Asian Languages and Cultures Classes

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:
Internationalism
Writing WP

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

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
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

This course introduces 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, modern graphic media, and contemporary installations. While examining the specific cultural, social, economic, and political functions of these spaces, images and objects, we will interrogate the multifaceted ways that shifting concepts of hybridity, ethnicity, authority, religion, militarism and politics have informed visual production.

General Education Requirements:
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

From the “Yellow Peril” of the late 19th Century to today’s “model minority,” the image of Chinese Americans has undergone dramatic shifts over the last few decades of the 20th Century. What happened during this period to account for the social and cultural ascension of Asian Americans, especially Chinese Americans? How has the experience of being Chinese American changed over time? The past year has witnessed renewed hostility towards Chinese immigrants in the US, reflected in the Trump administration’s demand to limit the length of student visas, and amount of work visas, granted to Chinese nationals in the Tech industry. What does it mean to be Chinese American today? Through the close-reading of a range of literary and popular media texts, students will be guided through the history of Asian American racial formation, as well as the
community’s participation in, and contribution to, the diverse culture of the United
States.

General Education Requirements:
U.S. Identities and Differences
Writing WP

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

This course examines Japanese film from the classics of Japanese cinema (Kurosawa Akira’s Ikiru, Mizoguchi Kenji’s Osaka Elegy) to the transnational genre of anime (Miyazaki Hayao’s Spirited Away and Anno Hideaki’s Evangelion) by tracing the archetypes of the white-collar worker and the adolescent girl. The course will be centered on weekly screenings, and class meetings will be focused on developing skills of film analysis. You will learn how to identify and analyze the structures and strategies that produce the narrative effects of the films we watch and learn how to develop arguments about how they engage society. You will also work on cultivating your critical voice and use writing as a means of developing your critical skills.

General Education Requirements:
Internationalism
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

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:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Japan's rapid industrialization in the latter part of the nineteenth century, and its phenomenal rise as the number two economic power in the world after the devastation wrought by World War II, have led many scholars to declare Japan a model worthy of emulation by all "developing" nations. After an examination of feudal Japan, this course probes the nature and course of Japan's "amazing transformation" and analyzes the consequences of its strengths as a nation-state. Considerable study of Japanese art, literature, and religion will be undertaken and American attitudes toward the Japanese and their history will also be examined.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This course will examine linguistic diversity in Japan as well as issues of identity and politics involved in the act of speaking Japanese in Japan and other parts of the world. Students will be engaged with questions such as the following: How do dialects become revitalized? How does the media portray dialect speakers? Does the Japanese government promote multilingualism? How do multilingual/multicultural individuals manage their identities? How do heritage speakers in Bolivia, Brazil, and Peru deal with the politics of speaking Japanese? What does it mean to speak Japanese as a non-native speaker? No Japanese language ability is required.

General Education Requirements:
Internationalism
Writing WP

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

After more than a millennium of dynastic rule, China’s last dynasty fell in 1911. In this period, Chinese intellectuals struggled to modernize their nation: proposed reforms included introduction of Western science, technology, and hygiene, promotion of public education, liberation of women, abolition of the rigid civil service examination, and abandonment of Chinese characters in favor of Western alphabetic script. This course examines Chinese intellectuals' ambivalent attitudes toward the West and toward its own imperial history at this critical juncture in Chinese history. Taught in English.

General Education Requirements:
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

What is the "Great Firewall of China?" What does it say on the symbolic power of the state, the civilians, as well as censorship and resistance politics? The Internet has played an increasingly important role in shaping contemporary Chinese life in many ways. The technology-enabled spaces have expanded to encompass a vast array of cultural forms. They have become an arena of intense contention and contestation among multiple political forces. This senior capstone course explores various aspects of the Internet culture in mainland China, combining close examination of up-to-date online content in original Chinese language with evaluation of scholarly discourse on the Chinese internet. The goal of the seminar is to look at different ways of conceptualizing Chinese internet culture. It will also consider the implications of online communication and cultural production both for contemporary Chinese culture in general, and students' own research in particular. Prerequisite(s): CHIN 204, the equivalent language proficiency, or permission of instructor

General Education Requirements:
Internationalism
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials