East Asian Languages and Cultures

Continuation of the fall semester course on empire and fiction, with special attention to the novels of the Qing Dynasty.

This course explores the core classical literature in Chinese, Japanese and Korean Humanities. The main objective of the course is to discover the meanings that these literature offer, not just for the original audience or for the respective cultures, but for us. As such, it is not a survey or a lecture-based course. Rather than being taught what meanings are to be derived from the texts, we explore meanings together, informed by in-depth reading and thorough ongoing discussion.

An interdisciplinary and topical approach to the major issues and phases of East Asian civilizations and their role in the contemporary world. 

This course seeks to introduce the sweep of Tibetan civilization and its history from its earliest recorded origins to the present. The course examines what civilizational forces shaped Tibet, especially the contributions of Indian Buddhism, sciences and literature, but also Chinese statecraft and sciences. Alongside the chronological history of Tibet, we will explore aspects of social life and culture.

The evolution of Korean society and culture, with special attention to Korean values as reflected in thought, literature, and the arts.

This course seeks to introduce the sweep of Tibetan civilization and its history from its earliest recorded origins to the present. The course examines what civilizational forces shaped Tibet, especially the contributions of Indian Buddhism, sciences and literature, but also Chinese statecraft and sciences. Alongside the chronological history of Tibet, we will explore aspects of social life and culture.

Designed to further the student's four skills acquired in the elementary course, this program aims to develop higher level of proficiency through comprehensive oral and written exercises. Cultural aspects in everyday situations are introduced. Traditional characters. Section subject to cancellation if under-enrolled. CC GS EN CE

Designed to further the student's four skills acquired in the elementary course, this program aims to develop higher level of proficiency through comprehensive oral and written exercises. Cultural aspects in everyday situations are introduced. Traditional characters. Section subject to cancellation if under-enrolled. CC GS EN CE

Continuation of CHNS C1112, with a focus on reading comprehension and written Chinese. Traditional characters. CC GS EN CE

Continuation of CHNS C1112, with a focus on reading comprehension and written Chinese. Traditional characters.  CC GS EN CE

Same course as C1101x (N). Students who can speak Mandarin will not be accepted into this course. Section subject to cancellation if under-enrolled. CC GS EN CE

Same course as C1102y (N). Students who can speak Mandarin will not be accepted into this course. Section subject to cancellation if under-enrolled. CC GS EN CE

Same course as C1201x. CC GS EN CE

Same course as C1202y. CC GS EN CE

Same course as C1201x. CC GS EN CE

Same course as C1202y. CC GS EN CE

Implements a wide range of reading materials to enhance the student’s speaking and writing as well as reading skills. Supplemented by television broadcast news, also provides students with strategies to increase their comprehension of formal style of modern Chinese. CC GS EN CE

This course aims to advance the student's linguistic competence through intesive and extensive readings of various genres including literate and news reports. Discussions focus on cultural as well as linguistic features. Assignments: oral presentations and written reprots based on readings. GF

This course aims to advance the student's linguistic competence through intesive and extensive readings of various genres including literate and news reports. Discussions focus on cultural as well as linguistic features. Assignments: oral presentations and written reprots based on readings. GF

Focus on the art of reading poetry, with attention to relevant historical, biographical and literary-historical contexts.

Introduction to the original standard language of China, before the development of Mandarin. This is the 6th century system for pronouncing characters, known to every literate Chinese person from then until the mid-20th century. Applications include poetic rhyming and prosody, traditional dictionaries, dialect relationships, intellectual history of language study, and the structure of the writing system. This course is taught in English and emphasizes practical facility rather than theory.

This course is designed for students who have studied Chinese for two years at college level and are interested in business studies concerning China. It offers systematic descriptions of Chinese language used in business discourse. CC GS EN CE

This course is designed for students who have studied Chinese for two years at college level and are interested in business studies concerning China. It offers systematic descriptions of Chinese language used in business discourse. CC GS EN CE

This advanced course is designed to specifically train students' listening and speaking skills in both formal and colloquial language through various Chinese media sources. Students view and discuss excerpts of Chinese TV news broadcasts, soap operas, and movie segments on a regular basis. Close reading of newspaper and internet articles and blogs supplements the training of verbal skills.

This is a non-consecutive reading course designed for those whose proficiency is above 4th level. See Admission to Language Courses. Selections from contemporary Chinese authors in both traditional and simplified characters with attention to expository, journalistic, and literary styles.

Admission after placement exam. Focusing on Tang and Song prose and poetry, introduces a broad variety of genres through close readings of chosen texts as well as the specific methods, skills, and tools to approach them. Strong emphasis on the grammatical and stylistic analysis of representative works. CC GS EN CE

The program is designed to develop basic skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing colloquial Chinese. This course (Part I) is offered in Spring only. Course II is offered in the fall. The two parts together cover the same materials as Chinese C1101/F1101 (Fall) and fulfill the requirement for admission to Chinese C1102/F1102 (Spring). Standard Chinese pronunciation, traditional characters. Section subject to cancellation if under-enrolled.

The program is designed to develop basic skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing colloquial Chinese. This course (Part II) is offered in the Fall only. The two parts (I and II) together cover the same materials as Chinese C1101/F1101 (Fall) and fulfill the requirement for admission to Chinese C1102/F1102 (Spring). Standard Chinese pronunciation, traditional characters. Section subject to cancellation if under-enrolled. CC GS EN CE

The course is designed to develop basic skills in understanding, speaking, reading, and writing modern colloquial Chinese. Standard Chinese pronunciation, traditional characters. Students who can already speak Mandarin will not be accepted into this course. Section subject to cancellation if under-enrolled. CC GS EN CE

The course is designed to develop basic skills in understanding, speaking, reading, and writing modern colloquial Chinese. Standard Chinese pronunciation, traditional characters. Students who can already speak Mandarin will not be accepted into this course. Section subject to cancellation if under-enrolled. CC GS EN CE

The course is specially designed for students of Chinese heritage and advanced beginners with good speaking skills. It aims to develop the student's basic skills to read and write modern colloquial Chinese. Pinyin system is introduced; standard Chinese pronunciation, and traditional characters. Classes will be conducted mostly in Chinese. Open to students with Mandarin speaking ability in Chinese only. CC GS EN CE

The course is specially designed for students of Chinese heritage and advanced beginners with good speaking skills. It aims to develop the student's basic skills to read and write modern colloquial Chinese. Pinyin system is introduced; standard Chinese pronunciation, and traditional characters. Classes will be conducted mostly in Chinese. Open to students with Mandarin speaking ability in Chinese only. CC GS EN CE

Designed to further the student's four skills acquired in the elementary course, this program aims to develop higher level of proficiency through comprehensive oral and written exercises. Cultural aspects in everyday situations are introduced. Traditional characters. Section subject to cancellation if under-enrolled. CC GS EN CE

Designed to further the student's four skills acquired in the elementary course, this program aims to develop higher level of proficiency through comprehensive oral and written exercises. Cultural aspects in everyday situations are introduced. Traditional characters. Section subject to cancellation if under-enrolled. CC GS EN CE

Continuation of CHNS C1112, with a focus on reading comprehension and written Chinese. Traditional characters.  CC GS EN CE

This course fulfills the language requirement for east Asian studies majors. Prepares for more advanced study of Chinese through rigorous vocabulary expansion, more sophisticated language usage patterns, and introduction to basics of formal and literary styles. Materials are designed to advance the student's fluency for everyday communicative tasks as well as reading skills. Simplified characters are introduced. CC GS EN CE

This course fulfills the language requirement for east Asian studies majors. Prepares for more advanced study of Chinese through rigorous vocabulary expansion, more sophisticated language usage patterns, and introduction to basics of formal and literary styles. Materials are designed to advance the student's fluency for everyday communicative tasks as well as reading skills. Simplified characters are introduced. CC GS EN CE

Admission after Chinese placement exam and an oral proficiency interview with the instructor. Especially designed for students who possess good speaking ability and who wish to acquire practical writing skills as well as business-related vocabulary and speech patterns. Introduction to semiformal and formal Chinese used in everyday writing and social or business-related occasions. Simplified characters are introduced.

Admission after Chinese placement exam and an oral proficiency interview with the instructor. Especially designed for students who possess good speaking ability and who wish to acquire practical writing skills as well as business-related vocabulary and speech patterns. Introduction to semiformal and formal Chinese used in everyday writing and social or business-related occasions. Simplified characters are introduced.

This course fulfills the language requirement for east Asian studies majors. Prepares for more advanced study of Chinese through rigorous vocabulary expansion, more sophisticated language usage patterns, and introduction to basics of formal and literary styles. Materials are designed to advance the student's fluency for everyday communicative tasks as well as reading skills. Simplified characters are introduced. CC GS EN CE

This course fulfills the language requirement for east Asian studies majors. Prepares for more advanced study of Chinese through rigorous vocabulary expansion, more sophisticated language usage patterns, and introduction to basics of formal and literary styles. Materials are designed to advance the student's fluency for everyday communicative tasks as well as reading skills. Simplified characters are introduced. CC GS EN CE

Admission after Chinese placement exam and an oral proficiency interview with the instructor. Especially designed for students who possess good speaking ability and who wish to acquire practical writing skills as well as business-related vocabulary and speech patterns. Introduction to semiformal and formal Chinese used in everyday writing and social or business-related occasions. Simplified characters are introduced.

Admission after Chinese placement exam and an oral proficiency interview with the instructor. Especially designed for students who possess good speaking ability and who wish to acquire practical writing skills as well as business-related vocabulary and speech patterns. Introduction to semiformal and formal Chinese used in everyday writing and social or business-related occasions. Simplified characters are introduced.

Admission after placement exam. Focusing on Tang and Song prose and poetry, introduces a broad variety of genres through close readings of chosen texts as well as the specific methods, skills, and tools to approach them. Strong emphasis on the grammatical and stylistic analysis of representative works. CC GS EN CE

Admission after placement exam. Focusing on Tang and Song prose and poetry, introduces a broad variety of genres through close readings of chosen texts as well as the specific methods, skills, and tools to approach them. Strong emphasis on the grammatical and stylistic analysis of representative works. CC GS EN CE

This is a non-consecutive reading course designed for those whose proficiency is above 4th level. See Admission to Language Courses. Selections from contemporary Chinese authors in both traditional and simplified characters with attention to expository, journalistic, and literary styles.

For more than forty years, second language acquisition (SLA) has been emerging as an independent field of inquiry with its own research agenda and theoretical paradigms. The study of SLA is inherently interdisciplinary, as it draws on scholarship from the fields of linguistics, psychology, education, and sociology. This course explores how Chinese is acquired by non-native speakers. Students will learn about general phenomena and patterns during the process of acquiring a new language. They will become familiar with important core concepts, theoretical frameworks, and research practices of the field of SLA, with Chinese as the linguistic focus.

This course examines the universalism of major literary and cultural theories from the 20th century to the present with a focus on the centrality of comparative reasoning (commensurability/incommensurability, the logic of inclusion/exclusion, etc.) that sustains such universalism. Our goal is to develop methods for analyzing the literary and cultural productions of East Asian societies in conversation with other traditions and for understanding global processes in China, Japan, and Korea in particular. Topics of discussion include, for example, text and context, writing and orality, genre, media technology, visual culture, problems of translation, social imaginary, imperial and colonial modernity. Our readings include narrative theory, structural linguistics, poststructuralism, psychoanalysis, feminist theory, critical translation studies, postmodernism, and postcolonial scholarship. Select literary works and films are incorporated to facilitate our understanding of theoretical issues and to test the validity of all universalist claims we encounter in the course. Students are strongly encouraged to think critically and creatively about any theoretical arguments or issues that emerge in the course of our readings and discussions rather than treat theoretical idiom as an instrument to be applied to a literary text. Our expectation is for students to develop interpretive and analytical skills that are essential to the task of interpreting literary, cultural, and historical texts as well as society and the world.  

This graduate seminar reads canonical medieval poems against their relevant counterparts in leishu (compendiums arranged by classification systems that served as writing handbooks). We examine these compendiums as thresholds—lying outside the poems as their ostensible background material, these thesholds not only frame questions of genre and genealogy but also mediate the borders of poems.

Mandatory film screening.

This graduate seminar examines the changing Chinese mediascape in the 20th and 21st centuries. Each week focuses on a different form of audio/visual media, from illustrated newspapers, propaganda posters, photography, radio, to film, television, video piracy and the Internet. Combining textual and historical analysis with readings on media theory, the seminar asks how different media technologies have shaped cultural formations and social aesthetics of a given historical period, and how various political and social actors have used media to impact mass perception, experience and politics.  Open to MA and PhD students.  Advanced undergraduates need to have instructor's approval.

This is a seminar for advanced undergraduates and master’s degree students, which explores the socioeconomic consequences of China’s development of a boom, urban residential real-estate market since the privatization of housing at the end of the 1990s. We will use the intersecting lenses of gender/sexuality, class and race/ethnicity to analyze the dramatic new inequalities created in arguably the largest and fastest accumulation of residential-real estate wealth in history. We will examine topics such as how skyrocketing home prices and state-led urbanization have created winners and losers based on gender, sexuality, class, race/ethnicity and location (hukou), as China strives to transform from a predominantly rural population to one that is 60 percent urban by 2020. We explore the vastly divergent effects of urban real-estate development on Chinese citizens, from the most marginaliz4d communities in remote regions of Tibet and Xinjiang to hyper-wealthy investors in Manhattan. Although this course has no formal prerequisites, it assumes some basic knowledge of Chinese history. If you have never taken a course on China before, please ask me for guidance on whether or not this class is suitable for you. The syllabus is preliminary and subject to change based on breaking news events and the needs of the class.

In this undergraduate course, we will explore problems in contemporary Chinese society through reading and discussion. We will focus primarily on the market reform period in the People's Republic of China following 1979, examining topics such as social inequality, gender and sexuality, class, ethnicity and religion, urbanization and migration, the environment, the Internet, and population challenges. Since society changes so rapidly in China, I will often assign recent news reports or videos in addition to the formal readings so that we can discuss current events related to course themes. We will adopt a social scientific perspective to think critically about how individual lives in contemporary China are shaped by the social structures around them, as well as how individuals can take action to change their environment. This course has no prerequisites, but some background knowledge of Chinese history or society is helpful. If you have never taken a course on China before, please ask me for guidance. The syllabus is preliminary and subject to change based on the needs of the class.

What is “cinema” in the Chinese-speaking world, and how have the aesthetics, politics and practice of cinema evolved over time? In what ways has cinema interacted with its sister arts, such as painting, photography, theatre, architecture, and music? And in what capacities has cinema represented and intervened into the social and political worlds of its production and reception?  This course is an introductory course on Chinese-language cinema from Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, featuring landmark films from the 1930s to the present, with emphasis on contemporary films produced in the past three decades. We cover major genres such as melodrama, historical epic, comedy, musical, martial arts and documentary films, and study works by film auteurs such as Hou Hsiao-hsien, Chen Kaige, Ann Hui and Jia Zhangke. Besides the questions mentioned above, topics also include cinema’s approaches to history and memory, and its engagement with questions of gender, ethnicity, class and language politics.

From Godzilla to Pokemon (literally, "pocket monster") toys, Japanese monsters have become a staple commodity of late-capitalist global pop culture. This course seeks to place this phenomenon within a longer historical, as well as a broader cross-cultural, context. Through an examination of texts and images spanning over thirteen centuries of Japanese history, along with comparable productions from other cultures, students will gain an understanding not only of different conceptions and representations of monsters, ghosts, and other supernatural creatures in Japan, but also of the role of the "monstrous" in the cultural imagination more generally. The course draws on various media and genres of representation, ranging from written works, both literary and scholarly, to the visual arts, material culture, drama, and cinema. Readings average 100-150 pages per week. Several film and video screenings are scheduled in addition to the regular class meetings. Seating is limited, with final admission based on a written essay and other information to be submitted to the instructor before the beginning of the semester.

Through close readings of major myths of China, Japan, and Korea, this course provides a survey of significant themes of East Asian culture. Inclusion of selected comparative readings also leads students to reconsider the nature of ‘world mythology,’ a field often constituted by juxtaposing Greek and Latin classics with oral texts collected during anthropological fieldwork. The core materials for this class are from ancient written traditions, but they speak with force and clarity to modern readers, as is underlined by our attention to latter-day reception and reconceptualization of these narratives. This is an introductory, discussion-based class intended for undergraduates. No prior knowledge of East Asian history or culture is required, and all course readings are in English. Counts towards the Global Core requirement. 

This course engages in close readings of major works of Japanese literature from the 18th-century to the present with particular attention to the issues of gender and genre as major categories of socio-cultural and textual organization, construction, and analysis. The course considers literary representations of such cultural figures as male and female ghosts, wives and courtesans, youth and schoolgirls, the new woman and the modern girl, among others. Readings highlight the role of literary genres, examining the ways in which the literary texts engage with changing socio-historical conditions and experiences of modernity, especially with regard to gender and social relations. Genres include puppet plays, ghost stories, Bildungsroman, domestic fiction, feminist treatises, diaries, autobiographical fiction, and the fantastic. Related critical issues are women’s writings; body and sexuality; media and the development of urban mass culture; translations and adaptations; history and memory; globalization and the question of the tradition. All readings are in English.

This course considers how accounts of conflict in Korean history reflect the development of core values, ethical priorities and emotions, and perceptions among Koreans from the late sixteenth century to the late twentieth century. By carefully examining the narrative and rhetorical styles of major accounts of problems such as wars, political strife, family tensions, and intellectual and personal tribulations at a given cultural and historical time, students will not only understand how Koreans have dealt with conflict throughout history but will also develop reading strategies for primary sources contested by and narrated in a multiplicity of ideologies, genres, and voices.

This course concentrates on various strange beings, places, and relationships that are represented in works written in China and are usually categorized as the supernatural by modern readers. Presenting students with a picture different from the rational world, we ask questions: How does the supernatural constitute human experiences? In what sense is the supernatural real to us? How does our view of the supernatural resemble or conflict with views engendered in pre-modern society? The course deals with these questions in hopes of deepening the understanding of the supernatural in contrast to our material reality. It situates the Chinese notion of the supernatural in the Western cultural framework in order to gain new perspectives to understand Chinese culture. All readings are in English.

In this course, we explore the rich and multi-faceted urban spaces of early modern (1600-1868) Japan. In doing so, we seek first to understand the origins, structure and social functions of the early modern Japanese city in its diverse forms and historical transformations (its links to what came before and after), but beyond simply constructing a history of the city in its Japanese context, we aim to develop an image of the city as it appeared to its contemporary observers and inhabitants -- as it was seen, heard, walked, thought, and lived.

This course explores the history of cross-border migration, travel, and exchange as it has been represented and debated in twentieth- and early twenty-first-century Korean cultural prodcution. Using literary texts, films, and relevant secondary scholarship, we will consider how a range of writers and filmmakes used narratives of transnational movement -- the crossing of Korea's borders in both directions by both Koreans and non-Koreans -- in order to both conceptualize Korea's place in a changing world and re-fashion the bounds of Korean identity.

An introduction to the major narrative genres, forms, and works from 900 C.E. to the end of the nineteenth century.  Readings in English.

What did the dead become? Ancestors, spirits, or ghosts? Are these postmortem categories and roles ontologically distinct and mutually exclusive? How did the dead become ancestors, spirits, or ghosts? Where did the dead go and what kind of "lives after" did they have? With these questions in mind, this course explores the realm of the dead in ancient China (ca. 5000 B.C.E.-600 C.E.) instantiated by the living in rituals, objects, and writings. Focusing on contemporaneous materials obtained through archaeology, facilitated with transmitted history and literature when available, students will read about and learn to analyze a variety of conceptions of the dead and corresponding afterlife options recorded in diverse kinds of sources including material culture, architecture, artifacts, pictorial representations, and texts from ancient China.

As we examine the history of China in the modern period, we notice the indelible and profound mark that wars, armed uprisings, and violence have left on collective consciousness and social and state structures. On a social level, the impact of large-scale violence often transcended territorial boundaries both locally and nationally. Historical sources also show that countless families and communities were left disintegrated as a consequence of intra- and inter-regional military conflict. This course will examine a wide array of war experiences in China in the modern period, roughly defined as the period from the sixteenth to twentieth centuries. We will ask how the history of war might shed light on the lives of ordinary people in China. Particular attention will be paid to war experiences behind the front lines and the nature of the relation between war and society during and in the wake of battle. The general course format consists of class discussion on, and close analysis of, the assigned readings, which will include monographs by contemporary scholars as well as primary materials in translation. Some background knowledge of Chinese history will be helpful. No knowledge of the Chinese language is required.

This seminar examines the history of China's relations with the outside world from the mid-fourteenth through mid-twentieth centuries, covering the period from the founding of the Ming dynasty to the twentieth century. We will begin with a discussion of the historiographical debate concerning China's so-called "tribute system" and "Sinocentric world order." Inquiries will be made into ways in which China interacted with, and was viewed by, outside societies and civilizations. Our analytical approach will be wide-ranging, and we will consider a variety of source materials, research methods, and narrative structures in our examination of China's relations with the outside world. Some background knowledge of Chinese history will be helpful. No knowledge of the Chinese language is required.

This course looks at East Asian history through the rise of a global middle class. What is a "middle class" and how did the idea evolve in East Asia? How has the middle class in East Asia converged and diverged from global trends? How has the idea of a middle class driven politics, economics, education, and gender, or vice versa? What role has the middle class played in the shared and divergent histories of Japan and China? How have middle-class experiences become the dream of the social mainstream in East Asia? Through select primary and secondary sources, students will obtain an inside glimpse of East Asia, global modernity, and the discipline of social and cultural history. Students will produce two short essays, participate in class discussion, and submit a final paper.

This course charts the history of U.S.-Asian relations from the U.S. entrance into Asia as a colonial power to the legacy of the Second World War. It engages with comparisons and connections across a variety of U.S.-Asian relationships in their cultural, economic, social and political aspects.  Complementing more prominent histories of the Asian region and of U.S. politics in Asia, a special focus of this course will be the role of transnational forces, involving one or more non-state actors. We will discuss a broad spectrum of Asian and U.S. transnational initiatives as they emerged for the first time: migration, lobbying, the early history of development and transnational investment, short-term travel and its long-term reception, hegemony and imperialism, inter-cultural and inter-religious encounters, new repertoires of cooperation and conflict and the origins of Cold War configurations in social and political perceptions and ideologies.  The course objectives are: a) to hone analytic skills for detecting what makes a U.S.-Asian relationship special or part of a broader pattern, b) to understand when and why governments responded to transnational challenges the way they did, and c) to develop a thorough understanding of transnational and international interactions across the Pacific as deeply intertwined. 

This is an upper-level undergraduate and graduate (MA) seminar. It would be helpful if students have some background in film/media studies, cultural studies, and/or East Asian studies, though no prerequisite is required. The guiding questions of the course: The animated films variably have become sites of knowledge formation and aesthetic experiments in different regions of the world. How so? What were the underlying historical and cultural conditions that led to the invention and circulation of animation? What would be a heuristic and effective narrative mode to examine the transnational history of animation? In order to go beyond the narrow confines of area studies that often separate the treatment of Japanese animation from the Euro-American and/or Asian contexts, this course provides a comparative approach. The tripartite course begins by introducing canonical works of Japanese animated film (anime) and provides an overview of the state of field. The next session discusses historically important films (from Europe, US and China) which students examine along with the selected readings from animation theories. The final section explores, in addition to recent animated films, comics and graphic novels (Japan and Korea), which are vital media for understanding animation.

What is “cinema” in the Chinese-speaking world, and how have the aesthetics, politics and practice of cinema evolved over time? In what ways has cinema interacted with its sister arts, such as painting, photography, theatre, architecture, and music? And in what capacities has cinema represented and intervened into the social and political worlds of its production and reception?  This course is an introductory course on Chinese-language cinema from Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, featuring landmark films from the 1930s to the present, with emphasis on contemporary films produced in the past three decades. We cover major genres such as melodrama, historical epic, comedy, musical, martial arts and documentary films, and study works by film auteurs such as Hou Hsiao-hsien, Chen Kaige, Ann Hui and Jia Zhangke. Besides the questions mentioned above, topics also include cinema’s approaches to history and memory, and its engagement with questions of gender, ethnicity, class and language politics.

This seminar will focus on the writings, especially the novels, of Natsume Soseki (1868-1915), the pivotal author of early twentieth century Japan. His work inherited, and further spawned, a complex legacy: the prose and poetry of pre-modern Japan; a long tradition of translating of "writing" Chinese literary texts into Japanese; and, by the mid-nineteenth century, other waves of translation from several European languages (for Soseki, the most significant one being English). Soseki came of age and began to write in the period between the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese wars, during which he received modest government support to be as scholar in residence in London. In his criticism, and even more deeply in his fiction, he grappled with issues of unsettlement, displacement, and betrayal, as Japan was moving from a secure sense of itself within an East Asian frame of cultural reference, toward one dominated by Western standards of taste and value. Later Japanese writers, as different as Akutagawa Ryunosuke, Abe Kobo, Oe Kenzaburo, and Murakami Haruki, all acknowledge their debt to Soseki, for the power of his writing about characters without a "country" home or a stable sense of their own selves, amid a global clash of civilizations, and of empire-building strife. 

In this seminar students will read and analyze poetry from Buddhist cultures, including Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and Tibetan literary traditions. Our focus will be on poems that are emblematic of Buddhist themes such as impermanence, interdependence, perception of the present moment, and empathy. We will also read and discuss poems from Christian, Hindu, Jewish, and Islamic traditions to situate Buddhist poetry within a wider context of religious literature. Considering a broad scope of religious literature will allow students to analyze how poetic forms work to express common themes such as the nature of the self and the relationship to the divine. This course will focus on primary source materials in translation. Supplementary readings will introduce foundational Buddhist concepts and prompt consideration of literary critical questions specific to poetry. Our primary aim will be to pinpoint aspects of Buddhist philosophy that lend themselves particularly well to poetic expression.

This course will survey the existing literature on the importance of Tibetan Buddhism as a religious ideology that was central to late imperial efforts at making China a multi-ethnic state. This ideology has served to link China with Tibetan and Mongolia regions of Inner Asia-through the imperial center at Beijing-for over seven hundred years.  

Examines popular protest in modern China from the late imperial period to the present, with a focus on the post-Mao era. Explores its relationship with state power and the role of passion ideology, networks, ritual, rhetoric, law, and media in mobilization and identity construction. 

This course will survey the existing literature on the importance of Tibetan Buddhism as a religious ideology that was central to late imperial efforts at making China a multi-ethnic state. This ideology has served to link China with Tibetan and Mongolia regions of Inner Asia-through the imperial center at Beijing-for over seven hundred years.  

The aim of this graduate course is to provide a broad introduction to science, medicine and technology in late imperial and modern China, and their relationship to the world. The course examines how the understanding and politics of technology, body, the natural world, and medicine undergo drastic reconfiguration from the late imperial period to the modern period. To understand this shift, we will consider questions of technology and imperialism, global circuits and knowledge transfer, the formulation of the modern episteme of “science,” the popularization and wonder of science, as well as commerce, politics and changing regimes of corporeality, in both the imperial and modern periods while placing close attention to the global context and transnational connections. In addition to getting a sense of the existing historiography on Chinese science, we will also be closely examining primary documents, pertinent theoretical writings, and comparative historiography. A central goal of the course is to explore different methodological approaches including history of science, translation studies, material culture, and global history. Reading ability in Classical Chinese and modern Chinese and facility in critical theory are all required.

China’s transformation under its last imperial rulers, with special emphasis on economic, legal, political, and cultural change.

China’s transformation under its last imperial rulers, with special emphasis on economic, legal, political, and cultural change.

The social, political and cultural history of twentieth-century China with a focus on issues of nationalism, revolution, "modernity" and gender.

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the basic issues and problems in the study of early Chinese civilization, some theoretical and others methodological. Through the review of a long series of debates the course offers a quick entrance both to this early period of history and to these studies. Organized around problems, the course encourages critical thinking and contesting arguments and helps the students weigh different positions addressing the problems. By doing so, the course guides the students to search for frontline questions and to probe possible ways to solve the problems. The course deals with both the written records (inscriptional and textual) and the material evidence, and the student can well expect this course to serve as also updates of the most fascinating archaeological discoveries in China made in the past decades. The course is designed as an upper-level undergraduate and MA course; therefore, it is recommended that undergraduate students should take "ASCE V2359: Introduction to East Asian Civilizations: China" before participating in this course.

Tibetan culture covers an area roughly the size of Western Europe, yet most regions have not been the subject of sustained historical study. This course is designed for students interested in studying approaches to local history that attempt to ask large questions of relatively small places. Historiographic works from Tibetan studies (where they exist) will be examined in comparison with approaches drawn mainly from European and Chinese studies, as well as theories drawn from North/South American and Southeast Asian contexts. Given the centrality of Buddhist monasteries to Tibetan history (as “urban” centers, banks, governments, educational institutions, etc.) much of the course will deal with these.

Major cultural, political, social, economic and literary issues in the history of this 500-year long period. Reading and discussion of primary texts (in translation) and major scholarly works. All readings will be in English.

This seminar examines the historical processes of China’s engagement with its natural environment from the pre-modern period to the modern era. China’s rapid economic growth during the last three decades has generated immense wealth and opportunities. Yet, it has also caused serious environmental degradation within and beyond the Chinese borders, including soil contamination, air and water pollution, and deforestation and desiccation. In recent years, the magnitude and global nature of China’s environmental problems have drawn growing attention and rais3d concerns over health risks worldwide. At the same time, there has also been a renewed interest in better understanding China’s past and the historical roots of the environmental challenges in present-day China. This course aims to situate China’s contemporary environmental changes in a broader historical context and examines the relationships between the state, society, and the environment over the last three millennia of Chinese history Themes covered will include visions of the environment in early Chinese thought, irrigation and flood control, and population growth and urbanization. The general course format combines critical reading and active discussion. Some background knowledge of Chinese history will be helpful, but is not required.

From Marx's Asiatic Mode of Production to contemporary notions of Confucian capitalism, theories abound to explain China's divergence from Western patterns of political and economic development. This course critiques these theories and looks at the Chinese economy starting with its own internal logic to explore the social, cultural, institutional and political forces that underlay Chinese economic practice, the role of markets, merchants, labor, and the state in the making of modern China. No prerequisite.

While the rise of women's history and feminist theory in the 1960s and 1970s fostered more general reevaluations of social and cultural history in the West, such progressions have been far more modest in Korean history. To introduce one of the larger challenges in current Korean historiography, this course explores the experiences, consciousness and representations of women Korea at home and abroad from premodern times to the present. Historical studies of women and gender in Korea will be analyzed in conjunction with theories of Western women's history to encourage new methods of rethinking "patriarchy" within the Korean context. By tracing the lives of women from various socio-cultural aspects and examining the multiple interactions between the state, local community, family and individual, women's places in the family and in society, their relationships with one another and men, and the evolution of ideas about gender and sexuality throughout Korea's complicated past will be reexamined through concrete topics with historical specificity and as many primary sources as possible. With understanding dynamics of women's lives in Korean society, this class will build an important bridge to understand the construction of New Women in early twentieth-century Korea, when women from all walks of life had to accommodate their "old-style" predecessors and transform themselves to new women, as well as the lives of contemporary Korean women. This will be very much a reading-and-discussion course. Lectures will review the readings in historical perspective and supplement them. The period to be studied ranges from the pre-modern time up to the turn of twentieth century, with special attention to the early modern period.

How did Asians abroad contribute and respond to key challenges of international society and global politics from the 19th century to the present? This course offers a panoramic comparison of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian, Vietnamese and Russian transnationalism, its promise as well as its perils. Through a combination of historical primary sources and interdisciplinary literature, we will discuss how adults, students and children engaged with transnational crises: planning revolutions overseas, experiencing expulsion, exile and other dilemmas. No prior historical knowledge is required; those with an incipient interest in migration, refugee studies and humanitarian disasters are particularly welcome.

Further practice in the four language skills. Participation in a once a week conversation class is required. 

Further practice in the four language skills. Participation in a once a week conversation class is required. 

Same course as JPNS C1101.

Same course as JPNS C1102.

Same course as JPNS C1201. Further practice in reading, writing, conversation, and grammar.

Same course as JPNS C1202. Further practice in reading, writing, conversation, and grammar.

Introduction to the fundamentals of classical Japanese grammar. Trains students to read Japanese historical and literary texts from the early period up to the 20th century.

Sections 1 & 2: Readings of advanced modern literary, historical, political, and journalistic texts, and class discussions about current issues and videos. Exercises in scanning, comprehension, and English translation. Section 3: Designed for advanced students interested in developing skills for reading and comprehending modern Japanese scholarship.

The sequence begins in the spring term. JPNS W1001-W1002 is equivalent to JPNS C1101 or F1101 and fulfills the requirement for admission to JPNS C1102 or F1102. Aims at the acquisition of basic Japanese grammar and Japanese culture with an emphasis on accurate communication in speaking and writing. CC GS EN CE GSAS

The sequence begins in the spring term. JPNS W1001-W1002 is equivalent to JPNS C1101 or F1101 and fulfills the requirement for admission to JPNS C1102 or F1102. Aims at the acquisition of basic Japanese grammar and Japanese culture with an emphasis on accurate communication in speaking and writing. CC GS EN CE GSAS

Basic training in Japanese through speaking, listening, reading and writing in various cultural contexts. 

Basic training in Japanese through speaking, listening, reading and writing in various cultural contexts. 

Further practice in the four language skills. Participation in a once a week conversation class is required.

Further practice in the four language skills. Participation in a once a week conversation class is required.

Readings in authentic/semi-authentic texts, videos, and class discussions.

Readings in authentic/semi-authentic texts, videos, and class discussions.

Readings in authentic/semi-authentic texts, videos, and class discussions.

Sections 1 & 2: Readings of advanced modern literary, historical, political, and journalistic texts, and class discussions about current issues and videos. Exercises in scanning, comprehension, and English translation. Section 3: Designed for advanced students interested in developing skills for reading and comprehending modern Japanese scholarship.

Selections from advanced modern Korean writings in social sciences, literature, culture, history, journalistic texts, and intensive conversation exercises.

This course provides basic training in listening, speaking, reading, and writing in Korean. Elementary Korean A (1001y) is equivalent to the first half of Elementary Korean I. Elementary Korean B (1002x) is equivalent to the second half of Elementary Korean I.

This course provides basic training in listening, speaking, reading, and writing in Korean. Elementary Korean A (1001y) is equivalent to the first half of Elementary Korean I. Elementary Korean B (1002x) is equivalent to the second half of Elementary Korean I.

An introduction to written and spoken Korean. Textbook: Integrated Korean, Beginning I and II.

An introduction to written and spoken Korean. Textbook: Integrated Korean, Beginning I and II.

Further practice in reading, writing, listening comprehension, conversation, and grammar.

Further practice in reading, writing, listening comprehension, conversation, and grammar.

Readings in modern Korean. Selections from modern Korean writings in literature, history, social sciences, culture, and videos and class discussions.

Further practice in reading, writing, listening comprehension, conversation, and grammar.

Further practice in reading, writing, listening comprehension, conversation, and grammar.

Readings in modern Korean. Selections from modern Korean writings in literature, history, social sciences, culture, and videos and class discussions.

Readings in modern Korean. Selections from modern Korean writings in literature, history, social sciences, culture, and videos and class discussions.

Selections from advanced modern Korean writings in social sciences, literature, culture, history, journalistic texts, and intensive conversation exercises.

Selections from advanced modern Korean writings in social sciences, literature, culture, history, journalistic texts, and intensive conversation exercises.

This course engages in a critical study of representative Korean literary texts of the twentieth century. Texts are drawn from both the Japanese colonial period (1910-1945) and the post-liberation period (1945-present). Reading of literary works are supplemented with theoretical texts and recent scholarship on modern Korea. Discussion of works written in the colonial period, considers the formation of “modern literature,” the emergence of rival literary camps, representations of gender, nationalism, assimilation, and resistance against Japanese rule.  Topics central to the Korean postcolonial experience include national division, war, the emergence of women writers, rapid industrialization, and authoritarianism.

Readings of advanced modern literary, historical, political and journalistic texts, and a wide range of materials.

Readings of advanced modern literary, historical, political and journalistic texts, and a wide range of materials.

For those whose knowledge is equivalent to a student who’s completed the First Year course. The course focuses on the further development of their skills in using the language to engage with practical topics and situations, such as seeing a doctor, reading news, writing letters, and listening to music.

For those whose knowledge is equivalent to a student who’s completed the Second Year course. The course develops students’ reading comprehension skills through reading selected modern Tibetan literature. Tibetan is used as the medium of instruction and interaction to develop oral fluency and proficiency.

This is an introductory course and no previous knowledge is required. It focuses on developing basic abilities to speak as well as to read and write in modern Tibetan, Lhasa dialect. Students are also introduced to modern Tibetan studies through selected readings and guest lectures.

This is an introductory course and no previous knowledge is required. It focuses on developing basic abilities to speak as well as to read and write in modern Tibetan, Lhasa dialect. Students are also introduced to modern Tibetan studies through selected readings and guest lectures.

For those whose knowledge is equivalent to a student who’s completed the First Year course. The course focuses on the further development of their skills in using the language to engage with practical topics and situations, such as seeing a doctor, reading news, writing letters, and listening to music.

For those whose knowledge is equivalent to a student who’s completed the First Year course. The course focuses on the further development of their skills in using the language to engage with practical topics and situations, such as seeing a doctor, reading news, writing letters, and listening to music.

For those whose knowledge is equivalent to a student who’s completed the Second Year course. The course develops students’ reading comprehension skills through reading selected modern Tibetan literature. Tibetan is used as the medium of instruction and interaction to develop oral fluency and proficiency.

For those whose knowledge is equivalent to a student who’s completed the Second Year course. The course develops students’ reading comprehension skills through reading selected modern Tibetan literature. Tibetan is used as the medium of instruction and interaction to develop oral fluency and proficiency.

For those whose knowledge is equivalent to a student who’s completed the Second Year course. The course develops students’ reading comprehension skills through reading selected modern Tibetan literature. Tibetan is used as the medium of instruction and interaction to develop oral fluency and proficiency.

The objective of this course is to help students strengthen their listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in Vietnamese. Students will be thoroughly grounded in communicative activities such as conversations, performance simulations, drills, role-plays, games, etc. and improve their reading and writing abilities by developing their vocabulary and grammar. Each lesson includes dialogue, vocabulary, grammar practice and development, task-based activities, narratives and situation dialogues.

The objective of this course is to help students strengthen their listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in Vietnamese. Students will be thoroughly grounded in communicative activities such as conversations, performance simulations, drills, role-plays, games, etc. and improve their reading and writing abilities by developing their vocabulary and grammar. Each lesson includes dialogue, vocabulary, grammar practice and development, task-based activities, narratives and situation dialogues.

The objective of this course is to help students strengthen their listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in Vietnamese. Students will be thoroughly grounded in communicative activities such as conversations, performance simulations, drills, role-plays, games, etc. and improve their reading and writing abilities by developing their vocabulary and grammar. Each lesson includes dialogue, vocabulary, grammar practice and development, task-based activities, narratives and situation dialogues.

The objective of this course is to help students strengthen their listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in Vietnamese. Students will be thoroughly grounded in communicative activities such as conversations, performance simulations, drills, role-plays, games, etc. and improve their reading and writing abilities by developing their vocabulary and grammar. Each lesson includes dialogue, vocabulary, grammar practice and development, task-based activities, narratives and situation dialogues.