Why die for one’s country? An historical exploration of patriotism (love of country) from its late medieval European origins to early twentieth-century reception in East Asia.
This paper examines the historical origins of patriotism in late medieval scholasticism and military practice and traces the development of the idea in Renaissance Italy, seventeenth-century England and revolutionary France, before turning to the Japanese and Chinese reception of it in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The aim of the paper is thus to understand how and why patriotism was shaped and came to be glorified in the European political tradition and was assimilated through linguistic and cultural translation by East Asian societies. This course is designed for students who are interested in late medieval and early modern European history, modern East Asian history, global history and the history of ideas.
| Paper title | Patriotism: From Joan of Arc to Kamikaze |
|---|---|
| Paper code | HIST341 |
| Subject | History |
| EFTS | 0.15 |
| Points | 18 points |
| Teaching period | Semester 1 (On campus) |
| Domestic Tuition Fees (NZD) | $955.05 |
| International Tuition Fees | Tuition Fees for international students are elsewhere on this website. |
- Prerequisite
- 36 200-level points
- Schedule C
- Arts and Music
- Contact
Professor Takashi Shogimen - takashi.shogimen@otago.ac.nz
- More information link
- Teaching staff
Co-ordinator and Lecturer: Professor Takashi Shogimen
- Paper Structure
In the first two thirds of the course, we survey the history of patriotism (love of country) in Western Europe from the Middle Ages to the French Revolution. In the final third of the course, we explore the reception of patriotism in Japan in the late nineteenth century and the dissemination of patriotism from Japan to China in the early twentieth century.
Assessment:
- Research Essay - 30%
- Tutorial Test - 20%
- Oral Presentation - 10%
- Final Exam/Test - 40%
- Textbooks
No textbooks required.
- Course outline
Available via Blackboard.
- Graduate Attributes Emphasised
- Global perspective, Interdisciplinary perspective, Scholarship, Communication, Critical
thinking, Cultural understanding, Ethics, Research.
View more information about Otago's graduate attributes. - Learning Outcomes
Students who successfully complete this paper will:
- Develop scholarly skills, including the ability to ask relevant questions, interpret and critique written primary and secondary sources, construct arguments, and clearly communicate ideas
- Understand key concepts, contexts in which they were discussed, and the historical changes of the use of the vocabularies of patriotism cross-culturally
- Appreciate the ways in which patriotic discourses worked in the historical contexts, thus gaining an understanding of their potential in current political and moral debates
- Develop awareness of the key methodologies employed in (global) intellectual history by engaging critically with selected secondary sources
- Demonstrate analytical skills by developing appropriate approaches to different types of primary sources and critically engaging with select secondary sources
