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JPNS2171: Science and Technology in Modern Japan: A Cultural History

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Type	Open
Level	2
Credits	20
Availability	Not available in 2023/24
Module Cap	45
Location	Durham
Department	Modern Languages and Cultures (Japanese)

Prerequisites

None

Corequisites

None

Excluded Combinations of Modules

None

Aims

To develop students understanding of the role of science and technology in the shaping of modern Japanese culture.
To equip students with critical concepts and methodologies for analysing science and technology as sociocultural systems.
To encourage students to think more broadly about the geopolitics of science and technology in non-Western contexts.
To cultivate advanced research and writing skills.

Content

This module examines discourses of science and technology in Japan and its greater empire in the modern period, emphasizing the way in which science and technology shaped the Japanese imagination of modernity and its ambitions as an emerging world power. Topics covered include acupunture, evolution, scientific concepts of race, atomic power, microelectronics, and environmental thought.

Learning Outcomes

Subject-specific Knowledge:

By the end of this module, students will have developed an understanding of how science and technology have shaped and been shaped by cultural modernity in Japan.

Subject-specific Skills:

By the end of this module, students will have gained the ability to think critically about 1) the cultural-embeddedness of science and technology; 2) the function of science and technology in broader global geopolitics.

Key Skills:

By the end of this module students should have enhanced research, communication and argumentation skills.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

The module is taught and assessed in English. English translations of required reading in Japanese will be available.
The module will be taught intensively as a short-fat module in term 1 or term 2. In order to stress discussion, teamwork and presentations, there will be one one-hour lecture per week, with one two-hour session combining a lecture and seminar to encourage discussion.
Assessment consists of coursework, in order to foster independent research-led learning. The weighting of the first assignment as 40% and the second as 60% provides an element of progression, reinforcing the benefit gained from feedback on the first assignment.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Activity	Number	Frequency	Duration	Total	Monitored
Lecture	10	Weekly	1 Hour	10	Yes
Lecture and Seminar	10	Weekly	2 Hours	20	Yes
Preparation and Reading				170
Total				200

Summative Assessment

Component: Essay 1		Component Weighting: 40%
Element	Length / Duration	Element Weighting	Resit Opportunity
Essay 1	2000 words	100	Yes

Component: Essay 2		Component Weighting: 60%
Element	Length / Duration	Element Weighting	Resit Opportunity
Essay 2	2500 words	100	Yes

Formative Assessment

Seminar presentations on which feedback will be given.

More information

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