Cultures of Innovation in East Asia's History, Syllabus For Course IHSS6003 at HKU, Jan - April, 2018
Cultures of Innovation in East Asia's History, Syllabus For Course IHSS6003 at HKU, Jan - April, 2018
Cultures of Innovation in East Asia's History, Syllabus For Course IHSS6003 at HKU, Jan - April, 2018
The aim of this course is to discuss the nature and history of East Asia’s historical “culture(s)
of innovation” (has it many, some or none?) and thus to develop a critical sense for
comparative method in the History of Science, technology and medicine. Particular attention
will be given to the regional and historical character of scientific, technological and medical
change (Has innovation a regional history and did nations, state or individuals matter and if
so, how? How and why do fields of expertise deal differently with innovation/newness?) and
the role of production and use (versus consumption). Historiographies and historical sources
are analysed and current theories are introduced. Students will learn the historical role and
use of innovation theories in a way that will help them to critically engage with modern
debates about sustainability, good life and a globalizing world. Students will engage with
primary sources in Chinese, Japanese or English (partly by way of translations) on an
introductory to medium level.
Rationale
Innovation is nowadays a commonly used term, but it is in fact historically rather vaguely
defined. Historians and sociologists identify innovation as an action as much as a concept, a
rhetoric or value (world of ideas), a process (world of practice) and even an afterthought,
but rarely as an actual thing (although there is a world of material innovations). Different
historical disciplines have approached the theme. Economic historians, for instance, long
favoured “technical invention” as a major motor of economic growth (i.e. innovation). The
history of technology adhered until the 1970s, discussing innovation mainly as an attitude,
a social practice or communal activity. Only in the last forty years did researchers connect
innovation to technology and commercialization trends. Global history trends in particular
pushed debates on the regional and character of innovation and its dissemination, developing
new explanation models for consumption patterns, the global/local distribution of
knowledge and its channels of dissemination. Actors and the role of trans-local connections
for innovation cultures have been discussed.
Although historians of the West such as David Edgerton criticize innovation-centric histories
in favour of balanced accounts of use, the topic of ‘innovation’ still belongs to one of the
most prominent topics in the history of science, technology and medicine, in particular in
regional studies on the “rest.” We will critically reflect on the reasons for this “obsession,”
such as presentist concerns (East Asia’s economy is thriving), cultural identity debates of
the twentieth century (East Asia imitated and did not innovate) or the historians’ natural
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interest in change (what remained stable is less exciting1) and explore alternatives. But we
will also ask how, why and when “the new” required attention and explanation “more” than
the familiar – and when it did not. Was this attention different – quantitatively and/or
qualitatively – in different fields, such as agriculture, infrastructure (traffic, building,
communication), crafts (textiles, porcelain, etc.), or health care, calculation methods
(mathematics) or music?
Another focus will be on “East Asian” characteristics. Edgerton asked for a re-focus of “what
does not change”, claiming that such histories of use “can be genuinely global (Edgerton,
Shock of Old, pp. xiii),” because they pay equal attention to innovative and familiar contexts.
Can innovation – or Edgerton’s assumed “other,” that is, the familiar and vernacular “old” -
- be the same everywhere and how should we interpret different scenarios and knowledge
claims?
This course is hence a research & training seminar designed to enable students to develop
a critical sense of the theme, to analyse and discuss collectively in class, and to deploy these
thoughts in a substantial piece of academic work.
1
Historians also regularly use “innovation” synonymously with “change” often in
juxtaposition to “tradition.”
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number” format, e.g. Schäfer 2006:14). You will orally present your
project on April 26, 2018.
We will discuss with you the topic and other details of the final essay
later in the course.
NO LATE SUBMISSION OF ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE ACCEPTED.
Your performance in this course will be assessed according to the following criteria:
During the first day, we will discuss chronologies of innovation and theoretical models
(Schumpeter and economic history, Johnston, Godin and intellectual history, etc.) and how
they reflect on EA history in general. How is innovation seen in history? What about
different approaches such as the short and long-durée? What regional differences and
characteristics are identifiable for Asian cultures. This will also be an introduction of
innovation as a comparative concept that approaches the production (West; Modern) and
reception (consumption/use) of innovation (East, global) as temporally and regionally
distinctive with regard to its scale and scope.
We will discuss:
why study innovation in history? How is it studied?
the concept of innovation with regard to production/use focus
temporal dimension of innovation
Readings:
Edgerton, David. 1999. “From Innovation to Use: Ten Eclectic Theses on the
Historiography of Technology.” History and Technology 16 (2): 111–36.
Schäfer, Dagmar and Popplow, Marcus. 2015. “Technology and Innovation
within Expanding Webs of Exchange.” The Cambridge World History. Vol.
5. Expanding Webs of Exchange and Conflict, 500 Ce – 1500 Ce, 309–38.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wang et al. 2010. “Climate, Desertification, and the Rise and Collapse of
China’s Historical Dynasties.” Human Ecology 38 (1): 157–72.
Innovation chronologies on Asian cultures combine analyst and actor categories and are
mostly linear. That is, they look for signs of modernity and economic prosperity (analyst)
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within the framework of dynastic/political change (actors category) and, despite all
discussion otherwise, often “explain” issues towards an assumed “present”. Readings will
provide the basis to catalogue the various attributes assigning innovation mentalities to
different East Asian cultures and how it relates to identifications of cultures as innovative or
traditional, or knowledge categories as scientific, vernacular, explicit, tacit etc.
Attributes: (1) Drivers of innovation (economic growth; efficiency; ‘discovery’; war), (2)
Institutions (property rights) (3) Innovation and power (risk; investment…), (4) Imagination
and creativity.
We will discuss:
Is innovation regionally specific? Does it have different histories?
What does comparative mean? When is there comparability?
Producing and adopting units of innovation
The notion of innovation in historical units of innovation, east and west.
Readings:
Wong, R. Bin. 2014. China Transformed: Historical Change and the Limits
of European Experience, Introduction: 1–8. Ithaca: Cornell University Press
Francks, Penny. 2016. Japan and the Great Divergence. A Short Guide.
London: Palgrave.
Bray, Francesca. 2002. “Towards a Critical History of Non-Western
Technology,” in China and Historical Capitalism: Genealogies of
Sinological Knowledge, edited by Timothy Brook and Gregory Blue: 158–
209. Cambridge University Press.
Brandt, L., Ma, D., and Rawski, T. 2014. “From Divergence to Convergence:
Reevaluating the History Behind China’s Economic Boom.” Journal of
Economic Literature 52 (1): 45–123.
We will discuss
Difference between analyst and actor categories, and languages of novelty
Positive and negative notions of innovation, as value-adding notion or a loss
Innovation as a collective or individual value, long or short durée notions
Innovation = Novelty? Innovation = Originality?
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Readings:
Primary sources/topic:
(A) preface to Honzogaku 18th c,
(B) Wuyuan xianggan zhi
(C) late seventeenth-century Qianlong’s notion of newness,
(D) innovation statistics on France (discussed by Benoit and maybe one of the diagrams
related to HK and the dragon states in the 1970s)
This week, we look at the issue of monetary and non-monetary ways of valuing innovation
in Asian societies and ask how is value decided when it comes to innovation in Asia? What
are the yardsticks and how are they applied? Is value and value judgement differently in
Asia or different when it comes to different fields of engagement, that is do actors consider
innovation in crafts differently then let us say in infrastructure, or in sciences such as botany
or physics?
We will discuss
value systems monetary, non-monetary, owning or non-own-able
issues of quality (Intrinsic and extrinsic; nominal; etc.), reputation, expertise,
the role of distance or availability (luxury), new in space and in time
Readings:
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Lean, Eugenia. 2014. “The Butterfly Mark: Chen Diexian, His Brand, and
Cultural Entrepreneurism in Republican China.” In The Business of Culture:
Cultural Entrepreneurs in China and Southeast Asia, 1900-65, edited by
Christopher Rea and Nicolai Volland: 62–91. Hongkong University Press.
Primary sources/topic:
(A) Local Gazetteer of Suzhou: wuchan chapter,
(B) Patent of Hongkong Government for new brewing method
(C) Japanese law on branding,
(D) “marketability” report of innovations from Korea 1953
The thrust of historical research on innovation highlights the role of spatial conditions, a
locality’s materials and its geographic location for innovation capacity: spatial
configurations and accessibility figure high in such debates. While a scarcity of resources
can serve as an impetus for creativity, local prosperity is otherwise interpreted as a positive
condition (providing surplus resources). During this lecture, we look at definitions of regions
in Asia in terms of their innovative capacity:
We will discuss
Regions as spaces of knowing (lieux de savoir) and doing
Materials, space and distance
Spatial transformation by innovations
Innovation as locally distinct stimulus-response model, crisis and prosperity
Readings:
Wright, Tim. 2007. “An Economic Cycle in Imperial China? Revisiting Robert
Hartwell on Iron and Coal,” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the
Orient 50 (4): 398–423. doi:10.2307/25165205.
Wu, Shellen Xiao. 2015. Chapter 1, “Fuelling Industrialization in the Age of
Coal,” Empires of Coal: Fueling China’s Entry into the Modern World Order,
1860-1920:7–32. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Elvin, Mark. 2004b. “The Political Pattern of Historical Creativity: A
Theoretical Case: Comment by Mark Elvin.” In Political Competition,
Innovation and Growth in the History of Asian Civilizations, edited by Peter
Bernholz and Roland Vaubel, 31–35. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Lee, Victoria. 2015. “Mold Cultures: Traditional Industry and Microbial
Studies in Early Twentieth-Century Japan.” In: Phillips D., Kingsland S. (eds)
New Perspectives on the History of Life Sciences and Agriculture.
Archimedes (New Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science and
Technology), vol 40: 231–252. Cham: Springer
Primary sources/topic:
(A) Design of Shanghai Cotton Mill
(B) Japans Nisjhijin, Kyoto
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Feb 22, Chinese New Year
Mostly things manifest innovation as product, not only in the perspective of economic
history, but also in the history of science/technology and medicine. Drawing on material
culture, historians thus have traced innovation or identified thing-histories as histories of
innovation. During this seminar, we will compare different thing-related innovation stories,
and discuss the outcomes of innovation: commodities (textile fibres); materials (colour
materials: cobalt/ cochineal/ indigo); mimesis (false marble); imitation; counterfeit and their
varying evaluation in fields of science and technology. The first instance will be related to
technologies/crafts.
Readings:
Little, Stephen. 1996. “Economic Change in Seventeenth-Century China and
Innovations at the Jingdezhen Kilns.” Ars Orientalis 26: 47–54.
Lean, Eugenia. 2015. “Recipes for Men: Manufacturing Makeup and the
Politics of Production in 1910s China.” Osiris 30 (1): 134–57.
Guth, Christine M. E. 2010. “The Multiple Modalities of the Copy in
Traditional Japanese Crafts.” The Journal of Modern Craft 3 (1): 7–18.
Soon, Wayne. 2016. “Blood, Soy Milk, and Vitality: The Wartime Origins
of Blood Banking in China, 1943–45.” Bulletin of the History of Medicine
90 (3): 424–54.
Primary sources/topic:
(A) Hygiene regulations for blood sampling 1944, Japan (maybe earlier?)
(B) Pattern book, (by Rachel Silverstein)
(C) Japanese ceramic – ICH (intangible cultural heritage)
(D) Soap recipe – advertisement
(E) Duoneng bi shi 多能鄙事 Section on vinegar
During this session, we will look at the relationship between things and work in relation to
one of the most popular contemporary and historical concepts in economic global history:
the knowledge economy (Mokyr) and notions of reliable knowledge in comparison to
scientific and technological knowledge.
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Expertise and applied science discourses
Readings:
Primary sources/topic:
(A) lexical entry on kexue, Chinese, Japanese 1920s
(B) Qiu Jun, The use of work, Daxue yanyi bu 1450s
(C) Lacquer recipe Japan; chemical
Readings:
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Andrews, Bridie. 2001. “From case records to case histories: the
modernisation of a Chinese medical genre, 1912-49”, in Elizabeth Hsu,
Innovation in Chinese Medicine: 324-336
Readings:
Mazumdar, Sucheta. 1998 Sugar and Society in China. Peasants,
Technology, and the World Market. Chapter7 “Divergent outcomes: The
Sugar Industry in Guangdong and Taiwan” pp. 338-386
Schmalzer, Sigrid. 2002.“Feeding a better China: pigs, practices, and place
in a Chinese county 1929-1937“, The Geographical Review. 92/1: 1-22.
Cwiertka & A. Moriya. 2008. “Fermented Soyfoods in South Korea. The
Industrialization of Tradition”, in Du Bois, Tan and Mintz eds., The World of
Soy. National University of Singapore Press: 161-181
In this last class, we will reflect on the questions raised at the beginning of this course,
focusing on innovation and economic growth in modern East Asia.
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Readings:
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