The Cold War in East Asia
HIST 5375 Section 01
Spring 2015
T 7:10-9:55
ARHU 258
Instructor: Robert Hoppens
Office: COAS 343 C
E-mail: [email protected]
Office Hours: TR 10 am-noon; 4-5 pm and by appointment
History and Philosophy webpage: http://www.panam.edu/dept/hist-phil/
Course Description: Access to new archival sources, combined with new historiographical approaches over the past two
decades has reinvigorated the field of Cold War history. In this course we will explore some of the studies produced in
this field as they pertain to the Cold War in East Asia. We will read a series of recent books and articles on the Cold War
experiences of China, Korea and Japan. Readings will focus on the diplomatic history of the Cold War in the region, but
we will also read works that deal with the social and cultural consequences of the Cold War.
Required Texts:
Robert J. McMahon. The Cold War: A Very Short Introduction. (Oxford University Press, 2003) ISBN: 9780192801784
CHEN Jian, Mao’s China and the Cold War. (University of North Carolina Press, 2000) ISBN: 9780807849323
Lorenz Luthi, The Sino-Soviet Split: Cold War in the Communist World. (Princeton University Press, 2008) ISBN:
9780691135908
William Stueck, Rethinking the Korean War: A New Diplomatic and Strategic History. (Princeton University Press, 2004)
ISBN: 9780691118475
Qiang ZHAI. China and the Vietnam Wars, 1950-1975. (University of North Carolina Press, 2000) ISBN:
9780807848425
Matthew Jones, After Hiroshima: The United States, Race and Nuclear Weapons in Asia, 1945-1965 (Cambridge
University Press, 2010) ISBN: 9781107411487
Michael Szonyi, Cold War Island: Quemoy on the Front Line (Cambridge University Press, 2008) ISBN: 9780521726405
Tessa Morris-Suzuki, Exodus to North Korea: Shadows from Japan’s Cold War (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2007)
ISBN: 9780742554429
Additional Readings:
All other required readings will be provided electronically.
Course Requirements:
Class discussion and participation: The success and usefulness of any graduate seminar depends overwhelmingly on the
careful preparation and active participation of the graduate students. Students will be expected to have completed all
readings to be discussed each week. Attendance is mandatory and any absence without a good, documented excuse
will negatively affect students’ participation and final course grade.
To participate effectively in discussion, I suggest you prepare a set of detailed notes ahead of each week’s class that
includes the readings’ main arguments, passages and points that particularly strike along with page numbers that can
easily direct others to relevant passages in the text. Finally, you should be prepared with some significant questions
and/or criticisms raised by each work.
Discussion leader responsibilities: Each week one or two student volunteers will lead discussion, giving a short (5-10
minutes) presentation that states the main point or thesis of the work (or works), as well as criticisms, observations,
significant questions and/or comparisons with previous works that will spark productive discussion. Discussion
leaders may assume that others have completed the readings and need not engage in extensive summarization that
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does not add new, personal analysis and interpretation. All students will be expected to volunteer to act as discussion
leaders.
Response Papers: For each reading (book or article) students will submit a 2 page (double-spaced) response paper that
succinctly identifies the main argument or key theme of the book or article and critically responds to that argument by
assessing the work’s importance, challenging certain points of the work, comparing it to other works we have read
and/or raising questions you find particularly stimulating. The response paper should be a brief, succinct, critical
response showing that you have thoroughly read and thought critically about each assigned work and how they are
related. As such, it should not be a summary of the readings. Assume that I and all other students will have read the
work.
The first paragraph of your response paper should state, as precisely and succinctly as possible, the main argument,
thesis or key theme of each work.
The purpose of response papers is to ensure that students have carefully read and thought about the assigned readings
and to prepare students to contribute meaningfully to class discussion so bring up in your response paper ideas,
criticisms and questions you think will advance discussion.
Consider questions such as (but not limited to): What are the main points of each work? What are the main issues,
problems or controversies that each work addresses? What methods or evidence does the author use to come to their
conclusions? Are there any problems (of logic, sources, evidence, bias) with the work? How does the work compare
to others we have read? Does it address similar or disparate topics? Does it come to similar conclusions? Do different
approaches or sources lead to similar or different conclusions? Does the work challenge what you think are commonly
held preconceptions? Is there a subsidiary point that comes up in the reading that you think deserves greater attention?
Why?
For quotes, ideas and evidence from the assigned readings, include the author’s last name and page numbers in
parentheses in text. Include full citations in footnotes or endnotes for any outside source you draw on, including
websites, with consistent notation, preferably Chicago style.
Please submit two copies of each response paper. One copy should be submitted through the course Blackboard page
by 5pm on class day. A second hard copy should be submitted in class. The hard copy will form the basis for class
discussion and will be the official submission that will count in you course grade. The lowest response paper grade
will be dropped. Dropped passing grades will earn extra credit.
Syllabus Exercise: Each student will prepare a syllabus for a course on the Cold War in East Asia. More details will be
provided in class.
Extended Review Essay: Students will write a 10 page paper that identifies and critically reviews several works (books
and articles) on a chosen topic related to the history of the Cold War in East Asia. More details and a guide to writing
the essay will be provided in class.
Mandatory Course Evaluations: Students are required to complete an ONLINE evaluation of this course, accessed
through your UTPA account (https://my.utpa.edu/). You will be contacted through e-mail with further instructions on
the evaluation process. The evaluation window closes at 11:59 pm on the last day of classes for the semester. Students
who complete their evaluations will have priority access to their grades.
Grading:
Final course grades will be calculated as follows:
Discussion and Participation
20%
Response Papers
35%
Extended Review Essay
35%
Syllabus Exercise
10%
A=90% and above
B=89-80
C=79-70
D=69-60
Fail=below 60
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Standards for Evaluation of Participation and Writing:
Participation
A = Outstanding
Active and voluntary participation in all
discussions, focused leader of discussions,
constructive comments, displays consistent indepth preparation
B = Very good, showing Active participation in most discussions,
improvement over time
consistent preparation, useful contributions to
discussion
C = average, adequate
Participation in most discussions, little value
added to discussion, lapses in preparation
Unsatisfactory
Minimal preparation or contribution to
discussion
Writing
Clear points supported by references to
readings, proper citation, consistently clear
writing style characterized by careful
attention to detail
Generally clear points, lapses in style, form
and support for points, but improvement on
these points over time
Inconsistency in clarity of argument, style
and form, shaky support for arguments,
consistently repeating the same mistake
Consistent lack of clarity, minimal support
for arguments, minimal improvement over
time
Course Policies:
Late and Make-up Work: Any late submissions will be severely penalized by at least a one full-grade deduction.
Academic Integrity: Academic integrity is fundamental to the activities and principles of a university. All members of the
community must be confident that each person’s work has been responsibly and honorably acquired, developed, and
presented. Any effort to gain an advantage not given to all students is dishonest whether or not the effort is successful.
The academic community regards academic dishonesty as an extremely serious matter, with consequences that range
from probation to expulsion. Copying from others, displaying a test or notes for others to see, attempting to
communicate in any manner with another student during an exam, or plagiarism are among those behaviors that will
result in a zero score for any students involved and also will be reported to University officials. Moreover, any such
activity will automatically result in failing the course. When in doubt about plagiarism, paraphrasing, quoting, or
collaboration, consult the course instructor.
Accessibility: If you have a documented disability which will make it difficult for you to carry out the work as I have
outlined and/or if you need special accommodations or assistance due to a disability, please contact Disability Services,
University Center, Room 108 ([email protected]) immediately, or the Associate Director at 665-7005.
Appropriate arrangements/accommodations can be arranged.
Communication: Per UTPA policy, all email communication between the UTPA faculty and staff and students must be
conducted through official University-supplied Bronc Mail accounts. Therefore, please use your UTPA assigned Bronc
Mail for any correspondence with UTPA faculty and staff. Other emails may be blocked by the spam filter. You are
responsible for the consequences of an undelivered or delayed email that are blocked by the spam filter. For online
courses students should use the email system in Blackboard.
Course Schedule
NOTE: This schedule may be amended with advance notice.
Week 1: January 20
Introduction
Week 2: January 27 Cold War Review
McMahon. The Cold War: A Very Short Introduction
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Week 3: February 3 Cold War Historiography
Cold War Study Guide Due
Chapter Ten “The New Cold War History: First Impressions,” in John Lewis Gaddis, We Now Know: Rethinking Cold
War History, (University of North Carolina Press, 1997)
Melvyn P. Leffler, “The Cold War: What Do ‘We Now Know’?” American Historical Review 104/2 (April, 1999)
Saki R. Dockrill and Geraint Hughes, eds., Palgrave Advances in Cold War History, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006),
“Introduction: The Cold War as History,” Chapter 2, “National Security and National Interest,” and Chapter 9, “Culture”
Yafeng XIA, “The Study of Cold War International History in China: A Review of the Last Twenty Years,” Journal of
Cold War Studies 10/1 (Winter 2008) 81-115
“Purpose and Policy Statements” Bulletin of the Committee of Concerned Asian Scholars 2/1 (October-December 1969),
8-9.
Bruce Cumings, “Boundary Displacement: The State, the Foundations, and International and Area Studies During and
after the Cold War,” in Cumings, Parallax Visions: Making Sense of American-East Asian Relations at the end of the
Century, (Duke University Press, 1999), 173-204.
* For discussion in Week 2 be prepared to address the following topics: What have been the main disagreements or
controversies in Cold War studies? What accounts for these disagreements? What topics or issues have scholars
been concerned with and how has this changed over time?
China
Week 4: February 10
Chen, Mao’s China and the Cold War
Response Paper 1
Week 5: February 17
Luthi, The Sino-Soviet Split
Response Paper 2
Week 6: February 24
Szonyi, Cold War Island
Response Paper 3
The Korean War and Korean Division
Week 7: March 3
Response Paper 4
Bruce Cummings, Korea’s Place in the Sun: A Modern History, (W.W. Norton & Company, 1997), Chapters 4 & 5
William Stueck, Rethinking the Korean War
Week 8: March 10
Response Paper 5
Michael Schaller, “The Korean War: The Economic and Strategic Impact on Japan,” in William Stueck ed., The Korean
War in World History, (University Press of Kentucky, 2004) 145-176.
Lisa M. Brady, “Life in the DMZ: Turning a Diplomatic Failure into an Environmental Success,” Diplomatic History,
32/4 (September, 2008) 585-611
Bruce Cumings, Korea’s Place in the Sun, Chapters 6 and 7
Gregg Andrew Brazinsky, “From Pupil to Model: South Korea and American Development Policy during the Early Park
Chung Hee Era,” Diplomatic History 29/1 (January 2005) 83-115
Charles K. Armstrong, “‘Fraternal Socialism’: The International Reconstruction of North Korea, 1953-1962,” Cold War
History 5/2 (May 2005) 161-187
NO CLASS: March 17 Spring Break
Week 9: March24
Jones, After Hiroshima
Response Paper 6
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The Vietnam War
Week 10: March 31
Zhai, China and the Vietnam Wars, 1950-1975
Response Paper 7
Week 11: April 7
Response Paper 8
Nicholas Evan Sarantakes, “In the Service of the Pharaoh? The United States and the Deployment of Korean Troops in
Vietnam, 1965-1968,” Pacific Historical Review 68/3 (August 1999) 425-449
Remco Breuker, “Korea’s Forgotten War: Appropriating and Subverting the Vietnam War in Korean Popular Imaginings,”
Korean Histories 1/1 (2009) 36-59
James Llewelyn, “Balancing Okinawa’s Return with American Expectations: Japan and the Vietnam War, 1965-1975,”
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific 10/2 (2010) 305-342
Odd Arne Westad, “Introduction: From War to Peace to War in Indochina,” in Westad and Sophie Quinn-Judge eds., The
Third Indochina War: Conflict between China, Vietnam and Cambodia, 1972-1979, (Routledge, 2006), 1-11.
Xiaoming ZHANG, “China’s 1979 War with Vietnam: A Reassessment,” The China Quarterly 184 (December 2005)
851-874
Japan
Week 12: April 14
Hoppens, The China Problem in Postwar Japan
Response Paper 9
Week 13: April 21
Morris-Suzuki, Exodus to North Korea
Response Paper 10
Week 14: April 28
Response Paper 11
Barak Kushner and SATO Masaharu, “Digesting Postwar Japanese Media,” Diplomatic History, 29/1 (January 2005), 2748.
Hiroshi KITAMURA, “Exhibition and Entertainment: Hollywood and the American Reconstruction of Defeated Japan,”
in Jeffrey Engel, ed. Local Consequences of the Global Cold War (Stanford University Press, 2007) 33-56
NOTE: Wednesday, April 29 last day to drop or withdraw
Week 15: May 5
Syllabus Exercise Due
Extended Review Essay Due Friday, May 15
5pm
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