Asia in AP , IB , and Undergraduate Honors Courses
RESOURCES TEACHING RESOURCES ESSAYS
shape their interpretations of past events .” By extension , students can also reflect on how their own interpretations of the past are shaped by context and by their consumption of these constructed histories .
A similar case can be made in the IB context for incorporating textbook comparisons into IB ’ s history courses . Other IB subjects in group three of the Diploma Programme ( individuals and societies ), like global politics or psychology , may likewise benefit from this kind of exercise . Outside of a history course , however , this material can be especially effective in teaching theory of knowledge ( TOK ), a course that at its heart asks students to “ reflect on the nature of knowledge , and on how we know what we claim to know .” 6 TOK ’ s principal concern with epistemology dovetails well with the historiographical concerns that naturally arise in exploring East Asia ’ s history disputes ( e . g ., perspective , reliability , and truth ). Particularly when studying history as a specific “ area of knowledge ” in the TOK classroom , these epistemological and historiographical concerns overlap and link together strongly . For example , students grapple with knowledge questions like “ What is a fact in history ?” and “ Is it possible for historical writing to be free from perspective ?”— questions that are as central to TOK as they are to the academic discipline of history . 7
When all is said and done , we eventually want to lead students to a fundamental and challenging insight : the existence of inevitable culturally based perspectives that affect their own historical knowledge . This can be an especially difficult truth for students to confront , but it is also an intellectually invaluable one . We can try to encourage this insight through exercises that lay bare the subjective nature of students ’ historical memory .
As a quick example , we can engage students in a brief game of “ Name
That War .” Can your students identify the wars listed below ? 1 . The North American Intervention 2 . The Victorious Fatherland Liberation War 3 . The War of Northern Aggression 4 . The American War
Students should consider how these war names illustrate the different perspectives and biases of different groups of people — and of us . How might these terms ( and the terms by which we know these wars ) influence the perceptions of someone who is learning about these events for the first time ? ( Answers : 1 : Mexican – American War , as known in Mexico . 2 : Korean War , as known in North Korea . 3 : American Civil War , as known historically in the South . 4 : Việt Nam War , as known in Việt Nam .)
As another example , we can show students the fictitious textbook excerpt below .
A fictitious history textbook passage . Image created in PowerPoint by author using “ Neptuna Explosion February 19 , 1942 ” on Wikimedia Commons at http :// tinyurl . com / h8ddorn .
After reading the text aloud , we can ask students to identify the historical event that is depicted . American students , given their familiarity with US history , will almost always recognize the event as the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbor , Hawai ‘ i , on December 7 , 1941 . But that is not the correct answer .
The depicted event is actually the Japanese air raid of Darwin , Australia , on February 19 , 1942 — a similar but completely separate World War II battle .
We can then ask students to reflect on their mistake . Why did they reflexively think of Pearl Harbor and not Darwin ? What does their mistake reveal about their perspective of history ? How objective is their historical knowledge ? By forcing students to face these questions head on , we prompt them to contemplate and acknowledge their own biases , and reflect upon their extant assumptions . Ultimately , by creating a sense of disequilibrium for students and exposing them to multiple perspectives , we hope to lead them to a place of greater self-awareness and open-mindedness for the perspectives of others . n
FURTHER READING
Chirot , Daniel , Gi-Wook Shin , and Daniel Sneider , eds . Confronting Memories of World War II : European and Asian Legacies . Seattle : University of Washington Press , 2014 .
College Board . “ AP United States History : Course and Exam Description Updated Fall 2015 .” Collegeboard . org . 2015 .
College Board . “ AP World History : Curriculum Framework 2016 – 2017 .” Collegeboard . org . 2015 .
International Baccalaureate . “ Theory of Knowledge Guide : Areas of Knowledge .” IBO . org . http :// tinyurl . com / na55qp8 .
Shin , Gi-Wook , and Daniel C . Sneider , eds . History Textbooks and the Wars in Asia : Divided Memories . New York : Routledge , 2011 .
Sneider , Daniel . “ Divided Memories : History Textbooks and the Wars in Asia .” Nippon . com , May 29 , 2012 . —. “ Textbooks and Patriotic Education : Wartime Memory Formation in China and Japan .” Asia-Pacific Review 20 , no . 1 ( 2013 ): 35 – 54 .
NOTES
1 . An interesting side note : The Japanese textbooks were found to be “ muted , neutral , and almost bland ”— a far cry from the common perception of Japanese textbooks as nationalist propaganda . For further explanation and other findings from the research , see the Further Reading section .
2 . The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were named the top news event of the century in a poll by Newseum of prominent American journalists and scholars . See “ Top News of 20th Century ,” CBSNews . com , February 24 , 1999 , http :// tinyurl . com / zvem4tn .
3 . Of all the South Korean textbooks involved in the study ( of which Textbook F was one ), none mentioned the atomic bombings . This contrasts starkly with the Japanese and US textbooks , all of which included extensive sections on the atomic bombings .
4 . None of the Chinese textbooks involved in the study mentioned comfort women . This may surprise readers , given the fact that many comfort women came from China . This example points to a broader truth about the study ’ s findings : the inclusion and omission of information in textbooks does not always follow conventional wisdom or common assumption .
5 . AP European History is not as good a fit for the “ Divided Memories ” curricular materials , given the materials ’ specific focus on American and Asian textbooks . However , this issue of wartime memory is explored in the European context ( and compared to the Asian context ) in Confronting Memoris of World War II : European and Asia Legacies , eds . Daniel Chirot , Gi-Wook Shin , and Daniel Sneider ( Seattle : University of Washington Press , 2014 ), a scholarly work born out of the Divided Memories and Reconciliation research project . 6 . “ What is TOK ?” at the International Baccalaureate ’ s website at http :// tinyurl . com / p2sk5tc .
7 . Other relevant knowledge questions appear on the International Baccalaureate website page “ Theory of Knowledge Guide : Areas of Knowledge ” under “ History ” at http :// tinyurl . com / na55qp8 .
RYLAN SEKIGUCHI (@ rybosek on Twitter ) is a Curriculum Designer at the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education ( SPICE ) Stanford University , where he develops teaching materials for K – 12 and community college classrooms . His publications include a dozen curriculum units and several web-based resources .
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