Cold War Cultures in Asia

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2015:

170 hours

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry.The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

From the Americanisation of Japan, to China and Indonesia’s increasingly strident anti-imperialism, this subject explores how the Cold War impacted on cultural and ideological expression in Asia. The subject will focus on case studies from Japan, China and Indonesia from the period 1945 to 1989. Possible topics include the American occupation of Japan and the purge of the political left, the cultures emanating from Japanese anti-nuclear activism, The Soviet Union and Chinese culture in the 1950s, International relations and the art of propaganda under Mao, Sport in China's Cold War: from GANEFO (Games of the New Emerging Forces) to the Olympics, Indonesian anti-imperialism under Sukarno and Afro-Asian solidarity, Indonesian cultures of anti-communism. The subject will explore how the alternative modernities of capitalism and communism were embraced or contested in daily life, cultural performances, sport, film, television, newspapers and political discourse. We will interrogate how fears about the contaminating cultural influence of alternative ideologies shaped local, national and transnational cultures. Students will engage with approaches to cultural, political and transnational history and draw extensively on translated primary documents.

Students who complete this subject will:

• Understand how the Cold War impacted on cultural and ideological expression in Asia, and how Asian culture and ideology shaped the Cold War;
• Comprehend the global, regional and national factors that helped produce Cold War cultures in Asia;
• Be conversant with scholarship in the field of New Cold War histories, which seeks to de-centre studies of the Cold War;
• Be able to analyse primary and secondary sources in constructing historical arguments;
• Demonstrate research skills through competent use of the library and other information sources;
• Show critical thinking and analysis through recommended reading, essay writing, and tutorial discussion, and by determining the strength of an argument.

A document exercise 1500 words, 35% (due mid semester) and a research essay 2500 words, 65% (due in the examination period).

Hurdle requirement: students must attend a minimum of 75% of tutorials in order to pass this subject. Assessment submitted late without an approved extension will be penalised at 10% per day; after five days, no late assessment will be accepted. In-class tasks missed without approval will not be marked. All pieces of written work must be submitted to pass this subject.

Subject readings will be available online

This subject potentially can be taken as a breadth subject component for the following courses:

• Bachelor of Biomedicine
• Bachelor of Commerce
• Bachelor of Environments
• Bachelor of Music
• Bachelor of Science

You should visit learn more about breadth subjects and read the breadth requirements for your degree, and should discuss your choice with your student adviser, before deciding on your subjects.