A Subculture Going Mainstream?

Mukai Masaki

doi:10.32312/transasiapacific.22.0_48

<p>The aim of this paper is to show how individual research can provide case studies for university-level global history courses (e.g., World History from Global Perspectives) based on the example of a recent field of historical study, Maritime Asian history. Inevitably, it discusses why research groups at Osaka University can assume the role of case study providers for university-level global history. Accordingly, this paper firstly describes the activities of unique research groups in recent years, with particular focus on Osaka University. The Research Group on Maritime Asian History (Kaiiki ajia shi kenkyukai, Kaiikiken) constitutes one of the most active branches of Handai shigaku (Historical Studies at Osaka University). They are well known for their early work in global history research and education in Japan (Minamizuka, 2009; Mukai, 2009). As I was a member of this research group and several projects related to Handai shigaku, this paper refers primarily to content-based contributions for the Global History program at Osaka University with additional references to contributions to projects at the University of Tokyo and Doshisha University that were of particular interest to me. A common theme in this paper relates to the current circumstances surrounding Japanese universities that have been encouraged to “globalize” their educational content. Essentially, most of them have been offering inflexible nationstate-oriented curricula that were too rigid to efficiently incorporate contemporary global issues. This concern goes beyond the pedagogy specialists in the education departments of national universities because the modernization of educational programs to include globalization is also crucial for the survival of the humanities and social science departments in research universities. The sharp decline of 18-year-olds in the population of Japan is likely to cause an existential crisis in universities as the raison d'être of humanities and social sciences departments has been seriously questioned by society. These programs are criticized for being ineffective for analyzing contemporaneous globalization themes and trends. How is this adaptation possible for researchers of historical studies who are also responsible for education in their universities? To answer this question, I chose the topic of the “historical diaspora in Maritime Asia.” As my principal research field, it concerns the history of the Muslim diaspora in pre-modern Maritime Asia.</p>

A Subculture Going Mainstream?

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