Courses

A historical and thematic survey of the Buddhist tradition from the time of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, until the present. Emphasis upon the way in which Buddhist teachings and practices have interacted with and been changed by various cultures in Asia, and more recently in North America.

Crosslisting: REL 105.

This course introduces students to 1000 years of Japanese storytelling tradition in diverse mediums: epic tales, drama (bunraku/kabuki, and noh), fiction, and film. Students will engage with such representations of Japanese culture as: - Imperial court life of the 10th century, the role of spirit possession as women's "weapon," and a 20th-century novel that builds on these traditions. - A war between two clans in the 12th century that is the setting for a key duel between unevenly matched opponents retold over the centuries in three different mediums: epic tale, bunraku/kabuki theater, and noh drama. - In the same war, the tragic defeat of one of the clans is reimagined as the source of a famous ghost story written in the 19th century...by a European with connections to Cincinnati! - Postwar short stories that retell Japanese fairy tales to situate them in a Japan struggling to cope with the devastation of the Pacific War. - A mystery novel about government corruption, and a master director’s film from the same period that treats the same subject - The possibilities – and horrors – of dreams as depicted by a 20th-century novelist, a master director, and an animator.

An introduction to the art and visual culture of India, China, Japan and Southeast Asia focusing on historical, religious and social issues and the function of both art and visual culture.

Crosslisting: AHVC 131.

A survey of 1,800 years of premodern East Asian history, beginning with the rise and fall of the Han dynasty (202 BCE–220 CE) in China and ending with the devastating Japanese invasions of Korea in 1592–1598 CE, a conflict recently dubbed “the first Great East Asian War. Topics include: Buddhism’s spread in East Asia and its influence on politics and culture; the origins of Japan’s samurai warrior class; the rise of the Mongol world empire and its impact on East Asia; and the beginnings of European commercial and missionary activity in East Asia.

Crosslisting: HIST 111.

A survey of the history of China, Korea, and Japan from 1600 to the early twenty-first century. We begin with the last two centuries of the early modern era, during which East Asian states managed relations with the rest of the world on terms of their own choosing. We then move on to East Asia’s traumatic nineteenth-century confrontation with the newly industrialized and seemingly invincible Western powers, who now insisted on dictating new, “modern” terms of interaction. The sweeping political, cultural, social, and economic changes that sprang from that encounter have dramatically shaped East Asia’s fortunes in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Topics covered will include early modern and modern empire-building; nationalist and Communist revolutions; the Sino-Japanese, Pacific, and Korean wars; globalization and economic miracles; and movements for democracy and human rights.

Crosslisting: HIST 112.

This is a special topics course crosslisted with HIST 110.

A general category used only in the evaluation of transfer credit.

Through close analysis of some of the most important recurrent themes, this course will examine how the Chinese and Japanese literary traditions reinvent and revitalize themselves in their development. Students will also study the distinctive features of the major genres in the two traditions.

Crosslisting: CHIN 206.

This seminar covers in depth the history of East Asia in 1937–1953, a period characterized by violence, upheaval, suffering, and death on an almost unimaginable scale. The Japanese empire’s cataclysmic clash with the Republic of China and (eventually) the United States left Japan in ruins and under American occupation, China on the verge of a Communist revolution, and Korea divided between American and Soviet spheres of influence. The consequences of these events led to America’s war in Vietnam and still define and bedevil East Asia’s geopolitics today. Our readings will include some of the most significant recent scholarship on four conflicts: the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Pacific War, the Chinese Civil War, and the Korean War. Although we will read much about politics, diplomacy, and military campaigns, our focus will just as often be on the experiences and stories of ordinary people caught in extraordinarily harrowing times.

Crosslisting: HIST 211.

This course provides students an introduction to the written cultural products (available in translation) from Japan, and two countries – China and Korea – occupied by Japan during the Pacific War (1931-1945). Although Japan’s occupation of Korea began in 1910, this course will begin its consideration of this topic in 1890 because the Japanese political and social mechanisms that led to fascist militarist control in the 1930s have their origins at least as far back as 1890. This course fulfills the Modern Core requirement for the East Asian Studies major/minor.

Crosslisting: JAPN 219.

Japan often conjures images steeped in tradition such as samurai warriors, sumo wrestlers, and geisha clad in kimono. At the same time, however, contemporary Japan is just as easily associated with businessmen, anime, automobiles, and high technology. How have "tradition" and "change" fueled competing visions of Japan what it means to be "Japanese"? How does one go about reconciling these conflicting views? How have these debates evolved over time? How have variously situated individuals and groups in society negotiated shifting circumstances? These questions will be at the heart of this seminar as we consider case studies from different segments of Japanese society. A range of material will be treated as "texts" for analysis and discussion including anime, manga, literary works, and films as well as ethnographic scholarship on Japanese society.

Crosslisting: ANSO 221.

An introduction to Japanese architecture, sculpture, painting and the decorative arts from prehistoric times to the 20th century, with an emphasis on the works in their cultural and religious context.

Crosslisting: AHVC 231.

This course is an introduction to Chinese visual culture from prehistoric times through the Mao era. Organized around a selection of key objects and images, this course explores a variety of art forms from China through diverse contexts such a ritual, gender, imperial patronage, literati ideals, and political icons.

This course is designed to provide an introduction to modern Chinese and Japanese fiction for the student who has little or no background in the language, history, or culture of these countries.

Crosslisting: JAPN 235.

Genre fiction (sometimes called “commercial fiction”) around the world has been broadly categorized as less-refined, or less literary. Postmodern thinkers have demonstrated, however, that popular fiction can serve as a fascinating lens through which to read place (society, race, gender, etc.) and time (historical period). This class will serve as an introduction to Japan’s long, rich tradition of genre fiction. In addition to reading recent criticism of the genres discussed, we will consider representative works, primarily by twentieth-century authors, in three genres: historical/period fiction, mystery/detective fiction, and horror fiction. This course is taught in English. No Japanese language required.

Crosslisting: JAPN 239.

This course explores visual modes employed in the expression of time and space in the construction of narratives in Asian Art. A variety of pictorial formats including: Wall Painting, Hand-Scrolls, Film, and anime; from southeast Asia, China, and Japan will be examined as case studies to explore and analyze narrative structure.

Crosslisting: AHVC 263.

Selected topics in East Asian Studies.

This course uses film and modern literature to consider responses to political, economic, and sociological changes in Japanese society over the course of the twentieth century. This course is taught in English.

Crosslisting: JAPN 273.

This is a special topics course crosslisted with REL.

This is a special topics course crosslisted with INTL and ANTH.

This course explores the differences, diffusions, appropriations, adaptations, and fusion of African American and Asian American cultures through the musical genres of R&B, Hip-hop, and K-pop. K-pop, Hip-hop, and R&B are three distinct genres of music that have different origins and characteristics but have influenced each other over time. For instance, it is clear how African American hip-hop artists have influenced Korean artists such as Seotaeji and the Boys, Tiger JK, as well as Psy. Meanwhile, African American hip-hop artists, including the Wu-Tang Clan, RZA, and Nicki Minaj, have also showcased Asian-inspired aesthetics in their music. How did these cultural connections occur and what impact do they have on the national and international scale? What do these genres reveal about racial and gender identity formation in America and Asia? Students will explore the intricate interactions between Black, Asian, and Asian American populations from a transnational perspective to contemplate how globalization through music impacts the development of culture in America and Asia. This is a special topics course crosslisted with BLST and WGST 282.

In this course, we will study Taiwan’s position not just in East Asia but with the United States and other parts of the world through the voices of Taiwanese women. Most histories of Taiwan focus on the male perspective, but what about the female perspective? How does the history and culture of Taiwan differ if we study it through the lens of those who tend not to control the writing of a nation’s narrative? Through literature, diaries, travel memoirs, films, and political speeches created by famous and not-so-famous Taiwanese women, we will consider what it means to be “Taiwanese” not just vis-à-vis the People’s Republic of China or the legacy of being a colony of Japan, but vis-à-vis the world and through a point of view that often gets overlooked – that of the woman. The course is a special topics course taught in English and crosslisted with CHIN 345, WGST 283, and INTL 250.

This course surveys the philosophical texts at the foundation of two millennia of Chinese thought and of East Asia as a global region. The core concern of these texts is the ‘way’ (dao): the way to live, the way to rule, the way to know, and the way for words to guide us. We will read the books of Confucius, Mozi, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, and Xunzi (among others), and critically assess their most unique and groundbreaking ideas.

This course examines a special group of Chinese texts that will not only enlighten, but also delight modern readers: ancient Taoist text written in fascinating literary style, and a variety of literary works informed with Taoist spirit. No knowledge of Chinese is required.

Crosslisting: CHIN 305.

In this course we will read extensively from the works of the four twentieth-century Japanese authors who have been elevated to the status of canonized writers, that is, whose works are regarded both in and out of Japan as essential in the history of Japanese letters. Note that readings will vary from semester to semester. This course is taught in English.

Crosslisting: JAPN 309.

In this course, we will together examine the beliefs, practices, and discourse that consist of the Chinese religious landscape from the early 20th century to the present day. Our journey starts with a review of the religious heritage in pre-modern China, and moves on to the twentieth century, a formative age where a new country tries to establish itself on a long history of a religiously pluralistic society, by carefully negotiating the ways of its ancient civilization and the challenges presented by a new age of global conversation and conflicts. We will pay particular attention to the relationship between the many religious institutions and traditions, between religious institutions and the state, and between the ideologies, practices, and traditions past and present.

Crosslisting: REL 316.

This course explores how art has engaged social transformation in China. You will be guided to take an inside look at how the notion of revolution stands front and center in art making during China’s long 20th century. We think deeply about two interrelated questions: how can art have social and critical agency, and how has it been related to social change in China? We approach these questions historically to become sensitive to the different contexts and experiences of the artists we study but also to how their struggles and creative interventions connect across time. In the process, you will build a framework of reference for understanding social and creative life in 20th century China, and its enduring connections to the global world.

Crosslisting: AHVC 333.

This course is an in-depth introduction to the history and culture of the Tang empire (618–907), widely regarded as China’s “golden age.” Modern Chinese historical memory idealizes the Tang as an age of great military conquests, exotically “cosmopolitan” tastes in art and music, religious tolerance and cultural diversity, brilliant poets, and free-spirited, polo-playing women. A primary goal of the class is to enable students to take an informed and critical perspective on this romanticized popular image by studying a wide range of historical scholarship and translated primary sources, which they will use to write a major research paper on a topic of their choice.

Crosslisting: HIST 312.