Georgetown University

This course offers a historical and cross-regional survey of the entanglements of culture, history, and power in the world’s largest continent, Asia. A historical approach to Asian politics permits us not only to appreciate the myriad ways in which the past shapes the present in different Asian societies, but also how these societies and their pasts are inextricably intertwined. Such an approach also enables us to think through the continent’s changing relationships with Europe or the “West,” which has been a significant presence in Asian politics over at least the past five centuries. 
Following this historical background, we can better appreciate comparisons and contrasts between contemporary East, Southeast, South, and Central Asia. These comparisons and contrasts today may stem from historical disjunctures in some cases and from shared historical inheritances in other cases. Culture, in this sense, is both produced historically and shapes historical outcomes. Likewise, power is shown to be culturally and historically embedded in these societies rather than an abstract imposition from above. We thus avoid a simple presentist approach to Asian societies today, and arguably interpret their states, societies, and economies in greater depth and complexity.