Japan and the West: From First Encounters to Contemporary Global Issues

Japan and the West will focus on points of intersection between Japan, Europe, and America from their first encounters to the present. The seminar will be of particular interest to teachers of World History, Art, and Contemporary Global Issues, but the application is open to all K12 teachers who want to expand their horizons and are willing to adapt the content to their classrooms.

July 11 - 15, 2016

8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. (Monday-Thursday)
8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m (Friday)

Seminar leader: Melanie King, Art History faculty at Seattle Central College
Location: University of Washington, Seattle

This seminar is sponsored by the East Asia Resource Center (EARC), University of Washington, in conjunction with the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA).

Fees: This program is offered free of charge thanks to a grant from the Freeman Foundation. There is a $100 registration fee for all participants, due upon acceptance, and an additional $50 housing fee for out-of-town dorm guests. Participants who successfully complete the seminar will receive a $100 stipend for the purchase of teaching materials related to East Asia.

Credit options: 35 Washington State OSPI clock hours (free) OR two 400-level UW credits for a fee of approximately $230

Priority application deadline: 11:59 pm PST on March 22, 2016

Applicants who submit their completed applications by the March 22 deadline will receive an application decision by April 5. Accepted applicants will be asked to confirm their attendance and pay the registration fee by May 5. Applications will be accepted after March 22 on a space-available basis.

**Please look at the requirements below to make sure you are eligible before you begin the application. If the program listed above is not the one you wish to apply for, please return to the EARC Website and select a different program.

Seminar description:
Japan and the West will focus on points of intersection between Japan, Europe, and America from their first encounters to the present. We will weave visual art together with primary and secondary source texts in order to explore historical change and continuity from multiple perspectives. The seminar will be of particular interest to teachers of World History, Art, and Contemporary Global Issues, but the application is open to all K12 teachers who want to expand their horizons and are willing to adapt the content to their classrooms. Several connections to US History will be drawn. Teachers will be required to participate in discussions about readings in this seminar-style class.

Our course will begin in the age of global expansion with the arrival of the Portuguese and Dutch in Japan in the 1500s. We will consider the subsequent “closed country” policy of the Tokugawa government and the eventual “opening” of Japan with the arrival of Commodore Perry’s black ships in the 1850s, when the United States was beginning to develop its economic ties with Asia.

As people and commerce travel to and from Japan more freely in the 1860s and 70s, we will visit a world’s fair and read excerpts from Vincent Van Gogh’s letters to understand the growing influence of Japanese art and ideas in the West. To complement the ‘western’ perspective, we will also study the writings of Yukichi Fukuzawa to see how Western liberalism and civil rights influenced the development of Meiji era government. We will follow these exchanges through the Taishō era (1912-1926), where we witness the emergence of ‘modern girls’ who adopt Western fashions and lifestyles in Japan.

The nature of Japan's relationships with the West became increasingly complex and destructive moving through the early twentieth century, through World War II, and the occupation of Japan by the United States military at the conclusion of the war. We will interpret postwar woodblock prints to see how Japanese artists responded to Hiroshima and Nagasaki and then to 1960s protest art that expressed outrage at the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security with the United States, also known as “ANPO.”

Finally, we will focus on the resurgence of contemporary Japanese art and popular culture in the West.  In particular, we will examine art and writing inspired by the 3.11 triple disaster at Fukushima. This art calls on Japan and the West to work together to find solutions to global energy and environmental problems.

In all instances, our consideration of the ongoing exchange between Japan, Europe, and the United States will focus on primary source documents and visual productions that will allow us to inquire about global expansion and encounter from a wide perspective. By close examination of these historical sources, we will use historical context and point of view to enrich our understanding of the complicated and nuanced relationships between these world powers that have spanned over four hundred years.

Seminar benefits:
Aside from the registration and housing fees, this seminar is offered free of charge thanks to the Freeman Foundation NCTA grant to the East Asia Resource Center. Seminar benefits include:

• 35 free Washington State OSPI clock hours (free) OR two 400-level UW credits for a fee of approximately $230
• A certificate of completion
• All course materials provided
• $100 for the purchase of additional teaching materials
• A 2016-17 subscription to Education about Asia
• Morning snacks and lunches
• Dormitory housing, meals, and partial travel stipends for a limited number of out-of-town participants

Seminar requirements:
The above benefits are available to educators who attend all class sessions and complete all of the assignments. Participating teachers will be asked to do out-of-class preparation, including readings and viewing online resources, and complete a culminating assignment during the seminar week for use in their own classrooms.

Eligibility:
The seminar is open to K–12 educators who plan to apply the content in their history, social studies, language arts, art, library/media, East Asian languages, or other relevant courses. Preference is given to educators who are currently employed full-time in a public or private school based in the U.S. Pre-service educators must be currently enrolled in a teacher education program. Substitutes are not eligible to apply. Applications will be evaluated on potential classroom impact, which you will have a chance to discuss in your application.

The content of this seminar is the same as the one offered in Fall 2015 with the same title. Teachers who participated in Fall 2015 are not eligible to participate again.

Dormitory housing and travel stipends for out-of-town participants:
UW dormitory housing and meals will be provided for a limited number of out-of-town participants. The fee for dorm guests is $50 (in addition to the $100 registration fee), due upon acceptance. Dormitory housing is limited to enrolled applicants only; no friends or family may stay in the dorm room with participants.

Participants accepted to stay in the dorm will also receive a travel stipend of up to $300.

About NCTA and the East Asia Resource Center:
The National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA) is a national initiative to encourage and facilitate teaching about East Asia in the subject areas of social studies, humanities, history, literature, media/arts and geography, funded through the generous support of the Freeman Foundation.  Seminars in the Northwest states are coordinated by the East Asia Resource Center at the University of Washington, one of seven NCTA national coordinating sites.