Module JPNS2051: Translation and the Making of Modern Japan

Department: Modern Languages and Cultures (Japanese)

JPNS2051: Translation and the Making of Modern Japan

Prerequisites

• None

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• To provide an insight into the importance of translation (of both fiction and non-fiction) and cross-cultural contact in Japanese culture, politics and society, from the beginning of Japan’s early modern period (1600-1868) until the early 20th century.
• To introduce key developments in print culture, popular literacy, and intellectual history, which took place during the Tokugawa (1600-1868) through Meiji (1868-1912) periods, and to examine relations between Japan and the outside world, questioning the narrative of ‘national isolation’ (sakoku).
• To develop skills in the use of academic theory and methodology, enabling students to assemble data and construct arguments based on current research on the topic and present their material orally and in writing according to standard academic conventions.

Content

• As Peter Burke, the cultural historian, has argued, the study of the history of translation is important for historians because translation in one form or other has been present in all major exchanges between cultures in history. This is particularly true of Japan, where translation has played a formative role in the development of indigenous legal and religious systems as well as of literature.
• This course will examine the roles played by translation and transculturation in the development of modern Japan, from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. Who were the translators, what were they translating, and with what effects? How did Japan interact with its East Asian neighbours, and with Europe? How were Chinese classics and European scientific texts read? How did vernacular Japanese readers interact with the literary classics and historical languages of their own past? And how did translation figure in the transformation of the new Japanese nation state after the Meiji Revolution of 1868?
• The module is based on English-language sources: no knowledge of Japanese is required.

Learning Outcomes

• By the end of the module students will have:
• A grounding in Translation Studies theory, as applicable to the study of non-Western translation traditions and the history of translation;
• Knowledge of key characteristics of the Tokugawa and Meiji periods;
• An understanding of the role of translation in Japan before and after the Meiji Revolution (1868);
• Knowledge of Japanese engagement with East Asia and the West from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century.

• By the end of the module, students will be able to:
• Think critically about the application of Translation Studies theory to the study of non-Western translation traditions, and to the study of history;
• Situate individual translations and translators in relation to broader social and political developments;
• Articulate historically and theoretically-informed arguments about cross-cultural contact, language, society, and politics in Tokugawa and Meiji Japan.

• By the end of this module students will:
• have improved their skills in the acquisition and interpretation of information through reading and research, as well as in general written and oral communication skills
• have increased their ability to work independently in order to complete summative assessments to deadlines, providing research-led interpretations and solutions to questions and problems posed by the module topics and in-class discussions

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• The module will be taught intensively in Term 1 or Terms 2/3 on a 'short-fat' basis
• Weekly lectures will deliver key information on the module.
• Weekly seminars with smaller groups will allow for active discussion.
• The summative essays are based on topics covered during the first two thirds of the term.
• The examination covers work carried out throughout the term.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Seminar presentations

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University