Area Courses

An area course is a non-language course in East Asian (or related) subjects. Area courses include East Asia courses in General Education, which provide varying degrees of general background, as well as more focused departmental offerings.

The following chart includes all courses that count for area course credit that are being taught this academic year. 

Courses marked with an asterisk (*) are intended primarily for graduate students and require instructor approval in order to register. It is solely at the instructor’s discretion whether to admit undergraduate students to these courses.

Number

Course

 Instructor 

 Department 

May also fulfill:

CHAGATAY 120A

Intermediate Chaghatay

Eziz

EALC

Area or Language; 100-level EALC

A continuation of Chaghatay B. This course aims to develop learners’ reading, transliterating, transcribing, and analyzing skills. Mainly focuses on reading the primary sources materials. These firsthand manuscript passages include selections from different time periods (fourteenth to early twentieth century), different places (both Eastern & Western Turkestan), and different genres (religious, historical, literature, legal, healing and medical etc.).

CHNSE 150A

Readings and Discussions in Academic and Professional Chinese

Cai

EALC

Area or Language; 100-level EALC

The course seeks to consolidate and hone students’ advanced Chinese ability through in-depth examination of Chinese society and culture.

CHNSE 166R

Chinese in the Humanities: Dream of the Red Chamber (Hongloumeng)

Liu

EALC

Area or Language; 100-level EALC

Advanced language practice through the reading and analysis of authentic academic texts in humanities disciplines (e.g., art, literature, cinematic studies). May be offered independently in Chinese, or linked with an English-language content course. Specific content varies by year.

CHNSHIS 228*

Introduction to Neo-Confucianism

Bol

EALC

Area; Upper-level course

Introduces major Neo-Confucian texts for close reading and analysis. Selections from the writings and records of spoken instruction by Zhou Dunyi, Zhang Zai, Cheng Yi, Cheng Hao, Zhu Xi, Liu Jiuyuan, and others.

CHNSHIS 270A*

Research Methods in Late Imperial Chinese History I: Seminar

Elliott

EALC

Area; Upper-level course

Training in the use of a wide array of sources, methods, and reference tools for research in the history of late imperial China, focusing upon the reading and analysis of different types of Qing-era documents, official and unofficial. Students will write a research paper using documents provided in class. Reading knowledge of modern and literary Chinese required. Open to qualified undergraduates with permission of instructor. Recommended: Chinese 106b or equivalent in foundation literary Chinese.

CHNSLIT 140

The Greatest Chinese Novel

Li, Wai-yee

EALC

Area; 100-level EALC

The Story of the Stone (also known as The Dream of the Red Chamber) by Cao Xueqin (1715?-1763) is widely recognized as the masterpiece of Chinese fiction. It is also a portal to Chinese civilization. Encyclopedic in scope, this book both sums up Chinese culture and asks of it difficult questions. Its cult status also accounts for modern popular screen and television adaptations. Through a close examination of this text in conjunction with supplementary readings and visual materials, the seminar will explore a series of topics on Chinese culture, including foundational myths, philosophical and religious systems, the status of fiction, conceptions of art and the artist, ideas about love, desire and sexuality, gender roles, garden aesthetics, family and clan structure, and definitions of socio-political order.

CHNSLIT 248*

Modern Chinese Literature: Theory and Practice: Seminar

Wang

EALC

Area; upper-level course

Survey of the concepts, institutions, canons, debates, experiments, and actions that gave rise to, and continually redefined, modern Chinese literature. Equal attention given to theories drawn from Chinese and Western traditions.

CHNSLIT 285*

The Literary Life of Things in China

Kelly

EALC

Area; upper-level course

This seminar investigates literary strategies for depicting and animating things in premodern China. We will trace the development of the principal genres for talking about objects, from yongwu poetry and riddle tales, to inscriptions, colophons, and manuals of taste. How, we will ask, have authors probed and reimagined human attachments to things. How have practices of collecting and connoisseurship transformed Chinese literary culture? How have objects been used to think about what it means to be human in the Chinese literary tradition.

CHNSLIT 289*

From Late Tang Poetry and Poetics into the Song Dynasty

Owen

EALC

Area; upper-level course

The seminar will first engage the canonical poets of the mid-ninth century, and then venture into less studied authors and issues from the last decades of the Tang to the beginning of the eleventh century.

EABS 256R*

Chinese Buddhist Texts - Readings in Medieval Buddho-Daoist Documents: Seminar

Robson

EALC

Area; upper-level course

This seminar focuses on the careful textual study and translation of a variety of Chinese Buddho-Daoist texts through the medieval period.

EAFM 151

Documenting China on Film

Li, Jie

EALC

Area; 100-level EALC

What defines a film as “documentary”? How do documentary films inform, persuade, provoke, or move us?  Of whom, by whom, and for whom are documentaries made?  Can documentary also be “propaganda” or “art”?  What rhetorical devices and aesthetic strategies do documentaries use to construct visions of reality and proclaim them as authentic, credible and authoritative?  What might documentary films—as opposed to written text—teach us about modern Chinese history and contemporary society? Above all, how would you go about making a documentary film, in China or elsewhere? In this course, we will examine documentary films made in or about China from the early 20th century to the present day, through the lenses of both Chinese and foreign filmmakers.  

EAFM 202*

Rip and Tear--The Body as Moving and Moved Image in Japanese Film: Seminar

Zahlten

EALC

Area; upper-level course

This course traces the role of the body as a discursive anchor in moving image culture in Japan. The focus will lie on the period after WW II, although the mapping of historical contexts will entail investigations into earlier histories as well.

EASTD 143A

Digital Tools and Methods in East Asian Humanities: No-coding Approach

Tang

EALC

Area; 100-level EALC

This course is designed for students in East Asian humanities with no prior background in digital literacy. It will introduce digital tools and methods used for the acquisition, transformation, analysis, and presentation of data. Coding is not required. Students completing the course will be able to integrate and apply the tools and methods into their research. Hands-on practices will be the major core of this course. Although students will expose to a wide range of tools, we use Konstanz Information Miner (KNIME), an open access analytics platform, as the axle of the course. Students will learn concepts and build workflows in different aspects of digital scholarship. Ability to read Chinese, Japanese, or Korean documents is required.

EASTD 199

China and the African Continent

Koss

EALC

Area; 100-level EALC

As Africa faces daunting challenges, the “Beijing model” invites intriguing alternative visions to the poorly performing designs by traditional foreign actors in the region. Moving from Chinese farm households in Mozambique to state-owned copper mines in Zambia, military bases in East Africa and the United Nations headquarters, this seminar critically assesses the potential for China’s presence to transform Sub-Saharan Africa. After identifying the intellectual stakes (week 1), and discussing anecdotal glimpses from the grassroot-levels (week 2), the class deals with traditional development assistance, along with Maoist attempts to revolutionize the “world countryside” – resulting in legacies such as a China-trained guerilla fighter serving as the President of Zimbabwe. We then discuss the current footprint of Beijing, including its influence on elite politics, Chinese public and private business interests, and the diversity of the one million Chinese migrants to Africa.

EASTD 211*

Historical Theory and Methods

Kuriyama

EALC

Area; upper-level course

Theories and methods for research in East Asian history. Covers approaches to social, cultural, intellectual, and political history, analyzing significant works in each field and applications to Chinese, Japanese, and Korean materials.

ECON 2921*

Early Stage Research and Discussions on the Economy in China

Yang

ECON

Area

No Description Available

EMR 157

Techno-Orientalism: Asia, Technology, Futurity

No Instructor Info

EMR

Area

Contemporary understandings of Asia often cast it as a site of global futurity which elies on ambivalent understandings of Asians as both technologically adept and machines’ themselves. This association of Asians with technology and futurity has been called techno-Orientalism, and this course serves as an introduction to discourses that observe and critique this phenomenon. We will consider techno-Orientalism’s correspondences and departures from earlier Orientalism and look at its development from early ‘Yellow Peril’ narratives to the Cyberpunk era, to its contemporary formulations. We will consider how techno-Orientalism functions within both the US national context and within global relations. 

FYSEMR 62Z

Buddhist Enlightenment: Visions, Words, and Practice

Abe

FRSEM

Area

How do you get enlightened? Is the Buddha a god or human? How many Buddhas are there in the world? How many celebrated enlightened women do we find in Buddhism? How do you know if someone is enlightened? And why does Enlightenment matter? These are basic questions that even most recondite books of Buddhism often fail to answer. This seminar looks at famous visual images of Buddhist enlightenment—not only iconographies of Buddhist divinities, but also architecture, gardens, ritual instruments, and maps of the world—and using them as our gateways, studies narratives, parables, metaphors, and theories that explain what enlightenment is, how to attain enlightenment, and how to retain it in one’s everyday life. The seminar encourages students to apply their understanding of Buddhist enlightenment as a way to better appreciate their own religious traditions and/or spiritual identities for the sake of enriching their inner selves as well as their social interactions.

FYSEMR 73E

Ancient East Asia: Contested Archaeologies of China, Korea and Japan in the Media

Flad

FRSEM

Area

How is our understanding of the past, and of scientific discovery in general, determined or framed by the concerns of the present? How does popular media cover scientific research about the past? How do ingrained social biases affect this media coverage? This seminar considers these questions through a focus on Ancient East Asia. In the process, we learn about the origins of the people, cultures, and civilizations of this region, but our primary focus is not historic details, but instead examining how the varied and complicated histories and relationships among people and societies in the modern Nation-States of China, Korea, Japan and other nearby countries are understood through archaeological practice in the present. 

GENED 1017

Americans as Occupiers and Nation-Builders

Gordon, Manela

GENED

Area; 100-level EALC

How have US military occupations abroad, such as in the Philippines, Japan, and most recently Afghanistan and Iraq, shaped both the United States and the world? The United States has launched numerous projects of military occupation and nation-building in foreign lands since the late 19th century. These have been contradictory enterprises, carrying ideals of freedom and self-determination "offered" by force or by fiat. This course will assess the meanings and legacies of these projects by examining the ideas, strategies, policies, and outcomes of occupations ranging from the Philippines early on, to Japan, Germany, Korea, and Vietnam to, most recently, Afghanistan and Iraq. The course focuses on American activities and ideas but also examines the responses of the occupied.

GENED 1136

Power and Civilization: China

Bol, Kirby

GENED

Area; 100-level EALC; historical survey

In China today we see a new country built on the bedrock of an ancient civilization. China’s re-emergence as a global economic power and political model has deep roots. From Rome to the Romanovs, from Byzantium to the Ottomans, on to the global empires of the West, all the great multiethnic empires of the world have come and gone, while a unitary, multi-national, Chinese empire has endured. The ancient Chinese ideal of a single, unified civilized world has had consequences. It was, and still is, a grand vision: all peoples unified under a single ruler and an integrated social order that finds a place for every person in security and harmony. It created the first centralized bureaucratic state; it institutionalized meritocracy; its economy became the world’s greatest market; its philosophies provided models of humane governance; its inventions spread across the globe. And yet in practice it has also been a story of conflict and control, of warring states and competing peoples. We will discuss how the choices China has made in the past bear on the challenges it faces today, when a modern “China model,” with ancient roots, competes with the United States for global leadership.

GENED 1145

Global Japanese Cinema

Zahlten

GENED

Area; 100-level EALC

Global Japanese Cinema introduces some of the masterworks from the rich history of Japanese cinema as a way of exploring the global language of film. Participants will learn how to analyze moving images and the ways they influence us – a basic media literacy that we all need for life in a media- saturated society. Additionally we will learn how culture, in this case moving images, flows across the globe and transforms its meaning in site-specific ways. We will see how Japanese cinema’s use of slow motion entered the American gangster film, or how samurai films helped create the Italian “Spaghetti Westerns”, and many other examples. 

GENED 1169

What Is the Good China Story?

Li, Wai-yee, Wang

GENED

Area; 100-level EALC

The course takes as its point of departure President Xi Jinping’s call in 2013 to “tell the good China story,” and in 2020 to “tell the good China story of combating coronavirus.”  What is the good China story? Is this the story China should tell about itself to the world? Is this about cultural self-perception, understanding the world, cross-cultural communication, or simple propaganda? More importantly, how can we tell China stories from perspectives outside of China?What seems beyond dispute is the power of stories to bring China to the world and the world to China. In exploring the “fictional turn” of contemporary Chinese cultural politics as it relates to the world, we will also trace its genealogy to earlier historical moments. Stories matter in China, not only in our times but also throughout history.Narrative fiction is one of the most effective ways to engage with the Chinese past and the Chinese present. Instead of presenting China as a monolithic civilization, this course uses stories to understand “the world of China” and “China in the world” from ideological, ethnic, cultural, and geo-political perspectives. The course highlights the variety and vitality of stories from both modern and pre-modern periods. In genres ranging from religious allegory to science fiction, from moral fable to fantastic romance, from philosophical anecdote to political satire, Chinese stories have enlightened, intrigued, puzzled, and scandalized readers, reflecting and constructing ever-changing worldviews.

GOV 1754

Science, Technology, and National Security: Japan in Global Perspective

Brummer GOV Area

Why are some countries more advanced than others in science and technology (S&T)? How does this success or failure relate to economic growth and military might? And how does growth and security affect S&T outcomes? This course will explore the triple helix relationship between technology, economy, and security with a focus on Japan in a comparative context. We will examine the past and present to inform our understanding of the future through a range of case studies, including on AI, nuclear, cyber, space, and biotechnology. 

GOV 1783

Central Asia in Global Politics

Kassenova

GOV

Area; historical survey

The course is designed as an in-depth study of the place of Central Asia in Eurasian and global politics, and the policies of key external actors, such as Russia, the United States, China, the European Union, Turkey, Iran, Japan, South Korea and India, toward the region. Students are familiarized with the ways Central Asia has been contextualized both in scholarly sources and media. We will dwell on the changing geopolitical dynamics of the region and analyze how developments there are intertwined with bigger contexts and stories, ranging from nuclear non-proliferation and democracy promotion to authoritarian consolidation and infrastructure development. We will define similarities and differences in the foreign policies of Central Asian states and discuss the future prospects of the region.

GOV 1982

Chinese Foreign Policy, 1949-2017

Johnston

GOV

Area

Introduction to the descriptive history of China's international relations with special focus on different theoretical explanations for changes in foreign policy behavior (e.g. polarity, history, ideology, leadership, bureaucracy, among others).

HAA 281K*

Embodied Architecture: Art in Stupa-Towers

Wang

HAA

Area

The Chinese stupa-tower is a distinct architectural medium. It stages and choreographs disparate images either through its external or internal decorative programs or the deposits interred inside. More importantly, it is keyed to the conceptual core of a biological extinction and imaginary postmortem scenography. The course follows the development from early memorial towers in Buddhist caves to stupa-towers in the Forbidden City.

HAA 288P*

Medieval Japanese Ink Painting

Lippit

HAA

Area

This seminar examines the history of medieval Japanese ink painting from the thirteenth through sixteenth century. Subjects to be addressed include the emergence of a Zen figural pantheon, Zen master portraiture (chinsō), poem-picture scrolls, landscape styles and inscriptions, the Ashikaga shogunal collection of Chinese painting, the relationship between architecture and painting, modal painting, the status of the monk-painter, and the emergence of the Kano school. Participants are required to have knowledge of either Chinese or Japanese.

HAA 81

Art of Monsoon Asia: Interconnected Histories

No Instructor Info

HAA

Area

Monsoon Asia refers to the area of the globe where climates are determined or profoundly affected by the monsoon, from the Himalayas, to the islands of Indian Ocean, all the way to the Japanese archipelago. Focusing on the impact of monsoons in South and Southeast Asia, the course explores the common patterns and traits of the art of Monsoon Asia. How was the monsoon and its impact conceptualized in art? The main learning goal of the course is to understand how artistic means were harnessed to conceptualize, cope with, and tame environmental challenges posed by monsoons and long-distance travels, often facilitated by the monsoon winds, in pre-modern times. From water management to water symbolism, from impressive temples that mark auspicious arrivals to itinerant objects like ivories and amulets that moved with travelers across Monsoon Asia, we will look at diverse sites and objects that date between the fifth through the sixteenth centuries and attempt to connect the dots between ports and uncover hidden narratives of long-distance travels and travails of dealing with environmental challenges in pre-modern times. The course challenges the diffusionist model of influence in understanding trans-regional interactions and introduces ways to discuss interconnected histories using digital tools. The course will introduce basic tools of digital art history and students will be asked to contribute to a course exhibition site with annotated maps and research pages as part of their final projects.

HIS 4454*

The Project and the Territory: Japan Story

Mostafavi

ARCH

Area

What is the future of urbanization? What role can design play in shaping that future? What will happen to the conflicting tensions between urban and rural? How might technology transform our experience of the physical and social worlds? This seminar will use the concept of the project, as idea and implementation, to consider contemporary urbanization both reflectively and prospectively. Using an analysis of the development of Japanese cities and regions, and their encounters with disruption and continuity, WWII, Olympics, bubble economy, Kobe earthquake, etc. we aim to question and reimagine the future relations between the physical and social worlds. The hybrid and multi-representational method of the seminar will include discussions of architecture, urban design, technology, theory and practice, infrastructure and nature, institutions and memory, as well as the ecologies of literary and visual culture. Though the focus of the seminar will be on Japan, ideas and examples will be considered in the light of parallel developments in other parts of the world. The course will include lectures, guest speakers from near and far, and class discussions based on readings, films, photography, and other visual materials. Access to these materials will be provided online for students to consult at their own pace. Over the course of the semester, students will be tasked with investigating an issue of their choice, culminating in a speculative project.

HIS 4486*

Displaced Becomings --The Many Faces of Modern Architecture in Sinophone Asia

Tseng

ARCH

Area

Modern architecture was much more than “the International Style” as proclaimed by the vanguard in 1932. Modern architecture sprung up all over the world, in all political systems, in all geographical regions, in all kinds of conditions specific to each case. In many cases, through the drift and shift of transformation, adaptation, and intervention, modern architecture gained its momentum going forward and expanded its groundings both professionally, theoretically, and socially. After all, modernity also indicates battling the preexistent colonialism, imperialism, neocolonialism, as well as institutionalized chauvinism of all kinds. As such is the case of modern architecture in Sinophone Asia, which include Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong/Macau, Singapore and some part of Nusantara, the Southeast Asian archipelago. The cases, topics, and areas which the course covers. The course provides an exploratory study of the histories, theories, ideologies in which the discipline practiced as well as currently practices over time and across cultures and geographies under the umbrella of modern architecture. The idea is to call for a [re]discovery of multiplicity and diverseness of modern architecture. The emphasis is on plural reading and understanding of modern architecture through multiple cultural and critical lenses. The lecture discusses significant projects, prominent figures, noteworthy historical moments, and momentous social and political events. The lecture also examines the architectural movements and the other-isms as well as offers a glimpse of the recent Grands Projects and the work of the emergent generation. The course is structured around faculty presentations, guest lectures, and collective discussions. The students will be tasked with completing two assignments. The first being a case study assignment, the second a short end-of-the-semester paper on a topic related to the course. There are no prerequisites.

HIST 1033

Japan’s Samurai Revolution

Howell

EALC

Area; 100-level EALC; historical survey

In 1603, Tokugawa Ieyasu became shogun, thus initiating more than two and a half centuries of rule by Japan’s hereditary warrior class, the samurai. These warriors oversaw an extended era of peace rarely paralleled in human history. Everything changed on July 8, 1853, Commodore Mathew C. Perry steamed into Edo Bay with four heavily armed US Navy warships. There, Perry issued an ultimatum: open the country to trade or face unstoppable bombardment. Thus began Japan’s modern engagement with the outside world, a new chapter in the broader encounter between “East” and “West.” Through primary sources, discussion, and lecture, this course examines Japan’s rapid development from samurai-led feudalism into the world’s first non-Western imperial power.

HIST 1939

Economic History of Modern China

Ghosh

HIST

Area

This conference course offers a close examination of the economic history of modern China set against the background of major debates in the field of world economic history and within the field of modern Chinese history. The approximate time frame covered is from the late eighteenth century to the present. Prior coursework in Chinese history (in particular on modern China) is recommended but not necessary.

HIST 2651*

Japanese History: Seminar

Gordon

HIST

Area; upper-level EALC

Students write research papers on topics of their own choosing drawing on sources in Japanese, and other languages as appropriate.

HIST-LIT 90CM

Asian American Cultural Studies

Huang

HIST-LIT

Area

In the wake of the 2021 Atlanta spa shootings and the pervasive anti-Asian racism precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a nation-wide reckoning of sorts on the embeddedness of Asian Americans within the multicultural fabric of America’s national imaginary. While these hate crimes thrust Asian Americans relentlessly into the spotlight of American public consciousness, they’re also part and parcel of a turbulent and often tragic lineage of Asian American history that has shaped and been shaped by the racialized politics of the U.S. writ large. Taking the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act as its starting point, this course contends with the vicissitudes of Asian American history from the late nineteenth century to the present, to recognize how contemporary sentiments by and about Asian Americans are inextricably intertwined with the past — in terms of what has been remembered as well as what has been forgotten. We will put a wide range of primary texts, including fiction, poetry, film, television, and visual art, in conversation with notable works of Asian American scholarship. As we move from past to present, we will encounter some of the major flashpoints in Asian American history, including World War II Japanese American internment, the Vietnam War, the 1992 Los Angeles uprising, and 9/11. We will also engage with more seemingly mundane moments and expressions in the ongoing formation of Asian American culture, to better capture the protean realities of Asian American identities and experiences in 2023. In doing so, this course grapples with what it means for Asian America to have been characterized and circumscribed by a multitude of cultural discourses — legal, geopolitical, and textual — throughout dominant as well as subversive narratives of U.S. history.

HIST-LIT 90GI

Transpacific Empires

Kim, Wang

HIST-LIT

Area

The term “transpacific” denotes the interrelation between East Asia, the Pacific, and the Americas as geographies and geopolitical territories shaped by power struggles. In this course, we will examine historical and cultural artifacts that attest to past and ongoing imperial arrangements from the twentieth century to the present. How have U.S., Japanese, and other empires structured the exchanges, intimacies, transformations, and tensions linking diverse peoples across Asia, the Pacific, and the Americas? What are the social, cultural, political, and economic reverberations of colonial invasions, hot wars, cold war, migrations, and racial formations? And how does the transpacific enrich our study of both Asia and Asian America? Drawing on films, novels, poetry, photography, government documents, speeches, and more, this course will track the relationship between the personal and political and ask what kind of subjects emerge from competing imperial modernities. Possible texts include Yokomitsu Riichi’s Shanghai (1931), Eileen Chang’s Rice Sprout Song (1955), Carlos Bulosan’s The Cry and the Dedication, opera by John Adams, poetry by Craig Santos Perez, Don Mee Choi, and Ocean Vuong, and the films Godzilla (1954), Arrival (2016), and Lingua Franca (2019).

HISTSCI 1833

Engineering East Asia: Technology, Society, and the State

Seow

HISTSCI

Area

Who creates and controls technology within society? How have technological developments shaped and, in turn, been shaped by social change? Do technological artifacts have particular politics? In this course, we will explore these and other questions concerning the intertwined relationship of technology, society, and the state within the context of East Asia’s long twentieth century. From the era of steam power to the present, East Asia has undergone epochal social and technological transformations. China’s recent bold forays into artificial intelligence are but among the latest in broader trends, beginning with Japanese, South Korean, and Taiwanese successes with consumer electronics manufacturing over preceding decades, that have marked the region as the site from which we may very well see the emergence of our technological future. In examining the history of technology in modern East Asia, we will gain a deeper understanding of the region and its technological revolutions and, more generally, of the workings of technology in the industrial modern age.

JAPAN 210A

Reading Scholarly Japanese for Students of Chinese and Korean

Jacobsen

EALC

Area or language; upper-level EALC

Development of skills in reading and translating academic genres of Japanese, with special attention to Japanese scholarship on Chinese and Korean studies. Introduction to old kana usage and classical forms commonly used in scholarly writing.

JAPNLIT 170

Traditional Japanese Literature: From Mythology to (Early) Modernity

Atherton

EALC

Area; historical survey; 100-level EALC

Poetry written by gods, incestuous aristocratic romances, exorcist theater, samurai fantasy novels, fart literature: traditional Japanese literature has something for everyone, and invites us to rethink our assumptions about what literature is and how creativity works. From the most ancient myths up to the 19th century arrival of Western style modernity, we will explore together the relationships between high art and pulp fiction, the stage and the page, words and illustrations, manuscript and print, language and the sacred. We will probe the literary imagination of beauty, nature, desire, and heroism, and ask what Japanese literature can tell us about what it is to be human.

JAPNLIT 281*

Medieval Japanese Literature and Culture

Atherton

EALC

Area; upper-level EALC

This course offers a comprehensive introduction to the literature of Japan’s medieval centuries (broadly conceived as the 12th through 16th centuries), together with an overview of critical approaches to its study. We will explore the relationship between literary production and politics, visual culture, scholasticism, geography and human movement, religion and ritual, and conceptions of class and gender, as well as the materiality and circulation of texts and, ultimately, the question of “medievality” itself. Our primary readings will be taken from high and low genres of poetry, drama, and prose (including narrative fiction, essays, miscellanies, and works of poetic and dramatic theory). Previous study of Japanese or East Asian literature is NOT required (though certainly welcome), and readings will be provided in English for those who do not read modern or classical Japanese. Curious students of other literary traditions are particularly welcome.

KORHIST 119

Governing Bodies in Twentieth-Century Korea

Howell

EALC

Area; 100-level EALC; historical survey

The seminar will explore how the bodies of families, women, and children constituted a critical locus of modern government in (South) Korea from colonial to postcolonial and neo-liberal eras.

KORHIST 260*

Readings in Modern Korean History I

Eckert

EALC

Area; upper-level EALC

Explores the history of the field through an examination of major scholarship. Designed primarily for graduate students preparing for the general examination.

LING 171

Structure of Chinese

Huang

LING

Area

Introduction to the syntactic structure of Mandarin Chinese: the basic structure of clauses and nominal constituents; words, compounds, and phrases; word order and variations; selected special topics (passives, resultatives, ba-construction, topic and relativized structures, questions, anaphora, pro drop); syntactic structure and semantic interpretation.

MUSIC 230R*

Topics in Music Theory: Music and the Transpacific

Momii

Music

Area

Music and the Transpacific. This seminar explores the musical ramifications of transpacific encounters, with a focus on the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Weekly reading, listening, and writing exercises will examine the assumptions and implications behind racial, cultural, and temporal categorizations of terms such as “Western,” “Asian,” “Pacific,” “Asian American,” and “Afro-Asian.” Topics of discussion include Orientalism, exoticism, area studies and ethnic studies, colonialism, U.S. and Japanese imperialisms, performance, diaspora, and transnationalism. Drawing on the work of musical artists across classical, popular, traditional, and experimental genres, the course will explore connections between music and cultural politics (including but not limited to race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, class, disability, and nationality). Enrollment is open to all graduate and upper-level undergraduate students; please email the instructor if you have any questions. Ability to read Western staff notation is not required for this course.

PHIL 109

Early Chinese Ethics

Robertson

PHIL

Area

Early (Pre-Qin era) China was a hotbed of philosophical activity: scholars developed careful and fascinating ethical views in the context of serious philosophical debates between major schools of thought. This course focuses on some of these ethical debates between Confucian, Mohist, Daoist, and Legalist philosophers in early China. We’ll read both classical texts such as the Analects of Confucius, Mengzi, Xunzi, Mozi, and Zhuangzi and important contemporary scholarship on these texts. Several moral questions will be of particular importance: What is the relationship between etiquette and morality? What are the most important virtues to acquire? Should we think of morality and moral development as something natural or artificial? Are we justified in caring more about some people (our closest friends and family) than others? We will have a special focus on three important interpretive themes for the course: (1) How can understanding the particular contours of the debates each scholar is engaged in help us understand their overall views? (2) How does each philosopher’s view of human psychology and epistemology constrain, guide, and support their moral theorizing? (3) How can an understanding of early Chinese ethical thought, theory, and debate help enrich contemporary discussions in ethics and moral philosophy? No previous experience or coursework in Chinese philosophy is required for this course.

SAS 140

An Introduction to the Cultural History of the Tibetan Region

van der Kuijp SAS Area; 100-level EALC; Historical Survey

Introduces the student to a magnificent, ancient culture that is still alive and well today. We will discuss its history, political history, and its literary history in great detail, primarily from the 9th to 17th centuries.

SOC-STD 98LF

Globalization and the Nation State

Prevelakis

SOC-STD

Area; Historical Survey

Despite globalization, the nation is still a major actor in today's world. This course tries to understand why this is so by examining the role that nationalism plays in peoples’ identities and the effects of globalization on nations and nation-states. It includes theoretical texts, but also case studies from the recent pandemic, the rise of populism and authoritarianism, the challenges of supranational entities such as the European Union, and the urgency of global issues such as climate change, inequality, and migration. Examples from the United States, Europe, Latin America, China, and the Middle East. This is a junior tutorial.

WOMGEN 1208

Gender and Sexuality in Korean Pop Culture

Choi

WGS

Area

What can the songs of BTS and Blackpink, the TV-show “Squid Game,” and the films Parasite and Kim Chi-yŏng: Born 1982 teach us about gender roles in contemporary Korea? What roles do writers, musicians, and filmmakers play in shaping our thinking about sex and gender? How do competing ideas about sex shape the current system of cinematic, television, and popular music genres? These questions will be explored through case studies of Korean popular media, while the course will simultaneously provide a broad introduction to the field of women, gender, and sexuality studies.

 

Number

Course

 Instructor 

 Department 

May also fulfill:

AFVS 177

Traditions of Avant-Garde Cinema

Guest

AFVS

Area

This course studies traditions and legacies of avant-garde cinema from the 1920s through the present day. Special emphasis is placed on experimental film movements that emerged in the US, Europe, Latin America, South Korea and Japan; among them Surrealist cinema, avant-garde feminist filmmaking, structuralist/materialist cinema, and the found-footage, diary, essay and landscape film. Filmmakers will regularly visit to present and discuss their work and active study will be made of unique collections (both films and papers) housed at the Harvard Film Archive. Attendance of weekly screenings is a course requirement.

ANTHRO 2855*

Deep China: The Moral Life of the Person: What Anthropology and Psychiatry Tell Us About China today

Kleinman

ANTHRO

Area

What do accounts of depression, suicide, substance abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, SARS, HIV/AIDS, starvation and the personal and family trauma of political violence teach us about China and the Chinese over the last few decades?

CHAGHATAY 120B

Intermediate Chaghatay

Eziz

EALC

Area or Language; 100-level EALC

A continuation of Chaghatay 120a. This course aims to develop learners’ reading, transliterating, transcribing, and analyzing skills. Mainly focuses on reading the primary sources materials. These firsthand manuscript passages include selections from different time periods (fourteenth to early twentieth century), different places (both Eastern & Western Turkestan), and different genres (religious, historical, literature, legal, healing and medical etc.).

CHNSE 106B

Introduction to Literary Chinese

Sena

EALC

Area or Language; 100-level EALC

Introduction to pre-Qin philosophical texts.

CHNSE 150B

Readings and Discussions in Academic and Professional Chinese

Cai

EALC

Area or Language; 100-level EALC

Continuation of Chinese 150a. The course seeks to consolidate and hone students’ advanced Chinese ability through in-depth examination of Chinese society and culture.

CHNSE 166R

Chinese in the Humanities: Masterpieces of Modern Chinese Literature

Liu

EALC

Area or Language; 100-level EALC

Advanced language practice through the reading and analysis of authentic academic texts in humanities disciplines (e.g., art, literature, cinematic studies). May be offered independently in Chinese, or linked with an English-language content course. Specific content varies by year.

CHNSHIS 229R*

Ming Intellectual History

Bol

EALC

Area; upper-level EALC

Examines various intellectual texts and movements during the Ming dynasty. Prerequisite: Knowledge of literary Chinese

CHNSLIT 134

Strange Tales: The Supernatural in Chinese Literature

Kelly

EALC

Area; 100-level EALC

This course introduces students to traditional Chinese literature by focusing on “tales of the strange.” We will examine how ghosts, demons, fox spirits, and other liminal creatures haunt the literary imagination, stretching the possibilities of storytelling. Students will gain familiarity with masterpieces of Chinese literature and their intriguing afterlives in performance, film, and popular culture. Our discussions will consider how literary accounts of ghosts and the supernatural grapple with issues of gender and sexuality, the cultural meanings of death, the boundaries of human community, and the experience of historical trauma. We will focus on developing skills in close reading, while critically engaging theories of the “strange.” No background in Chinese is required.

CHNSLIT 207*

Between History and Literature

Li, Wai-yee

EALC

Area; upper-level EALC

This course will explore what it means to read historical texts as literature and to take a historical view of literary texts. What role should historical understanding and historical imagination play in literary criticism? How is “historical knowledge” understood? What is the role of imagination in the writing of history? How do allegorical and philological interpretations function in the reading of historical and literary texts? What does it mean to read fictional texts as responses to historical events? We will consider these questions from three perspectives: the genealogies (and rewriting) of figures and stories, the role of genres and contexts in shaping reception, and the relationship between history and fiction.

CHNSLIT 235*

Theater and Theatricality in Early Modern China

Kelly

EALC

Area; upper-level EALC

This seminar charts the development of Chinese dramatic literature from the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries. We will focus on the close reading of major works in the zaju, xiwen, and chuanqi forms, examining how the theater shaped new practices of writing and reading. The seminar will follow two central themes: 1) the shifting relationship between the figures of the playwright and the actor; 2) the interplay between the spaces of the page and stage. Engaging with recent scholarship, we will reflect on how modes of theatrical performance and spectatorship transformed broader understandings of self and society. Our discussions will seek new frameworks for approaching the place of the theater in Chinese literary history. Reading ability in Literary Chinese is required.

CHNSLIT 245R*

Topics in Sinophone Studies - Modern Chinese Fiction on the Periphery

Wang

EALC

Area; upper-level EALC

Survey of modern Chinese fiction and narratology from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the Chinese Diaspora: polemics of the canon, dialogues between national and regional imaginaries, and literary cultures in the Sinophone world.

COMPLIT 264 Thinking and Writing Transculturally Thornber COMPLIT/EALC Area

This course explores approaches to literature and transculturation in the context of new understandings of human and textual border creation and crossings. Topics include the ethics of dividing cultural products along ethnic, linguistic, and national lines on the one hand and classifying phenomena as global on the other, and the possibilities and ramifications of cross-cultural study. We also examine the relationship between creative production/literary scholarship and ethnic studies, empire and (post)colonialism, identity, travel/migration/exile/diaspora, labor, war, trauma, multilingualism, translingualism, literary reconfiguration (adaptation, intertextuality), and world literature. Course readings are drawn from Africa, Asia, and the Americas.

EAFM 111

East Asian Media Studies

Zahlten

EALC

Area; 100-level EALC

This course explores the explosion of media in East Asia and the resulting forms of media production, circulation and consumption that transform everyday life, economy and politics. From pop culture phenomena such as K-Pop, fan fiction and internet platforms such as Sina Weibo, 2channel or DC Inside, from mobile phone culture to video games and social networks used in political protests, complex media forms and practices are developing with lightning speed across the region and exerting global influence. The starting point of the course are questions such as: What effects does this intense new media environment have in East Asia? How are ways of thinking and behaving adjusting to completely new forms of media? What are the consequences for the future of East Asia? How do media influence us in ways that go beyond the films, music, games, news or other forms that they supply us with?

EAFM 220*

Topics in Chinese Film and Media Studies: Seminar

Li, Jie

EALC

Area; upper-level EALC

This graduate seminar surveys the current field of Chinese cinema studies with a focus on film culture and historiography from the end of the 19th century to the start of the 21st century. We will be asking three questions preoccupying film and media studies--What is cinema? When is cinema? Where is cinema?--in Chinese and Sinophone contexts. Beyond the interpretation of film texts, we will also examine film production and exhibition, stars and audiences, genres and movements, technologies and infrastructures, propaganda and censorship, industries and markets, experiences and memories, transnational and transmedial connections. Situating films within broader media ecologies, we will discuss some of the most innovative scholarship published in recent years as well as delve into untapped primary sources to explore future research projects that can make new contributions to this emerging field. The organization of the syllabus is roughly chronological, while many weekly themes will resonate throughout the semester.

EASTD 140

Major Religious Texts of East Asia

Abe

EALC

Area; 100-level EALC

This course aims at enabling students to read and analyze in depth major religious texts of East Asia, representing diverse traditions and genres. The course encourages students to take up their reading of texts not only as ways to acquire knowledge on Asian religious traditions, but as practice, labor, and play in which their ordinary way of understanding/experiencing the world and themselves will be challenged, reaffirmed, and renewed.

EASTD 143B

Digital Tools and Methods in East Asian Humanities: Coding Approach

Tang

EALC

Area; 100-level EALC

This course is designed for students in East Asian Humanities who are interested in adopting digital methods in their research with basic Python coding. It will introduce fundamental programming concepts, SQL and relational databases, popular Python libraries in data cleaning, text analysis, and supervised and unsupervised machine learning. Students completing the course will be able to integrate and apply the Python libraries taught in class into their research and to explore the rapidly growing newcomers without hurdles. Ability to read Chinese, Japanese, or Korean documents is required.

EASTD 153

Buddhism, Japanese Arts and Culture

Abe

EALC

Area; 100-level EALC; historical survey

This course is designed to enable students to analyze a wide range of Japanese cultural creations - including the traditional Noh theater, classical and modern Japanese paintings, and contemporary anime – by illustrating the influence of Buddhism both in their forms and at their depths. The first part of the course is a study of major Buddhist philosophy and its impact on Japanese literature. The second part observes Buddhist ritual practices and their significance for Japanese performing arts. The last part traces the development of Japanese Buddhist art, and considers the influence of Buddhism on diverse contemporary popular Japanese art media.

EASTD 170

Medicine and the Self in China and in the West

Kuriyama

EALC

Area; 100-level EALC; historical survey

Comparative historical exploration of the striking differences and unexpected similarities between traditional conceptions of the body in East Asian and European medicine; the evolution of beliefs within medical traditions; the relationship between traditional medicine and contemporary experience.

EASTD 196

Political Geography of China

Koss

EALC

Area; 100-level EALC; junior tutorial

Putting Chinese politics on the map, this course asks how the government deals with the enormous challenges of ruling over a vast terrain with a diverse population, encompassing super-rich urban metropolises as well as poor rural peripheries. We begin with statecraft traditions from the late imperial era; and end with China's place on the future global maps of the 21st century. Topics include: macro-regions; priority zones of governance; Special Economic Zones; the Chinese equivalent of “blue states and red states;” rising inequality; ethnic minorities and borderlands; economic development models; urbanization and city planning; collective action in digital space; domestic and international migration; environmental politics; and the geo-politics of the “One Belt One Road” initiative. We will set aside class time for a hands-on introduction to producing and interpreting maps of China.

EASTD 271*

Language, Script, and Power in East Asia

Park

EALC

Area; upper-level EALC

How do we speak, write, and think and feel about the languages we know and use? This seminar introduces students to ideas about language, language structure, and language use—ideologies about language and script—that have shaped society, culture, and literature within the East Asian context (China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam). Readings—all in English—are drawn from multiple disciplines and fields to provide students with opportunities to examine comparatively a wide-ranging topics. Topics to explore include the rise of written vernaculars in the Sinographic Cosmopolis of pre-twentieth-century East Asia, linguistic modernity, nationalization of language and literature, script reform, colonial governance and racialization, empire building, decolonization, linguistic hybridity, translation, and questions of rupture vs. continuity when discussing premodernity vs. modernity in East Asia.

EASTD 97ab

Introduction to the Study of East Asia: Issues and Methods

Kuriyama

EALC

Sophomore Tutorial

This interdisciplinary and team-taught course provides an introduction to several of the approaches and methods through which the societies and cultures of East Asia can be studied at Harvard, including history, philosophy, literary studies, political science, film studies, anthropology and gender studies. We consider both commonalities and differences across the region, and explore how larger processes of imperialism, modernization, and globalization have shaped contemporary East Asian societies and their future trajectories. Required of sophomore concentrators and secondary field candidates. Open to freshmen.

EASTD 98K

Economic Governance in East Asia

Koss

EALC

Area; Junior Tutorial

East Asia has given rise to models of development with distinct visions for the relationship between the state and the market. Hallmarks of the designs are powerful ministries, gigantic conglomerates, state-supervised labor unions, and spectacular corruption. Students will develop a deeper comprehension of phenomena such as national champions, tycoons in the digital economy, Communist party control, international expansion, and slogans such as “Made in China 2025.” Throughout the course, we will occasionally go back in time to historical foundations of economic governance. This junior tutorial provides individualized support in the research process toward a final paper.

FYSEMR 33R

The Chinese Language, Present and Past

Huang

FRSEM

Area

This seminar offers an opportunity to learn about the Chinese language, by observing and analyzing its linguistic structure, history, cultural tradition and social relevance. Designed for students with some experience of the Chinese language.

FYSEMR 71D

Zen and the Art of Living: Making the Ordinary Extraordinary

Robson

FRSEM

Area

This seminar explores the rich history, philosophy and practices of Zen Buddhism as it developed in China, Korea, and Japan.

GENED 1068

The United States and China

Kirby

GENED

Area; historical survey

The United States and China are global economic and military powers.  They have a rich history of commerce, friendship, alliance, and antagonism. Both countries have been shaped and re-shaped by the nature of their mutual relations. Their relationship is in crisis, the outcome of which will do much to define the world of the 21st century. This University-wide course invites undergraduates and graduate students to examine together the present and future of U.S.-China relations in the light of their past. 

GENED 1083

Permanent Impermanence: Why Buddhists Build Monuments

Kim, Wang

GENED

Area; historical survey

Why do Buddhists build monuments despite the core teaching of ephemerality, and what can we learn from this paradox about our own conception of time and space? This Gen Ed course takes a multicultural and reflective engagement with Buddhist sites scattered throughout time and space. Pertinent topics such as cosmology, pilgrimage, materiality, relics, meditation, and world-making will be explored. Through these Buddhist monuments in South and Southeast Asia, the Himalayas, Central Asia, China, Korea, and Japan, students will learn about the rich, diverse world of Buddhist practice and experience.

GENED 1100

[COURSE CANCELED] The Two Koreas in the Modern World

Eckert

GENED

Area; historical survey; junior tutorial

Why is it that the Two Koreas (North and South Korea), sharing the same small peninsula, have followed such radically divergent paths in the modern world? How and why did there come to be two competing and adversarial states on the Korean peninsula in our contemporary world, one a prosperous capitalist democracy of global reach, and the other an impoverished dictatorship, bordering on theocracy and almost totally estranged from the international community—both claiming exclusive rights to speak for the Korean people and the Korean “nation” as a whole? 

GENED 1119

Law, Politics, and Trade Policy: Lessons from East Asia

Davis

GENED

Area; historical survey

How do states balance the challenges and opportunities of international markets? Importing ideas and resources while exporting manufactured goods underlies the East Asian growth miracle but also builds conflict with other governments. This course examines the transformative role of trade policy for Japan, Korea, and China. From the “unequal treaties” of the nineteenth century to the World Trade Organization today, trade law binds the interactions between East Asia and the world. Japan grew from an isolated samurai nation to a leading economic power but now confronts stagnating growth. Korea relied on business conglomerates for rapid industrialization and embraced liberalization to steer its way out of financial crisis. China turned to the WTO to anchor domestic economic reforms but now faces U.S. resistance to its export dominance. East Asia offers models of the success and problems that accompany globalization.

GOV 2285*

Political Science and China

Perry

GOV

Area

This graduate seminar gives students control over the secondary literature on Chinese politics, with special attention to competing theoretical and methodological approaches.

GOV 94IA

Sino-US Relations in an Era of Rising Chinese Power

Johnston

GOV

Area

Focuses on the theoretically informed explanations for changing levels of conflict and cooperation in US-China relations. Examines the role of history, ideology, power, economics, and ethnicity/identity. Main assignment is an original research paper that tests alternative explanations for some puzzle in US-China relations.

GOV 94YW

Comparative Political Development

Wang

GOV

Area

This course examines the historical development of different political institutions in the world. Why did modern nation states and representative governments emerge in Europe? What was the path of political development in other parts of Eurasia, such as China and the Middle East? How did different political institutions influence economic development in the long term? We explore these big questions drawing materials from political science, history, sociology, anthropology, and economic history. A major course objective is to understand how the roots of political development in different countries connect with their politics and economies today.

HAA 18P

Introduction to Japanese Woodblock Prints

Lippit

HAA

Area

This course provides an introduction to Japanese art and cultural history through a survey of the Japanese woodblock print from its emergence in the mid-17th century to the modern era. Technical developments, major genres, and master designers are explored within the context of Japan's pictorial traditions and evolving urban culture. Topics for consideration include aesthetic discourse, censorship, erotica, Japonisme, the construction of social identity, print culture, and the representation of war.

HIST 1602

Modern China: 1894-Present

Ghosh

HIST

Area; historical survey

This lecture course will provide a survey of some of the major issues in the history of post-imperial China (1912- ). Beginning with the decline of the Qing and the dramatic collapse of China’s imperial system in 1911, the course shall examine how China has sought to redefine itself anew over the past one-hundred years. The revolutionary years of 1911, 1949, and 1978 will serve as our three fulcra, as we investigate how China has tussled with a variety of ‘isms’ (such as republicanism, militarism, nationalism, socialism, and state capitalism) in its pursuit of an appropriate system of governance and social organization. In so doing, we shall also explore the social, economic, cultural, and scientific changes wrought by these varied attempts at state-building.

HIST 89J

The United States and China: Opium War to the Present

Manela

HIST

Area

This research seminar will focus on the history of Sino-American relations and interactions since the Opium War (1840s). It will examine major episodes such as the Boxer intervention, the first and second world wars, the Korea and Vietnam wars, the Mao-Nixon rapprochement, and the post-Mao transformations, and explore central themes such as immigration, trade, culture, diplomacy, and security.

JAPAN 210B*

Reading Scholarly Japanese for Students of Chinese and Korean

Jacobsen

EALC

Area or Language; upper-level EALC

Continuation of Japanese 210a.

JAPNHIST 270*

Early Modern Japanese History: Proseminar

Howell

EALC

Area; upper-level EALC

This seminar surveys the recent English-language literature on the history of early modern Japan, roughly from the late sixteenth century to around 1875.

JAPNLIT 162

Girl Culture, Media, and Japan

Yoda

EALC

Area; 100-level EALC; junior tutorial

In contemporary Japan, girls and girl culture are considered to be among the most significant sources of popular cultural trends. For instance, the girly aesthetics of “cute” (kawaii) has animated broad areas of Japanese culture since the 1980s and has become a global cultural idiom through the dissemination of Japanese entertainment medias and fashion products abroad. The course will explore a number of key questions about Japanese (and global) girl culture. How did the conceptualization of girlhood, girl culture, girl bodies, and girl affect transform in Japan from the early twentieth century to the present? How did various medias and media consumption help shape these trends? What can the exploration of “girls’ question” tell us, not only about Japanese socio-cultural history, but also about the general conditions of youth, gender, and media culture in the world today (e.g., the sea of pink at Women’s March, 2016)? We will begin the semester by unpacking key terms such as “girl,” “girlhood,” and “girl culture” in relations to the modern and contemporary notions of gender, maturity, and majority. The course materials include fiction, fashion magazines, teen films, manga, and animation. No prior knowledge of Japanese language or history is expected.

JAPNLIT 260*

Early Modern Japanese Literature and Culture

Atherton

EALC

Area; upper-level EALC

This course explores the literature of the Edo period, a time that saw the emergence of a dynamic market for popular literature, the rise of new dramatic forms such as kabuki and puppet theater, the heyday of comic linked verse and satirical poetry, striking innovations in travel writing and the essay, and radically new approaches to the literature of Japan’s past. Surveying a diverse range of prose, poetry, and drama, we will explore such relationships as those between text and image, stage and page, orality and literacy, print and manuscript, high and low, literature and politics, and Japan and the continent.

JAPNLIT 270*

Topics in Modern and Contemporary Japanese Fiction: Seminar

Yoda

EALC

Area; upper-level EALC

A seminar course on the history, theory, and practice of modern to contemporary Japanese fiction. The course will be organized around a specific theme, time period, a cluster of writers, critics, or genres.

KORHIST 230R*

Readings in Premodern Korean History

Kim, Sun Joo

EALC

Area; upper-level EALC

Examines the social, political, economic, and intellectual history of premodern Korea. Designed primarily for graduate students preparing for the general examination.

KORLIT 134

Korean Literature in Translation

Park

EALC

Area; 100-level EALC;

This lecture course introduces undergraduate students to major works, writers, themes, and styles of Korean literature while exploring literature-inspired questions using Korean literature. All readings are in English. No knowledge of the Korean language is required. Knowledge of Korean culture and history is not required but is encouraged. Graduate students may take this course for credit after consultation with the instructor.

MUSIC 194RS Special Topics: Proseminar: Music in Japan from Ghibli to Gagaku Hynes-Tawa MUSIC Area

Like Japanese culture in general, Japan’s music has been stereotyped both as simultaneously very old/traditional and very modern/Western, a dichotomy that fails to take into account the many rich layers of history that have combined to create the landscape we see today. This course will walk through several different genres and periods in the history of Japanese music, exploring its relations with its East Asian neighbors as well as Western cultures. By engaging both with music and with readings (in English), students will practice writing about music from a variety of approaches. No knowledge of music theory or the Japanese language required, though students that do have/are developing these skills are encouraged to apply them.

PHIL 159S

Skepticism

Rinard

PHIL

Area

This course will primarily focus on attempts to develop a workable skeptical philosophy. Much effort has been, and continues to be, expended in trying to defeat, or argue against, or undermine, skepticism. Here we will look at what happens if we take seriously the possibility that skepticism is actually true. How can we build a philosophy, and a life, that acknowledges the truth of skepticism? We will look at a number of different attempts to do this from a wide range of times. We will pay particular attention to the Ancient Greek Pyrrhonians and the Ancient Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi, reading both the original texts and later commentaries on them.

RELIGION 116

The Conduct of Life in Western and Eastern Philosophy

Unger, Puett

HDS

Area; 100-level EALC

A study of approaches in the philosophical traditions of the West and the East to the conduct of life. Philosophical ethics has often been understood as meta-ethics: the development of a method of moral inquiry or justification. Here we focus instead on what philosophy has to tell us about the first-order question: How should we live our lives?This year a major concern will be the study and contrast of two such orientations to existence. One is the philosophical tradition focused on ideas of self-reliance, self-construction, and nonconformity (exemplified by Emerson and Nietzsche). The other is a way of thinking (notably represented by Confucius) that puts its hope in a dynamic of mutual responsibility, shaped by role and ritual and informed by imaginative empathy.

RELIGION 1599

Asian American Religion

Eck

HDS

Area

How "Asian" is America today? This seminar explores the Asian dimensions of American history, immigration, religion, and culture as immigrants have come from India, China, Southeast Asia, Korea, and Japan. When and why did they come to the U.S.? What forms of religious and cultural life did they bring to the U.S. in the 19th and 20th centuries? What opportunities and obstacles did they find here? How do Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs, Buddhists of many lineages, as well as Asian Christian communities contribute to the religious landscape of American cities and towns today? How has Asia reshaped the collective identity of the United States from the first encounters of Thoreau and Emerson with texts and ideas of the "Orient" to the saturation of modern America with the holistic cultures of yoga, tai chi, and mind-body medicine? Offered jointly with Divinity as HDS 3490; permission of instructor required.

SOCIOL 1141

Contemporary Chinese Society

Lei

SOCIOL

Area

This course will equip you with the basic literacy required to comprehend contemporary Chinese society, which is an increasingly essential skill for informed citizens in our present global context. No prior knowledge or language proficiency is necessary to enroll in this class. We will delve into the profound transformations that have occurred during the post-1978 reform period, including China's shift to a market economy, the emergence of the digital economy, the implementation of population policy by the government, urbanization, rising inequality, and contentious politics. The course will analyze how these changes have influenced social relations and how they have been experienced and understood by individuals. From a sociological perspective, this course will address topics related to the state, development, market, population, migration, urbanization, inequality, gender, labor and work, civil society, the public sphere, and social movements. Although the course is listed in the sociology catalog, readings and topics covered in the course are situated at the intersection of sociology, political science, law, anthropology, and history.

SOCIOL 1181

Social Change in Modern Korea

Chang

SOCIOL

Area; Junior Tutorial

This course explores the incredible transformation of Korean society in the modern period. We begin with the demise of the Choson Dynasty at the end of the 19th century before covering the Japanese colonial period (1910-1945), the emergence of two Korean nation-states (1945-1948), the Korean War (1950-53), and the contemporary period (1960-present). The course is divided into two sections: in the first part of the course we will discuss Korea’s political and economic transformation, and in the second part we will cover social and cultural change. Upon completion of the course students should have a thorough grasp of the vast social changes Korea underwent in the 20th century.

TDM 168K

Contemporary Mixed Media Theater Production in Asia

Kim

TDM

Area

Contemporary Asian theater has emerged in recent years as a source of influence and inspiration in the global culture industry. Specifically, mixed media productions in Asia have created a provocative performance and compositional space through which to link cultural experiences of the past with the artistic vision and expression of contemporary creative practitioners. Audiences around the world are increasingly eager for pathbreaking new media productions that engage with cultural diversity and multiple traditions. Correspondingly, global production theaters have changed their models to satisfy audience demands. This course combines seminar discussion, lecture, and hands-on practical engagement to develop students’ understanding and appreciation of mixed media performing arts, especially those that incorporate and innovate upon traditional Asian aesthetics and cultural experiences. Course materials will cover traditional music and theatres, the technical development of contemporary Asian theater, diverse forms of media production in contemporary, social, and political performance arts in Asia, and their global circulation.  In particular, this course will focus on contemporary mixed media theater from Korea, China, and Japan.

WOMGEN 1216

Women's Voices in Asian and Asian American Literature

Choi

WGS

Area

This course introduces students to the writings of both canonical and lesser-known Asian and Asian American women writers. The course especially examines the works by Chinese/ Chinese American, Japanese/ Japanese American, Korean/ Korean American women writers. Moving from the pre-modern to contemporary era, the course will explore a range of women’s voices and experiences as reflected through poetry, fiction, diaries, and epistles. Authors will include Murasaki Shikibu, Li Qingzhao, Ono no Komachi, Lady Hyegyŏng, Qui Jin, Higuchi Ichiyo, Kim Wŏn-ju, Gong Jiyoung, Yoshimoto Banana, Maxine Hong Kingston, Tamiko Beyer, and Min Jin Lee. Topics will include family, marriage, loyalty, motherhood, women’s rights, sexual violence, same- sex desire, censorship, and gender and race politics.