Culture, History and Society of East Asia

This cours addresses the twin issues of history and memory in South-East and North-East Asia.
History and memory trigger frictions in East Asia at large, but they can also be considered as a frame or a matrix for the (re)production of social relations and cultural practices in the subcontinent at large. The course intends to approach these processes from an anthropological perspective, sensitive to the long-term and to local contexts, grounded on ethnographic fieldwork and archival sources -- or other relevant sources. This mixed approach should help to gain a better understanding of the representation and the uses of the past in current contexts, ranging from official history to collective or personal memory.
The twelve lessons include an introduction, a mid-term session and a conclusion, and nine communications by scholars whose field of expertise cover China (including Hong-Kong), Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia.

1. 6/02/2024 – Introduction
2. 20/02/2024 – Lisa Richaud
3. 27/02/2024 – Chun-chun (Isha) Ting
4. 5/03/2024 – Pierre Petit
5. 12/03/2024 – David Lutz
6. 19/03/2024 – Mukaddas Mijit
7. 26/03/2024 – mid-term lecture

8. 16/04/2024 – SUN Jiawen
9. 23/04/2024 – Bénédicte Brac de la Perrière
10. 30/04/2024 – Catherine Scheer
11. 7/05/2024 – Françoise Robin
12. 14/05/2024 – Conclusion

Through this course, the students should familiarize with the stakes of history and memory in the past and present societies of East Asia; with the way different disciplines and authors investigate the uses of the past. They should also get a basic knowledge of the recent history in that part of the world.

The course begins by a state of the art on the issue of history/memory, followed by case studies (interrupted by a mid-term recapitulative lesson). The conclusive lesson will try to draw a synthesis connecting the different lectures of the year.

Références, bibliographie et lectures recommandées

The references will appear on the UV, as other pedagogical materials.

Support(s) de cours

• Université virtuelle

Contacts

pierre.petit@ulb.be
lisa.richaud@ulb.be

Campus

Solbosch

Méthode(s) d'évaluation

• Examen écrit

Examen écrit

• Question ouverte à développement long

The students can answer in English or French for the written exam.

Langue(s) d'évaluation

• français
• anglais