Topic: Long term goal: An examination of “culture in broad terms, particularly the cultures of modernization, war and peace, consumerism, images of ‘Self’ and ‘Others,’ and so on.” Immediate results: Specific examination of these topics related to the emergence of Japan in the modern world.
Format: Image-based website with rare visuals, essays, notes, assignments, reading links, and materials for both students and teachers
Reviewer/email: Mike G – greers_pm@yahoo.com
From the website: “Visualizing Cultures weds images and scholarly commentary in innovative ways to illuminate social and cultural history.” These words fall far short of capturing the full impact of the images and essays. I found the website to be a powerful immersion experience that delivered historical facts along with some of the authentic emotional content of Japan’s cultural evolution, beginning with the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry who “forced the long-secluded country to open its doors.”
This website bravely innovates. And it delivers to your desktop rare archival images filled with the tension, fear, humor, and terror originating in the cultural clashes it chronicles. And it does all this while remaining scholarly and well-designed from an instructional perspective.
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