History of Japanese science and technology
Proposed to be offered next in 1996
Morris Low
8 Points * 3 hours per week * Clayton * Prerequisites: First-year Japanese studies, Japanese language or history sequence
This subject focuses on the role of science, technology and education in Japan's modernisation. It begins by asking a number of historiographical questions which are examined by looking at Japanese history from the Tokugawa period to the present day. The subject considers how Western learning provided the means by which the Japanese could resist the West and eventually `modernise'. Scientific knowledge and education were seen as ways of obtaining national power. The view that knowledge is power still holds today.
Assessment
Written (3500 words): 35% * Examinations (1.5 hours): 50% * Tutorial participation (1000 words): 15%