HST31036 - The West and East in each other's eyes 1850-1950

HST31036: The West and East in each other's eyes 1850-1950

40 credits (semesters 1 and 2)

Module Leader: Professor Anthony Milton (2024-25)

Module Summary

The idea that the ‘East’ and the ‘West’ are fundamentally different in their thinking and values and are locked in a mutually antipathetic ‘clash of civilizations’ is an age-old one. It has been argued by European and Asian politicians and writers alike, by imperialists and anti-imperialists, ‘orientalists’ and their critics, and has been manifested in a range of approaches and ideologies, including ’Orientalism’, ‘Occidentalism’, pan-Asianism, pan-Islam, and Samuel Huntington’s notorious ‘clash of civilizations’ thesis. It has fed into both colonialist and anti-colonialist thought.

This course is intended as a case study in the history of ideas. We will investigate how ideas of a division between ‘West’ and ‘East’ have been expressed and developed in the late 19th and 20th centuries and how they have been deployed by politicians in a range of different countries and contexts. We will also examine some of the more subtle, alternative formulations of East/West cultural difference, assimilation and appropriation that have been articulated in the same period. The course will encourage you to rethink how cultures relate to each other, and about what is distinctively ‘Western’ or ‘Eastern’ about political and economic organization, human rights, nationalism and democracy. Can we really talk about ‘East’ and ‘West’ as meaningful categories, and if not, when and how did people start using these terms and why, and what does that tell us about how we should understand the world and write about it?

In semester 1, after an initial introduction of the themes and questions of the course, the next 4 weeks (‘the West looks at the East’) will analyse Western accounts of the East. The second half of the first semester (‘the East looks at the West’) then undertakes a chronological and thematic analysis of the different ways in which Asian governments and writers have understood, analysed and critiqued the West and its values.

The second semester (‘the East looks at the East’) concentrates on how Asian governments and thinkers have understood the East, and their views of how far it can be said to enshrine coherent non-Western values. As well as studying transnational movements (pan-Asianism, pan-Islam, pan-Turkism and pan-Arabism), we will also study selected Asian writing on democracy, human rights and nationalism. We end with a full-scale debate of the perennial question of whether we can identify distinctive ‘Asian values’.

During the course we will be using a wide range of documents in translation – from constitutional debates, political tracts, government declarations, policy documents and educational literature, to travel accounts, maps, speeches, letters, poetry and images.

The course is intended to help you to rethink how you understand Western and non-Western cultures and to provide you with a more informed sense of the roots and nature of current global geo-political and cultural tensions.

Aims

This module aims to:

Develop students’ ability to understand how cultural differences are understood and polemically constructed
Help students to understand and evaluate historiographical debate over, and different approaches to, the ways in which the 'West’ and the 'East’ were defined and juxtaposed, especially in the 19th and 20th centuries
Familiarise students with the broad range of primary sources that yield insights into the formulation and expression of cultural identities in Asia in this period (including textual and visual culture).
Develop students' ability to critically evaluate original source material, and use that material to build their own interpretations.
Develop students' ability to express themselves with confidence and fluency in small and large group settings
Develop students' ability to express themselves with confidence and fluency in written work.

Teaching

The module will be taught in twice-weekly two-hour seminars. Students will be given set primary and secondary reading, and will also be asked to work individually and in groups on further preparation. Seminars will help students to consolidate knowledge, comprehend readings, and test out their own critical ideas. Through small and large group discussions, students will develop confidence in articulating their own thoughts and ideas. There may be some group presentation and student-led elements woven into the module; these will focus on interpretation of primary and secondary sources.

Formative written work will be encouraged through the two semesters, often involving short pieces (generally <500 words) that involve distilling arguments, critiquing source material, and articulating interpretive positions. Students will often be asked to bring these to seminars to discuss with peers. In addition, students will have individual tutorial contact to discuss their written work for the module.

Assessment

Please see this page for further information about assessment.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this module, students will be able to:

Demonstrate a strong understanding of the contested nature of cultural identities in the East and West in the 19th and 20th centuries
Evaluate historiographical debate around themes and issues in the history of East/West political and cultural perceptions, focusing in particular upon transnational ideas and phenomena
Critically evaluate original source material, relating where appropriate to historiographical debate
Express ideas with fluency and precision in formative class participation and written work