GEOGRAPHY ENVS 333/EAST 333

EAST ASIA

INSTRUCTOR: PATRICK BUCKLEY, Prof.

Office: AH 222

OFFICE HOURS click here

Phone: 650-4773 (office)

E-mail :

READINGS: This course will follow a topical approach (see list below), a wide variety of readings and videos have been selected and are available either in the assigned textbooks, or additional readings through the Web, Canvas reserves, or otherwise mentioned in class.

BOOKS TO BUY

Kingston, Jeff. 2012. 2nd edition. Contemporary Japan: history, politics, and social change since the 1980s. Wiley-Blackwell: Malden MA. ISBN-10: 1118315073 ISBN-13: 978-1118315071

Starr, John Bryan. 2010. third edition. Understanding China: A Guide to China's Economy, History, and Political Structure. Hill and Wang: New York. 10- 0809016516 ISBN-13: 978-0809016518

Ebook on line from Wilson Library -- Jolivet, Muriel. 1997. Japan: The Childless Society? Routledge: New York. 0-415-14647-X

EBook on line from Wilson Library -- Kingston, Jeff, editor.2014. “Critical Issues in Contemporary Japan” note this is an earlier edition of Kingston’s book so it will not have all the readings we will be covering.

ADDITIONAL READINGS

Available as noted above

THEME: East Asia contains about a quarter of the world's population and following the earlier lead of Japan is rapidly industrializing. Given the pressures on the limited space during this process many social and environmental issues are arising both locally and throughout the world. In addition, gender roles in East Asia have been under great stress within recent years contributing to great changes in demographics. Finally, although both Japan and China have overwhelming majorities, minority populations are playing an ever growing role in these societies, geographically in China and demographically in Japan as immigration slowly becomes accepted. From an America standpoint, our own region is continually increasing its ties to East Asia, thus an understanding of this region is essential to our own wellbeing.

GOALS OF THE COURSE: Broad exposure to what the "place" East Asia is from a physical, cultural, demographic, family, ethnic, and environmental viewpoint. This will be viewed through the following areas:

OUTLINE OF TOPICS TO BE COVERED

Week 1-5 Setting, Place, Environment: Human and Physical Geographic Overview

Week 6 Society & Culture: Confucian underpinnings of East Asia

Week 7 Society: Demographics

Week 7 Society: Changing role of Women & Family

Week 8 Ethnic Minorities: Geographic locations, accommodations, and stresses

Week 9 Environment: Footprint of industrialization and clean-up

Week 10 Class presentations

Learning outcomes -- see end of syllabus

GRADING: Final Grade will be based on the following parts;

  • 2500 pts -- Mid-Term
  • 2500 pts -- Final
  • 2000 pts -- Geographical Short Quizzes (4 total)
  • 1000 pts -- Class Participation, In Class Assignments, and Pop Quizzes
  • 3000 pts -- Group Assignments

Mid-Term & Final

The mid-term and final will be a combination of multiple choice, short answer, and comparative essay, where the students will have some choice of several questions. The questions will be of a general nature providing the student with a fair degree of freedom in deciding how to answer the question. Each is worth 2500 points, total is 5000 points.

Geographical Short Quizzes

Early in the quarter, to create a baseline of information and geographic locations two short multiple choice, short answer, map fill-in quizzes will occur one each for China and Japan (see schedule). In addition, at the end of weeks 8 and 9 there will be short multiple choice, fill-in quizzes focusing on important facts in the readings and lectures. The purpose here is to guarantee that students have adequate knowledge of basic facts about both of these countries to be able to understand the more complex materials being discussed in class. Study guides will be provided for these short quizzes. In the last half of the class two more short quizzes will occur focusing on topics being covered. Study guides will be provided for these short quizzes. Each is worth 250 points, total is 1000 points.

Class Participation, Pop Quizzes, and in Class Activities

Class participation is crucial in a class of this type. This makes it essential that readings be completed before class time. This also makes for a much more invigorating and enjoyable class. Since events unfold extremely rapidly in the modern world, part of the class time may be devoted to a discussion of current events. To gauge class participation, first and foremost attendance is necessary. Pop quizzes based on the assigned readings and/or materials and discussions from previous classes. Pop quizzes will be a combination of “clicker” quizzes using the Socrative software using your computer, smart phone, or a checked-out clicker and short written quizzes usually based on a single question to be answered in a short sentence or two. 1000 points total.

Group Assignments

During the quarter there will be two group assignments, the first based on an environmental issue in China and the second will be a research paper based upon selecting a current issue (list possible topics is provided) facing either China or Japan. You will need to: (1) make a proposal for this assignment, (2) provide an annotated bibliography, (3) provide a progress report, (4) submit a paper, and (5) using a PowerPoint make a presentation to the class. Presentations will be made during the last week of the quarter. Scoring for these assignments are:

  • Assignment 1: 800 pts
  • Assignment 2: 2200 pts for the report and 20pts for the presentation.
  • Total points 3000

Special Opportunity – Strictly Optional

On Saturday May 19th the Association of Washington Geographers (AWG) Spring Meeting will be held at WWU. If your group presents an approved poster at the AWG meeting and individual members maintain a grade of B or higher throughout the class, you will have the option of skipping the final exam on the understanding that you continue to attend all remaining classes until the end of the quarter and actively participate in class discussions, take all remaining quizzes, and make a class presentation in week 10 (which will be based on your previous AWG work). The abstract for such work must be approved by the instructor and submitted to AWG organizers by May 1st and your poster must be approved in final form by Thursday May 17th before printing. You must be in attendance at conference for this special opportunity. Note this option will require accelerated work on your project. A proposal must be discussed and presented to the instructor by the end of week 3, an annotated bibliography by the middle of week 5, and a progress report by week 6.

Letter Grades

Letter grades will follow a curve of the following nature:

 Letter Grades from Points (translated into % from total class points above)

  • A 100 -- 94%
  • A- 93 -- 90
  • B+ 89 -- 86
  • B 85 -- 82
  • B- 81 -- 78
  • C+ 77 -- 74
  • C 73 -- 70
  • C- 69 -- 66
  • D+ 65 -- 62
  • D 61 -- 58
  • D 57 -- 54
  • Fail for anything less

Communication

To keep in contact with all students in this large class, periodically messages, chapter based study notes, any syllabus updates, possible extra credit lectures will be posted on Dr. Buckley's canvas and web page as well as emails alerting students to important changes. However, it is critical that you be available in class since that is the best way to clear-up any questions concerning the class.

My course web page is at: http://faculty.wwu.edu/patrick/

Academic Honesty & Integrity: All university policies concerning honesty and plagiarism will be enforced in the course. You may review plagiarism at the following WWU site http://www.libguides.wwu.edu/plagiarism and academic honesty at http://catalog.wwu.edu/content.php?catoid=5&navoid=463 . see also http://www.wwu.edu/integrity/

"For help and guidance with the academic honesty procedures, students should also contact the Student Life Office." http://www.wwu.edu/dos/stulife/

Plagiarism -- As in any class your work must be your own, copying without complete attribution is plagiarism and will be dealt with as indicated on the WWU website. Further, in general there will be little to no need to quote other sources in this class, if you feel the need to do so ask the instructor first before doing so.

Definitions -- On many assignments in the class I will be asking for you to give a definition to a concept or term in your own words, that means don't use someone else's (not even the instructor's) even if you provide a citation. Such an answer will lose double points.

Cheating of any kind will not be tolerated. I will use all of my abilities to have cheaters expelled from class according to established University guidelines.

Reasonable Accommodation: Please see me if you have disability or accommodation issues and we will work together to find a solution that best meets your specific needs. Federal and state guidelines guarantee the right of students to “reasonable accommodation” for documented disabilities. Keep in mind that university policy indicates that reasonable accommodation for persons with documented disabilities should be established within the first week of class and arranged through Disability Resources for Students: telephone 650-3083; email ; and on the web at Disability Resources http://www.wwu.edu/depts/drs/

Geography Program Student Learning Objectives incorporated into the class

GEOG 1 demonstrate literacy around the concepts of space, place, landscape, and location

· In the first half of the course considerable effort is made through readings, maps and exercises to

o locate the space that has become East Asia,

o introduce the historical geographic record to learn how places like China, Japan, and Korea emerged in these spaces,

O learn the landscape of the spaces especially the importance of mountains, basins, lowlands, and deserts

o illustrate the location of places in this region (such as urban areas, countries, provinces, physical spaces like mountain ranges, rivers, deserts…) both in absolute and relative terms

GEOG 2 demonstrate an understanding of and appreciation for the diversity of national and global cultures;

· Throughout the course illustrations and examples were continuously used to illustrate how different cultures utilize space as they create place

· One week of the course specifically focuses on Confucianism and demonstrates how these concepts permeate present day East Asian society even to the extent of taking an American sport like baseball and making it a truly Japanese sport

GEOG 3 recognize patterns on the earth’s surface and understand the processes that create them;

· In order to understand the landscape of East Asia the first half of the course spends considerable time on areas like plate tectonics, climate, ocean currents… to help the students understand how the current land and sea scape came into existence

GEOG 4 analyze space, place, landscape, location, and human-environment interactions for the purposes of explanation and prediction;

· Throughout the course the relationship between humans and the environment is always in the forefront. In a simple sense where people are and where they are not is directly predicated based on this dynamic.

· Under industrialization and population growth during the past century many stresses have occurred in the human-environment dynamic, multiple times throughout the course we revisit this issue.

Schedule and Reading List

See course web page.