Postwar U.S. Foreign Policy and the Third World: An Anthropological Perspective
Postwar U.S. Foreign Policy and the Third World: An Anthropological Perspective
Tsuda College: Thursday, 1:00-2:30
English 3 Seminar, 2 credits
Hitotsubashi University: Thursday, 10:40-12:10
English Oral Skills 3, 2 credits
Description: We will examine the postwar era of Pax Americana from the perspective of the Third World majority and discuss issues of racism and ethnocentrism, militarism and human rights, and development and modernization. We will look at specific examples of U.S. military interventions and support for military regimes in the Third World and relate those examples to Japan’s role in the postwar geo-political picture. We will reassess the notion of “Third World development” based on Western cultural and socio-political assumptions, and examine the associated environmental destruction and cultural disruptions, focusing on the U.S.-Japan-Southeast Asia nexus.
Documentary films will be supplemented by lectures related to the film topic. Students are expected to take lecture (and film) notes and be prepared for group discussions the following week. Likewise, if a reading is assigned, students are expected to prepare for the following week’s discussion by writing down any comments or points they would like to make or questions they would like to raise for group or class discussion. In this way, everyone will have the opportunity to contribute to discussions, and we will be able to gain insights into the variety of responses to, and interpretations of, any given material.
Students absent from class more than six times during the course of the year (Tsuda College) or more than four times during the semester (Hitotsubashi University) will not receive course credits. Grades will be based on class attendance, active participation in group and class discussions, homework assignments, a spring term take-home exam, and a fall term fieldwork research presentation.
Copies of required readings (if not available on my website) will be provided one week in advance.