GECプログラム ゼミナール紹介レポート
Global Culture: Japan and the World
Corey John Wallace Seminar
Many students join the GEC programme eager to expand their knowledge about the many cultures, nations, and relationships that structure our big wide world. More than simply being interesting, however, understanding the current global situation—we can call this “geopolitics”—has become increasingly essential for people working in many professional sectors. That is because we can no longer take for granted the geopolitical and economic stability that the world enjoyed for around 25 years from the beginning of the 1990s.
The Advanced Seminar in Global Culture focuses on international relations but starts with the perspective that we need to understand our own country’s place in the world before trying to make sense of other countries’ behaviours. Japan is not a passive observer of world events but is an increasingly active player that must find its own way through various economic, national security, climate, and technology challenges. In this seminar, students will examine those challenges and the potential dangers Japan, and its people face during this current period of global transformation.
In the first half of the course, students will reflect upon the development of a distinct Japanese national identity in historical context. Students will come to understand how “nation-building” was influenced by Japan’s interactions with the outside world, and the critical role that war and peace played in the process of “making” modern Japan.
The second half of the course looks at the diplomatic, economic, and technological opportunities and challenges Japan is currently faced with as it tries to find its place in the “Indo-Pacific” region that it calls home. Through presentations to their peers, students are encouraged to apply the knowledge they have acquired in this and previous courses to explore current international events and how these events may affect Japan’s future and their own wellbeing.
Global Communication： Communication that shapes the global world
Sonya Chik Seminar
Have you ever wondered why certain advertisements seem to speak directly to you, or why a headline instantly makes you click? Every day, we encounter countless messages through social media, news platforms, television, and even posters on the train. These messages are more than just information; they carry cultural values and ideologies that subtly influence how we think, feel, and behave.
How can we understand and navigate the language and meanings embedded in global communication?
In my seminars, students are invited to uncover the hidden messages that shape our perceptions of the world. Through hands-on analysis and discussion, students explore how text and visuals work together to construct meaning and promote ideas. For instance, by examining TV commercials on sustainability, we ask: What rhetorical and visual techniques draw viewers in? How do these techniques build a brand’s image or communicate values across cultures?
Students collaborate in small groups to analyze and compare communication materials, including news articles, print advertisements and promotional videos across multiple media platforms. They also work on creative projects to design communication plans and produce original flyers or short videos that communicate cultural or social themes effectively.
In addition to group work, each student undertakes an individual research project on a topic of their choice. These topics span a wide range of marketing and social themes within the field of global communication. Students conduct in-depth research and develop their own methods for data collection and analysis. Through this process, they strengthen their ability to think critically, research independently, and apply communication theory to real-world contexts. Examples of past projects include studies on brand positioning in sustainability posters, gender fluidity in fashion magazines, and language and cultural representation in Korean dramas and their Japanese remakes, among others.
Through active engagement with global communication across diverse cultural and professional contexts, students build strong analytical and creative abilities and gain a deeper understanding of how media influences culture, identity, and daily life. This experience helps them see the world from new perspectives, and deepens their appreciation of how messages, meaning, and media connect us all.
World Literature： The British Empire in East Asia
Waiyee Loh Seminar
We often think of the British Empire as consisting of those territories in South and Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean that were ruled directly by the British, first through the East India Company and then under the British Crown. However, British imperialism was active in East Asia too, although it often took the form of unequal treaties and spheres of influence rather than the conquest and administration of far-flung colonies. “The British Empire in East Asia” explores the history of British interactions with East Asia in the long 19th century, from the First Opium War in 1839 to the end of the Asia-Pacific War in 1945. By critically analyzing literary texts, visual media, and popular culture from and about Britain, China, and Japan, this course crosses conventional boundaries of geography, period, and media to investigate the myriad connections that exceeded the grasp of formal imperialism in the long 19th century, and which continue to shape the world we inhabit today.
In the first half of the course, we will focus on the emergence of the treaty port system in China as a key outcome of the global tea and opium trades in the mid-19th century. In the second half of the course, we will explore literary and cultural production in two major treaty ports in East Asia: Yokohama and Shanghai. Texts to be discussed include Sheridan Le Fanu’s supernatural short story “Green Tea” (1872), Lafcadio Hearn’s Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan (1894), woodblock and photographic prints known as Yokohama-e and Yokohama-shashin, as well as Lee Ang’s 2007 film Lust, Caution.
