Science Technology Medicine In Modern East Asia

This course will introduce the evolution of science, technology and medicine in East

Asia (STMEA) and its relationship with the making of modern nation-state from the late

19th century to the present. The course will cover central questions in this evolution,

such as the changing approaches to STMEA, the formation of modern scientific

knowledge in the East Asian context, the intimate and complex relationship between

science, democracy, and modernity, the role of science and technology in Japanese

empire building, public health and population policy, and encounters between the West

and East in the transfer of scientific knowledge, etc. This course will also study recent

developments in STMEA including China`s Space Programme and SAR epidemics. The

course concludes with an analysis of the domestic and international politics of STMEA

and a discussion on science fiction in China and Japan.