Childhood East and West


History 200/Asian-Pacific Studies 250/Women's Studies 206
Block 3, 1999-2000
Carol Neel/Joan Ericson
 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course will treat the experience of childhood in two cultures separate from the experience of most of its student and faculty participants, the deep European past and recent and contemporary Japan.  It will explore how childhood is perceived and how children are treated in these different cultures; it will also inquire to what extent the adults of an older Europe or of Japan--or we from our different perspective--can come to know how children experience a world crafted for them by their elders.

Working from literature and material artefacts, students will be encouraged to test their own assumptions about what makes for happy childhood and the successful education and socialization of adolescents.  In classroom activities and written assignments, discussion of East Asian and European childhood will extend to wider cultural and social forms.
 

READINGS

The following works or collections, required for the entire class, are available in the College Bookstore.  Several of these works are in print in a variety of translations.  Students are nonetheless urged to use those selected for the class, so that discussion may easily refer to specific passages:

Aries, Philippe.  Centuries of Childhood.
Hanawalt, Barbara.  Growing up in Medieval London.
Zipes, Jack.  Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm.
Sakade, Florence.  Little One Inch.
Miyazawa Kenji.  Milky Way Railroad.
The following articles and excerpts are available for purchase as photocopies in the College Bookstore:
Herlihy, David.  "Medieval Children."
Tanaka, Stephen.  "Childhood:  Naturalization of Development into a Japanese Space."
Marie de France. "Le Fresne."
Boswell, John.  "Expositio and Oblatio."
Linhart, Sepp.  "From 'Kendo' to 'Jan-ken'."
Hoshino Eiki and Takeda Dosho.  "Mizuko Kuyo and Abortion in Contemporary Japan."
Jacobus de Voragine.  "Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary."
Sofue Takao.  "Childhood Ceremonies in Japan:  Regional and Local Variations."
Ozment, Steven.  Excerpt from Magdalena and Balthasar.
Darnton, Robert.  "Peasants Tell Tales."
Hearn, Lafcadio.  Stories from The Selected Writings of Lafcadio Hearn.
Lanham, Betty and Shimura Masao.  "Folktales Commonly Told."
Niwa Akiko.  "The Formation of the Myth of Motherhood in Japan."
Field, Norma.  "The Child as Laborer and Consumer."
The following further materials will be distributed in class in photocopied form:
Murasaki Shikibu.  "Murasaki" chapter from The Tale of Genji.
Higuchi Ichiyo.  "Child's Play."
REQUIREMENTS

Students will be responsible for careful reading and thoughtful consideration, demonstrated in classroom discussion and written work, of all assigned texts.  Final assessment will depend on

  • in-class performance and informal electronic journaling
  • one six- to eight-page paper
  • one quiz and a final examination
with these three categories weighted equally.  All students will be expected to finish assigned readings before class meetings on the day for which they are listed.  No written assignments will be accepted late without prior excuse.  Papers will observe MLA reference form, as set forth in MLA Handbook.
 

SCHEDULE OF CLASS MEETINGS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Discussion titles are indicated below in bold face, written assignments and special scheduling in upper case.  The class will meet in Palmer 217 at 9:30 AM unless otherwise noted.

  • Week 1 (11/1)
Mon.
    Constructing childhood across cultures
    Film 1:30 PM: Wild Child

Tues.
    Framing a European past
    Aries 9-133
    Electronic journaling workshop 1 PM (Tutt Library, Teaching and Learning Center)

Weds.
    Western and Eastern notions of childhood in the deep past
    Aries 339-415; Murasaki
    Calligraphy session 6:30 PM (Asian House)
    Butoh performance 7:30 PM (Armstrong Hall)

Thurs.
    Rethinking childhood's history, West and East
    Herlihy; Tanaka

Fri.
    Quiz 9 AM
    Familial affect in the European Middle Ages
    Marie de France; Boswell

  •  Week 2 (11/8)
Mon.
    Origin of Japanese games and toys
    Linhart; Hoshino and Takeda

Tues.
    Ideal children and real children in Old Europe
    Jacobus de Voragine; Hanawalt 3-88, 177-222

Weds.
    Ritual and community in Japanese childhood
    Sofue; Sakade

Thurs.
    European families in early modernity
    Ozment

Fri.
    Fairy stories and imagination in Europe
    Grimm 1-58

  • Week 3 (11/15)
Mon.
    Fairy stories and real experience in Europe
    Grimm 58-64, 101-105; Darnton

Tues.
    Japanese folk and fairy stories
    Lanham; Hearn; Meiji children's accounts
    Film 1:30 PM: Kwaidan

Weds.
    Views of human nature
    Higuchi
    Fairy story paper (6-8 pp.) due 4 PM
    Film 1:30 PM: Preschool in Three Cultures

Thurs.
    Childhood as fantasy
    Miyazawa (entire text)

Fri.
    Childhood today
    Niwa; Field

  • Week 4 (11/22)
Mon.
    Film: Family Game

Tues.
    Conclusions about comparative childhood experiences
    Afternoon/evening take-home exam

Weds.
    Exam due 9:30 AM
    Brunch discussion