Cold War Cultures in Asia (HIST30066)

This subject explores how the Cold War shaped culture and ideology in Asia, and how Asian cultural and ideological production influenced the global Cold War. Employing multiple approaches to studying the Cold War, you will examine case studies from China, Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia: China’s revolution of 1949, Japan’s relationship with the United States, war and tensions on the Korean peninsula, Indonesia's strident anti-imperialism under Sukarno, and more. The subject explores how Asian politicians, intellectuals, and artists debated such pivotal Cold War ideologies as capitalism and communism, imperialism and anti-imperialism, as well as how these were contested in daily life, cultural performance, sport, films, newspapers and propaganda. We will interrogate how fears about the contaminating cultural influence of alternative ideologies shaped local, national and transnational cultures. Students will engage with different approaches to cultural, political and transnational history and draw on a variety of cultural forms including translated primary documents.