The Wages of Empire: The Russo-Japanese War and National Identity
(Cultural Studies/Globalization Studies)
Instructors:
John Kopper, Professor of Russian and Comparative Literature
John.M.Kopper@Dartmouth.EDU
Dennis Washburn, Associate Professor of Japanese and Comparative Literature
Dennis.Washburn@Dartmouth.EDU
Schedule: Monday/Wednesday/Friday, 12:30 – 1:45pm
Location: TBA
Description:
One hundred years ago Japan and Russia clashed in a war that had cataclysmic effects for both. The catastrophe of Russian defeat and the stunning success of Japan’s war effort inspired debates in both countries about ethnicity and nationhood, and the relationship of these concepts to ideas of the state and citizenship. These questions were framed against the backdrop of European civilization, whose values and technology offered the Russians and Japanese an easy path to modernization but threatened their sense of cultural purity.
Looking at the crisis of 1905 through literature, film and original documents, we will study the events leading to the emergence of two of the century’s greatest imperial powers.
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