Course Description

This course offers students a survey of comparatist approaches in the discourses on Japanese culture (Nihon bunka ron) from the Meiji period to the present. It introduces students to a wide range of primary sources as well as key debates. The second part of the course focuses on the comparatist approach applied by Ruth Benedict (1887-1948) in the author's famous The Chrysanthemum and the Sword (1946). This lecture is designed to help students to engage in an informed discussion about Japanese culture from a comparatist perspective in their future professions.