JAPN498M

Mapping Premodern Japan investigates travel in Japan through concentrated study of a key route in the premodern period. We will explore the role travel played in larger social, political, economic, and cultural structures and how stories of travel shaped ideas of identity, place, and national culture. We will analyze scholarship, conduct research, and learn the process for developing authentic scholarship in Cultural Studies. The course will culminate in a digital humanities final project in which students will conduct research on the major site of study and present their findings using digital storytelling. Taught in English. The site of exploration for Fall 2019 will be the Tokaido, the major highway connecting the shogunal capital in Edo (modern-day Tokyo) and the imperial capital in Kyoto.