ENROLL

Kathleen Ryor

This course will survey art and architecture in China from its prehistoric beginnings to the end of the nineteenth century. It will examine various types of visual art forms within their social, political and cultural contexts. Major themes that will also be explored include: the role of ritual in the production and use of art, the relationship between the court and secular elite and art, and theories about creativity and expression.

Lin Deng

This course offers a unique introduction to the Chinese language for anyone curious about its defining characteristics and how they shaped, impacted, or relate to certain social, political, and cultural practices and traditions in China, present and past. This course will prepare students with the knowledge to make informed judgment on common misconceptions or prejudices, by non-Chinese and Chinese speakers, concerning the Chinese language or its writing system. Students are expected to learn about some general linguistic concepts and notions in regard to structural features of human language and its relationship with mind, society, and culture through this course. No prior knowledge of Chinese or linguistics is required.

In translation

Shaohua Guo

Prerequisite: Chinese 206 or equivalent

Seungjoo Yoon

An introduction to the study of historical biography. Instead of what we heard or think about Confucius, we will examine what his contemporaries, both his supporters and critics, thought he was. Students will scrutinize various sources gleaned from archaeology, heroic narratives, and court debates, as well as the Analects to write their own biography of Confucius based on a particular historical context that created a persistent constitutional agenda in early China. Students will justify why they would call such a finding, in hindsight, "Confucian" in its formative days. Themes can be drawn from aspects of ritual, bureaucracy, speech and writing

Held for new first year students

Seungjoo Yoon

How did China become a global player in the market economy? This course surveys Chinese business history in the recent past focusing on the origins of industrial development in China, agrarian “involution” and famine, vernacular commercialism, and arguments about China’s economic divergence from and convergence with the rest of the world. Historical examples are drawn from enterprises that produced salt, medicine, cotton textile, machine tools, electricity, automobiles, and the iPhone. Students will pick one of them and write a historical biography of a businessperson, an economic thinker, a company, or an entrepreneurial activity (e.g., operating department stores or advertising companies).  

Extra Time Required

Chie Tokuyama

This course provides an introduction to contemporary Japan through a variety of literary works dating from the early postwar period (1945) to the present. While becoming familiar with prize-winning Japanese writers, literary genres, and various artistic conventions, we will examine how writers reacted to, shaped, and critiqued historical events and social situations in which these literary texts are written. Topics for discussion include: war memory, postwar economic success, loss of national identity, shifting concepts of families, gender roles, and lifestyles, minorities, alienation, and disaster. Through readings, lectures, and discussions, you will become familiar with major cultural and historical movements that comprise the complexity of contemporary Japan, and develop the critical skills necessary to analyze literary texts. All readings are in English, and no background knowledge of Japan is required.

In translation

Chie Tokuyama

In this advanced Japanese language course, we will explore a wide range of concepts, social media buzzwords, and cultural phenomena that constitute the fabric of everyday life in Japan today. From “geeks” and “idols” dominating the cultural scene to the “working poor” and “hikikomori,” who represent the precarity Japan faces in the contexts of economic, political and psychological crisis, the course delves into the aspects of key phenomena surrounding contemporary Japanese society. You will develop skills to read, analyze, summarize, and critique various texts written in Japanese, including newspaper articles, scholarly essays, literary texts, and films, while becoming familiar with historical contexts in which these keywords emerged and are used.

Prerequisite: Japanese 206 or equivalent

Gao Hong

2023-24 $376 fee

Gao Hong

2023-24 $376 fee

Gao Hong

Prerequisite: Instructor Permission

2023-24 $752 fee. Instructor permission

Gao Hong

Prerequisite: Instructor Permission

2023-24 $752 fee. Instructor permission

Tun Myint

Huan Gao

This course examines the political, social, and economic transformation of China over the past century. Though contemporary issues are at the heart of the course, students will delve into an entire century of changes and upheaval to understand the roots of current affairs in China. Particular emphasis will be placed on state-building and how this has changed state-society relations at the grassroots. Students will also explore how the Chinese Communist Party has survived and even thrived while many other Communist regimes have fallen and assess the relationship between economic development and democratization.

Asuka Sango

This course will examine Buddhism’s engagement with the modern world in global and local contexts from Asia to North America. How do Buddhists draw on the resources of their tradition to change the social structures of gender, class, and race without invalidating that tradition? How do Buddhist teachings provide tools to combat and reinforce racism and violence while empowering and oppressing individuals? Do the Buddhist and scientific views of the mind agree or disagree? Can the effects of meditation be scientifically explained? In exploring these questions, students will be introduced to the multiplicity of Buddhisms.

Held for new first year students

Asuka Sango