JPNS 083. War and Postwar in Japanese Culture

(Cross-listed as LITR 083J)
What was the Japanese experience of World War II and the Allied Occupation? We will examine literary works, films, and graphic materials (photographs, prints, advertisements, etc.), together with oral histories and historical studies, to seek a better understanding of the prevailing ideologies and intellectual struggles of wartime and postwar Japan as well the experiences of individuals living through the cataclysmic events of midcentury. Issues to be investigated include Japanese nationalism and imperialism; women’s experiences of the war and home front; changing representations and ideologies of the body; war writing and censorship; the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; Japanese responses to the Occupation; and the war in postwar memory. The course readings and discussions will be in English.
Humanities.
1 credit.
Catalog chapter: Modern Languages and Literatures: Japanese
Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/japanese

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