This has been one of the best seminars I have attended in recently memory. I loved the resources that were supplied, especially because they were high quality images that I can share with my online students. Our lecturer Professor Morgan Pitelka was super knowledgeable and great at answering questions and teaching about Japanese history with objects.
I was able to take away something from each week’s lecture to add to my own understanding of Japanese history, culture, geography, etc. as well as to my lessons for my students. In the first lecture, I learned more about pottery from Jomon and Yayoi periods that I added to enhancing an existing lecture and activity I have on these groups. I learned a lot about samurai influence and culture from tea ceremony to Noh performance. My students are always very interested in samurai culture, so I am excited to add more visuals and information about what samurai’s did after they were done fighting. Could even add information I learned about head-taking, with the images shared during this seminar to show samurai warring practices. During the final lecture, I learned about the emperor and empress images from the Meiji Period and the fine line between appearing Western as well as Traditional Japan. This can then be linked to daily issues in traditional clothing debates and talking about who is allowed to make, sell, and ware these traditional clothes closely associated with the identity of being “Japanese”.
There was so much information, I often watched the posted lectures a second or third time to better digest the information. I am so glad that I will have access to these lectures and resources in the future as I start incorporating material and ideas I gained into my teaching. Thank you so much!
.
