Outline

Overview

This unit will examine how major shifts in research questions, directions, approaches and assumptions that have happened in social sciences during the twentieth century have played out in the field of Asian Studies. Students will critically analyse the circumstances and reasons for the emergence of the discipline of Area Studies, and its specific application to the study of Asian societies. In both seminar discussion and individual projects, students will engage in case studies from their respective areas of expertise, namely Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese, and Korean studies.

Unit details and rules

Academic unit
Credit points	6
Prerequisites ?	None
Corequisites ?	None
Prohibitions ?	None
Assumed knowledge ?	None
Available to study abroad and exchange students	No

Teaching staff

Coordinator	Adrian Vickers, adrian.vickers@sydney.edu.au

Type	Description	Weight	Due	Length
Assignment	Analysis piece 1 Long answer/essay	25%	Week 05	1500 words
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Analysis piece 3 Long answer/essay	25%	Week 09	1500 words
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Analytical essay Long answer/essay	50%	Week 13	3000 words
Outcomes assessed:

Assessment summary

Detailed information for each assessment can be found on Canvas.

Assessment criteria

The University awards common result grades, set out in the Coursework Policy 2014 (Schedule 1).

As a general guide, a High distinction indicates work of an exceptional standard, a Distinction a very high standard, a credit a good standard, and a pass an acceptable standard.

Result name	Mark range	Description
High distinction	85 - 100	Demonstrates a high degree of theoretical understanding, combined with sophisticated and original analysis and argument.
Distinction	75 - 84	Demonstrates advanced theoretical understanding, combined with sophisticated analysis and argument.
Credit	65 - 74	Demonstrates theoretical understanding, combined with good analysis and argument.
Pass	50 - 64	Demonstrates a basic understanding of theory, combined with ability to analyse and argue a point.
Fail	0 - 49	When you don’t meet the learning outcomes of the unit to a satisfactory standard.

For more information see guide to grades.

Late submission

In accordance with University policy, these penalties apply when written work is submitted after 11:59pm on the due date:

Deduction of 5% of the maximum mark for each calendar day after the due date.
After ten calendar days late, a mark of zero will be awarded.

Academic integrity

The Current Student website provides information on academic integrity and the resources available to all students. The University expects students and staff to act ethically and honestly and will treat all allegations of academic integrity breaches seriously.

We use similarity detection software to detect potential instances of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breach. If such matches indicate evidence of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breaches, your teacher is required to report your work for further investigation.

Use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and automated writing tools

You may only use generative AI and automated writing tools in assessment tasks if you are permitted to by your unit coordinator. If you do use these tools, you must acknowledge this in your work, either in a footnote or an acknowledgement section. The assessment instructions or unit outline will give guidance of the types of tools that are permitted and how the tools should be used.

Your final submitted work must be your own, original work. You must acknowledge any use of generative AI tools that have been used in the assessment, and any material that forms part of your submission must be appropriately referenced. For guidance on how to acknowledge the use of AI, please refer to the AI in Education Canvas site.

The unapproved use of these tools or unacknowledged use will be considered a breach of the Academic Integrity Policy and penalties may apply.

Studiosity is permitted unless otherwise indicated by the unit coordinator. The use of this service must be acknowledged in your submission as detailed on the Learning Hub’s Canvas page.

Outside assessment tasks, generative AI tools may be used to support your learning. The AI in Education Canvas site contains a number of productive ways that students are using AI to improve their learning.

Learning support

Simple extensions

If you encounter a problem submitting your work on time, you may be able to apply for an extension of five calendar days through a simple extension.  The application process will be different depending on the type of assessment and extensions cannot be granted for some assessment types like exams.

Special consideration

If exceptional circumstances mean you can’t complete an assessment, you need consideration for a longer period of time, or if you have essential commitments which impact your performance in an assessment, you may be eligible for special consideration or special arrangements.

Special consideration applications will not be affected by a simple extension application.

Using AI responsibly

Co-created with students, AI in Education includes lots of helpful examples of how students use generative AI tools to support their learning. It explains how generative AI works, the different tools available and how to use them responsibly and productively.

Weekly schedule

WK	Topic	Learning activity
Week 01	Introduction	Seminar (2 hr)
Week 02	Asian Studies as Area Studies	Seminar (2 hr)
Week 03	Orientalism	Seminar (2 hr)
Week 04	Asia as Method	Seminar (2 hr)
Week 05	Gender/Sexuality and Asian Studies	Seminar (2 hr)
Week 06	History and Asian Studies	Seminar (2 hr)
Week 07	Literary Studies and Asian Studies	Seminar (2 hr)
Week 08	Sociology and Asian Studies	Seminar (2 hr)
Week 09	Anthropology and Asian Studies	Seminar (2 hr)
Week 10	Identity Politics and Asian Studies	Seminar (2 hr)
Week 11	Political Science and Asian Studies	Seminar (2 hr)
Week 12	Work in progress presentations	Seminar (2 hr)
Week 13	Reflective conclustion	Seminar (2 hr)

Attendance and class requirements

Attendance: According to Faculty Board Resolutions, students in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences are expected to attend 90% of their classes. If you attend less than 50% of classes, regardless of the reasons, you may be referred to the Examiner’s Board. The Examiner’s Board will decide whether you should pass or fail the unit of study if your attendance falls below this threshold.

Study commitment

Typically, there is a minimum expectation of 1.5-2 hours of student effort per week per credit point for units of study offered over a full semester. For a 6 credit point unit, this equates to roughly 120-150 hours of student effort in total.

Required readings

Readings

Week 2 Area Studies: from Cold War to Transnationalism

Robert H. Bates. “Area studies and the discipline: A useful controversy?” Political Science and Politics 30,2 (1997): 166-169.

The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, Area Studies (2008) < http://www.qaa.ac.uk/en/Publications/Documents/Subject-benchmark-statement-Area-studies.pdf>.

Week 3 Asian Studies and Orientalism

Naoki Sakai. ‘“You Asians”: On the historical role of the West and Asia binary.’ South Atlantic Quarterly 99:4 (2000), pp. 789-817.

Richard H. Minear. “Orientalism and the Study of Japan.” The Journal of Asian Studies 39: 3 (1980), pp. 507-517.

Week 4 Asia as Method: The birth of Inter-Asia Cultural Studies

Beng Huat Chua. “Inter-Asia referencing and shifting frames of comparison.” In Carol Johnson, Vera Mackie and Tessa Morris-Suzuki, eds. The Social Sciences in the Asian Century. Canberra: ANU Press, 2015, pp. 67-80.

Prasenjit Duara. “Asia Redux: Conceptualizing a Region for Our Times.” The Journal of Asian Studies 69: 4 (2010), pp. 963-983.

Week 5 Gender/Sexuality and Asian Studies

Judith Butler. “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution.” In Katie Conboy, Nadia Medina, and Sarah Stanbury, eds. Writing on the Body: Female Embodiment and Feminist Theory, pp. 401-17. Chichester, Columbia UP, 1997.

Zuyan Zhou. “Gender Ambiguity in Late Ming and Early Qing Culture.” In Id., Androgyny in Late Ming and Early Qing Literature. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2003, pp. 15-46.

Week 6 History and Asian Studies

Dipesh Chakrabarty. Chapter 1, ‘Postcoloniality and the Artifice of History’, pp 27–46 of Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000.

Mary Margaret Steedly. Chapter 1 of Hanging without a Rope: Narrative Experience in Colonial and Postcolonial Karoland Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993.

Week 7 Literary Studies and Asian Studies

Emily Apter. ‘Global Translatio: The “Invention” of Comparative Literature, Istanbul, 1933.’ Critical Inquiry 29: 2 (2003), pp. 253-281.

Ming Chu Lai. “Translating Cunshan Chunshu: Murakami Haruki in Chinese.” Japanese Language and Literature 49:1 (2015), pp. 143-63.

Week 8 Sociology and Asian Studies

Pierre Bourdieu. “But Who Created the Creators?” In Id., Sociology in Question, translated by Richard Nice. London: Sage, 1993, pp. 139-148.

Warwick Anderson. “Postcolonial Specters of STS”, East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal 11 (2017): 229–233.

Week 9 Anthropology and Asian Studies

Clifford Geertz. “Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight.” in Id., The Interpretation of Cultures, Basic Books, 1973, pp. 412-453.

Mark Hobart. “Thinker, Thespian, Soldier, Slave? Assumptions About Human Nature in the Study of Balinese Society.” In M. Hobart and R. H. Taylor ed., Context, Meaning and Power in Southeast Asia, pp.1-20. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Southeast Asia Publications, 1986.

Week 10 Identity Politics and Asian Studies

Zhang Liang. ‘How to Understand Stuart Hall’s “Identity” Properly’, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies 18:2 (2017): 188–196.

Nimrod Baranovitch. “Others No More: The Changing Representation of Non-Han Peoples in Chinese History Textbooks, 1951–2003.” The Journal of Asian Studies 69: 1 (2010): 85–122.

Ursula Rao. “Caste and the Desire for Belonging.” Asian Studies Review 33:4 (2009), pp. 483-499.

Week 11 Political Science and Asian Studies

Amitav Acharya, “Asia is not One.” Journal of Asian Studies 69, 4 (2010): 100–1013.

Benedict R.O’G. Anderson. “Old State, New Society: Indonesia’s New Order in Comparative Historical Perspective.” In his Language and Power: Exploring Political Cultures in Indonesia. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1990.

Michael Aung-Thwin. “Parochial Universalism, Democracy Jihad and the Orientalist Image of Burma: The New Evangelism.” Pacific Affairs 74, 4 (2001–2002): 483–505.

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes are what students know, understand and are able to do on completion of a unit of study. They are aligned with the University's graduate qualities and are assessed as part of the curriculum.

Outcomes
Graduate qualities

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

LO1. Analyse theoretical arguments and demonstrate their application across different disciplines and cultures.
LO2. Critically evaluate the works of important scholars in Asian Studies
LO3. Engage in debates about ethics in research.

Graduate qualities

The graduate qualities are the qualities and skills that all University of Sydney graduates must demonstrate on successful completion of an award course. As a future Sydney graduate, the set of qualities have been designed to equip you for the contemporary world.

GQ1	Depth of disciplinary expertise Deep disciplinary expertise is the ability to integrate and rigorously apply knowledge, understanding and skills of a recognised discipline defined by scholarly activity, as well as familiarity with evolving practice of the discipline.
GQ2	Critical thinking and problem solving Critical thinking and problem solving are the questioning of ideas, evidence and assumptions in order to propose and evaluate hypotheses or alternative arguments before formulating a conclusion or a solution to an identified problem.
GQ3	Oral and written communication Effective communication, in both oral and written form, is the clear exchange of meaning in a manner that is appropriate to audience and context.
GQ4	Information and digital literacy Information and digital literacy is the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, manage, adapt, integrate, create and convey information using appropriate resources, tools and strategies.
GQ5	Inventiveness Generating novel ideas and solutions.
GQ6	Cultural competence Cultural Competence is the ability to actively, ethically, respectfully, and successfully engage across and between cultures. In the Australian context, this includes and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, knowledge systems, and a mature understanding of contemporary issues.
GQ7	Interdisciplinary effectiveness Interdisciplinary effectiveness is the integration and synthesis of multiple viewpoints and practices, working effectively across disciplinary boundaries.
GQ8	Integrated professional, ethical, and personal identity An integrated professional, ethical and personal identity is understanding the interaction between one’s personal and professional selves in an ethical context.
GQ9	Influence Engaging others in a process, idea or vision.

Outcome map

Learning outcomes	Graduate qualities
Learning outcomes

Responding to student feedback

This section outlines changes made to this unit following staff and student reviews.

This unit has undergone revision based on student feedback about readings and peer discussion amongst staff members.

Disclaimer

The University reserves the right to amend units of study or no longer offer certain units, including where there are low enrolment numbers.

To help you understand common terms that we use at the University, we offer an online glossary.

Current students

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect

Current students

ASNS4113: Theory and Methods in Asian Studies

Semester 1, 2020 [Normal day] - Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect