War and its representation in modern and contemporary East Asia From the mid XIX Century to the second half of the XX Century, East Asia has been the theatre of several conflicts. Those conflicts had ever lasting effects on East Asia Countries, shaping their national identities and casting a shadow on their relations, until nowadays. This history of war and peace, tragedy and hope has been widely represented in visual media, which are one of the most interesting sources for the historian, when used in connection with other sources. The first part of the Course will focus on methodological issues, using the approach to visual sources suggested by Peter Burke. In the second part of the Course, such methodology will be applied to a number of cases connected to Japan (and to some extent to Korea and China). The third and last part of the Course will be devoted to presentations by the students attending the Course.

Peter Burke, Eyewitnessing: the uses of images as historical evidence, 2001. Further readings will be provided during the Course.