ASIAN 1109

FWS: Connected Cities in Asia, 16th-18th Centuries

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2024-2025 Catalog.

What can a tour of Asian cities teach us about early modern globalization? We will learn the fundamentals of good writing by learning about the key port cities of the Indo-Pacific in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Our exploration will trace the bustling activities, scandals, and diplomatic endeavors in cities such as Nagasaki, Macau, Manila, Batavia, Acapulco, and beyond. We will write about the people and peoples "in motion" who encountered one another in these contact zones, including multi-ethnic pirates; Asian merchants in the Americas; samurai in Southeast Asia; and exiled Japanese Christians. By the end of the course, you will have deepened your understanding of the course material and the writing process through weekly "Quite Writes" and five formal essays.

When Offered Spring.

Satisfies Requirement First-Year Writing Seminar.

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