CEAS Courses 2023-2024

This course explores the role of memory as a social, cultural, and political force in contemporary society. How societies remember difficult pasts has become a contested site for negotiating the present. Through the lens of memory, we examine complex roles that our relationships to difficult pasts play in navigating issues we face today. This course explores this politics of memory that takes place in the realm of popular culture and public space. The class asks such questions as: How do you represent difficult and contested pasts? What does it mean to enable long-silenced victims’ voices to be heard? What are the consequences of re-narrating the past by highlighting past injuries and trauma? Does memory work heal or open wounds of a society and a nation? Through examples drawn from the Holocaust, the atomic bombing in Hiroshima, the Vietnam War, genocide in Indonesia and massacres in Lebanon, to debates on confederacy statues, slavery, and lynching in the US, this course approaches these questions through an anthropological exploration of concepts such as memory, trauma, mourning, silence, voice, testimony, and victimhood. 

Historical and contemporary movements of people, goods, and cultural meanings that have defined Asia as a region. Reexamination of state-centered conceptualizations of Asia and of established boundaries in regional studies. The intersections of transregional institutions and local societies and their effects on trading empires, religious traditions, colonial encounters, and cultural fusion. Finance flows that connect East Asia and the Indian Ocean to the Middle East and Africa. The cultures of capital and market in the neoliberal and postsocialist world.

An exploration of the Chinese identity as it has been reworked over the centuries. Major works in Chinese anthropology and their intellectual connections with general anthropology and historical studies. Topics include kinship and marriage, marketing systems, rituals and popular religion, ethnicity and state making, and the cultural nexus of power.

Analysis of urban life in historical and contemporary societies. Topics include capitalist and postmodern transformations; class, gender, ethnicity, and migration; and global landscapes of power and citizenship.

This seminar critically explores how anthropologists use contemporary social theories to formulate the junctures of meaning, interest, and power. It thus aims to integrate symbolic, economic, and political perspectives on culture and social process. If culture refers to the understandings and meanings by which people live, then it constitutes the conventions of social life that are themselves produced in the flux of social life, invented by human activity. Theories of culture must therefore illuminate this problematic of agency and structure. They must show how social action can both reproduce and transform the structures of meaning, the conventions of social life. Even as such a position becomes orthodox in anthropology, it raises serious questions about the possibilities for ethnographic practice and theoretical analysis. How, for example, are such conventions generated and transformed where there are wide differentials of power and unequal access to resources? What becomes of our notions of humans as active agents of culture when the possibilities for maneuver and the margin of action for many are overwhelmed by the constraints of a few? How do elites—ritual elders, Brahmanic priests, manorial lords, factory-managers—secure compliance to a normative order? How are expressions of submission and resistance woven together in a fabric of cultural understandings? How does a theory of culture enhance our analyses of the reconstitution of political authority from traditional kingship to modern nation-state, the encapsulation of pre-capitalist modes of production, and the attempts to convert “primordial sentiments” to “civic loyalties”? How do transnational fluidities and diasporic connections make instruments of nation-states contingent? These questions are some of the questions we immediately face when probing the intersections of culture, politics and representation, and they are the issues that lie behind this seminar. 

This seminar critically explores how anthropologists use contemporary social theories to formulate the junctures of meaning, interest, and power. It thus aims to integrate symbolic, economic, and political perspectives on culture and social process. If culture refers to the understandings and meanings by which people live, then it constitutes the conventions of social life that are themselves produced in the flux of social life, invented by human activity. Theories of culture must therefore illuminate this problematic of agency and structure. They must show how social action can both reproduce and transform the structures of meaning, the conventions of social life. Even as such a position becomes orthodox in anthropology, it raises serious questions about the possibilities for ethnographic practice and theoretical analysis. How, for example, are such conventions generated and transformed where there are wide differentials of power and unequal access to resources? What becomes of our notions of humans as active agents of culture when the possibilities for maneuver and the margin of action for many are overwhelmed by the constraints of a few? How do elites—ritual elders, Brahmanic priests, manorial lords, factory-managers—secure compliance to a normative order? How are expressions of submission and resistance woven together in a fabric of cultural understandings? How does a theory of culture enhance our analyses of the reconstitution of political authority from traditional kingship to modern nation-state, the encapsulation of pre-capitalist modes of production, and the attempts to convert “primordial sentiments” to “civic loyalties”? How do transnational fluidities and diasporic connections make instruments of nation-states contingent? These questions are some of the questions we immediately face when probing the intersections of culture, politics and representation, and they are the issues that lie behind this seminar.

Historical and contemporary movements of people, goods, and cultural meanings that have defined Asia as a region. Reexamination of state-centered conceptualizations of Asia and of established boundaries in regional studies. The intersections of transregional institutions and local societies and their effects on trading empires, religious traditions, colonial encounters, and cultural fusion. Finance flows that connect East Asia and the Indian Ocean to the Middle East and Africa. The cultures of capital and market in the neoliberal and postsocialist world.

An exploration of the Chinese identity as it has been reworked over the centuries. Major works in Chinese anthropology and their intellectual connections with general anthropology and historical studies. Topics include kinship and marriage, marketing systems, rituals and popular religion, ethnicity and state making, and the cultural nexus of power.

Analysis of urban life in historical and contemporary societies. Topics include capitalist and postmodern transformations, class, gender, ethnicity, migration, and global landscapes of power and citizenship.

This seminar explores the variety of archaeological methods and theoretical approaches that have been employed to investigate the development and nature of social complexity in ancient China. The session meetings focus on the later prehistoric and early historic periods, and several geographic regions are included. They also consider how developments in ancient China compare to other areas of the world. Most of the readings emphasize archaeological remains, although relevant information from early historical texts is considered.

This seminar explores the origins and developments of Japanese spatial concepts and surveys how they help form the contemporary architecture, ways of life, and cities of the country. Many Japanese spatial concepts, such as MA, are about creating time-space distances and relationship between objects, people, space, and experiences. These concepts go beyond the fabric of a built structure, and encompass architecture, landscape, and city. Each class is designed around one or two Japanese words that signify particular design concepts. Each week, a lecture on the word(s) with its design features, backgrounds, historical examples, and contemporary application is followed by student discussion. Contemporary works studied include those by Maki, Isozaki, Ando, Ito, SANAA, and Fujimoto. The urbanism and landscape of Tokyo and Kyoto are discussed. Students are required to make in-class presentations and write a final paper. 

Intended for students with no background in Chinese. An intensive course with emphasis on spoken language and drills. Pronunciation, grammatical analysis, conversation practice, and introduction to reading and writing Chinese characters.

First level of the advanced learner sequence. Intended for students with some aural proficiency but very limited ability in reading and writing Chinese. Training in listening and speaking, with emphasis on reading and writing.

Continuation of CHNS 110.

Continuation of CHNS 112.

An intermediate course that continues intensive training in listening, speaking, reading, and writing and consolidates achievements from the first year of study. Students improve oral fluency, study more complex grammatical structures, and enlarge both reading and writing vocabulary.

The second level of the advanced learner sequence. Intended for students with intermediate oral proficiency and elementary reading and writing proficiency. Students receive intensive training in listening, speaking, reading, and writing, supplemented by audio and video materials. The objective of the course is to balance these four skills and work toward attaining an advanced level in all of them.

Continuation of CHNS 130. To be followed by CHNS 150.

Continuation of CHNS 132.

Third level of the standard foundational sequence of modern Chinese, with study in speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Use of audiovisual materials, oral presentations, skits, and longer and more frequent writing assignments to assimilate more sophisticated grammatical structures. Further introduction to a wide variety of written forms and styles. Use of both traditional and simplified forms of Chinese characters.

Continuation of CHNS 150.

This course is intended for heritage speakers with intermediate high to advanced low speaking and listening skills and with intermediate reading and writing skills. The class follows CHNS 142 in the heritage track. The goal of the course is to help students effectively expand their skills in reading and writing while concurrently addressing the need to improve their listening and oral skills in formal environments. The materials cover a variety of topics relating to Chinese culture, society, and cultural differences, supplemented with authentic video materials. 

This course is intended for heritage speakers at the low advanced level with advanced low speaking and listening skills and with intermediate high to advanced low reading and writing proficiency. This course follows CHNS 152 in the heritage track. The goal of the course is to help students effectively expand their skills in reading and writing while concurrently addressing the need to improve their listening and oral skills in formal environments. The materials cover a variety of topics relating to Chinese culture, society, and cultural differences, supplemented with authentic video materials.

This course is designed to consolidate students’ grasp of the language through the use of films, TV programs, videos on social media, and authentic written materials. Activities include presentations, group discussions, written assignments, and projects. Open to heritage learners with intermediate to advanced oral proficiency and intermediate-low reading and writing proficiency. 

This course is designed to consolidate students’ grasp of the language through the use of films, TV programs, videos on social media, and authentic written materials. Activities include presentations, group discussions, written assignments, and projects. Open to heritage learners with intermediate to advanced oral proficiency and intermediate-low reading and writing proficiency. 

Fourth level of the standard foundational sequence of modern Chinese, with study in speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Readings in a wide range of subjects form the basis of discussion and other activities. Students consolidate their skills, especially speaking proficiency, at an advanced level. Materials use both simplified and traditional characters.

Continuation of CHNS 158.

This course is intended for both heritage and non heritage learners with advanced proficiency. Students develop sophisticated language skills through working with authentic written materials, images, and videos concerning historical events, historical figures, artists, writers, and philosophers. Activities include working with translation tools, discussions, debates, presentations, oral and written exercises on platforms such as Playposit and Perusall, and collaborative projects. 

This course is intended for both heritage and non heritage learners with advanced proficiency. Students develop sophisticated language skills through working with authentic written materials, images, and videos concerning historical events, historical figures, artists, writers, and philosophers. Activities include working with translation tools, discussions, debates, presentations, oral and written exercises on platforms such as Playposit and Perusall, and collaborative projects.

Selected readings in Chinese fiction of the 1980s and 1990s. Development of advanced language skills in reading, speaking, and writing for students with an interest in literature and literary criticism.

We read and discuss modern short stories, most written prior to 1949, for the purpose of developing advanced language skills in reading, speaking, and writing. 

Advanced language course with a focus on speaking and writing in formal styles. Current affairs are used as a vehicle to help students learn advanced vocabulary, idiomatic expressions, complex sentence structures, news writing styles and formal stylistic register. Materials include texts and videos selected from news media worldwide to improve students’ language proficiency for sophisticated communications on a wide range of topics. 

Advanced language course with a focus on speaking and writing in formal styles. Current affairs are used as a vehicle to help students learn advanced vocabulary, idiomatic expressions, complex sentence structures, news writing styles and formal stylistic register. Materials include texts and videos selected from news media worldwide to improve students’ language proficiency for sophisticated communications on a wide range of topics. 

Advanced language course with a focus on Chinese business terminology and discourse. Discussion of China’s economic and management reforms, marketing, economic laws, business culture and customs, and economic relations with other countries. Case studies from international enterprises that have successfully entered the Chinese market.

Advanced language course with a focus on Chinese business terminology and discourse. Discussion of China’s economic and management reforms, marketing, economic laws, business culture and customs, and economic relations with other countries. Case studies from international enterprises that have successfully entered the Chinese market.

Reading and interpretation of texts in various styles of literary Chinese (wenyan), with attention to basic problems of syntax and literary style.

Continuation of CHNS 170.

This course aims to bring students to advanced competence in all aspects of modern Chinese, and prepare students for advanced research or employment in a variety of China-related fields. Materials include readings on contemporary social, cultural, and political issues, which are written by prominent scholar writers in related fields. This level is suitable for students who have had four years of college Chinese prior to attending, or who have taken three years of an accelerated program meant for heritage speakers. 

Reading and interpretation of texts in various styles of literary Chinese (wenyan), with attention to basic problems of syntax and literary style.

Continuation of CHNS 570.

This course offers an interdisciplinary introduction to the study of the complex cultural and political paradigms of late socialism from a transnational perspective by focusing on the literature, cinema, and popular culture of the Soviet Union and China in 1980s. How were intellectual and everyday life in the Soviet Union and China distinct from and similar to that of the West of the same era? How do we parse “the cultural logic of late socialism?” What can today’s America learn from it? Examining two major socialist cultures together in a global context, this course queries the ethnographic, ideological, and socio-economic constituents of late socialism. Students analyze cultural materials in the context of Soviet and Chinese history. Along the way, we explore themes of identity, nationalism, globalization, capitalism, and the Cold War. 

Escalating conflicts between China, Taiwan, and the U.S. are mediated in part by semiconductor manufacturing and their advanced uses, like artificial intelligence. Inquiries into the transpacific history of computer science (CS) can teach us that these relationships have been much more dynamic than ‘Friend or Foe,’ and have shaped CS in various ways. When cutting-edge computing capabilities are at the forefront of national interests, studying CS and U.S.-Asia relations should no longer be separate intellectual tasks, and multi-view perspectives are needed to understand both processes. This seminar discusses decentered, international history of CS. We focus on the transpacific relations between the United States and East Asian countries, including Asian diasporas in North America. The course focuses on CS research and engineering, with less emphasis on (anti-)social implications such as mis/dis-information and data privacy. The subjects of study include: China-born first-generation digital computer pioneers; digitizing Asian characters; developing transpacific networks of computers and labor; transpacific works in building CS fundamentals. The course culminates with current moods of exclusionism, trade protectionism, and ‘friendshoring’ across Asia-Pacific regions.

An introduction to the literature, culture, and thought of premodern China, from the beginnings of the written record to the turn of the twentieth century. Close study of textual and visual primary sources, with attention to their historical and cultural backdrops.

A reading of the central work of prose fiction in the Japanese classical tradition in its entirety (in English translation) along with some examples of predecessors, parodies, and adaptations (the latter include Noh plays and twentieth-century short stories). Topics of discussion include narrative form, poetics, gendered authorship and readership, and the processes and premises that have given The Tale of Genji its place in “world literature.” Attention will also be given to the text’s special relationship to visual culture.

An introduction to Chinese philosophical, poetic, and visual explorations of landscape and the changing relationship between human beings and nature. Through texts, archaeological materials, visual and material culture, and garden designs from the 2nd c. BCE to modern times, we learn about the Chinese conception of the world, relationship to and experiences in nature, and shaping of the land through agriculture, imperial parks, and garden designs. We conclude with contemporary environmental issues confronting China, and how contemporary parks can help regenerate our ecosystem.

Du Fu has for the last millennium been considered China’s greatest poet. Close study of nearly one-sixth of his complete works, contextualized by selections from the tradition that defined the art in his age. Exploration of the roles literature plays in interpreting human lives and the ways different traditional forms shape different ethical orientation. Poetry as a vehicle for moral reflection. 

Core concepts and traditions of classical Japanese poetry explored through the medium of translation. Readings from anthologies and treatises of the ninth through early twentieth centuries. Attention to recent critical studies in transcultural poetic theory. Inspection and discussion of related artifacts in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library and the Yale University Art Gallery

What does it mean to be at home in a body? What does it mean to move freely, and what kinds of bodies are granted that right? How is dance encoded as bodies move between various sites? In this team-taught class, we remap the field of dance through its migratory routes to understand how movement is shaped by the connections and frictions of ever-changing communities. As three dance scholars, bringing specialisms in West Indian dance, South Asian dance, and East Asian dance, we are looking to decenter the ways in which dance is taught, both in what we teach and in the ways we teach. Many of the dancers we follow create art inspired by migration, exile, and displacement (both within and beyond the nation) to write new histories of political belonging. Others trace migratory routes through mediums, ideologies, and technologies. The course is structured around four units designed to invite the remapping of dance through its many spaces of creativity: The Archive, The Studio, The Field, and The Stage. Throughout, we explore how different ideas of virtuosity, risk, precarity, radicalism, community, and solidarity are shaped by space and place. We rethink how local dance economies are governed by world markets and neoliberal funding models and ask how individual bodies can intervene in these global systems. 

What happened to socialism? This course offers an in-depth exploration of this question through the lens of Chinese cinema, from its early days in the early 20th century to the contemporary era. Students examine China’s social, political, and cultural transformations, from heteronomy to autonomy, and the ideological transition from socialism to postsocialism. Is socialism with Chinese characteristics interchangeable with capitalism with Chinese characteristics? What impact has revolutionary politics had on Chinese cinema? What is feminism with Chinese characteristics? How do the radical transformations that occurred in China during the 1980s and 1990s manifest in the aesthetics and narratives of Chinese films? How have spatial consciousness and construction of images informed filmmaking in China? How are the sentiments of alienation, disconnection, and displacement depicted in Chinese films? Does globalization bring us closer together or push us towards solitude? The course explores these questions by delving into the cultural dynamics of China’s changing identities and ideologies in response to its integration into capitalist globalization. Topics include the evolution of Chinese film generations, cultural politics, postsocialist decay, aesthetics and method of seeing, kinship and love, violence and solitude, fragmentation and disconnection, and feminism with Chinese characteristics in Chinese films. Students critically analyze films by renowned Chinese directors such as Xie Jin, Chen Kaige, Feng Xiaogang, Jia Zhangke, Lou Ye, Zhang Yimou, and Huang Shuqin. 

This course is an introduction to Japanese literature written in the last fifty years, with a focus on women writers. We read poetry and prose featuring mothers, daughters, and lovers, novels that follow convenience and thrift store workers, and poetry about factory girls. Our reading takes us from the daily grind of contemporary Tokyo to dystopian futures, from 1970s suburbia to surreal dreamscapes. We attend carefully to the ways in which different writers craft their works and, in particular, to their representation of feelings and affects. Whether the dull ache of loneliness, the oppression of boredom or the heavy weight of fatigue, it is often something about the mood of a work–rather than its narrative–that leaves a distinct impression. We develop the tools to analyze and discuss this sense of distinctness, as well as discover ways to stage connections and comparisons between the works we read. 

This course is an introduction to Japanese literature from the 1880s to 1980s. Our reading is guided by a different “ism” each week, from 19th-century eroticism and exoticism, through mid-century cosmopolitanism and colonialism, to second-wave feminism and existentialism in the wake of World War II. These distinct moments in the development of Japanese modernism (modanizumu) are shaped by encounters with foreign cultures, and by the importing of foreign ideas and vogues. All the same, we question—along with modernist writer Yu Ryutanji—the “critique that says modanizumu is nothing more than the latest display of imported cosmetics” (1930). We seek to develop a correspondingly nuanced picture of the specific and changing ways in which Japan understood and figured its relationship to the rest of the world through the course of a century.

In this course, students read key works of Korean literature in English translation from the early twentieth century to the present day. The specific course topic varies by semester. Primary sources include long-form novels, short stories, poetry, and nonfiction writing by representative authors, as well as literary scholarship on themes and historical context relevant to the materials. The readings in this course are arranged in roughly chronological order, requiring us to examine Korea’s colonial modernization process in the first half of the twentieth century, the authoritarian regimes of South Korea from 1948 to 87, and South Korea’s integration into the neoliberal world order after democratization. Supplementary audio-visual materials such as artwork, video clips and music may be presented to students in class.

In this course, students explore how cultural representations of gender and sexuality in Korea and the Korean diaspora have changed over the twentieth century. Primary sources include literary texts, narrative and documentary films, as well as scholarship on themes and historical context relevant to the materials. We begin by exploring how gendered selfhood in Korea was constructed in relation to the colonial modernization process in the first half of the twentieth century. We then move onto stories of how women and men survived the Cold War, developmentalist, and dictatorial regimes of South Korea from 1945 to 87. In the last segment of the course, we focus our attention to voices from the contemporary moment, to examine how present-day Koreans of various gender and sexual identities contend with the challenges of an increasingly neoliberalizing social order. 

Critical inquiry into the myth of a homogeneous Japan through analysis of how Japanese film and media historically represents “others” of different races, ethnicities, nationalities, genders, and sexualities, including blacks, ethnic Koreans, Okinawans, Ainu, undocumented immigrants, LGBT minorities, the disabled, youth, and monstrous others like ghosts. 

This course offers an interdisciplinary introduction to the study of the complex cultural and political paradigms of late socialism from a transnational perspective by focusing on the literature, cinema, and popular culture of the Soviet Union and China in 1980s. How were intellectual and everyday life in the Soviet Union and China distinct from and similar to that of the West of the same era? How do we parse “the cultural logic of late socialism?” What can today’s America learn from it? Examining two major socialist cultures together in a global context, this course queries the ethnographic, ideological, and socio-economic constituents of late socialism. Students analyze cultural materials in the context of Soviet and Chinese history. Along the way, we explore themes of identity, nationalism, globalization, capitalism, and the Cold War.

East Asian digital media culture, ranging from cinema, television, musical video, to online games, has (re)shaped the global and national/regional imaginings of East Asia. The Post-Cold War intensification of intra-Asian interactions has precipitated the rise of a Pan-Asian regional identity wherein the nation-state is not yet obsolete. What role does screen culture play in the border-crossing interplay among languages, ideologies, aesthetics, and affect? How do we understand the storytelling and politics of East Asian screen cultures in relation to its historical and social context? How does screen culture capture local/global desires in a digital time? Within the contemporary media ecologies, how does screen culture create an audiovisual relation that traverses screen and actuality? How do screen culture continue to push forward the history of transformation of sign system from the written words to visual moving images in the contemporary sensory over-loaded world of screens. This course deals with issues of (trans)nationalism, (un)translatability, locality and globality, (post)modernity, virtuality and actuality, and politics of gender. Students learn how to think and write about screen cultures of East Asia in particular and of contemporary screen culture in general.

A research course in Chinese studies, designed for students with background in modern and literary Chinese. Explore and evaluate the wealth of primary sources and research tools available in China and in the West. For native speakers of Chinese, introduction to the secondary literature in English and instruction in writing professionally in English on topics about China. Topics include Chinese bibliographies; bibliophiles’ notes; specialized dictionaries; maps and geographical gazetteers; textual editions, variations and reliability of texts; genealogies and biographical sources; archaeological and visual materials; and major Chinese encyclopedias, compendia, and databases.

Comparative survey of the embodiment and performance of wisdom by ancient sages. Distinctive features and common themes in discourses about wisdom from China, India, the Near East, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Topics include teaching, scheming, and dying.

A reading of the central work of prose fiction in the Japanese classical tradition in its entirety (in English translation) along with some examples of predecessors, parodies, and adaptations (the latter include Noh plays and twentieth-century short stories). Topics of discussion include narrative form, poetics, gendered authorship and readership, and the processes and premises that have given The Tale of Genji its place in world literature. Attention is also given to the text’s special relationship to visual culture. 

An introduction to Chinese philosophical, poetic, and visual explorations of landscape and the changing relationship between human beings and nature. Through texts, archaeological materials, visual and material culture, and garden designs from the second century BCE to modern times, we learn about the Chinese conception of the world; relationship to and experiences in nature; and shaping of the land through agriculture, imperial parks, and garden designs. We conclude with contemporary environmental issues confronting China and how contemporary parks can help regenerate our ecosystem.

Examines traditions of musical thought across ancient cultures with a particular focus on Greece (LeVen) and China (Hunter). How did ancient thinkers understand the place of music within society, the ideal state, and the cosmos? What role did musical training and connoisseurship play in education? What is the relationship between music and wisdom? And how do the answers to these questions inform comparative study? As the 2023–24 Archaia core seminar, this course is offered in conjunction with Archaia’s year-long Ancient Studies Workshop, through which students have the opportunity to learn from various experts in ancient musical thought.

We read a selection of Southern plays (also known as chuanqi) from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Discussions concern the formation of the genre, performance styles (including watching some kunqu), and the contents of the plays. Students produce a fifteen- to twenty-page research paper over the course of the semester. 

Du Fu has for the last millennium been considered China’s greatest poet. Close study of nearly one-sixth of his complete works, contextualized by selections from the tradition that defined the art in his age. Exploration of the roles literature plays in interpreting human lives and the ways different traditional forms shape different ethical orientation. Poetry as a vehicle for moral reflection. 

Core concepts and traditions of classical Japanese poetry explored through the medium of translation. Readings from anthologies and treatises of the ninth through early twentieth century. Attention to recent critical studies in transcultural poetic theory. Inspection and discussion of related artifacts in the Beinecke Library and the Yale Art Gallery.

This course is an introduction to Japanese literature written in the last fifty years, with a focus on women writers. We read poetry and prose featuring mothers, daughters, and lovers, novels that follow convenience and thrift store workers, and poetry about factory girls. Our reading takes us from the daily grind of contemporary Tokyo to dystopian futures, from 1970s suburbia to surreal dreamscapes. We attend carefully to the ways in which different writers craft their works and, in particular, to their representation of feelings and affects. Whether the dull ache of loneliness, the oppression of boredom, or the heavy weight of fatigue, it is often something about the mood of a work—rather than its narrative—that leaves a distinct impression. We develop the tools to analyze and discuss this sense of distinctness, as well as discover ways to stage connections and comparisons between the works we read. Comparative and creative perspectives are especially welcome, and assignments can accommodate a range of media and presentation formats to suit. No knowledge of Japan or Japanese is required, nor is any prior grounding in literature. For those wishing to work with Japanese-language materials, please contact the instructor directly to organize additional Japanese-language workshops.

This course is an introduction to Japanese literature from the 1880s to 1980s. Our reading is guided by a different “ism” each week, from 19th-century eroticism and exoticism, through mid-century cosmopolitanism and colonialism, to second-wave feminism and existentialism in the wake of World War II. These distinct moments in the development of Japanese modernism (modanizumu) are shaped by encounters with foreign cultures and by the importing of foreign ideas and vogues. All the same, we question—along with modernist writer Yu Ryutanji—the “critique that says modanizumu is nothing more than the latest display of imported cosmetics” (1930). We seek to develop a correspondingly nuanced picture of the specific and changing ways in which Japan understood and figured its relationship to the rest of the world through the course of a century. Creative and comparative perspectives are especially welcome, and assignments can accommodate a range of media and presentation formats to suit.

In this course, students read key works of Korean literature in English translation from the early twentieth century to the present day. The specific course topic varies by term. Primary sources include long-form novels, short stories, poetry, and nonfiction writing by representative authors, as well as literary scholarship on themes and historical context relevant to the materials. The readings in this course are arranged in roughly chronological order, requiring us to examine Korea’s colonial modernization process in the first half of the twentieth century, the authoritarian regimes of South Korea from 1948 to 1987, and South Korea’s integration into the neoliberal world order after democratization. 

In this course, students explore how cultural representations of gender and sexuality in Korea and the Korean diaspora have changed over the course of the twentieth century. Primary sources include literary texts, narrative and documentary films, as well as scholarship on themes and historical context relevant to the materials. We begin by exploring how gendered selfhood in Korea was constructed in relation to the colonial modernization process in the first half of the twentieth century. We then move onto stories of how women and men survived the Cold War and developmentalist and dictatorial regimes of South Korea from 1945 to 1987. In the last segment of the course, we focus our attention to voices from the contemporary moment, to examine how present-day Koreans of various gender and sexual identities are contending with the challenges of an increasingly neoliberalizing social order. 

A critical inquiry into the myth of a homogeneous Japan through analyzing how Japanese film and media historically represent “others” of different races, ethnicities, nationalities, genders, and sexualities, including blacks, ethnic Koreans, Okinawans, Ainu, undocumented immigrants, LGBT minorities, the disabled, youth, and “monstrous” others like ghosts.

A research course in Chinese studies, designed for students with background in modern and literary Chinese. Students explore and evaluate the wealth of primary sources and research tools available in China and in the West. For native speakers of Chinese, introduction to the secondary literature in English and instruction in writing professionally in English on topics about China. Topics include Chinese bibliographies; bibliophiles’ notes; specialized dictionaries; maps and geographical gazetteers; textual editions, variations, and reliability of texts; genealogies and biographical sources; archaeological and visual materials; and major Chinese encyclopedias, compendia, and databases.

Comparative survey of the embodiment and performance of wisdom by ancient sages. Distinctive features and common themes in discourses about wisdom from China, India, the Near East, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Topics include teaching, scheming, and dying.

This class considers documents pertaining to the intellectual history of medieval China, roughly from the end of the Han dynasty in 220 CE to the end of the Tang dynasty in 907. 

During the Cold War, interdisciplinary artists were crisscrossing the pacific between Japan and the US, presenting their works in exhibitions, participating in performance festivals, and engaging in experimental collaborations. These crossings and crossovers took place with varying degrees of state involvement as the US government worked to promote its version of American culture abroad. In this course, we discover a series of transpacific performances and events against the backdrop of Cold War cultural politics, from collaborations between Japanese modern dancers and American jazz musicians in the early 60s to immersive works of Japanese video art presented in New York in the 90s. 

Theorizations of film and culture in Japan from the 1910s to the present. Through readings in the works of a variety of authors, the course explores both the articulations of cinema in Japanese intellectual discourse and how this embodies the shifting position of film in Japanese popular cultural history.

This is an advanced graduate course geared toward preparing students to gain a specific range of expertise in different periods of modern Chinese literature. It is held as a seminar-colloquium with weekly discussions and informal presentations. 

This advanced seminar examines Korean popular music from academic perspectives informed by ethnomusicology, Korean studies, and transpacific studies. The course first historicizes the Korean music industry’s dialogical formation with modern political, economic, religious, and military forces such as Western imperialism, Protestant missions, Japanese colonization, the Cold War, military dictatorship, state-sponsored internationalization, and global technosociality. While the first half of the course emphasizes the Korean domestic industry, the second half pivots outward, focusing on reverse directional flows obtained in the late 20th and early 21st century. We interrogate K-pop’s role in the constructions of Korea and Asia in the North Atlantic cultural imaginary and pay particular attention to continuities and disjunctures between K-pop and “world music,” a genre conventionally marking non-Westerners’ colonial difference in the Western music industry. Themes such as race and racialization, gender and sexuality, migration and diaspora, voice and voicing, and media and technology inform our conversations throughout the semester.

This course explores the religious and political interactions among the Chinese, Tibetans, Mongolians, and Muslims living in today’s northwest China from the fourteenth to the twentieth century. Focusing on parallel spatial arrangements and historical narratives of these ethnoculturally diverse peoples, the first part of this course investigates the evolving political systems, religious institutions, and social structures in China, Xinjiang and Tibet. Shifting from the center-periphery perspective to the bottom-up perspective, the second part examines major issues associated with interethnic relations. We critically read both primary and secondary sources. Key themes include Chinese imperialism and colonialism, Tibetan Buddhist expansion, Mongolian conquest, Islamization and Muslim resettlement, transregional trade, frontier militarization, ethnic violence, and inter-ethnocultural accommodation.

This course is a broad introduction to the history, doctrine, and culture of the Buddhism of Tibet. We begin with the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet in the eighth century and move on to the evolution of the major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhist literature, ritual and monastic practice, the place of Buddhism in Tibetan political history, and the contemporary situation of Tibetan Buddhism both inside and outside of Tibet.

Political psychology seminars typically focus on American political behavior, and most comparative politics seminars do not directly address political psychology. This seminar aims to bridge that gap by examining the important role of psychology within the broader context of comparative politics. The goal of the seminar is to develop your knowledge and understanding of how political attitudes and behaviors are shaped, how they evolve, and the ways they may influence behavioral outcomes. We explore why people engage in politics, what factors help them form or revise their political beliefs and perspectives, and how those attitudes are manifest (or not) through political action. The role of individual personality traits, human cognition, and both individual and collective identity are considered–in relation to both the general public as well as political insiders. (We also discuss whether making a distinction between the two is relevant and necessary.) Since the course focuses on comparative politics, it closely examines ways that diverse institutions, cultural values, and social environments affect individual political attitudes. We also explore whether there are universal political behaviors and attitudes–and if so, how they should be identified and studied.

Law is not only a practical instrument but has also shaped East Asian civilization. In implementing the governance blueprints of rulers and thinkers, law formulated the operations of East Asian empires and kingdoms, as well as their people’s life in nearly all aspects. This course introduces students to the law and legal systems in premodern East Asia. Starting with early legal theories, it explores the traditional East Asian ideas of ‘justice’ and how the law attempted to achieve them under imperial rule and major religious beliefs. By careful and critical reading of premodern codes and court cases, we also seek to trace the life experiences of commoners under such laws and systems. We try to understand the conflicts and tensions among the people through their frustrations in disputes, their pains in different kinds of violence, and other issues.

This course examines the ways nuclear disasters are depicted in contemporary Japanese cinema. More specifically, we look at atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki (1945), and the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster (2011), and how the dormant trauma towards nuclear power has influenced Japanese cinema/media. As the artists portraying disasters often face the limits of representation, their works raise the following questions: how can cinema depict disasters that are indescribable in nature? How might cinema cause or resist tendencies towards post-catastrophic nationalism? In what ways can cinema address disaster that other forms of media cannot? What filmic techniques can be used to dramatize disastrous moments? Can cinema “foresee” unfolding or upcoming disasters? While considering these questions, this course also introduces the methodologies to write/discuss about film as an art form by examining different cinematic elements such as visual, sound, narrative, performance, and touch.

This course focuses on Buddhism and violence in the modern world, with a particular emphasis on Korean Buddhism. Buddhism is often perceived to be a pacifist religion; however, all across the modern Buddhist world, from Japanese Zen Buddhists during World War II, to Vietnamese Buddhists during the Vietnam War, to Buddhists in the contemporary United States, Buddhists have been complicit in and even supported state-sanctioned violence. Can Buddhism be deemed less (or more) violent than other major religions? We cover introductory topics on Buddhism, going back in history to see the fundamental philosophical debates on violence and killing in the tradition. Using Korean Buddhism as a case study, we explore in what ways, if any, these ancient debates relate to the modern world.

Overview of the art and architecture of Central Asia including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, in addition to Afghanistan and Xinjiang, from the Late Antiquity to the modern day. Examination of artistic, architectural-urban transformations as a reflection of the broader societal and cultural change. Through readings, we challenge ourselves 1) to reconsider some of the prevailing understandings of Central Asian history/art & architectural history and 2) to perceive the built environment as an artifact that uncovers secrets and affirms political, social, cultural, and economic aspects of the human past. Throughout, we focus on interactions across the Eurasian continent among Sogdians, Turks, Persians, Arabs, Chinese, Mongolian nomads, and Russians during the last millennium and a half, to understand how these cultures shaped Central Asian urban landscapes, art, and architectural styles.

This class offers an overview of modern Japanese literature with a focus on detective fiction. Through detective fiction we can examine key concepts in literature such as narrative voice, point of view, genre, modernism and postmodernism, and learn about debates in Japanese literature, the distinction between highbrow and popular fiction, and the relation between Japanese literature and translated fiction. Detective fiction also allows for the exploration of key issues in Japanese history and society such as consumerism, colonialism, class, gender, and sexuality. Readings include a wide range of texts by canonical and popular writers, as well as theoretical texts on genre and detective fiction. 

For over a thousand years, women in East Asia profoundly influenced the development of the visual arts, yet their formidable presence remains largely hidden. This seminar explores the critical roles women played as patrons, artists, and collectors of the arts in China, Korea, and Japan. We cover periods from the sixth through the nineteenth centuries and discuss a wide array of mediums including bamboo paintings, bijinga woodblock prints, bronze Buddhist sculptures, bojagi textiles, and even embroidered lotus shoes. This seminar focuses particularly on art objects made by anonymous women as a means to rethink and problematize the traditionally elite and male-dominated art historical canon. We also contextualize artistic production in light of emergent theorizations and readings on femininity, feminism, and the sexual politics of representation. Major themes of inquiry include subjectivity and intentionality; representations of women and the male gaze; and postcolonial definitions of female agency. 

We cover a variety of genres, from historical fiction to light novels, and authors ranging from Edogawa Rampo to Murakami Haruki. We analyze these works against the literary and socio-historical context of Japan and consider questions of canon formation, literary taste and value(s), and the concept of genre. Occasionally we discuss highbrow or canonical texts and interrogate the validity of the highbrow/popular distinction. 

In this class, we read Natsume Sōseki’s canonical 1908 novel Sanshirō in its original Japanese. One of the most beloved works of modern Japanese literature, Sanshirō features an eponymous protagonist struggling to navigate college life, love, and friendship. I provide vocabulary lists as well as the historical background necessary to understanding the text, with a focus on its format as a newspaper serialization. Students are expected to come to class having carefully read the assigned chapter. We translate selected passages into English and discuss the text in the context of its initial publication venue and beyond. Students gain a deep understanding of this Japanese classic and become more aware of some recurrent challenges in translating Japanese into English.

For thousands of years, imperial China found its deepest expression in a tradition of literary art—a tradition so potent that frontier and conquered peoples who learned to use it might, by conventional wisdom of the day, become Chinese. Today, the Chinese nation claims many such groups as “minority ethnicities,” and a tradition of Chinese language and literature remains the crucial conduit through which all residents of the nation must seek education and employment. At the same time, state policies increasingly codify and regulate the “different” artistic practices identified with minority ethnic groups. Running through this history is a common thread: aesthetic production, whether imperial, national, or culturally “other,” has been and remains a site of symbolic struggle over the terms of Chinese-ness. We trace such struggles from two angles, first considering the ways that ethnic art is (mis)interpreted in contemporary mainstream Chinese culture, and second, seeking an understanding of ethnic art practices in their own terms, with attention to how they comment on their popular representations. The course offers an introduction to ethnicity in China and to the sociality and politics of artistic production. Course materials include aesthetic objects, historical documents, ethnographic texts, and texts in social theory.

For students with advanced Chinese, Japanese, or Korean language skills who wish to pursue a close study of the East Asia region, not otherwise covered by departmental offerings. May be used for research, a special project, or a substantial research paper under faculty supervision. A term paper or its equivalent and regular meetings with an adviser are required. Ordinarily only one term may be offered toward the major or for credit toward the degree. 

For students with advanced Chinese, Japanese, or Korean language skills who wish to pursue a close study of the East Asia region, not otherwise covered by departmental offerings. May be used for research, a special project, or a substantial research paper under faculty supervision. A term paper or its equivalent and regular meetings with an adviser are required. Ordinarily only one term may be offered toward the major or for credit toward the degree. 

Preparation of a one-term senior essay under the guidance of a faculty adviser. Students must receive the prior agreement of the director of undergraduate studies and of the faculty member who will serve as the senior essay adviser. Students must arrange to meet with that adviser on a regular basis throughout the term.

Preparation of a one-term senior essay under the guidance of a faculty adviser. Students must receive the prior agreement of the director of undergraduate studies and of the faculty member who will serve as the senior essay adviser. Students must arrange to meet with that adviser on a regular basis throughout the term.

Two-term directed research project under the supervision of a ladder faculty member. Students should write essays using materials in East Asian languages when possible. Essays should be based on primary material, whether in an East Asian language or English. Summary of secondary material is not acceptable.

Two-term directed research project under the supervision of a ladder faculty member. Students should write essays using materials in East Asian languages when possible. Essays should be based on primary material, whether in an East Asian language or English. Summary of secondary material is not acceptable.

Maps and mapping processes have become multilayered and transdisciplinary objects of study and analysis. Long considered and evaluated exclusively as objective scientific tools par excellence, in recent decades they have undergone a profound reconceptualization that has accentuated their being primarily devices of cultural interpretation framed in specific contexts of political, religious, colonial, social, and economic power. This stratification makes maps and mapping operations particularly interesting objects of historical analysis that have generated interest in many fields of knowledge, conveying perspectives, knowledge, interests, and worldviews through a combination of visuality and writing. These specific “intentionalities” aim to make an impact on the communities and societies they address: by representing worlds, they create worlds. It is these intentionalities that the course aims to bring out, study and analyze, particularly in the context of Asia, which has been mapped very precociously and has been a very important area of investigation and exploration by foreign travelers. Asia occupies a central place in the imagined geography of cartographers, as maps have been a fundamental tool that has shaped the continent, its self-perception, and its understanding of the world. Special attention is given to early modern mapping processes and cartography, from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century. This period became a turning point in the way both European and Asian cartographers saw their regions and represented them, also giving rise to cartographic productions that complemented or juxtaposed their knowledge systems. The circulation of knowledge and visual cultures among cartographers from both macro-regions, with a focus on Japan and China, is a focus of the course. The analysis of the cartographic construction of Asia and its regions is integrated with a world history– research perspective, from classical to modern times, spanning the cultures of Asia, Europe and Islamic Africa, in turn examined through the maps that different cultures made of their own worlds. Students also have the opportunity to analyze a selection of historical maps in the Beinecke Library collections to discover how maps have variously embodied cultural lenses, religious beliefs, scientific discoveries, and political concerns.

Directed reading and research on a topic approved by the DGS and advised by a faculty member (by arrangement) with expertise or specialized competence in the chosen field. Readings and research are done in preparation for the required master’s thesis.

Directed reading and research on a topic approved by the DGS and advised by a faculty member (by arrangement) with expertise or specialized competence in the chosen field. Readings and research are done in preparation for the required master’s thesis.

By arrangement with faculty and with approval of the DGS.

By arrangement with faculty and with approval of the DGS.

For three decades after China’s economic opening in 1979, and especially after China’s 2001 accession to the WTO, U.S.-China economic relations were based on a U.S. assumption that China would integrate into the U.S.-backed international economic order. China’s rapid growth and adherence to a state-oriented economic model, however, combined with globalization’s challenges to the liberal economic system, have significantly increased tensions between the world’s two biggest economies. This course examines the factors driving economic friction between the United States and China, and is divided into four sections. The course is taught by a practitioner who spent over a decade managing U.S. Government economic policy in and on China.

This is a course about when governments borrow from foreign lenders and the political causes and consequences of the decision to borrow. To enable us to focus on politics, some training in economics is required. We begin by reviewing the internal determinants of China’s external lending behavior. Next, we study how international finance collides with domestic politics creating both opportunities and challenges for borrowers. The second half of the course surveys topics of contemporary importance: how effective is Chinese economic statecraft? Can China expect to be repaid in full? Will the renminbi become a global reserve currency?

In the decades after 1979, China’s adherence to key tenets of the U.S.-backed liberal international economic system enabled it to achieve middle income status. After the 2008-9 global financial crisis, however, weaknesses in the U.S. model combined with China’s own sustained growth increased Beijing’s confidence in an alternative, state-oriented model that increasingly underpins China’s foreign economic engagement. This course examines the Global Security and Belt and Road initiatives, trade, investment, and development policies, international organization advocacy, business practices, and other aspects of China’s growing international economic footprint. These factors are analyzed from the perspective of China’s internal dynamics, competition with the United States, and overall foreign policy goals, and are evaluated for their impact on the prevailing global economic order. The course is taught by a practitioner who spent over a decade managing U.S. Government economic policy in and on China. 

Four centuries of Japan’s history explored through the many incarnations, destructions, and rebirths of its foremost city. Focus on the solutions found by Tokyo’s residents to the material and social challenges of concentrating such a large population in one place. Tensions between continuity and impermanence, authenticity and modernity, and social order and the culture of play.

This course is an investigation of four centuries of Sino-Russian relations. Joining techniques of historical and literary analysis, it examines how Chinese and Russian political and cultural developments mutually shaped the two countries’ ideologies, cultures, and social movements. By closely reading literary, historical, and visual materials, along with secondary sources, we uncover the global trends linking the two great nations’ peoples as they searched for the path to construct strong empires and nation-states. The legacy of this early Sino-Russian contact remains with us in the twenty-first century, as Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping evoke memories of early alliances, while Russian and Chinese dissidents appeal to Western liberal powers to support their resistance to authoritarian rule. The course engages us with a broader understanding of the critical global processes that define our present and point toward our collective future.

Few pre-industrial societies anywhere in the world have bequeathed us a body of historical documents as varied and plentiful as those Tokugawa Japan (1600-1867). This class offers students who already have a solid command of modern Japanese an introduction to these remarkable sources, focusing particularly on what they can teach us about life in the great cities of Edo (now Tokyo), Osaka, and Kyoto—three of the largest urban centers anywhere in the pre-industrial world.

Examination of how, after centuries of war in Japan and overseas, the Tokugawa shogunate built a peace that lasted more than 200 years. Japan’s urban revolution, the eradication of Christianity, the Japanese discovery of Europe, and the question whether Tokugawa Japan is a rare example of a complex and populous society that achieved ecological sustainability.

This course explores the many ways in which the functions of the state are intertwined with, determine, and develop with the making of war in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1912) dynasties. Students explore the manifold concerns of the throne in not only conducting war, but also financing it, consolidating its gains, and handling its political consequences. The role of evolving frontier strategies, ruler-subject relations, administrative institutions, and resource dilemmas will be foregrounded in a history of warfare and its impact on the development of the late imperial state.

Underlying causes of current issues facing China traced back to their origins in the premodern period. Topics include economic development, corruption, environmental crises, gender, and Pacific island disputes. Selected primary-source readings in English, images, videos, and Web resources.

Did any society attain early modernity before Europe did so in 1500-1600? China did so during the Song dynasty (960-1275). Consideration of economic output, meritocratic recruitment of the bureaucracy via civil service examinations, levels of education and literacy (among both men and women), urban life, and foreign trade. Readings include extensive primary sources in translation. Emphasis on using primary and secondary sources to do historical research papers and prepare for longer writing projects such as the senior essay.

Today’s China is one of the world’s great powers, and the relationship between the United States and China is one of the most consequential of our times. Yet we cannot understand China without examining the historical context of its rise. How have the Chinese searched for modernity in the recent past? How were the dramatic changes of the late imperial period, the twentieth century, and after experienced by the Chinese people? This introductory course examines the political, social, and cultural revolutions that have shaped Chinese history since late imperial times. The emphasis of this course is on the analysis of primary sources in translation and the discussion of these texts within the context of the broader historical narrative. It assumes no prior knowledge of Chinese history.

A survey of the historical genres of premodern China: the dynastic histories, other chronicles, gazetteers, literati notes, and Buddhist and Daoist canons. How to determine what different information these sources contain for research topics in different fields. 

This graduate research seminar introduces students to archival and other sources used in PRC history. Students learn how to read and use such sources and complete an independent research paper. 

This seminar is an introduction to the logistics, strategy, and rationale of the China’s late empires. Readings on the political economy, organization, and administration of the Ming Empire and former Ming territories later ruled by the Qing will introduce participants to the general considerations of the last two dynasties to rule over the territory now known as China. 

A critical introduction to debates in the history of Japan up to about 1900, with particular emphasis on the Tokugawa period but some coverage of earlier times as well. 

Study of China’s maritime history focusing on the period 1000–1500, culminating with the Zheng He voyages and their cancellation. English-language readings in secondary sources and primary sources in translation; examination of relevant maps in Beinecke’s collection.

Japan is not only home to the largest and, by some measures, most livable, city in the world today, but also it boasts one of the richest archives for the study of urban history.  The Urban Japan Workshop offers graduate students and advanced undergraduates the opportunity to explore the rich scholarly literature on Japanese cities across time, while also developing their own individual research projects.

This course offers students an opportunity to explore recent English-language scholarship on the history of modern Japan (post-1868).

This course focuses on important works of Chinese painting and major painters from the fourth century CE to the twentieth century. Through close readings of the pictorial contents and production contexts of such works of art, this course investigates the works’ formats, meanings, and innovations from social, historical, and art-historical perspectives. In this course, students become familiar with the traditional Chinese world and acquire the knowledge necessary to be an informed viewer of Chinese painting. Discussions of religion, folkloric beliefs, literature, relationships between men and women, the worship of mountains, the laments of scholars, and the tastes of emperors and wealthy merchants also allow students to understand the cultural roots of contemporary China.

Arts of China is a window to the nation’s history, culture, society, and aesthetics. This course introduces the visual arts of China from the prehistoric period to the twentieth century. We look at the archaeological findings (including pottery, jade, and bronze vessels) as well as ancestor worship and belief in posthumous souls and immortal mountains. We look at the art and architecture inspired by Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. We investigate the place of Chinese painting and calligraphy in court and elite cultures and explore how these arts intertwine with politics, printing culture, and popular culture. Lastly, we investigate the decorative arts, like ceramics, textiles, and furniture, as well as the art and architecture that reflect foreign tastes.

This seminar uses artwork as a means of understanding the various skin problems faced by contemporary Chinese people. Divided into four modules, this seminar first traces how the “ideal skin” as a complex trope of desire, superficiality, and deception has evolved over time through the ghost story, Painted Skin (Huapi), and its countless spin-offs. Second, the course explores how artists have overcome a variety of social distances and barriers through touch; we look at artworks that highlight the healing power and erotic associations of cleansing, massaging, and moisturizing the skin. Third, we explore the relationship between feminism and gender stereotypes through artworks and performances that involve skincare, makeup and plastic surgery. Fourth, the course investigates the dynamics between “Chineseness,” colorism, and racial tensions through the artworks produced by Chinese-American and diasporic artists. Each module is comprised of one meeting focusing on theoretical frameworks and two meetings focusing on individual artists and close analysis of artworks. Readings include Cathy Park Hong’s Minor Feelings, Nikki Khanna’s Whiter, and Leta Hong Fincher’s Leftover Women.  

Exploratory and investigative in nature, this seminar is conceived as a baseline engagement with the intersections of art, religion, science, commerce, war, and diplomacy at Kyoto and Nagasaki in the age of Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, and English political and mercantile interaction in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It addresses a set of themes whose point of entry is the entangled character of visual production and reception in Japan at a tipping point in the emergence of global modernity, when what were called the Nanbans—“Southern Barbarians,” i.e. Europeans—began to arrive in Japan. The question of whether or not much-theorized nomenclatures such as baroque, rococo, mestizo, and even global modernity are pertinent to analysis from the Japanese and Asian perspective constitutes the backbone of the course and its primary objective in the study of a corpus of visual materials spanning the European and Asian cultural spheres. As such the seminar is not only about Japan, per se, or about Japanese objects, or the shogunal eye. It is equally about how Japan and Japanese objects and materials, along with objects and materials from other places, figured in a greater community of exchange, friction, confrontation, conquest, and adaptation in times when Portuguese marauders, Jesuit missionaries, Muslim traders, and Japanese pirates found themselves in the same waters, on ships laden with goods, making landfall in the domains of Japan’s great military hegemons.

Introductory language course for students with no previous background in Japanese. Development of proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, and writing, including 50 hiragana, 50 katakana, and 75 kanji characters. Introduction to cultural aspects such as levels of politeness and group concepts. In-class drills in pronunciation and conversation. Individual tutorial sessions improve conversational skills.

Continuation of JAPN 110, with supplementary materials such as excerpts from television shows, anime, and songs. Introduction of 150 additional kanji.

Continued development in both written and spoken Japanese. Aspects of Japanese culture, such as history, art, religion, and cuisine, explored through text, film, and animation. Online audio and visual aids facilitate listening, as well as the learning of grammar and kanji. Individual tutorial sessions improve conversational skills.

Continuation of JAPN 130.

Advanced language course that further develops proficiency in reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Reading and discussion materials include works by Nobel Prize winners. Japanese anime and television dramas are used to enhance listening and to develop skills in culturally appropriate speech. Writing of essays, letters, and criticism solidifies grammar and style. Individual tutorial sessions improve conversational skills.

Continuation of JAPN 150.

Close reading of modern Japanese writing on current affairs, social science, history, and literature. Development of speaking and writing skills in academic settings, including formal speeches, interviews, discussions, letters, e-mail, and expository writing. Interviews of and discussions with native speakers on current issues. Individual tutorial sessions provide speaking practice.

Continuation of JAPN 156.

Introduction to the grammar and style of the premodern literary language (bungotai) through a variety of texts.

Close analytical reading of a selection of texts from the Nara through the Tokugawa periods: prose, poetry, and various genres. Introduction to kanbun.

Introduction to the grammar and style of the premodern literary language (bungotai) through a variety of texts.

Close analytical reading of a selection of texts from the Nara through Tokugawa period: prose, poetry, and various genres. Introduction of kanbun.

A beginning course in modern Korean. Pronunciation, lectures on grammar, conversation practice, and introduction to the writing system (Hankul).

Continuation of KREN 110.

Continued development of skills in modern Korean, spoken and written, leading to intermediate-level proficiency.

Intended for students with some oral proficiency but little or no training in Hankul. Focus on grammatical analysis, the standard spoken language, and intensive training in reading and writing.

Continuation of KREN 130.

Continuation of KREN 132.

An advanced language course with emphasis on developing vocabulary and grammar, practice reading comprehension, speaking on a variety of topics, and writing in both formal and informal styles. Use storytelling, discussion, peer group activities, audio and written journals, oral presentations, and supplemental audiovisual materials and texts in class.

This course is content and project-based to further develop integrated language skills-spoken and written, including grammar and vocabulary, as well as intercultural competence through Korean media. Through a variety of media, such as print media, publishing, digital media, cinema, broadcasting (radio, television, podcasting), and advertising, students explore and reflect on a wide range of topics and perspectives in Korean culture and society. The course learning activities include interactive, interpretive, and presentational communication; critical analysis; creative and authentic language applications in formal/informal contexts. 

This course is an advanced language course designed to further develop language skills through topics related to contemporary Korea, including lifestyle, society, culture, and literature, supplemented with authentic media materials. This course aims to expand students’ understanding of Korea while enhancing their multiliteracy. 

This course is an interdisciplinary content-based advanced course in modern Korean. It aims to advance language skills in all four areas and cultural competence to communicate with fluency and accuracy. Students build up wide-ranging vocabulary and grammar, while registering and deepening their understanding of cultural aspects through authentic materials and communicative tasks across a variety of topics, such as social, academic, or career interests.

This course will survey law and legal practice in the People’s Republic of China. Particular attention is given to the interaction of legal institutions with politics, social change, and economic development. Specific topics include, among others, the Party State, the nature of political legitimacy in contemporary Chinese society, state capitalism, the judiciary, property law and development, business and investment law, criminal law and procedure, media (especially the Internet), and major schools of Chinese legal and political thought.

Analysis of contemporary Chinese politics, with focus on how the country has become a major power and how the regime has endured. Topics include China’s recent history, state, ruling party, economy, censorship, elite politics, and foreign policy.

This course introduces a range of theological themes and key thinkers in twentieth- and twenty-first century Japan, Taiwan, and Korea. It surveys different theological movements within these countries (such as “homeland theology,” Minjung theology, the “no-church” movement, etc.) and encourages a critical response to the challenges that these theologies raise for Christians in Asia and elsewhere. The course considers contextualization and inculturation debates in each of these societies, as well as regional responses to Christianity. We read primary texts in English, with background reading for context, and students are encouraged to develop their own responses to the authors and their thought (e.g., students may submit theological reflections to count toward their grade).

The Day Missions Collection at YDS is one of the strongest mission collections in the world, comprising about one third of the Divinity Library’s 600,000 volumes—and it is also the central repository in the United States for China-related mission papers. This course offers students the opportunity to complete an original research project in the library relating to mission in China, utilizing manuscript, microform, and monograph materials from the collections. For the first six weeks, we read intensively in mission history, theory, and practice, schematized through mission narratives. The next four weeks are “library lab” time: supervised reading time in special collection and archive materials within the library; and reading into and developing projects while help is on hand for deciphering handwriting, providing reference tools, etc. The final two weeks are dedicated to research presentations and evaluation, with each student offering findings to the class in their chosen media.

Introduction to Shamanism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism, Christianity, and new religions in Korea from ancient times to the present. Examination of religious traditions in close relationships with social, economic, political, and cultural environments in Korean society. Examination of religious tensions, philosophical arguments, and ethical issues that indigenous and foreign religions in Korea have engaged throughout history to maximize their influence in Korean society.  

This class introduces the fundamentals of Buddhist thought, focusing on the foundational doctrinal, philosophical, and ethical ideas that have animated the Buddhist tradition from its earliest days in India 2500 years ago down to the present, in places such as Tibet, China, and Japan. Though there will be occasional discussion of the social and practical contexts of the Buddhist religion, the primary focus of this course lies on how traditional Buddhist thinkers conceptualize the universe, think about the nature of human beings, and propose that people should live their lives. Our main objects of inquiry are therefore the foundational Buddhist ideas, and the classic texts in which those ideas are put forth and defended, that are broadly speaking shared by all traditions of Buddhism. In the later part of the course, we take up some of these issues in the context of specific, regional forms of Buddhism, and watch some films that provide glimpses of Buddhist religious life on the ground. 

Ever since the establishment of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) in 1948 and the Korean War (1950–1953), North Korea has been depicted by the media as a reclusive, oppressive, and military country, its leaders as the worst dictators, and its people as brainwashed, tortured, and starving to death. The still ongoing Cold War discourse, intensified by the North Korea’s recent secret nuclear weapons program, furthers these negative images, and outsiders have passively internalized these images. However, these simplistic characterizations prevent one from gaining a balanced understanding of and insight into North Korea and its people on the ground. Topics other than political, military, and security issues are rarely given attention. On the whole, even though North Korea’s land area is larger than South Korea and its population of 25 million accounts for a third of all Koreans, North Korea has been neglected in the scholarly discussion of Korean culture. This class tries to make sense of North Korea in a more comprehensive way by integrating the political and economic with social, cultural, and religious dimensions. In order to accomplish this objective, students examine leadership, religious (especially cultic) aspects of the North Korean Juche ideology, the daily lives of its citizens, religious traditions, the Korean War, nuclear development and missiles, North Korean defectors and refugees, human rights, Christian missionary organizations, and unification, among others. Throughout, the course places North Korean issues in the East Asian and global context. The course draws upon recent scholarly books, articles, journals, interviews with North Korean defectors, travelogues, media publications, and visual materials.

Is monastic life relevant in contemporary society, where religion is increasingly considered less significant in our secular lives? Can we find valuable aspects of a monastic lifestyle that can be integrated into our daily lives? If so, what are these aspects, and how can we incorporate them? This seminar represents a collaborative effort to gain insight into one of the major monastic traditions: Buddhist monasticism. Throughout this seminar, we delve into various facets of Buddhist monastic life, examining its origins, historical development, monastic identity, rules and regulations, practices, and the dynamics between monastics and the laity. We also explore the tensions that often arise between the ideals of monasticism and the realities it faces in today’s world. As part of this exploration, we embark on an eight-week monastic life project, during which students create their own set of daily rules (precepts), adhere to these rules, engage in meditation and other relevant practices, and establish a regular communal gathering with fellow students. 

This seminar introduces the literary sources relevant for the earliest era of Chinese Buddhism, during the (Eastern) Han and Three Kingdoms period, which primarily consist of early translations of Indian Buddhist literature and a few pioneering Chinese commentaries to them. Largely unstudied by modern scholars owing to their archaic language and vocabulary, these sources document the first recorded intellectual encounters between the Indian and East Asian worlds. Together with a careful reading of a selection of the relevant primary sources, we also take up secondary readings on the history of early Chinese Buddhism and broader works on the problematics of translation and commentary, in the context of China and elsewhere.

This course situates modern Korean Buddhism in the global context of the late nineteenth century to the present. Through critical examination of the dynamic relationship between Korean Buddhism and the Buddhisms of key East Asian cities—Shanghai, Tokyo, Taipei, and Lhasa—the course seeks to understand modern East Asian Buddhism in a transnational light. Discussion includes analyzing the impact of Christian missionaries, pan-Asian and global ideologies, colonialism, Communism, capitalism, war, science, hypermodernity, and atheism.

This seminar introduces you to several popular musical genres and explores how they are tied to racial, regional, and national identities. We examine how music is exported via migrants, return migrants, industry professionals, and the nation-state (in the case of Korean Popular Music, or K-Pop). Readings and discussions focus primarily on the British New Wave (from about 1979 to 1985) and K-Pop (1992-present), but we also discuss first-wave reggae, ska, rocksteady from the 1960s-70s, British and American punk rock music (1970s-1980s), the precursors of modern K-Pop, and have a brief discussion of Japanese City Pop. The class focuses mainly on the British New Wave and K-Pop because these two genres of popular music have strong ties to particular geographic areas, but they became or have become extremely popular in other parts of the world. We also investigate the importance of music videos in the development of these genres.