Jeremy Robinson
robinjer@gvsu.edu
Office: D-2-136 Mackinac Hall
Office Hours: M•W•F 2:30-3:30pm

The past is a foreign land; they do things differently there
-L.P. Hartley The Go-Betweens

The focus of this course is early Japanese culture and civilization, from prehistory to the year 1600 AD. It is part of a proposed three-course Japanese civilizations sequence which will cover the entire scope of Japan’s civilization from the earliest archaeological evidence to the present and, once approved, will be offered with identical content as JPN/EAS 321. We will take an interdisciplinary approach to the world of premodern Japan, including history, anthropology, literature, art, philosophy, theater, religion, etc. Firmly rooted in the humanistic tradition, the class aims to explore both what we share and how we differ from those we study, in an effort to explore the range of human experience. All readings will be in English translation and will consist almost entirely of primary sources. In other words, we will be reading what the people themselves wrote rather than what others wrote about them, leaving the question of the larger context for in-class discussion. You will frequently be asked to engage with the texts on their own terms, without extensive background information, and to write about your reaction to them prior to having dealt with them in class. Your personal response to what you are reading is as important to making the class a success as is the “accepted” reading of any given work. It is expected that you will finish this class with a deeper understanding of premodern Japanese culture, but more importantly with a sense of the relevance of the themes explored to both modern Japan and to your own life. This course makes extensive use of the university’s Blackboard online learning environment, both to distribute readings and other materials and as a forum for submitting and responding to reaction papers. You can access Blackboard at bb.gvsu.edu, and login using your Username and Password. The Blackboard interface is fairly straightforward, but if you have no experience using the system or are uncomfortable with computers, let me know immediately so we can help you get started. Becoming experienced with using Blackboard is vital to your success in this course.

Attendance and Participation
Eight Online Reaction Papers
Ten Online Responses
Two Poetry Assignments
Research Paper
Midterm Exam
Final Exam

Think of the class as being divided into two halves, with half of the required assignments falling in each half (with the exception of the two Poetry Assignments and Research Paper, all of which fall in the second half of the class). Half of the online reaction papers (4) and online responses (8) must be completed by the time of the midterm exam. Most important, both to your grade and to the success of the class, is keeping up on the assigned readings and being ready and willing to discuss them, both in the classroom and online. When a reading appears on the syllabus for a given day, you should read it prior to coming to class, and arrive ready to actively discuss it in class. I do take attendance, as well as take note of your participation in class, and these factors do affect your grade. Throughout the semester you will also be required to post reaction papers and responses to the Blackboard online discussion board. A reaction paper should be at least 600 words (appr. two pages) long and should articulate your reaction to that day’s readings. It does not need to be a formal argumentative essay, but it should be more substantive than mere summary. It is intended to give your interpretation of the material in light of your own experience and the issues we raise in class, and should show an active engagement with the text. Remember: you aren’t expected to be an expert on the topic, just an engaged reader. Reaction papers must be posted online by midnight the night before the class in which the readings are to be discussed, in order to give your fellow students time to read them and respond before class. Late reaction papers are useless to fostering online discussion and thus will not be accepted. Four of these papers are required in each half of the semester (8 total) and you may choose any of the readings to which you wish to respond, but you may not write more than one in any given week. When a video is assigned you may also choose to write about the video, but you should relate your discussion to the written assignments as well as the video itself. Although there will be many days when you do not write a reaction paper yourself, other students’ reaction papers are a a part of the required reading for all students, and you should make a point of reading the other students’ reactions, and perhaps writing an online response to them, before coming to class. There is no set length for these responses, but they should respond not only to the text itself, but also to the other students’ reactions and show a willingness to engage with other students’ ideas rather than relying only on one’s own interpretation. The deadline for writing a response is the beginning of each class, and a minimum of sixteen of these responses is required over the course of the semester (eight per half), though you are encouraged to write more and, if you feel more comfortable contributing in written form rather than during class discussion, this may enhance your participation grade. These online discussions are intended to act as a forum for discussion of the texts prior to hearing about them in the lectures, and they will provide the basis for in-class discussion of the texts. If you wish, one of your online reaction papers might also provide the basis of your research paper. The research paper should be around ten pages long and can be on any topic, but it must go beyond the assigned readings of this course. You might choose to investigate a given theme further by reading non-asigned works from our textbooks or deal entirely with new readings, but the paper should apply what we have learned in class to non-class materials. A one-paragraph topic proposal should be turned in by Friday the week after spring break, and your final paper is due on Friday of the last week of class.

There will be three required texts for this course, all of which are available in the bookstore:

Sources of Japanese Tradition, Volume One
Traditional Japanese Arts and Culture
Traditional Japanese Literature: An Anthology

(SJT)
(TJAC)
(TJL)

Additional readings will be made available as web links or in pdf format in the “Course Materials” section of Blackboard, and are identified on the syllabus with (BB). On any given day, there may be assigned readings, poems, audio clips, or videos marked on the schedule. For each day we work on poetry, select at least one poem from the required readings and come to class ready to discuss its significance and your reasons for choosing it. Frequently, one of the readings will be a page of multiple translations of certain poems, provided to give a sense of the various possibilities in rendering meaning, style, and aesthetic effect from Japanese into English translation. On many days you will also be required to view videos or images, or listen to audio clips. Shorter clips and images will be provided via Blackboard, while longer videos can be viewed on the computers in the LRC or online via the LRC’s eVideon video server (http://langmedia.mll.gvsu.edu/evideon).