Digital And Critical Approaches to Asian History (HIST 2400). Instructor: Raja Adal
This course approaches Asia not as a geographic place but as a malleable object of study. It begins by contextualizing the meta-geographical concept of Asia within other geo-bodies, from nations to continents, religious realms, oceans, and highlands. It then turns to three case studies to discuss how the intersection of topics and methodologies result in multiple conceptions of Asia. What does Asia look like, and what does it compare to, if we focus on sugar? How about human networks, ranging from biographies of a single individual to datasets that include thousands? What happens to Asia if we look at the world in terms of languages and scripts? In this way, this course explores a multiplicity of Asias, each of which is created as much by Asia as an object of study as by the position from which it is being approached.