Junior tutorials build on the general foundation developed in the sophomore tutorial and allow students to focus their field of study according to their primary country of interest, and the particular topics they wish to pursue. The Junior Tutorial can be an important step in conceptualizing a Senior Thesis topic and learning how to conduct advanced research.
Juniors take an EAS 98 offering or a replacement seminar course approved by the Director of Undergraduate Studies. The Junior tutorial replacement must meet the following criteria:
- It must be a small seminar
- It must have a 15-page paper requirement (not counting notes and bibliography)
- It must receive approval from the Director of Undergraduate Studies and the instructor.
You can discuss possible course options and request course approval by emailing the Director of Undergraduate Studies, Professor Shigehisa Kuriyama, at hkuriyam@fas.harvard.edu. East Asian Studies will offer the following Junior tutorials for Fall 2023-Spring 2024:
FALL 2024
EASTD 98L: The Art of Original Research on East Asia
Shigehisa Kuriyama
East Asian Studies 98L is a junior tutorial in East Asian Studies designed to help students make the transition from student to scholar—help them, that is, to move from studying the research of others to crafting the sort of original scholarship expected in a strong senior thesis. Key topics covered will include: What is a good research question, and how do you find one? What sorts of new tools and creative methods can you deploy to analyze the question? and, How can you frame and communicate your findings most compellingly? The class is limited to junior concentrators in East Asian Studies; if enrollment is under twelve, however, other undergraduates may enroll with the permission of the instructor.
SPRING 2025
*CHNSHIS 146: The Modern History of Rural China
Michael Szonyi
*[ONLY ELIGIBLE WITH EXTENDED RESEARCH PAPER: PLEASE CONTACT COURSE INSTRUCTOR AND EAS DIRECTOR OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES PRIOR TO ENROLLING]
This lecture/discussion course, intended mainly for undergraduates, introduces students to the modern history of rural China. The course is organized chronologically, thematically, and historiographically. While no background knowledge of China is required, it may also be of interest to students with some prior knowledge of Chinese history, because it retells the history of modern China from the rural perspective.
Japanese Literature 162: Girl Culture, Media, and Japan
Tomiko Yoda
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.
*KORHIST 115: Korean History Through Film
Sun Joo Kim
*[ONLY ELIGIBLE WITH EXTENDED RESEARCH PAPER: PLEASE CONTACT COURSE INSTRUCTOR AND EAS DIRECTOR OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES PRIOR TO ENROLLING]
This course is to examine history of premodern Korea through select Korea's contemporary feature films. Films and dramas with historical themes and personages have been very popular in Korea. We will examine the content of the films, and investigate how ``true'' or ``false'' they represent Korea's past, how they imagine and invent Korea's past, in what ways films are useful in better understanding Korean history, people's lives and practices.
Other courses that have counted toward the EASTD 98 requirement:
CHNSLIT 289: From Late Tang Poetry and Poetics into the Song Dynasty
EASTD 98D: The Political Economy of Modern China
EASTD 98K: Economic Governance in East Asia
EASTD 152: Tea in Japan / America (extended paper was needed)
EASTD 194: Historical Legacies in East Asian Politics
EASTD 196: Political Geography of China
EASTD 197: China's Cultural Revolution
HIST 1023: Japan in Asia and the World
KORHIST 111: Traditional Korea
SOCIOL 1181: Social Change in Modern Korea