jump to page contentcalifornia state university, sacramento c a l i f o r n i a ' s   c a p i t a l  u n i v e r s i t y

Cindi SturtzSreetharan, Ph.D.

Department of Anthropology | SSIS College | csus home

 

info

calendar

handouts

resources

syllabus

webct

home

ANTH 134 :: syllabus

Japanese Culture and Society

This course won't be taught until Spring 2006; the syllabus below is merely an example of how the course has been taught in the past.

 

View the course schedule.  Course Schedule Detailed Below

Objectives :: Assignments :: Grading :: Technology :: Text and Materials


Course Objectives

This course has been radically re-designed from previous years.  My goal in doing this is to ask you, the student, to consider critically not only Japanese culture, but your own culture.  To assist in this goal, we will be reading John Clammer’s book Japan and its Others whose goal is, among others, to expose the reader to set of Japanese perspectives and assumptions that directly challenge the notion of “universal” development, modernity, historical pathways, and so on.  Thus, it is imperative that the Clammer book be read carefully; luckily, he is rather redundant throughout the various chapters.  To assist yourself in meeting this goal of this course, I need you to be thinking constantly about the assumptions and perspectives that underlie many cultural behaviours that humans typically take for granted (regardless of from whence you come) and are the foundations of our daily lives.  Please try to get accustomed to asking yourself “why” or “what motivates” my (and others’) behaviour; please look for underlying meanings and answers to these questions. 

A secondary goal of this course is to introduce you to Japan, Japanese culture, society, behaviour, and people.  This will be done through ethnographies as well as sociological/anthropological texts.  It will be helpful to read Clammer’s book while simultaneously reading the various narratives and voices of real Japanese people in the ethnographies assigned for this course.

This course requires participation in the form of in-class discussion.  I expect you to do the reading carefully and critically; to come prepared for class having completed the assigned readings and read to engage in thoughtful (and fun) discussions.  I do not expect you to have previous knowledge of Japan; however, I expect you to draw reasonable and intelligent conclusions (even if they may be wrong) based on your readings, in-class discussions, lectures, and videos.

Required Texts            

An Introduction to Japanese Society. 2nd Edition.  By SUGIMOTO, Yoshio. JS

No One Home: Brazilian Selves Remade in Japan.  By LINGER, Daniel     NOH

Gambling with Virtue.  ROSENBERGER, Nancy. GWV

Japan’s Minorities:  The Illusion of Homogeneity.  Edited by WEINER, Michael.  JM

Japan and Its Others.  CLAMMER, John   JIO

Farewell to Nippon.  SATO, Machiko.   FTN

top of page


Assignments

Warnings: 

 This course expects and assumes that each student comes prepared to class having thoughtfully read the day’s assigned reading.  Each student should be prepared to discuss the readings; and, when films are shown, to make connections between readings and films.

Participation

Attendance is mandatory.  It is important that you come to class (on time), having already completed the day’s readings, and prepared to participate in discussion.  Ten percent (10%) of your grade will be attendance (5%) and participation in in-class discussions (5%).  Another ten percent (10%) will come from your participation in online discussion via WebCT.  You are required to submit six (6) online discussion questions which explicitly engage with the reading material; and, you are required to respond intelligently and seriously to four (4) discussion questions.  Discussion questions which count toward your grade (submitted online) should not be information seeking questions; rather, a discussion question will engage with the texts and ask an open-ended, thoughtful question.  Questions of clarification of the readings will not be counted; neither will yes/no questions.  You may not submit all six questions at the same time; each of the six discussion questions should engage with a different day’s reading assignments.  However, since the WebCT is there for our class use, I hope that you also use this online venue to help yourself better understand the readings (via asking other students for help), finding study-buddies, and so on. 

In the spirit of redundancy and clarification, I expect you to come prepared for class having completed the assigned day’s reading before class begins.  If it seems that people are not coming to class prepared, quizzes will be administered at the instructor’s discretion.

Essay  

Each student is required to watch and review one of the Japanese films listed on page 45 of SATO’s text, Farewell to Nippon.  Your essay (details to be handed out later) will take into account the concept of Nihonjinron, exploring to what extent we can find this theme delivered in the film.  These films are screened and selected to be imported/exported to Japan – thus, in some way, they most likely portray some stereotypical characteristics of “the Japanese.”  Your essay will investigate your findings of Nihonjinron representations in one of these films.  This essay is due on May 10 in class.

 

top of page



Grades and Grading Policy

Course Evaluation:

Participation (Attendance + in-class discussion)          10%

Discussion questions/responses on WebCT                 20%

Essay                                                                       30%

Quizzes (2 total)                                                        40%

Total                                                                        100%

TOTAL:                                                           100 points

Schedule of Readings/Topics:

 

Week

Date

Topic

Reading Assignment

1

1/25

Introduction to the Class

Using WebCT

 

 

1/27

Your Imaginations of Japan

 

JAPAN AND THE SOCIAL SCIENCES:  NIHONJINRON

2

2/1

Japan’s place in Social Sciences

IJS:  Chpt 1

JIO:  Chpt 1

 

2/3

Understanding Nihonjinron

JIO:  Chpt 3

From Pre-Modernity to Post-Modernity without passing “go”

3

2/8

Background Information

JIO: Chpt 2

JM:  Chpt 1

 

2/10

The Outcome?

Video:  The Japanese Version

IJS: Chpt 10

 

 

SOCIAL STRUCTURING

 

4

2/15

Class or Consumption as Stratifiers?

IJS:  Chpt 2

JIO:  Chpt 6

 

2/17

Region as Stratifier

IJS:  Chpt 3

GENDER, FAMILY, EDUCATION, & WORK

5

2/22

Gender and Family First

IJS:  Chpt 6

GWV: “Introduction”

GWV:  Chpts 1 & 2

 

2/24

No Class

 

6

3/1

Working Peoples

IJS:   Chpt 4

 

3/3

To Work or Not to Work

GWV:  Chpts 3 & 4

7

3/8

Education Background

IJS:   Chpt 5

 

3/10

Education & Gender

GWV:  Chpts 5 & 6

8

3/15

Video:  Schools of Thought

 

 

3/17

Women’s Selves

GWV:  Chpts 7 & 8, “Conclusion”

9

3/22

Spring Break

 

 

3/24

Spring Break

 

10

3/29

QUIZ 1

 

 

3/31

Cesar Chavez Day, No Class

 

IDENTITY, ETHNICITY, MARGINALIZED, & OTHERS

11

4/5

Who are “the others”?

IJS:  Chpt 7

JM:  Chpt 8

 

4/7

The “First” Others

JM:  Chpt 2

12

4/12

Burakumin

JM:  Chpt 3

 

4/14

Okinawans

JM:  Chpt 6

13

4/19

Nikkeijin

JM: Chpt 7

NOH: Chpt 1

Ethnicity and Identity inside and outside Japan

 

4/21

Scene Setting

NOH:  Chpts 2-5

FTN:  “Prologue”

14

4/26

Workers

NOH: Chpts 6 – 8

FTN:  Chpt 1

 

4/28

Students

NOH:Chpts 9 -11

FTN: Chpt 2

15

5/3

Intermediaries

NOH: Chpts 12-14

FTN:  Chpt 3

 

5/5

The Nation in Kind

NOH: Chpts 15 – 16

FTN:  Chpts 4-5

16

5/10

Video:  Overstay

Essay due in class

 

 

5/12

QUIZ 2

 

 

 

 

 


Technology Requirements

Students will need an electronic mail account and computer access to the Web. All CSUS students enrolled in one or more units can create a SacLink account for electronic mail and Internet services. Although a home computer with a high speed modem running Netscape or Internet Explorer would be beneficial, students can use the Web from one of the campus student labs.

Computing Recommendations

You should be comfortable using a computer and willing to browse the Web. This class requires online class participation on the Web assignments and electronic discussions.

You need:

  • Macintosh compatible with System 10 (OS X) or higher or Windows compatible Pentium running Windows 98 or XP.
  • 128 MB of RAM
  • 56K modem or faster connection
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 or Netscape 6 (or higher)
  • SacLink or other Internet Account (REQUIRED)
  • Word processing skills

For this course a List-Proc has been established.  The name of the List-Proc is ANTH134-L.  You must sign up to receive this list-proc; it is a requirement of the course.  In order to sign up for the List-Proc, please follow see the following website:

http://www.csus.edu/uccs/inetemail/ListProc/index.htm

Please note the following trouble-shooting issues (courtesy of Ms. Kathy Dunham):

The main problem students have when subscribing to listproc is that
their email program is configured to send messages in HTML format. Listproc
will only process requests sent in 'Plain text'  format.

To change the format check the preference or options settings in the mail
program. Find the option for "mail sending format". The choices are probably
'plain text' 'rich text' or 'HTML'. Be sure 'plain text'  is selected. Under
the 'plain text' or  selection set encoded text equal to 'none'.

If students receive errors they do not understand, they need to forward a copy
of the error message along with a description of what they were attempting
to do, to the saclink helpdesk (saclink@csus.edu).

top of page


Text and Materials

 Required:

An Introduction to Japanese Society. 2nd Edition.  By SUGIMOTO, Yoshio. JS

No One Home: Brazilian Selves Remade in Japan.  By LINGER, Daniel     NOH

Gambling with Virtue.  ROSENBERGER, Nancy. GWV

Japan’s Minorities:  The Illusion of Homogeneity.  Edited by WEINER, Michael.  JM

Japan and Its Others.  CLAMMER, John   JIO

Farewell to Nippon.  SATO, Machiko.   FTN

 

last updated: 08/24/2005
top of page