ASIA 111-01 10814 |
Intro to Asian Studies: Religion and Intellectual History in South and East Asia |
Days: T R
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Time: 08:00 am-09:30 am
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Room: CARN 06A
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Instructor: James Laine
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Avail./Max.: 1 / 20
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*Cross-listed with RELI 194-03*
Details
This course serves as both an introduction to the interdisciplinary program in Asian Studies and an introduction to some of the religious and philosophical traditions of both South and East Asia. We will have a number of guest lectures from Asian Studies faculty, and consider Hindu and Buddhist traditions in South India as well as Confucian, Daoist and Buddhist traditions in East Asia. In both settings we will examine the aftermath of nineteenth and twentieth century encounters with Western colonial powers and analyze the thought of Gandhi and Mao Zedong.
General Education Requirements:
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
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ASIA 113-01 11006 |
Introduction to Buddhism |
Days: M W F
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Time: 10:50 am-11:50 am
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Room: MAIN 001
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Instructor: Erik Davis
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Avail./Max.: 0 / 16
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*Cross-listed with RELI 111-01*
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 140-01 11003 |
Introduction to East Asian Civilization |
Days: T R
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Time: 01:20 pm-02:50 pm
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Room: MAIN 011
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Instructor: Yue Him Tam
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Avail./Max.: 11 / 20
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*Cross-listed with HIST 140-01*
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:
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
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ASIA 150-01 10925 |
Language and Gender in Japanese Society |
Days: T R
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Time: 03:00 pm-04:30 pm
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Room: HUM 110
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Instructor: Satoko Suzuki
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Avail./Max.: 3 / 20
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*Cross-listed with JAPA 150-01, LING 150-01 and WGSS 150-01*
Details
Japanese is considered to be a gendered language in the sense that women and men speak differently from each other. Male characters in Japanese animation often use "boku" or "ore" to refer to themselves, while female characters often use "watashi" or "atashi." When translated into Japanese, Hermione Granger (a female character in the Harry Potter series) ends sentences with soft-sounding forms, while Harry Potter and his best friend Ron use more assertive forms. Do these fictional representations reflect reality? How are certain forms associated with femininity or masculinity? Do speakers of Japanese conform to the norm or rebel against it? These are some of the questions discussed in this course. Students will have opportunities to learn about the history of gendered language, discover different methodologies in data collections, and find out about current discourse on language and gender.
General Education Requirements:
Internationalism
Distribution Requirements:
Social science
Course Materials
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ASIA 170-01 10028 |
Introduction to the 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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Avail./Max.: -1 / 25
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*Cross-listed with ART 170-01*
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 194-01 10851 |
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: HUM 212
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Instructor: Jake Nagasawa
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Avail./Max.: -3 / 18
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*Cross-listed with AMST 194-01*
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:
Social science
Course Materials
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ASIA 254-01 10059 |
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: THEATR 202
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Instructor: Arthur Mitchell
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Avail./Max.: Closed 1 / 20
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*Cross-listed with JAPA 254-01*
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 10082 |
China on Screen |
Days: M W F
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Time: 10:50 am-11:50 am
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Room: HUM 400
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Instructor: Xin Yang
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Avail./Max.: Closed 8 / 20
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*Cross-listed with CHIN 255-01*
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 271-01 10039 |
Japan and the (Inter)National Modern |
Days: M W F
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Time: 10:50 am-11:50 am
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Room: ARTCOM 102
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Instructor: Kari Shepherdson-Scott
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Avail./Max.: 4 / 20
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*Cross-listed with ART 271-01*
Details
This course introduces students to the art and visual culture of Japan from the late nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth century, a period of Japanese history marked by dramatic cultural, political, and social change. The class focuses primarily on the visual arts from the 1850s to 1945, a time when modernism and modernity were seen (by some) as empowering and (by others) as a threat to foundations of national identity; we will also consider artistic practices in the postwar era to understand the "crisis of the modern" that developed in the first 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, anime (Japanese cartoons), film, photography, advertising design, and manga (Japanese comics), we explore themes such as trauma, nationalism, imperialism, fascism, protest, hybridity, fantasy, embodiment, and performativity. Students will be asked to consider critically how these works operated as a part of international flows in art, design, and consumerism as well as how they contributed to evolving modern identities in Japan.
General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Internationalism
Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts
Course Materials
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ASIA 274-01 10357 |
The Great Tradition in China before 1840 |
Days: T R
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Time: 09:40 am-11:10 am
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Room: MAIN 010
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Instructor: Yue Him Tam
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Avail./Max.: 5 / 20
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*Cross-listed with HIST 274-01*
Details
A study of the culture and society of China from earliest times to the eighteenth century, when the impact of the West was strongly felt. The course will feature themes in Chinese history, including the birth of the Great Philosophers, the story of the Great Wall, the making and sustaining of the imperial system, the Silk Road and international trade and cultural exchange, the emergence of Chinese Buddhism and Neo-Confucianism, Genghis Kahn and his Eurasian Empire, the splendid literary and artistic achievements, the Opium War and its impact on modern China. Lecture/discussion format.
General Education Requirements:
Internationalism
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
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ASIA 275-01 10359 |
The Rise of Modern China |
Days: T R
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Time: 01:20 pm-02:50 pm
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Room: HUM 215
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Instructor: James Coplin
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Avail./Max.: 5 / 20
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*Cross-listed with HIST 275-01*
Details
A study of leading institutions and movements of nineteenth- and twentieth-century China. Major emphases include the impact of Western imperialism, the transformation of peasant society through revolution, the rise of Mao Tse-Tung, and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. Special attention will be given to U.S.-China relations.
General Education Requirements:
Internationalism
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
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ASIA 294-01 10061 |
Language and Identity in Japanese, Asian American and Other Communities |
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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Avail./Max.: 3 / 20
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*Cross-listed with JAPA 294-01 and LING 294-02*
Details
This course aims to investigate the complex relationship between language and identity. 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 in Japanese, Asian American, and other communities, and conduct research using authentic linguistic data. No knowledge of Japanese is required.
General Education Requirements:
Internationalism
Distribution Requirements:
Social science
Course Materials
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ASIA 294-02 10473 |
Uyghur History, Art, and Society |
Days: M W F
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Time: 02:20 pm-03:20 pm
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Room: MUSIC 228
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Instructor: Chuen Fung Wong
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Avail./Max.: 0 / 16
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*Cross-listed with CHIN 294-01 and MUSI 294-02*
Details
The Uyghur are Central Asian Turkic Muslims residing in a minority autonomous region called Xinjiang in northwest China, which many of its natives prefer to call East Turkestan. Conflicts between the Uyghur and the Chinese state have turned into suppression and resistance over the past few decades, calling into question issues of sovereignty, human rights, minoritized identity, and social justice. This course introduces Uyghur culture, history, language, and art with an interdisciplinary focus. It addresses topics such as indigenous nationalism, representation, Islamophobia, racism, and mass incarceration, while also taking a critical look at discourses of pluralism, terrorism, and the “Silk Road.” We will listen closely to major genres of traditional and modern Uyghur music, and may be involved in a small-scale performance of an early modern Uyghur drama. There is no prerequisite; no prior knowledge of music, Uyghur or Turkic languages, or Chinese is assumed.
General Education Requirements:
Internationalism
Distribution Requirements:
Course Materials
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ASIA 294-03 10823 |
Political Geographies of South Asia |
Days: M W F
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Time: 02:20 pm-03:20 pm
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Room: CARN 105
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Instructor: Rupak Shrestha
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Avail./Max.: 5 / 20
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*Cross-listed with GEOG 294-04*
Details
This course provides interdisciplinary textual and visual materials to examine historical and contemporary processes through which to understand everyday politics in South Asia, with a deep focus on how macropolitics affect the scale of the local, the body, and the community. Course materials are based on studies of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. In these varied spaces in South Asia, students will engage with materials that focus particularly on, and from, the margins, frontiers, and borderlands of these contemporary states. Students will learn from academic writing, documentary photography, and film to understand how South Asia is not a fixed place or a timeless regional entity. Rather, drawing on Doreen Massey’s “a global sense of place”, students will learn about South Asia through the lens of relationality, transnational flows, and local-global connections of humans and non-humans. In addition, the course focuses on transnational homes and representations for South Asians in the diaspora. We are placed quite well to engage with the sizable South Asian community in the Twin Cities. Course topics include development, memory, colonialism, nation, bureaucracy, indigeneity, youth, religion, gender, political ecology, urban life, mobility, diaspora.
General Education Requirements:
Internationalism
Distribution Requirements:
Social science
Course Materials
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