and the Japan Center for Global Partnerships. The complete primary source for the lesson is available in the online supplements for this issue.

Resources, Teaching Resources Essay

Periodization and Historical Patterns in Chinese History: Approaches to Historical Thinking Skills in AP World History

by Angela A. Lee

In the most recent iteration of the AP World History (APWH) Curriculum Framework (CF) released for 2016–2017, China’s history explicitly appears in the CF for every period that the course covers. The overarching historical thinking skill is chronological reasoning, and two subsets that are explored in this article are analysis of patterns of continuity and change over time, and periodization. The skill of analyzing change and continuity over time has been a core part of the APWH course since...

Resources, Teaching Resources Essay

Teaching Multiple Asias: Confessions of a Europeanist Teaching World History

by Alexander Maxwell

History provides context. Today’s students are growing up in a world where political crises on other continents affect their lives. Tomorrow’s citizens will need an ever-broader array of background knowledge to understand the world around them. History teachers have an opportunity and obligation to provide their students with the context necessary to understand the news, interact with people from other cultures, and thrive in a globalized world.

Resources, Teaching Resources Essay

School Textbooks and East Asia’s “History Wars”: A Comparative Approach to Teaching About Perspective, Bias, and Historical Memory

by Rylan Sekiguchi

As EAA readers are well-aware, the question of historical memory is considerably salient in the context of East Asia. History—especially twentieth-century history—remains a recurring source of debate and contention in the region. At times, such disagreements have escalated into rancorous national and international disputes, even sparking violence and disrupting normal international relations, economic activity, and individuals’ daily lives.

Online Supplement

“Beyond Cultural Tourism: Experiencing the Arts in Bali” Syllabus

by Jui-Ching Wang

The cooperating overseas agency is the Traditional Dance and Music Studio, Sanggar Manik Galih, in Tabanan, Bali. The program is in response to Americans’ growing awareness of Southeast Asian cultures in general and of the unique Balinese arts and their functions in traditional and modern-day Balinese society in particular. Music, dance, and theater along with art and crafts are important parts of Balinese culture. The ceremonial nature of the arts reflects the multiple layers of religious pra...

Online Supplement

Beyond Cultural Tourism: Experiencing the Arts in Bali

by Jui-Ching Wang

Music, dance, theater, and arts and crafts are important parts of Balinese culture. Their ceremonial nature reflects the multiple layers of Balinese Hindu religious practices and philosophies within the complex social-cultural structure of Balinese society. The inseparable relationships among these arts provide a vivid soundscape and landscape for students to experience the functions of arts in a living environment. Since the early twentieth century, Bali has been staged for the consumption of c...

Online Supplement

Table that Accompanies Periodization and Historical Patterns in Chinese History: Approaches to Historical Thinking Skills in AP World History

by Angela A. Lee

Discussion Questions: What are the problems with the traditional dynastic approach? Suggests changes in Chinese life when change not evident (only political) Suggests degree of continuity that is not always there (other side of coin) Stresses history of political elite Overlooks economic and agricultural life (which affected a much higher percent of population throughout Chinese history) Does Gernet’s model have the same issues? What else does it offer? Does Elvin’s model have the same i...

Online Supplement

“Teaching Multiple Asias: Confessions of a Europeanist Teaching World History” Syllabus

by Alexander Maxwell

This course addresses two themes in global history: commodities and ideologies. One half of the class will discuss the relationships between human beings and commodities, notably silver, sugar, rubber, cotton, and oil. The other half will examine changing ideas of political legitimacy, including divine kingship, nationalism, imperialist racism, socialism, and political Islamism. The course provides broad geographic coverage, introducing examples from Africa, North and South America, South, East,...

Online Supplement

“Ancient Chinese Science and the Teaching of Physics” Syllabus

by Matthew Marone

Francis Bacon thought that printing, gunpowder and the magnetic compass were inventions that changed the world. He did not realize that they all shared a common origin in ancient China. Few people in the Western world know of the great scientific achievements that occurred in ancient China; many of which predated European science and the Renaissance. We shall explore these discoveries in their historical Chinese context and through the lens of our current scientific understanding. The Chinese...

Online Supplement

“Shadow R & J and The Girl Who Flew: Introducing Asia through Theater in an Interdisciplinary Honors Program” Syllabus

by Adam D. Frank

Since Aristophanes wrote the first “anti-war” plays for Athenian audiences attending the Dionysian Festivals around 400 B.C., theatre has frequently been created in the name of social justice. Using Aristophanes as its starting place, the first half of this course draws upon dramatic literature and theatre history to provide a broad context for the use (and abuse) of theatre and performance in the name of social change. The second half of the course will be devoted to the creation of our own...

Online Supplement

“Shadow R & J” and “The Girl Who Flew”: Introducing Asia through Theater in an Interdisciplinary Honors Program

by Adam D. Frank

Readers of Education About Asia who have no background in Asian theater should take heart that they, too, can incorporate Asian theater as a tool for teaching about Asia. The caveat is that when one adopts a form of theater that traditionally takes decades to master, one must openly embrace ignorance, value hybridity, and measure success not in terms of whether students have rendered a style authentically, but whether they have captured some spirit of a particular style in order to tell the stor...

Online Supplement

“Cutting-Edge Samurai Theatre: Noh Then, Noh Now, Noh Tomorrow” by Matthew R. Dubroff and “In the Noh: Using Samurai Theater in the History Classroom” by Eric G. Dinmore Syllabi

by Eric G. Dinmore, Matthew R. Dubroff

This two-semester seminar for entering freshmen in the Honors Program will trace the rise and fall of the samurai in Japan, as well as the distinct impact these warriors left on Japanese and global culture. We will draw from a range of academic disciplines, including history, literary criticism, theater studies, religion, and the visual arts. This fall, we will focus on the historical transformation of the samurai from loosely-knit bands of provincial warriors to a powerful political elite. In t...

Feature Article

Democracy in Asia

by Clayton D. Brown

In June 2015, Utah State University hosted a graduate-level workshop for teachers on “Democracy in Asia: A Universal or American System?” Eight Asia specialists from three universities convened to share their expertise with local educators. Recognizing that a brief article cannot do justice to a weeklong workshop, we are still committed to extending the fruits of that local outreach to a broader community. What follows are a few highlights from each workshop session, including suggested sour...

Online Supplement

Walk Like a Samurai Using Japanese: Performing and Martial Arts to Teach Historical Inquiry Syllabus

by Tim Cooper

This course will introduce students to the history of Japan from earliest times to 1600, including the Classical, Medieval, and Warring States eras. Traditional Japan lays the foundation needed for a richer understanding and appreciation of Modern Japan, offered the following semester. Students are encouraged (though not required) to enroll in courses sequentially. Readings and discussions will focus on politics, culture, religion, and social life in premodern Japan. All readings are in English....

Book Review, Resources

Daughters of the Samurai: A Journey from East to West and Back

by Daniel A. Métraux

Deep in the western suburbs of Tokyo in the city of Kodaira lies Tsuda College, a private school of about 2,500 students where, since its founding in 1900, female students have received a broad education in the liberal arts and languages. It is a beautiful, leafy campus with an abundance of impressive trees and flowers. It is a rare treat to visit in late March or early April, when the cherry trees are in full bloom. My own school, Mary Baldwin University, has a long tradition of receiving excha...

Book Review, Resources

Pot Shards: Fragments of a Life Lived in CIA, the White House, and the Two Koreas

by Michael J. Seth

Donald Gregg had a remarkably long career spanning almost six decades, most of it connected with Asia. He served as a CIA officer in Japan, Việt Nam, and Burma, and was the CIA station chief in Seoul from 1973 to 1975. From 1989 to 1993, he was the US ambassador to South Korea. After retiring from government service, he headed the Korea Society in New York and made six trips to North Korea to promote better relations with that country. In between, he served on the National Security Council. Du...

Book Review, Resources

Confucianism as a World Religion: Contested Histories and Contemporary Realities

by Robert André LaFleur

Is Confucianism a religion? In one way or another, this question has been asked for as long as Westerners have tried to make sense of China—from the earliest translations done by the Jesuits half a millennium ago right up until the present. It can even be argued quite persuasively that thinkers from China and its East Asian neighbors have asked a similar kind of question almost since Confucius’s Analects began to be distributed in the centuries after the sage’s death. The broader matter th...

Columns, Resources, Web Gleanings

Web Gleanings: Major Universities in Asia

by Judith S. Ames

For those who wish to study at a university in Asia, there are thousands of choices. To narrow the choices, it is helpful to consult with sites that rate the universities on a number of factors. Below are several important evaluation sites: A) Best Global Universities in Asia Source: US News and World Report URL: http://tinyurl.com/jap4d6x B) QS University Rankings: Asia 2015 Source: Top Universities URL: http://tinyurl.com/j4tgchc C) Asia University Rankings 2015 Source: Time...

New to EAA?

Before viewing the full archives, view Editor’s Choice Articles, handpicked by EAA Editor, Lucien Ellington, which provide a good overview of EAA and introduction for new readers.