Course Descriptions for Listings under "ASIA"

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ASIA 139

This course will survey the four major religions tht originated in India, namely Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism.  Emphasis will be  placed on the study of the scriptures of these traditions.  Also offered as RELI 139.

ASIA 140 Introduction to Chinese Religions

This course will survey the major Chinese religious traditions of Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism.  Readings will include philosophical texts, historical and anthropological studies, as well as popular literature.  Also offered as RELI 140.

ASIA 170 Arts of China

Introduction to the history of the visual arts in China from the Bronze Age to the present.  We will pay special attention to the artwork's physical and social contexts (e.g., tomb, temple, court, literati's garden and studio, city, nation-state). Topics include funerary art and the imagination of the afterlife, art and imperial cosmology, rise in literati aesthetics, relationship between landscape painting and calligraphy, and the emergence of propoganda and avant-garde art in Modern China Also offered as HART 170.

ASIA 211 Introduction to Asian Civilizations
DISTRIBUTION COURSE:  GROUP I  (The Asian Studies major's core course)

Introduction to the great cultural traditions of Asia, past and present, with emphasis on evolving religious and philosophical traditions, artistic and literary achievements, and patterns of political, social and economic change.  Also offered as HIST 206.

ASIA 221 The Life of the Prophet Muhammad

This course will examine the life of the Prophet Muhammad, focusing on its significance for Muslims and for non-Muslims.  Readings in the Qu'ran, Ibn Hisham, and Haykal.  Also offered as RELI 221.

Asia 231 The Enlightenment of the Body

Beginning with a historical survey of the American metaphysical tradition, this course turns to a close study of the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, as a unique window into some of the different ways the tradition has appropriated Asian religious phychological models of the unconscious, and contemporary scientific paradigms.  Also offered as RELI 231.

Asia 240 Gender and Politicized Religion

This course examines the emergence of religion-based politics in various Asian countries--particularly Hindu and Muslim--focusing on the women participants in these movements as well as the movements' concern with gender roles in society.We will investigate, for instance, the extent to which women participants have been willing or able to reshape the central ideas of such movements. Also offered as WGST 240.

ASIA 250 Meditation, Mysticism and Magic

The course moves between Buddhist religious and Western psychological literature, analyzing these as models of human development, as guides to a meditative life or critiques of it, and above all as expressions of deeply rooted cultural proclivities. Reading in Freud, Khakar, Milarepa, Borbu, Obeyesekere, Sutric and Tantric literature, Taylor and Wangyal. Also offered as RELI 250.

ASIA 280 The Asian American Experience

The course will investigate the diverse cultural traditions and shared experiences of Asian Americans in the United States, with an emphasis on people of  Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Southeast Asian, and South Asian ancestry. We shall explore the history of Asian immigration to the United States, as well as contemporary issues such as ethnic identity, racism, model minority stereotyping, interracial conflict, family structure, gender roles and relationships, and generational differences. We will analyze and discuss historical, social and literary texts, as well as documentary and feature films. Students are expected to gain from this course an appreciation of the cultural complexity of the Asian American communities.

ASIA 299 Women in Chinese Literature

A historical and critical survey of women's roles in classical Chinese literature (poetry, prose, fiction, and drama), as writers, readers, critics, and protagonists, focusing on important literary texts and some theoretical essays. Topics will include China's patriarchal tradition and women's response, enculturing the female body and feminizing male poetics, poems by women and poems in women's voice, women as domestic aliens and aliens portrayed as women, interplay of popular culture and elite cultures, etc. All readings are in Engllish translation. No previous knowledge of Chinese literature or the Chinese language is required. Also listed as CHIN 299 and WGST 299.

ASIA 323 The Knowing Body: Buddhism, Gender and the Social World

Western thoughts tend to regard mind and body dualistically, a view with significant impact on religious cultural, gendered, and social processes. This course juxtaposes received Western assumptions with Buddhist perspectives (especially Tibetan Buddhist), mapping Western and Buddhist categories onto each other to better understand the implications of each. Also offered as RELI 323/577 and WGST 323.

ASIA 330 Introduction to Traditional Chinese Poetry

The most elite literary form in classical Chinese literature, traditional poetry also enjoys large readership among common folks. This seeming contradiction emerges from its terse, single-syllabic language and rich, perceptible imagery that offer easy access to highly condensed messages. This course seeks to decode enchanting features of traditional Chinese poetry through examining the transformation of poetic genres, the interaction between poetic creation and political, social, and cultural changes, and the close association of poetry with art. In this sense, this course also serves to understand Chinese culture and history through poetic perspectives. All readings in English translation. Also offered as CHIN 330.

ASIA 331 South Asian LIterature, Poetry, and Popular Culture I

Focus will vary each year depending on both, the needs and interests of the students in the class, as well as contemporary issues. Readings range from classical, to modern 20th century literature and poetry. Various art forms, including theater and film, will be thematically related to the readings. Also offered as HIND 335.

ASIA 332 Chinese Films and Modern Chinese Literature

Exploration of modern Chinese literature through the visual imagery of Chinese films to show how and why diferent time periods and different media affect the theme of a story.  One third covers movie adaptations of classical Chinese literature. Films, subtitled in English, shown outside of class. All reading in English. Also offered as CHIN 332 and MDST 372 (NOTE:  After spring, 2006, will no longer be offered as MDST)

ASIA 333 Taiwan Literature and Film

This course introduces literature and film from Taiwan, with a focus on Taiwan's literary and cultural production since Taiwan's modernist movement of the 1960s. The course is taught within the context of Taiwan's historical and economic development apart from China. An overriding theme of the course is how Taiwan's contact with the "outside" -- Japan, China, and the West -- has resulted in a Taiwanese cultural identity, and how this new identity has led to both creation of new literary products and reevaluation of the whole of Taiwan's cultural history. Major fictive works to be read include those from the modernist, nativist, and post-martial law periods; major directors to be studied include Edward Yang, Hou Hsiao-hsien, and Ang Lee. Also offered as CHIN 333.

ASIA 335 Introduction to Classical Chinese Tales

Examination of the basic characteristics of classical Chinese novels, primarily through six important works from the 16th to 18th centuries: Water Margin, Monkey, Golden Lotus, Scholars, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and Dream of the Red Chamber. Also offered as CHIN 335.

ASIA 336 Seminar in South Asian Literature, Poetry, and Popular Culture II

HIND 336 consolidates and builds on the fifth semester Hindi course HIND 335. Continues to build student proficiency in understanding, speaking, writing and thinking in Hindi. Prepares the student for further academic and non-academic use of Hindi. Emphasis is placed on spontaneous self expression in the language. Also offered as HIND 336.

ASIA 340 Gender and Politicized Religion

This course examines the emergence of religion-based politics in various Asian countries-particularly Hindu and Muslim-focusing on the women participants in these movements as well as the movements' concern with gender roles in society. We will investigate, for instance, the extent to which women participants have been willing or able to reshape the central ideas of such movements. Also offered as WGST 340.

ASIA 344 Korean Literature and Culture

The course focuses on reading selections from modern Korean literature and viewing Korean films. Korean history, philosophy, and religion will be introduced as background information. Since the text and films will be translated into English, no previous knowledge of Korean is required. Also offered as KORE 344 and HUMA 344.

ASIA 345 Origin and Development of Korean and Related Languages

This course focuses on the origin of Korean and related languages. It explores the way the Korean language evolved and interacted with other East Asian languages, including Chinese and Japanese. The socio-linguistic aspect of these languages will be studied, including the difference in male and female language usage and the honorific systems. This class is conducted in English; no previous knowledge of Korean is required. Also offered as KORE 345 and LING 345.

ASIA 346 Korean Culture and History

Korean culture evolved, in the span of nearly five millennia, into a uniquely artistic, politically resilient, and socio-economically dynamic existence in today's global economy. This course aims to introduce students to the important elements of Korean cultural traditions and of Korean History. One goal of this course is to teach students to identify the salient patterns of cultural construction in the major aspects of history, religion, thoughts and beliefs, family/marriage, and literary works. Films (including videos) are used in conjunction with lectures and class discussions to provide students a better understanding of the basics of Korean culture and history. Class will concentrate more on modern than traditional times. Knowledge of Korean not required. Also offered as KORE 346.

ASIA 350 History and Politics of Central Asia

This is an introduction to the history, culture, lands, peoples, and contemporary importance of Central Asia.  Topics to be discussed include the Great Game, Sovietization, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the War on Terror and the new Great Game, the race for resources between Russia, China, and the United States. 

ASIA 354 Asian Apocalyptic Movements

This course will focus upon the rich and neglected apocalyptic and millenarian traditions of Asia, discussing Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoroasterianism, Manichaeism and Eastern Christianity as each of these faiths interact with and react to each other. Readings will be from scriptures and translations covering approximately the period between the first and nineteenth centuries. Also offered as RELI 354.

ASIA 355 Religion and Social Change in South Asia

This course will explore connections between religion and social and historical change in Colonial and Post-Colonial South Asia, with a focus on Hindu, Buddhist, and Shia Muslim communities in India, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Particular attention will be given to issues of religious identity and inter-religious conflict. Also offered as RELI 355.

ASIA 360 The Chinese Diaspora

Transnational China: China and the Chinese Diaspora. Exploration of the political, economic and social forces changing the lives of nearly a quarter of humanity, the 1.4 billion people of Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the diasporic Chinese communities of East and Southeast Asia. Topics include political and economic liberalization, nationalism, and urban identity, privatization and consumerism, environmentalism and public goods, and the globalization of communications technologies and Chinese cultural media.

ASIA 361 The Oriental Renaissance

This course will explore the European and American encounters with India from seventeenth-century France to twentieth-century America. Particular attention will be given to the translation of Sanskrit texts, the English and German Roman tradition, the depth psychology of C. G. Jung, and the American New Age. Also offered as RELI 361.

ASIA 363 The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

The history of mysticism is marked by symbolic systems and ritual practices suffused with erotic and ethnical paradoxes. This course examines such themes in a wide variety of historical contexts, from Plato's dialogues and Blake's poetry to Christian mysticism, Hindu and Buddhist Tantric traditions, and the modern study of religion. Also offered as RELI 363.

ASIA 365 Mysticism and Meditation in China

The course will investigate the major mystical and meditative traditions in Taoism, Buddhism and Neo-Confucianism. Focus will be placed upon the inner and outer traditions of Taoist alchemy, Buddhist meditation traditions (primary Chan/Zen and Pure land techniques), and the influence of these traditions upon Chinese intellectual discourse and the creative arts. Also offered as RELI 365.

ASIA 366 The Asian American Novel

Topics in American Literature: The Asian American Novel. This course surveys the thematics and historical contexts of Asian American literary traditions. We read a range of texts, from the late nineteenth cenury to the present, emphasizing the novel but also including some short fiction. We start in Gold Rush California, move to early Chinese America, then to mid-century Chinatown, and World War II and Japanese internment. The largest part of the course deals in Civil Rights inspired literatures, and this backdrop also informs the course's concluding look on recent texts that work from new and different political and literary paradigms. Also offered as ENGL 366.

ASIA 371 The Brush & the Stroke in Traditional Chinese Painting

Traditional Chinese painting was the art of the movements of the brush. This course examines the brushwork from several perspectives: as performances; as expression of the artist's moral character; and as a system of codes and gestures borrowed from the art of calligraphy. We consider how historically shifting understanding of the brushwork served to express diverse aesthetic, social, and cultural concerns: the cosmological and political significance of writing; the function of pictorial expression; the distinction between professional and literati painters; and the notion of the pictorial canon. Also offered as HART 371.

ASIA 372 Survey of Asian American Literature

Material covered will vary depending on instructor. Also offered as ENGL 372.

ASIA 380 The Asian American Experience

The course will investigate the diverse cultural traditions and shared experiences of Asian Americans in the United States, with an emphasis on people of Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Southeast Asian, and South Asian ancestry. We shall explore the history of Asian immigration to the United States, as well as contemporary issues such as ethnic identity, racism, model minority stereotyping, interracial conflict, family structure, gender roles and relationships, and generational differences. We will analyze and discuss historical, social and literary texts, as well as documentary and feature films. Students are expected to gain from this course an appreciation of the cultural complexity of the Asian American communities.

ASIA 387 Asian Religious and Medical Traditions

Seminar exploring the development of Asian religious traditions--mainly Indian, Chinese and Tibetan--and their medical systems. We'll examine the relationship between body and mind, illness, suffering, treatment, healing and death. We'll also discuss Western clinical interest in and research application with Asian medicine.

ASIA 399 Women in Chinese Literature

A historical and critical survey of women's roles in classical Chinese literature (poetry, prose, fiction, and drama), as writers, readers, critics, and protagonists, focusing on important literary texts and some theoretical essays. Topics will include China's patriarchal tradition and women's response, enculturing the female body and feminizing male poetics, poems by women and poems by women's voice, women as domestic aliens and aliens portryed as women; interplay of popular culture and elite cultures, etc.  All readings are in English translation. No previous knowledge of Chinese literature or the Chinese language is required. Also offered as WGST 399 (Enriched version of ASIA 299)

ASIA 401/402 Independent Study

Reading or research project to be determined by discussions between student(s) and faculty member(s). Prerequisite: Consent of intructor.

ASIA 412 Advanced Readings in Classical Chinese Literature

This course is intended to provide students of some native ability in Chinese with the means to improve speaking and reading skills at abstract levels. Students will learn to use Chinese software to find audio and written materials on the Internet, and practice condensing this material into organized class presentations.

ASIA 441 Popular Religion in the Middle East

This course will examine the popular religion in the Middle East from Late Antiquity until the 19th century, focusing on healing practices, astrology, protection, amulets, seasoned/life cycle rituals, and other popular beliefs common in Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Also offered as RELI 441/525.

ASIA 470 Visual Culture in Revolutionary and Postrevolutionary China (circa 1949-present)

Exploration of the deployment of socialist, critical, and avant-garde art in modern Chinese visual culture. The course will cover a wide range of materials from painting and installation art to propaganda posters and film. Issues addressed will include: the notion of the avant-garde (social and aesthetic), the structure of authoritarian art, art as a social movement, and the paradox of counter-discourse. The course will maintain a global and comparative frame of analysis, drawing on scholarship on Soviet and Nazi Germany visual cultures. Also offered as HART 470.

ASIA 472 Japanese Animation

Japanese Animation: Narrative, History & Society. Since the 1980s, animation has become a major force in Japanese popular culture, serving as a medium to address the diverse concers of a high-tech, media-focused society. This seminar explores the social, historical, and aesthetic significance of Japan's animation. Topics include gender and sexuality, ecological consciousness and religious imagination, folklore and history, viewership and fandom, the centrality of the fantastic and the grotesque, visions of a media- and technology-saturated society, and the prevalence of apocalyptic motifs and conspiracy theory. Also offered as HART 472.

ASIA 489 Migrations and Diasporas

The Indian Ocean presents an enormously varied arena of cultural exchange and interaction spanning coastal regions of Africa, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia and Australia. This seminar introduces students to this fascinating region by examining societies and empires shaped by voyages of exploration, religious pilgrimages, radiating diasporas and forced migration. (Cross-listed with HIST 489)