AMST 212 – Contemporary American Global Issues
Spring 2010
“The United States in the Pacific Basin”
Course Syllabus
Miguel Llora, MA

Instructor: Miguel Llora, Department of American Studies
Office: Moore Hall 302
E-mail: llora@hawaii.edu
Office Hours: TTH from 3:00 pm to 4:30pm – I am also available by appointment

Course Description: This interdisciplinary course is designed to introduce the student to the diverse cultures, histories, societies, and sub-regions that comprise the Pacific Basin. During the course of the semester students will also examine contemporary issues, such as economic relations, migration and trafficking, the emergence of regional institutions, as well as the impact of America on globalization, democratization, transnationalism, and the environment in the Pacific Basin. The starting point for our enquiry is a survey of the Pacific Basin from the ‘Age of Discovery’ to the present, focusing on the geography, history, cultures and societies of the region. Given the sheer scale and diversity of the Pacific region and its peoples, students will analyze the stages in the structuring of the ‘idea’ of a Pacific region over historical time. In the process, special emphasis will be on “human activities” in and around the Pacific as the principal actors that have continuously formed and transformed both the region itself and the ‘idea’ of a Pacific Basin. The Pacific has been referred to variously as a “Spanish Lake,” an “ EnglishLake,” even a “ Russian Lake,” referring to the early influence of Spanish, English and Russian explorers and entrepreneurs in the region. Most recently, during the period immediately following the Pacific War, it was referred to as an “ American Lake.” An important aim of the course is for students to identify and analyze competing interests in the region, their impact on peoples living in and around the Pacific, and the resulting cultural, political, and economic transformations that have taken place.

Goals and Objectives :
This course is organized around a number of class specific student learning outcomes (SLO):
1. To analyze the role of imperialism and colonialism in the formation of the concept ideas of the Pacific Basin;
2. To develop a critical awareness of the problematic nature of the “ Pacific Basin”
3. To develop an understanding of the diversity that characterizes this part of the world;
4. To develop oral and written skills through the practices of presentation and argumentation;
5. To develop fundamental research and organizational skills;
6. To gain an awareness of the extent to which issues of history and historical memory continue to inform the political economy of the Pacific Basin

Student Learning Outcomes (SLO): Moreover, the Department of American Studies has established SLOs for undergraduates in the program. The department’s goal is to ensure undergraduates in AMST courses are able to reach these outcomes through courses such as this. The department’s SLOs are:

1. Substantial knowledge of American history, society, and culture, as well as a basic appreciation of different scholarly approaches to American Studies.
2. Critical thinking skills necessary to analyze a variety of cultural artifacts (literature, primary documents, film, music, etc.), as well as historical and present-day sociopolitical issues.
3. Competence in scholarly writing and oral communication.
4. Basic research skills, including advanced research skills in one area of specialization (majors only).

This course is designed to contribute to these SLOs through a critical analysis of primary documents, films, and monographs on a variety of topics that engage contemporary American issues as they relate to the rest of the world. As it is also a Writing Intensive (W) course, it will contribute to the University of Hawaii’s SLOs for written communication.

Course Requirements: Regular attendance – You must come to class on time and prepared to discuss the reading(s) assigned for that day. Only illness will be accepted as an excuse for absence. In case of illness, please submit a note from a doctor or a nurse. KOKUA: Any student who feels s/he may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact me privately to discuss your specific needs. Please contact on campus the KOKUA Program at (808) 956-7511 located at the Student Services Centeron the ground floor, Room 013 to coordinate reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities.

Note on Academic Integrity: This course will deal with controversial issues, and over the course of the semester, we will find that many of us hold different views. This should not stop you from fully expressing your opinions and even challenge your peers. However, please remain respectful of others’ viewpoints and avoid mixing intellectual with personal attacks. All of your writing must be your own. Be sure to cite where appropriate the work of others. For an explanation of what constitutes plagiarism, please refer to the section on academic integrity in the UH Manoa catalog (http://www.catalog.hawaii.edu/about-uh/campus-policies1.htm). If you have questions concerning citations and other issues in your writing, please contact me by email at any time.

Assessments:
1. 1 final paper (3 to 5 pages, total 40%)
2. 5 reaction papers (2 to 3 pages each, total 30%)
3. Map Exercise (5%)
4. What You Learned Exercise (5%)
5. Discussion/Participation and Attendance (20%)*
*The 20% "Discussion/Participation and Attendance" is broken down to include: 10% Attendance, 5% summary/presentation on a meeting/topic, and 5% one page write-up of your summary/presentation.
6. Class attendance: If you miss four classes, you will automatically receive a grade of D. If you miss five classes, you will automatically receive a grade of F.

Written Assignments: All papers must be typewritten or word-processed, carefully spell-checked and proofread, and free of grammatical, syntactical, or typographical errors. Papers containing an inordinate number of such errors will be returned un-read and penalized for lateness (5%). Please ensure that you back up all files; ‘I lost the file, or the cat ate my paper’, do not justify failure to complete written assignments on time. The first Reaction Paper may be re-written at the student’s discretion. If you make use of a course text, or texts, be sure to cite all sources that you use (in footnotes or in parenthesis within the text). You need not include a bibliography with your essay unless you use sources that are not part of the course readings.

Week 1: Introductory Session and the Contours of Contact

1/12/2010: Course Introduction
1/14/2010: Reading : Restall, Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest, Chapter 3 (pp. 44-63) and Film: Guns, Germs and Steel

Week 2: Europeans in the “New World ”

1/19/2010: Reading : Calloway, New Worlds for All, Chapters 1 (pp. 8-23)
1/21/2010: Film: The Great Inca Rebellion (or New World)

Suggested: Buffington and Caimari, Keen's Latin American Civilization, Chapters 1 and 2

Map Exercise Due: Using any standard atlas, create a sketch map of the Pacific Basin, including North, Central, Australasia, and Latin America (Pacific side only). This map is for your personal use, so make it legible, consistent in scale, and portable. Include and label the following features:
1) The Capital Cities of Each Country,
2) Principal Language, or Languages Spoken in Each Country,
and 3) Predominant Religion, or Religions of Each Country.

Week 3: Bottom Up Revolutions

1/26/2010: Reading: Knight, Franklin W. “The Haitian Revolution.” American Historical Review 105, no.1 (2000): 103-115.
1/28/2010: Film: Égalité for All: Toussaint L’Ouverture and the Haitian Revolution

Suggested: Rodriguez O., Jaime E. “The Emancipation of America.” American Historical Review 105, no.1 (2000): 131-152.

Week 4: Euro-American Images and Pacific Realities

2/02/2010: Reading: Lindstrom, “Images of Islanders in Pacific War Photographs”
2/04/2010: Film:The Mission (or History of Micronesia)

Suggested: Pomerantz, The Great Divergence Chapter 1 (pp. 3-27)

Reaction Paper I Due: “Guns, Germs and Steel” – Assess your response/s to this documentary.
What does it tell us about the evolution of the modern World Order?
According to Diamond, what processes led to Euro-American domination?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of Diamond’s arguments?

Week 5: Traders and Missionaries in the Asia Pacific and Asian Explorations

2/09/2010: Reading: Cooper, They Came to Japan (pp. 53-66, 189-199, and 229-243)
2/11/2010: Film: Black Robe (or 1421 - The Year China Discovered America)

Suggested: Hsieh, Chiao-Min. “Geographical Exploration by the Chinese”

Week 6: Asian Migrations across the Pacific and Plantation Life in Hawaii

2/16/2010: Reading : Chan, Asian Americans: An Interpretive History, Chapter 1 (pp. 25-42)
2/18/2010: Film: Picture Bride (or Mabuhay to Aloha) (DVD in Personal Collection)

Suggested: Takaki, Strangers from a Different Shore, Chapter 4 (pp. 132-176)

Reaction Paper II Due: Compare and contrast how the initial period of contact between Europeans and ‘Native’ Americans is treated in two of the following four films: “New World ”, “The Mission”, “Black Robe”, and “The Great Inca Rebellion.”
What factor/s do you think account/s for any differences and/or similarities between these films?
Are there examples of bias that you can identify in the films?

Week 7 The United States as Colonial Power; the Philippines and The Colonial Economy

2/23/2010: Reading: Karnow, In Our Image, Chapter 8 (pp. 196-226)
2/25/2010: Film: Hawaii’s Last Queen (or Massie Affair) [Available on You Tube]

Week 8 The Asian ‘Other’ in Early 20th Century America and The Fourteen-Year War in the Pacific

3/02/2010: Reading : Dower, War without Mercy, Chapters 3 (pp. 33-73)
3/04/2010: Film: Why We Fight (or The Cheat) (DVD in Personal Collection)

Suggested: Dower, War without Mercy, Chapters 2 (pp. 15-32)

Reaction Paper III Due : Taking into account the readings from Chan and Takaki, what was your reaction to the film ‘Picture Bride”? Was it believable?
Why?
Why not?

Week 9 Images of the “Asiatic” Enemy and Atomic Warfare and the Pax Americana

3/09/2010: Reading : Dower, Embracing Defeat, Chapters 9 (pp. 277-301)
3/11/2010: Film: Atomic Café (or Hell in the Pacific)

Suggested: Dower, Embracing Defeat, Chapters 1 (pp. 33-64)

Akira
Kaneda is a bike gang leader whose close friend Tetsuo gets involved in a government secret project known as Akira. On his way to save Tetsuo, Kaneda runs into a group of anti-government activists, greedy politicians, irresponsible scientists and a powerful military leader. The confrontation sparks off Tetsuo's supernatural power leading to bloody death, a coup attempt and the final battle in Tokyo Olympiad where Akira's secrets were buried 30 years ago.

Week 10 The Asian Financial Crisis and The Looting of Asia

3/16/2010: Reading: Klein, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, “The Looting of Asia” Chapter 13 (pp. 332-354).
3/18/2010: Film: The Ascent of Money (or The Corporation)

Suggested: Stiglitz, Globalization and Its Discontents, Chapter 4 (pp. 89-132).

Spring Break 3/22 to 2/26 2010

Week 11 Sentimental Imperialists: America in Asia

3/30/2010: Reading: Gibney, The Pacific Century, Chapter 17 (pp. 451-478).
4/01/2010: Film: The Pacific Century: Sentimental Imperialists: Americain Asia (VHS in Personal Collection)

Reaction Paper IV Due : Compare and contrast the images of the enemy in “Why We Fight” and “Atomic Cafe.”
What factors account for the differences and similarities to be found in these films?
Use readings both War Without Mercy and Embracing Defeat from Dower.

Week 12 The Korean War; causes and consequences and the Contours of Post-1945 Globalization

4/06/2010: Reading : Cumings, The Origins of the Korean War, Preface (pp. xix-xxxi) and Chapter 1 (pp. 3-38)
4/08/2010 : Film: Joint Security Area (JSA) (or Tae Guk Gi – The Brotherhood of War, or Shiri)

	1999 - Shiri In 1999, Shiri drew an esttimated 6.2 million admissions nationwide. Also, first year that a local film outsold an import "The Mummy" and outsold the 1998 blockbuster Titanic.
	2000 - Joint Security Area In 2000, Joiint Security Area drew an estimated 5.8 million admissions nationwide.
	2004 - Taegukgi Being the director of aa watershed hit like Shiri (1999) can give you some strong advantages when making your next film. It gives you the ability to attract top-name actors and crew. It becomes much easier to raise large sums of money from investors. Park Chan-wook (JSA) and Kwak Kyung-taek (Friend) chose to shoot smaller, more personal works after their record-breaking hits, but Kang Je-gyu took full advantage of his position and aimed for the stars. Taegukgi, which premiered close to five years after Shiri, ranks as the most expensive Korean film ever at $12.8 million.

Week 13 American Culture and Globalization: McDonald’s as Transnationalism and Global Economies and the Pacific Basin

4/13/2010: Reading: Watson, Golden Arches East, Introduction (pp. 1-38)
4/15/2010: Film: The Pacific Century: Big Business and the Ghost of Confucius (Available on Google Video)

Reaction Paper V Due: What does the film “Joint Security Area (JSA)” tell us about contemporary Korean society? Why could this film not have been made in the 1970s, 1980s, or even the 1990s?

Week 14 Globalization, Development, and Transnational Migration

4/20/2010: Reading: Castles and Miller (eds.) The Age of Migration, Chapter 6, (pp. 141-161)
4/22/2010: Film: Wal-Mart, the High Cost of Low Price or (Mojados – Through the Night)

Week 15 The Problem of History: The Pacific War and its Remembrance

4/27/2010: Reading: Hein and Selden, Censoring History, Chapters 1 (pp. 3-52)
4/29/2010: Film: Nanking (DVD in Personal Collection)

What You Learned Exercise: (Email in)
Discuss what you learned from the class discussions, videos, and lectures.
Has this class changed or confirmed your opinion/understanding of America’s role in the PacificBasin?
How?

Week 16 The Pacific Century: The Future of the Pacific Basin

5/04/2010: Reading : Gibney, The Pacific Century, Chapter 20 (pp. 534-567)

Film: The Pacific Century: The Future of the Pacific Basin (VHS in Personal Collection)

Final Paper Due: Hardcopy is due 05/04/2010:
Final Paper: The Final Paper for this course takes the form of a research paper 3 to 5 pages in length.
Students are to select one of the Pacific Basin countries (other than the United States, or Canada) and provide an analysis of one or a combination of the following themes:
(1) the impact of colonialism;
(2) nationalism;
(3) nation state formation and civil society;
(4) human rights;
(5) economic development;
(6) environmental protection;
(7) indigenous people(s); or (8) the impact of globalization on the target country.
Be sure to cite all sources that you use (in footnotes or in parenthesis within the text), and be sure that you have evidence for all of your arguments and conclusions. You will need to include a bibliography of all sources used. In completing the Final Paper, you should bear the following in mind:
1) Work from an outline that has been approved by the professor,
2) Make an early start, and 3) Use MLA style for footnotes.