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.