David Spafford : Areas of Graduate Study

Division: Pre-Modern Asia

Students preparing a field in pre-modern Japanese history will be expected to possess a broad command of the English-language literature, for either the ancient or medieval periods (up to about 1600) or the early modern period (1600-1868). In particular, students wishing to specialize in pre-modern Japanese history shall also prepare together with Professor Spafford a more narrowly defined reading list (on, say, medieval agrarian history, early modern urban history and culture, sixteenth-century peasant rebellion and self-governance, and so on), which may include secondary scholarship in Japanese. While students are encouraged to follow their research interests in selecting a field, they should keep in mind that my own specialization is in pre-1600 history, with an emphasis on the Kamakura through Sengoku periods (twelfth through sixteenth centuries) and I may not be able to advise them as effectively in researching later subjects. For students choosing pre-modern Japan as their primary field, knowledge of modern Japanese, classical Japanese, and classical Chinese is required.