PROPAGANDA
History of Journalistic Discourse
Outline
This course aims, first, to introduce students to the role played by journalism in the discourse sometimes described as informal or ‘public’ diplomacy, but better known as propaganda. Secondly, this course will try to assess, historically, the influence of propaganda on international relations. The main focus will be on journalistic discourse between Japan, China and Korea and the Western powers from the early 1900s to the present, but we will also sample material from the propaganda programmes of the US, Britain and Germany during most of the same period. The course will make extensive use of contemporary material: newspapers, pamphlets, books, diplomatic correspondence, photographs and film. Students will be encouraged to use the newspaper and diplomatic microfilm holdings and databases in Waseda Library.
Reference material
- O’Connor, Peter (ed.), (2004) A. Pinnington, J. Huffman, Matsumura Masayoshi, Ariyama Teruo et al. Japanese Propaganda: Selected Readings. Series 1: Books, 1872-1943, Volumes 1-10, (Folkestone, Kent: Global Oriental).
- O’Connor, Peter (ed.), (2005) Japanese Propaganda: Selected Readings. Series 2: Pamphlets, 1891-1939, Volumes 1-10, (Folkestone, Kent: Global Oriental).
- O’Connor, Peter (ed.), Japan Forum, Vol. 13, No.1 (2001): Special Issue:Informal Diplomacy and the Modern Idea of Japan. Read especially Introduction, and essays by Kakegawa, O’Connor, Angel and Pinnington.
Assessment: Students will be assessed on their attendance record, their participation in the course, and on their performance in regular assignments, written in English, along these lines:
- attendance 20%;
class participation 30%;
assignments 50%.
Syllabus
(Click on the + sign to download the pdf)
Orientation – read first
Week 2. 1900-5: Preparing the West for a new power in the East.
Week 3. 1902-22: News networks in East Asia and the Anglo-Japanese Alliance
Week 4. The Peace of Paris and the Washington Conference: two exercises in propaganda management
Week 5. The League of Nations and the crisis of 1931-33: the rejection of propaganda
Week 6. Matsuoka Yosuke and the Axis powers in early Showa: Japanism or Fascism?
Week 7. Communist Chinese vs. Nationalist Chinese vs. Japanese propaganda: the ‘just cause’
Week 8. “We Lost China”: the Amerasia Case and the ‘reverse course’
Week 9. The Cold War in East Asia: MacArthur’s slap in the face (1951) and the 1960 ANPO crisis
Week 10. Japan-bashing (to coin a phrase)
Week 11. Historical parallels and the limits of propaganda: The Manchuria Crisis and Vietnam; the Occupation of Japan
and the Occupation of Iraq.
Week 12. Propaganda today: who needs it? Does it work?
Week 13. Course review