Undergraduate Courses
Current Semester's Non-Language Courses
ART 217/EAS 217The Arts of Japan(LA)ART 217 surveys the arts of Japan from the pre-historic period through the present day. Painting, sculpture, and architecture form the core of study, though we will also examine the critical role of other forms, including calligraphy, lacquer, and ceramics. Throughout the course we will take close account of the broader cultural and historical contexts in which art was made. Our topics include the ongoing tension in Japanese art between the foreign and the indigenous, the role of ritual in Japan's visual arts, the re-uses of the past, the changing loci of patronage, and the formats and materials of Japanese art.Andrew M. Watsky
EAS 230/ANT 230/ENV 230Culture and the Environment in East Asia(SA)This lecture addresses the cultural, social, and political dimensions of human-environment relations with specific reference to East Asia. East Asia represents a hotspot for environmental debates, where China, Japan, and Korea simultaneously face international criticism over over-exploitation and animal rights, as well as praise for developing new "green" technologies. Drawing from anthropological and environmental literatures and from the popular media, we will connect the region's environmental issues to broader anthropological themes, such as religion, gender, urban-rural relations, development, nationalism, and globalization.Satsuki Takahashi
EAS 302/CHI 302Introduction to Classical Chinese IIContinuation of CHI 301. Reading in Qin and Han philosophical and historical texts and essays written from Tang to Qing.Zhiwei Liu
EAS 320/HIS 320Early Japanese History(HA)The Worlds of the Tale of Heike and Chushingura. Using the two classical warrior tales, the Tale of Heike and Chushingura, as central texts, the course will explore the social, political, and cultural developments of Japan from the late 12th to 18th centuries. Themes include the flowering of court culture and emergence of warrior power, development of Buddhism and Confucian ethics, the city and structure of Heian (Kyoto) and Edo (Tokyo), and the culture that flourished therein. Aims to help students better understand the historical background of the works and to illuminate the historical context in which they were produced and appreciated.Haruko N. Wakabayashi
EAS 329/POL 357Politics of Japan(SA)This course serves as an introduction to Japanese politics. It will, address in some detail Japan's political institutions as well as the historical moments and choices that have shaped them. It will examine the incentives and interests that continue to hamper the reforms that virtually all observers believe that the government needs. In addition, it will go beyond the core institutions of governance to consider broader issues: the relationship between the government and the governed, and the distinctive shape of the ties between state and society in contemporary Japan.David R. Leheny
EAS 332/ANT 333Contemporary Chinese Society and Culture(SA)This course offers an overview of contemporary China, focusing on its transformation from Maoist socialism to the current Chinese society. It outlines Maoist socialism, and explores the changes since the late 1970s, giving special attention to tensions in this transformation: the tension between decentralized social life and the sovereignty of the post--Mao state; between the memories of Maoist socialism and current cultural politics; between the loss and reinvention of traditions; between the increasing mobility and social re-stratification; and between China's change and the existing theories about the way a society changes.Everett Y. Zhang
EAS 338/POL 354International Politics in Hollywood: American Wars in Asia on Film(SA)American cinema has long been one of the world's most important sources of entertainment, and has been examined both at home and abroad for the political messages embedded in its films. This course investigates the presentation of American engagement in Asia over the past half-century, examining depictions of the United States and of Asian allies and opponents alike. Our focus will be on public representations of international relations--particularly through war and economic conflict--but we will also ask how changing images of the United States, as well as evolving practices in the film industry itself, shape how Asia appears on film.David R. Leheny
EAS 352/COM 348Language in Film: Expression and Translation(LA)We will employ both historical and theoretical approaches to explore the subtleties of filmic dialogue, the reciprocally sustaining and contrapuntal relationships between word and image in the cinematic text, the history of film translation, and the conditions--linguistic, technological, social, and economic--within which screenplays are written and produced, and within which subtitling and dubbing take place. The syllabus will focus primarily on Japan and the United States, but students will be encouraged to draw upon their knowledge of other traditions as well.Kerim Yasar
EAS 412/CHI 412Readings in Classic Chinese Short Stories(LA)Focuses on reading and discussing selections from Feng Menglong's Sanyan, the most popular and well-known collection of Classic Chinese short stories published in the late sixteenth century. One class, two hours of discussion, conducted in Chinese.Chih-p'ing Chou
EAS 416/HIS 416Intellectual History of China from the Ninth to the 19th Century(HA)The course centers on the changing role of the intellectual elite -- how they were recruited, their relationship to holders of powers, their attitudes toward the past and their cultural heritage. The aim of the course is to provide a clearer understanding of the burdens and privileges of intellectuals in Chinese society.Willard J. Peterson
HIS 208/EAS 208East Asia since 1800(HA)An introduction to the key political, social, and cultural developments in modern East Asia, with emphasis on China and Japan. Major topics include the contrasting responses of China, Japan, and Korea to confrontation with the West; dilemmas of modernization; cooperation and confrontation wartime East Asia; the post-World War II East Asian world.Susan NaquinFederico Marcon
HIS 342/EAS 342/NES 343Southeast Asia's Global History(HA)This course aims to provide an introduction to Southeast Asia and its prominent place in global history through a series of encounters in time; from Marco Polo in Sumatra to the latest events in such buzzing cities as Bangkok, Jakarta and Hanoi. For the early modern period we will read various primary sources, before turning to consider a series of diverse colonial impacts across the region (European, American and Asian), and then the mechanisms underpinning the formation of some of the most vibrant, and sometimes turbulent, countries on the world stage.Michael F. Laffan
HUM 234/EAS 234/COM 234East Asian Humanities II: Tradition and Transformation(EM)This is the second half of a two-semester sequence introducing the humanities in East Asia. The course begins roughly around the fourteenth century and covers the arts, philosophy, religion and literature in China, Japan, and Korea. Lectures are given by specialists in the departments of East Asian Studies, Comparative Literature, Art and Archaeology, and Religion. Classes will be complemented by museum visits and performances.Patrick W. CaddeauPieter C. Keulemans
REL 226/EAS 226The Religions of China(EM)A thematic introduction to the history of Chinese religion. Topics include cosmology, ancestors, gods, mythology, ethics, shamanism, divination, gender, and mortuary ritual. Readings drawn from a wide range of sources, including sacred scriptures, philosophical texts, popular literature, and modern ethnography.Stephen F. Teiser
REL 322/EAS 322Buddhism in Japan(HA)This course will examine representative aspects of Buddhist thought and practice in Japan from the sixth century to the present. We will focus on the major Buddhist traditions--including Lotus, Pure Land, esoteric Buddhism, and Zen--as well as Buddhism and the literary arts, modern challenges to traditional Buddhism, and contemporary Buddhist movements. Readings will include scriptures, sermons, tales, and philosophical essays, as well as selected secondary sources. Some background in either Japan or Buddhism is strongly recommended.Jacqueline I. Stone
TRA 304/EAS 304Translating East Asia(LA)Translation is at the core of our engagement with China, Japan, and Korea, influencing our reading choices and shaping our understanding of East Asia. From translations of the classics to the grass-root subtitling of contemporary Anime movies, from the formation of the modern East Asian cultural discourse to cross-cultural references in theater and film, the seminar poses fundamental questions to our encounters with East Asian cultural artifacts, reflecting on what "translation" of "original works" means in a global world where the "original" is often already located in its projected "translation."Martin Kern