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HIS21330

Academic Year 2026/2027

Global Asia (HIS21330)

Subject:
History
College:
Arts & Humanities
School:
History
Level:
2 (Intermediate)
Credits:
5
Module Coordinator:
Dr Steffen Rimner
Trimester:
Spring
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

This course introduces East Asia’s quest for nation-building and global modernity to students without prior knowledge of the region and its people. How did Asia since the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries pursue modernity on national and global levels? How and why did those pursuits connect East Asian societies and states to the wider world?
What motivated East Asians to situate themselves within worlds beyond than the family, the village, the city, the nation, the empire or the region? What were the professional channels that connected the emergence of modern Asia to developments overseas?
Themes involve systematic comparisons of a wide array of nation-building programs in China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and India. Case studies include how Asian pioneers such as Sun Yat-sen, Ho Chi Minh and many others embraced global connections as a necessity for their professional work, their personal identities and their political causes. Thinking through global Asia since the 1870s ranges across social history, cultural history, political history, economic history, the history of religions, the history of mobility, institutional history and global history.
The course will feature classic readings on these topics as well as brand new publications.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

-a sensibility toward social and cultural differences between Atlantic and Asian societies & legacies
-the skill set to distinguish across time, place and scale. Asia never was one and the same.
-a understanding of how Asian modernisations affected individual lives, group identities and international aspirations
-an appreciation of how the long global past continues to shape Asia and supplements living memory

Indicative Module Content:

Our module will explore and cover by week:
1) Values and the state in modern Asia
2) Confucianism, hierarchies and Asian cultures of advancement
3) For the nation’s sake: self-cultivation and the politics of progress
4) Universities as drivers of modernity in Asia
5) Still imperialism or already internationalism? Modern professions and a changing Asia
6) Frying pan into the fire? Postgraduates in wartime
7) Global impact: Asian pioneers abroad
8) Technologies of the ascendant state: science, engineering, industry
9) Law for Asia and the World
10) Teaching America about Asia
11) Ambition for what? Generational history and Asia’s knowledge of the world

UNESCO highlights a set of key competencies that support individuals in their development and support society in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UCD has adapted these competencies and is combining them with others to form a general framework of learning competencies. This module will help you develop the competencies below to the levels specified. 
Learning Competency Additional Information Level

Collaboration

 The ability to learn from others; to understand and respect the needs, perspectives and actions of others (empathy); to understand, relate to and be sensitive to others (empathic leadership); to deal with conflicts in a group; and to facilitate collaborative and participatory problem solving. Competent

Critical Thinking

 The ability to question norms, practices and opinions; to reflect on one’s own values, perceptions and actions. Competent

Systems Thinking

 The ability to recognize and understand relationships; to analyse complex systems; to think of how systems are embedded within different domains and different scales; and to deal with uncertainty. Competent

Integrated Problem Solving

 The overarching ability to apply different problem-solving frameworks to complex sustainability problems and develop viable, inclusive and equitable solution options that promote sustainable development, integrating the competencies in this list. Competent

Self-awareness

 The ability to reflect on one’s own role in the local community and (global) society; to continually evaluate and further motivate one’s actions; and to deal with one’s feelings and desires. Competent

Normative

 The ability to understand and reflect on the norms and values that underlie one’s actions; and to negotiate values, principles, goals, and targets, in a context of conflicts of interest and trade-offs, uncertain knowledge and contradictions. Advanced Beginner

Anticipatory

 The ability to understand and evaluate multiple scenarios for the future – possible, probable and desirable; to create one’s own visions for the future; to apply the precautionary principle; to assess the consequences of actions; and to deal with risks and changes. Advanced Beginner

Wellbeing

 Wellbeing is having the resources and skills to meet life's challenges, including attributes such as personal development skills, resilience, stress management, strengths, lifestyle skills, nutrition, physical activity, sleep, alcohol/substance use, academic skills, time management, goal setting, interpersonal skills, group work, communication. Competent

The United Nations identified seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as core to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and UCD contributes in general to SDG 4 Quality Education. Further SDGs explored within this module if relevant are listed below. A scale of 1 - 5 indicates the extent to which the SDG is covered.


Goal Name Description Coverage

Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all 3

Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls 2

Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels 3

Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development 3
 

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Specified Learning Activities

45
Autonomous Student Learning

45
Lectures

11
Seminar (or Webinar)

10
Total

111

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
This module combines large-group and small-group teaching, through a weekly
lecture and seminar. Weekly lectures provide overviews of weekly topics, with focus
upon key historical trends, debates and events of Global Asia. Weekly seminars focus on small-group active learning using both secondary and primary sources related to the
weekly topic covered in the lecture. Autonomous learning is nurtured through
required preparatory reading each week, a continuous learning journal, a midterm essay analysing a primary source and an final essay. Key research, writing and citation skills are explicitly incorporated into seminar work and are assessed and advanced from the formative (midterm) to the summative (final) assignments.

AI Not Permitted
The use of AI tools (e.g. Gemini, Chat GPT, Copilot) is not permitted in this module. Students are expected to engage directly with module materials and activities without the use of AI tools.

A proportion of written assignments in each module in the School of History are subject to moderation, meaning they undergo a second layer of review by another grader. This can include oral moderation meetings where the student is invited in for a short meeting with the module coordinator to discuss the assignment. Moderation contributes to better informed marking.


Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Assignment(Including Essay): Document analysis of primary source,
1,000 words, excluding footnotes + bibliography, applying close reading skills, analytic rigor and contextual interpretation.
 Week 6 Graded No
40
 No
Assignment(Including Essay): Final essay: 2,000 words, excluding footnotes + bibliography, addressing one of two analytic questions that address a major historical development explored across several weeks of the module. Week 12 Graded No
40
 No
Participation in Learning Activities: Students are graded on their contribution to seminars throughout the
semester: A = consistent, well-informed contributions throughout semester. B = periodic, well-informed contributions to seminars.		 Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9, Week 10, Week 11 Graded No
20
 No

As part of UCD's student support, under the Additional Consideration policy, extensions may be available for the following assessments in the module: Assignment (including essay/poster), Portfolio, Reflective Assignment, Report(s), and Individual Project.


Carry forward of passed components
No
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Autumn No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Feedback on the 1,500 Essay Assignment will be given in writing. Feedback on Participation is given to the class throughout the trimester. Written and oral feedback will be provided on an ongoing basis on preparatory plans and primary and secondary source bibliographies for end-of-semester Research Project Assignments. Feedback on the end-of-semester Research Project Assignment will be given in writing, covering empirical, methodological and conceptual rigor and originality vis-à-vis the historiography.

Name Role
Ms Laura Brennan Tutor
Emer O'Brien Tutor

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
Spring Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Mon 11:00 - 11:50
Spring Seminar Offering 1 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Mon 12:00 - 12:50
Spring Seminar Offering 2 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Mon 13:00 - 13:50
Spring Seminar Offering 4 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Tues 12:00 - 12:50
Spring Seminar Offering 5 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Tues 13:00 - 13:50
Spring Seminar Offering 6 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Tues 10:00 - 10:50
Spring Seminar Offering 7 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Tues 14:00 - 14:50
Spring Seminar Offering 8 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Mon 13:00 - 13:50
Spring Seminar Offering 9 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Mon 14:00 - 14:50
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