ASIA 111-01 10875 |
Cultural Anthropology: Society and Culture in Asia |
Days: M W F
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Time: 08:30 am-09:30 am
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Room: CARN 206
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Instructor: Arjun Guneratne
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*Cross-listed with ANTH 111-01 (10076)*
Details
An introduction to Cultural Anthropology, through the comparative study of the societies and cultures of Asia. Counts as the introductory course to Asian Studies, ASIA 111. Culture is the organizing concept underlying anthropology’s holistic approach, which seeks to understand what it means to be human in the broadest possible context. By understanding other cultural logics, anthropology seeks to hold up a critical mirror to our own assumptions, beliefs and ways of acting. In short, it provides you with a toolkit to engage with cultural difference, whether in a different country or at home. We will discuss the concept of culture and the way anthropologists use it to study humanity. The material is drawn from Asian societies, and will include such topics as kinship and marriage, politics and law, religion and ritual, and economic organization, examined comparatively. Students will be introduced to the method of ethnographic interviewing, and will complete a fieldwork-based research project during the semester based on three interviews with a consultant from a microculture of their choosing.
General Education Requirements:
Writing WP
Internationalism OR U.S. Identities and Differences
Distribution Requirements:
Social science
Course Materials
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ASIA 113-F1 10700 |
Introduction to Buddhism |
Days: M W F
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Time: 10:50 am-11:50 am
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Room: MAIN 111
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Instructor: Erik Davis
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*First-Year Course Only; first day attendance required; cross-listed with RELI 111-F1 (10699)*
Details
Buddhism is increasingly well-known in the USA, but what is it, and how does Buddhism encourage people to organize and think about their lives? Organized on the basis of the Eightfold Noble Path, with a focus of 'morals, the Buddhist psychology of mind, and meditation,' this course offers an introduction to the personalities, teachings, and institutions of Buddhism. Beginning in India at the time of the Buddha, this course focuses on Theravada Buddhism, asking students to think historically, philosophically, and anthropologically. Many Friday sessions will be dedicated to an exploration of the variety of Buddhist meditative techniques.
General Education Requirements:
Writing WP
Internationalism
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
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ASIA 123-01 10895 |
Masterpieces of Chinese Literature |
Days: T R
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Time: 09:40 am-11:10 am
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Room: HUM 111
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Instructor: STAFF
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*Cross-listed with CHIN 123 (10894)*
Details
Love, death, desire, friendship, gender, and the supernatural. This course explores these themes, and their relevance for today, in selected works of Chinese literature spanning two thousand years. Genres to be studied include poetry, short stories, philosophical writings, drama, letters, novels, and more. Taught in English; no knowledge of Chinese is necessary.
General Education Requirements:
Internationalism
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
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ASIA 124-01 10702 |
Dharma and Dao: Big Ideas in India and China |
Days: M W F
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Time: 10:50 am-11:50 am
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Room: MAIN 002
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Instructor: STAFF
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*Cross-listed with RELI 124-01 (10701)*
Details
An introduction to the study of Asian religious traditions in South and East Asia (India, China and Japan). Open to everyone but especially appropriate for first and second year students.
General Education Requirements:
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
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ASIA 140-01 10420 |
Introduction to East Asian Civilization |
Days: T R
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Time: 03:00 pm-04:30 pm
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Room: MAIN 009
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Instructor: James Coplin
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*Cross-listed with HIST 140-01 (10419)*
Details
This course introduces the cultures and societies of China, Japan and Korea from the earliest times to the present day. Primarily an introductory course for beginners in East Asian civilization, this course considers a variety of significant themes in religious, political, economic, social and cultural developments in the region.
General Education Requirements:
Writing WP
Internationalism
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
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ASIA 194-01 10068 |
Introduction to Asian American Studies |
Days: M W F
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Time: 01:10 pm-02:10 pm
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Room: MUSIC 219
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Instructor: Jake Nagasawa
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*Cross-listed with AMST 114-01 (10897)*
Details
This course introduces the basic issues and concepts of Asian American Studies. We begin by looking at the birth of Asian American Studies as a field in response to student protests in the late 1960s. We then proceed to an overview of Asian American history beginning with U.S. imperialism in Asia and moving up to the present moment. For the remainder of the course, we'll focus on particular topics such as: the model minority myth; anti-Asian violence; multiracial Asian American identity; and Asian American activism. The approach of this course is interdisciplinary; it draws on theoretical and methodological insights from academic disciplines such as history, ethnic studies, and sociology.
General Education Requirements:
U.S. Identities and Differences
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
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ASIA 194-02 10425 |
Introduction to the History of South Asia |
Days: M W F
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Time: 09:40 am-10:40 am
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Room: MAIN 111
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Instructor: Niharika Yadav
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*Cross-listed with HIST 194-01 (10424)*
Details
Colonization and Empire; Race and indigeneity; Asia; Global/International. Encompassing a vast and diverse region that includes the present-day states of India,Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Bhutan, SouthAsia is home to a fourth of the world’s population. What was political, social, and culturallife in this region like before modernity? How did the plural religious, linguistic, andsocial identities that shape everyday life emerge? How did the encounter withcolonialism reshape the contemporary trajectories of South Asian cultures? Proceedingchronologically, we will explore important themes that continue to inspire a rich historicalscholarship, namely: processes underlying the integration of diverse cultural traditionsacross the Indian Ocean; the emergence, and consolidation of Indo-Persian kingshipand attendant forms of socio- cultural life; changes wrought upon this landscape by thearrival of European colonial rule; and the postcolonial trajectories of South Asiansocieties. We will explore these changes by engaging with sources and scholarship ondifferent genres and mediums of communication ranging from art, architecturalpractices, music, film, fiction, and ethnography. This course will not only introduce youto critical issues for understanding contemporary South Asia but also to culturalpractices and modes of representation unique to the region. By examining the past withan eye to its contemporary relevance, we will investigate why premodern identities andhistories remain at the center of debates about politics and culture in contemporarySouth Asia.
General Education Requirements:
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
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ASIA 194-03 10809 |
Reading Plays: Asian and Asian American Playwrights |
Days: M W F
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Time: 09:40 am-10:40 am
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Room: THEATR 213
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Instructor: kt shorb
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*Cross-listed with THDA 112-01 (10808), AMST 102-01 (10853 ); appropriate for first-year students; registration limit has been adjusted to save 5 seats for incoming FYs*
Details
Reading Plays guides students in close readings of dramatic literature, in particular of plays that are typically left out of the traditional theatrical canon. Students will learn about the socio-historical context of each play, and in-class exercises will introduce them to the foundation of script analysis: they will examine the play’s given circumstances, dialogue, dramatic action, characters, and style. Students will read a new play every week; assignments include weekly in-class writing exercises and short critical papers. Some playwrights we may explore are: Ayad Akhtar, Jaclyn Backhaus, Christopher Chen, Mashuq Mushtaq Deen, Prince Gomolvilas, David Henry Hwang, Naomi Iizuka, Rajiv Joseph, Hansol Jung, Haruna Lee, Kimber Lee, Young Jean Lee, Qui Nguyen, Jiehae Park, Lloyd Suh, Kristina Wong, Lauren Yee, and Chay Yew.
General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Internationalism OR U.S. Identities and Differences
Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts
Course Materials
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ASIA 244-01 10361 |
The Political Economy of Asia |
Days: T R
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Time: 09:40 am-11:10 am
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Room: CARN 107
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Instructor: I-Chun Catherine Chang
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*First day attendance required; cross-listed with GEOG 244-01 (10360)*
Details
Whether the twenty-first century will be dominated by the "rising Asia" has spurred recurring debates in policy and academic circles. But what is Asia? How can we understand this diverse region where more than half of the world's population resides? In this course, we will first deconstruct the idea of Asia as a cartographic entity to excavate the layered social-cultural meaning and geographical diversity of the "Asias." We will also place the "Asias" in a global context to reveal how contemporary Asia anchors the changing world political economy and cultural imaginations outside the West. We will begin with important theoretical debates on (East) Asian development that prevailed in the 1980s and 1990s, including discussions about the colonial past, the path-dependency of development and uneven industrialization, regional disparities and mega-urbanization. We will then use these debates as the foundation to explore the contemporary globalizing Asia. What are the important connections between Asian countries, and with other parts of the world? What are the roles of the "Asias" in international governance and geo-politics? Can China replace the United States as the dominant geo-economic power? These are the questions we will explore in this course.
General Education Requirements:
Writing WP
Internationalism
Distribution Requirements:
Social science
Course Materials
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ASIA 254-01 10469 |
Japanese Film and Animation: From the Salaryman to the Shojo |
Days: M W F
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Time: 01:10 pm-02:10 pm
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Room: HUM 110
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Instructor: Arthur Mitchell
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*Cross-listed with JAPA 254-01 (10468)*
Details
This course surveys the history of Japanese film from the "golden age" of Japanese cinema to the contemporary transnational genre of anime. While introducing methodologies of film analysis and interpretation, it develops knowledge of how major works of Japanese film and animation have expressed and critiqued issues of modern Japanese society. In doing this, we trace the development of two related archetypes: the middle-class salaryman and the adolescent girl (shojo). These figures - as well as their incarnations as cyberpunks and mecha-warriors, sex workers and teen rebels - help us explore Japanese film's engagement with the strictures of middle-class society, the constrained status of women, fantasy and escapism, sexuality and desire. Weekly screenings and discussion will be supplemented by readings in film theory and cultural criticism. Directors include Ozu Yasujiro, Akira Kurosawa, Oshima Nagisa, Miyazaki Hayao, Anno Hideaki, and Hosoda Mamoru. No prior knowledge of Japanese required.
General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Internationalism
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
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ASIA 255-01 10213 |
China on Screen |
Days: M W F
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Time: 10:50 am-11:50 am
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Room: HUM 112
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Instructor: Xin Yang
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*Cross-listed with CHIN 255-01 (10212)*
Details
This course is an overview of China on the silver screen. Adopting the "nation" as its primary structuring device, the course examines how Chinese films represented the national identity, national issues, and the national past. The topics under discussion include how women's virtues became emblems of a nation that strived for modernity in the early 20th century; how films were politically appropriated for socialist purposes; how the revolutionary past was cinematically constructed, remembered and critiqued in the post-Mao era; how the national legacy and tradition were consciously or unconsciously re-created and revised as a spectacle to meet the curious gaze of the global market; and how Taiwan and Hong Kong cinema constantly reflected cultural and national identities. The course starts from the silent film period and extends to the fifth generation directors, underground filmmaking, and the revival of the martial arts genre in greater China. Feature films from mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong will be screened and discussed. Secondary articles and books are also assigned in conjunction with the films. The course is organized thematically and moves chronologically. No prior knowledge of China or Chinese is required.
General Education Requirements:
Internationalism
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
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ASIA 272-01 10107 |
Art of China |
Days: M W F
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Time: 01:10 pm-02:10 pm
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Room: ARTCOM 102
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Instructor: Kari Shepherdson-Scott
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*Cross-listed with ART 272-01 (10106)*
Details
This course examines the art and visual culture of China from the Neolithic era to the twenty-first century. Lectures and readings will teach methods of formal visual analysis as well as provide the opportunity for students to think critically about how scholars write the artistic history of the region. Through this class, students will engage with a broad array of media, from jade carvings, Buddhist cave painting, architecture, calligraphy and monumental landscape paintings to ceramics, imperial palaces, and contemporary installations. While examining the intended meanings and functions of these objects and spaces, we will discuss the varied contexts and value systems that have informed visual production in China.
General Education Requirements:
Internationalism
Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts
Course Materials
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ASIA 282-F1 10471 |
Language and Identity in Japanese, Asian American, and Other Communities |
Days: T R
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Time: 09:40 am-11:10 am
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Room: HUM 110
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Instructor: Satoko Suzuki
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*First-Year Course Only; cross-listed with JAPA 282-F1 (10470), LING 282-F1 (10472)*
Details
This course aims to investigate the complex relationship between language and identity in Japanese, Asian American, and other diasporic communities. Language plays a significant role in conveying one's identity, as do other semiotic means such as clothing. By exploring scholarship that considers language as it relates to identity, students will discover how speakers/writers use their agency in expressing their identity and how identity emerges as a social and cultural phenomenon. They will learn about multiple interrelated factors that affect how speakers/writers view and use language such as race, ethnicity, nationality, and multilingualism. No knowledge of Asian languages is required.
General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Internationalism
Distribution Requirements:
Social science
Course Materials
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ASIA 327-01 10111 |
Japanese Art and the (Inter)National Modern |
Days: M W F
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Time: 03:30 pm-04:30 pm
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Room: ARTCOM 102
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Instructor: Kari Shepherdson-Scott
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*Cross-listed with ART 327-01 (10110)*
Details
This course addresses the art and visual culture of Japan from the mid-nineteenth century through the twentieth century, a period of Japanese history marked by dramatic cultural, political, and social change. The concepts of ‘modernism’ and ‘modernity’ were crucial elements in this change, sparking revolutionary shifts in the conception of art, empire, and identities (both personal and national) in Japan. Our class will discuss at length the visual arts from the 1850s to 1945, a time that saw foundational cultural, political, and social transformation in Japan as the nation developed from fledgling global power into a ultranationalist military hegemon in Asia; we will also consider artistic practices in the postwar era to understand the “crisis of the modern” that developed in the decades after the war as artists struggled to find their individual and national voices. Drawing on a diverse array of artistic forms and visual media, including painting, prints, sculpture, architecture, fashion, anime (Japanese cartoons), film, and photography, we will explore how themes such as trauma, nationalism, imperialism, war, protest, hybridity, and performativity have intersected with shifting notions of modern, artistic, and national identities inside and outside Japan. No prerequisites. First Years are welcome.
General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Internationalism
Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts
Course Materials
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ASIA 336-01 10868 |
Japanese Sociocultural Linguistics |
Days: T R
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Time: 01:20 pm-02:50 pm
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Room: HUM 110
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Instructor: Satoko Suzuki
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*Cross-listed with JAPA 336-01 (10866), LING 336-01 (10867)*
Details
This course aims to give students the opportunity to find the joy of analyzing Japanese language by enhancing their understanding of its complex and rich sociocultural meanings. In Japanese language courses, students learn the norms (i.e., what is considered to be correct and proper) regarding honorifics, speech levels, orthography, the so-called gendered language, and other linguistic forms. In this linguistics course, they will find out how actual speakers/writers observe or deviate from the norms to create sociocultural meanings and how the adherence to or subversion of the norm often reflects language ideologies. In the process they will reflect on their own as well as others' speech and writing, and learn how to critically evaluate and analyze language in the media. In addition to reading and discussing academic articles in English, students will collect and analyze authentic Japanese data such as anime, TV drama, films, manga, novels, and blogs. Japanese Language and Culture majors who are juniors and seniors may count this course as their capstone experience. The course also fulfills the Asian Studies, Japanese, and Linguistics major and minor requirements. Prerequisite(s): JAPA 204 or permission of the instructor.
General Education Requirements:
Internationalism
Distribution Requirements:
Course Materials
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ASIA 394-01 10602 |
How Should We Live? Lessons From South Asia |
Days: T R
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Time: 01:20 pm-02:50 pm
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Room: HUM 112
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Instructor: Sumeet Patwardhan
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*Cross-listed with PHIL 394-01 (10601)*
Details
Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing.
General Education Requirements:
Internationalism
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
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