The aim of this introductory course is to develop a comparative understanding of the national independence movements in China, India, and Vietnam, as well as the context within which they unfolded, in the period 1885-1962. The course will introduce students to some of the figures in modern Asian history who played a major role in the transition of India and Vietnam from colonial subordination to independent nationhood and of China from its semi-colonial status to liberation. The principal figures whose writings will be studied and compared are Mohandas Gandhi, Mao Zedong, and Ho Chi Minh in order to develop a third angle of comparison. The course will give due attention to other relevant figures such as Gokhale, Tilak, Jinnah, and Nehru in the case of India; Li Hongzhang, Sun Yatsen, Chen Duxiu, La Dazhao, and Chiang Kai-shek in the case of China; Phan Boi Chau in the case of Vietnam.

East Asian Studies (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks