Asia Pacific

Outline [Indicative only -- Refer to the syllabus for a specific semester for the actual course outline.]

Class 1: Introduction to Course: Coming Full Circle

Class 2: Asia in the World
Weightman CH 1

Class 3: Physical Geography: Plates and Straits
Weightman CH 2

Class 4: Physical Geography: The Monsoon
Priit Vesilind (1984) “Monsoons” National Geographic, June: 713-47.

Class 5: Rice
Peter T White (1994) “Rice: The Essential Harvest” National Geographic, May: 48-79.

Class 6: Population Patterns
Weightman CH 3

Class 7: Asian Development
Weightman CH 4

Class 8: Women in Asian Development
1 Cathy McIlwaine (1997) “Fringes or Frontiers? Gender and Export-Oriented Development in the Philippines.” in Uneven Development in South East Asia. Chris Dixon and David Drakakis-Smith [eds]. Ashgate, Aldershot: 100-23.
2 Yayori Matsui (1989) “Women Plantation Workers: Colonial Rule, Past and Present.” in Women's Asia, Zed, London: 21-32.
3 Yayori Matsui (1989) “Sexual Exploitation of Women: Child Prostitution and the Expanding Sex Industry.” in Women’s Asia, Zed, London: 62-74.

Class 9: East Asian Historical Roots
Weightman CH 9

Class 10: Population in China
Weightman CH 10

Class 11: Rural China: 900 Million and the Forces of Change
Sheryl WuDunn (1995) “The Good Earth” in China Wakes: The Struggle for the Soul of a Rising Power. Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. New York, Vintage Books: 158-83.

Class 12: China in the World: Hong Kong and the Special Economic Zones
Chung-Tong Wu (1997) “Globalization of the Chinese Countryside.” in Pacific Rim Development: Integration and Globalization in the Asia-Pacific Economy, ed. Peter J. Rimmer. St Leonards, Allen & Unwin: 57-82.

Class 13: Greater China?
1 Peter Hessler (1999) “Tibet Through Chinese Eyes.” Atlantic Monthly, February: 56-66.
2 Jeffrey Taylor (1999) China’s Wild West.” Atlantic Monthly, September: 22-9.

Class 14: China in the Red

Class 15: EXAM #1

Class 16: Japan’s Postwar Economic Miracle & The Miracle Undone
Weightman 11

Class 17: Urban Japan: Space Constraints
1 Mike Douglass (1993) “The ‘New’ Tokyo Story: Restructuring Space and the Struggle for Place in a World City.” in Japanese Cities in the World Economy, Kuniko Fujita and Richard Child Hill [eds], Philadelphia, Temple University Press: 83-119.
2 Steven Wardell (1994) “Capsule Cure.” Atlantic Monthly, October, 42-7.
3 James Fallows (1989) “Tokyo: The Hard Life.” Atlantic Monthly, March: 16-26.

Class 18: Japan’s Problems: Gray Wave and Gangster Youth
1 Karl Taro Greenfield (1994) “Izumi: The Money Drinkers.” In Speed Tribes. New York, HarperCollins: 1-16.
2 Peter Landers (1998) “Arthritic Nation.” and Eriko Amaha “Baby Blues.” Far Eastern Economic Review, July 16: 10-13.

Class 19: The Korean Peninsula: Division, Development, and Destitution
Orville Schell (1996) “In the Land of the Dear Leader.” Harper’s Magazine, July: 58-66.

Class 20: Taiwan’s Future

Class 21: Southeast Asia: Historical & Geographical Tapestry
Weightman CH 12

Class 22: Thailand & Burma: A Contrast in Neighbors
Weightman CH 13

Class 23: Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia: The Imprint of War

Class 24: Malaysia: Race, Space, and Development
Weightman CH 14

Class 25: Singapore: Asia’s Richest Country

Class 26: Indonesia: Fractious Archipelago
Donald K. Emerson (2000) “Will Indonesia Survive?” Foreign Affairs, 79 (3), May/June: 95-106.

Class 27: The Philippines: Latin/American Asia?
David Craig (1997) “Smoky Mountain: Local and Global Marginality in a Manila Shanty Town.” in Pacific Rim Development: Integration and Globalization in the Asia-Pacific Economy, ed. Peter J. Rimmer. St Leonards, Allen & Unwin: 267-74.

Class 28: EXAM #2