Constructing the Samurai




Hist 494B/715A: Colloquium in Cultural History
Spring 2007, Professor Constantine Vaporis
Tuesdays, 4:00-6:30 pm
 
In this course we will examine the historical construction of samurai identity—i.e.,
the ways in which the identity of samurai as warriors-turned-bureaucrats was created during the peaceful Tokugawa years (1600-1868) by samurai themselves, as well as how that identity was crafted subsequently by others in Japan and abroad. Our “texts” will include autobiography, warrior codes, writings on the “way of the warrior” (bushido), short stories and film as well as ritual remembrances.
 
This colloquium is open to undergraduates (with permission only) as well as to graduate students.