Department of
Anthropology College of Arts &
Sciences The University of Alabama
Anthropology
of Nationalism
ANT
450/550
Charles
W. Nuckolls, Professor
Department of Anthropology
18 ten Hoor
telephone:
348-8202
email: cnuckoll@tenhoor.as.ua.edu
webpage: http://www.as.ua.edu/ant/nuckolls.htm
Most nations consider themselves to
be of ancient lineage, an historical background which helps build a strong
national identity and pride, and yet few of the nations we recognize today date
from before the nineteenth century. ‘Getting
one’s history wrong,’ said one early expert in the field, “is part of
being a nation.”
Expectation
of Participants
This
course focuses on cultural nationalism, mainly in Japan, as expressed in popular
culture, e.g., movies, cartoons, and animation.
Each participant is responsible for being prepared to take part in the
discussion of the assigned readings for each week’s topic, to prepare an
interim progress report for verbal presentation and finish a term paper on time.
There are no examinations; grading is based on participation in class
(1/6), verbal report (1/6), and the finished term paper (2/3).
Each week you should be prepared to respond to that week’s
discussion questions as well as to suggest one question of your own.
By week three you should have chosen a topic and be prepared to give a
brief 5 minute verbal description of it. You
will then be scheduled for about 20 minutes to give your
verbal presentation at one of the meetings during the last three weeks of the
semester. The paper (approximately 20 pages double-spaced typed pages)
is due by 4PM on Friday, May 4, in my mail box in the Anthropology Department
office (tenHoor Hall). Papers late for any
reason a fined half a grade, cannot be read until the middle of next semester,
and may be graded without comment. If
a paper is later than the first day of the next semester, the final course grade
is reduced a full grade unless due to serious illness and/or other extraordinary
circumstances.
Assigned
Readings
You
should be prepared to purchase the following books, available at the University
bookstore:
-
Benedict,
Ruth The
Chrysanthemum and the Sword.
-
Billig,
Michael Banal
Nationalism
-
Stronach,
Bruce Beyond
the Rising Sun: Nationalism in
Contemporary Japan
In
addition, the following is recommended:
Finally:
The
Japanese film “Pride” is in Japanese, but a translation is available.
Copies can be checked out from the Department of Anthropology lounge.
Make your own copy, then return the departmental copy to the lounge
within 24 hours. You should attend to this as soon as possible, to avoid
delays as the viewing of the film approaches.
Do not forget!!!
Schedule
January 11
(Thursday): Orientation
Film “Triumph of the Will” (Nazi propaganda film)
(note: read all of Ruth
Benedict by next class)
Week One:
January
18 (Thursday): Benedict discussion
Week Two:
January
25 (Thursday):
First Hour: continuing
discussion of Benedict
Second Hour: Film on the
Japanese tea ceremony
(note: read first half of
Billig for next class)
Week Three:
February
1 (Thursday): Billig discussion
Discussion of term paper topics (come to class well prepared)
Week Four:
February 8 (Thursday):
First Hour: continuing
discussion of Billig
Second Hour:
Class exercise on banal nationalism.
Bring to class an object or account that
represents (to you or someone else) a concept of nation.
(note:
translations of the movie “Pride,” to be shown in class next
week, are available in the Anthropology department lounge.
You should pick up a copy and reproduce it for your own reading as soon as possible).
Week Five:
February 15 (Thursday):
Viewing of the movie “Pride” (read
the translation before class and bring it with you to class)
Week Six:
February 22
(Thursday): Discussion of
“Pride” and Reconstructions of World War II
Week Seven
March 1 (Thursday):
First
Hour: Stronach, “Ambiguous
images” (1-15), “The Search for Identity” (31-56), “Nationalism and
Identity” (61-82) In Beyond the Rising
Sun: Nationalism in
Contemporary Japan.
Second Hour: “The
Rehabilitation of Tojo” (paper by Charles Nuckolls)
Week Eight
March 8 (Thursday):
First Hour:
Allison, Anne “A male gaze in Japanese Children’s cartoons, or, are
naked female bodies always
sexual” Chapter 2;
“Japanese Mothers and Obentos: The Lunch Box
as Ideological State Apparatus” (Chapter
Four)
Second
Hour: The Cartoon Nation and the
Search for Primitive Ecstasy (slide presentation by Charles Nuckolls)
Week Nine
March 15 (Thursday):
“Godzilla” and Discussion
Week Ten
March 22 (Thursday):
No class (Association of Asian Studies Meeting in Chicago)
Week Eleven:
SPRING BREAK
Week Twelve:
April 5 (Thursday): “Space Battleship
Yamato” (animated cartoon) and discussion
Week Thirteen
April 12 (Thursday):
“Our Enemy Japan” (WWII propaganda film) and discussion
Week
Fourteen
April 18: Student Paper presentations and discussion
Week
Fifteen
April 26:
Student Paper presentations and discussion
Week
Sixteen
May 3: Student Paper presentations and discussion
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