Module manager: Dr Irena Hayter
Email: i.hayter@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable
Year running 2025/26
| EAST2716 | Nature and Technology in Japan: Cultural Images |
This module is not approved as a discovery module
In modern industrialised societies nature and technology are conventionally seen as absolute entities irreconcilably opposed to each other. Taking Japan as a case study and focusing primarily on literary texts and films, the module interrogates this assumed dualism. In Japan nature and technology emerge as culturally and historically constructed and mutually implicated. The module will introduce Shinto animism (the belief that all things organic and inorganic possess a vital essence) and its influence on cultural ideas about technology, including robotics. It will probe the contradiction between a fabled love of nature and seasonality and modern Japan’s record of eco-disasters. We will consider the alignment of woman and nature in modern Japanese literature and visual culture. The module will also examine the techno-Orientalism that permeates images of Japan in Western cyberpunk and anime. By foregrounding non-Western knowledges and cultural images, the module contributes a decolonizing perspective to the environmental humanities. Please note this is an optional module and runs subject to enrolments. If a low number of students choose this module, then the module may not run and you may be asked to choose another module.
The module aims to:
• Introduce cultural images of nature and technology in Japan, as seen in literature and visual culture, through a historical perspective;
•Consider how Japan’s experience of modernization and the persistence of folk beliefs and practices have shaped these distinctive cultural images;
• Encourage understanding of nature and technology as culturally and historically shaped; • Introduce students to relevant concepts and approaches in environmental humanities
• Enhance students’ skills for literary and visual analysis
On completion of this module, students should be able to:
1. Discuss representations of nature and technology in Japanese literature and film in their cultural and historical contexts;
2. Evaluate the role of Japanese experience of modernization in shaping distinctive images of nature and technology;
3. Examine relevant concepts and approaches used in literary and visual analysis.
4. Appraise relevant concepts and approaches used in the environmental humanities and assess their relevance to the study of the cultural images of nature and technology in Japan
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following skills learning outcomes:
5. Communicate effectively through clear written and oral modes.
6. Seek out from different sources the information or evidence needed in order to understand an issue, or to address a problem or task. Identify gaps in knowledge.
7. Use appropriate software to put together visual and (where relevant) audio aids in order to deliver an engaging presentation.
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lecture | 10 | 1 | 10 |
| Seminar | 10 | 1 | 10 |
| Private study hours | 180 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 20 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 200 | ||
Seminars discussion (both group-based and class-wide) will offer opportunities to observe students’ contributions and offer comments and feedback. Group discussions will also involve peer learning and feedback. Detailed individual written feedback will be given on the essay.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Coursework | Essay | 70 |
| Coursework | In-class Presentation | 30 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated
The reading list is available from the Library website
Last updated: 25/04/2025
Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team