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.

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 nearly 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.

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 explores the basic teachings and historical development of the most influential religious traditions and schools of thought in East Asia, including Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, and Shinto. Attention is given to classical texts, popular practice and the recent impact of Western culture on East Asian religion.

Crosslisting: REL 216.

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 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.

This advanced-level course examines the complicated relationship between art and politics in China through key debates and developments in Chinese visual culture during the 20th century. The class explores competing narratives that negotiate the tensions between "tradition and modernity," "East and West," "local and global" and their implications for revolutions in art. Particular attention will be paid to interrogating the ideological underpinnings of artistic mediums and formats, the historiographical stakes of modernity, and the assertion of cultural memory in art and text.

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.

In this required course, senior majors will research and prepare the senior thesis.