UGRD > ASIAN
Asian Studies Courses
ASIAN 104L Introduction to East Asian Art +
Description:
This course is an introduction to East Asian art, focusing on Japan and China. It is divided into three historical segments: early forms of Buddhism, paintings of the scholar class, and the interaction of tradition with imported Western cultural forms. These topics provide a comparative context for exploring style, culture, class and gender. More Info
Offered in:ASIAN 112L Religions of Asia +
Description:
This course surveys the major religions of South, Southeast, and East Asia: Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Daoism, Confucianism, and Shinto, with attention also to Asian Islam and Christianity. The focus is on central teachings, practices, and institutions in their historical and social contexts, as well as interactions between these traditions. The course also considers the enduring vitality of these traditions in the modern world, in and beyond Asia.RELSTY 112L and ASIAN 112L are the same course. More Info
Offered in:ASIAN 115L Survey of South Asia +
Description:
This course introduces students to aspects of history, society and culture in early modern and modern South Asia to demonstrate its diversity and richness, and the variety of human experience in this region. This course is designed as a gateway for the Asian Studies major and satisfies Asian History breadth requirements for the History major. More Info
Offered in:ASIAN 155L Great Books of East Asia: Classics of Love and War +
Description:
This class introduces students to some of the most famous works of literature in China, Japan, and Korea before 1900. The semester is divided into two parts: the first half examines poetry and fiction in which romances are centrally featured, and the second half looks at stories that present specific points of view about major wars, battles, and acts of violence. The course will provide a broad knowledge of premodern literature in East Asia, as well as of cultural and historical contexts that are relevant to the texts. More Info
Offered in:ASIAN 160L East Asian Civilizations to 1850 +
ASIAN 161L East Asian Civilizations since 1850 +
ASIAN 212L Traditional Japanese Architecture +
Description:
Traditional Japanese Architecture introduces major forms of Japanese architecture, garden, and building practice prior to contact with the west. Students learn about Japan's two major religions, Shinto and Buddhism, and discover how its architecture gives from to ideas about divinity, ritual, and national identity, by closely studying both the ways that Japanese city plans, and government buildings, illuminate notions of class identity and power, and the distinctive aesthetic principles embodied in residential and leisure sites. All of these examples show how culture provides a vital framework for thought and form. The study of its architecture prior to Japan's opening to the West helps us understand how modern Japan builds upon its traditions as its engages with issues of contemporary life. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
ASIAN 215L Introduction to Buddhism +
Description:
This course surveys the Buddhist religion from past to present. The focus is on central teachings, practices, and institutions in their diverse historical and social contexts, from ancient India to various lands of East and Southeast Asia and the contemporary world. Particular attention is given to Buddhist narratives, disciplines, cosmologies, and historical developments. More Info
Offered in:ASIAN 222L Introduction to Japanese Music +
Description:
This course is an introduction to Japanese music from the 5th century to the present. Students will explore a variety of genres, including J-pop and music in the contexts of performing arts and films. In addition, we will discuss the use of traditional instruments in modern music and the influence of Japanese music in other parts of the world. The course will consist of lectures, discussions, and in-class demonstrations and workshops by the instructor and guest performer(s). More Info
Offered in:- TBA
ASIAN 227GL Gender & Sexuality in South Asia +
Description:
This course critically examines the portrayal of gender and sexuality in South Asian cultural texts. It employs literature and film to focus on culture and society in South Asia. It specifically addresses gender, as a form of social and historical inequality in South Asia, which is home to diverse socio-cultural communities, which are further divided from within by languages, class, religious affiliations, and regional differences. By reading the stories of individuals and groups in these contexts, the course explores how socio-cultural notions of gender and sexuality, often deeply embedded among communities; perpetuate inequalities among South Asian subjects. It utilized life history, the novel, film, political critique and other literary genres to examine cultural and material foundations of inequality in contemporary South Asia, especially among women of particular religions, class, caste, and ethnicities. More Info
Offered in:ASIAN 233L Introduction to Islam +
Description:
This course acquaints students with the broad outline of the Islamic religion, including its origins and historical development, its sacred scriptures, and the main beliefs and practices of Muslims. It also considers Islam's mystical dimension, its aesthetic expressions, its views of gender relations, and its orientation in the modern world. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
ASIAN 235L Yoga in History, Philosophy, and Practice +
Description:
This course examines the history, philosophies, and practices of Yoga in their religious and cultural contexts. In the modern west, Yoga has become popular as a secular form of exercise. However, the diverse Yoga traditions of India have also involved sophisticated analyses of the mind and systems of mediation. Intrinsic to no single religion, Yoga has had roles in most South Asian traditions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sufism or Islamic mysticism. The course surveys this rich history and the history of the various forms of meditative and physical discipline Yoga has entailed. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
ASIAN 239L Hindu Myth and Narrative: the Epics and Puranas +
Description:
This course studies Hinduism through its narrative literature, especially the great epics (the Mahabharata and Ramayana) and mythological texts (Puranas - the ''Ancient Books''). Through stories of gods, devotees, villains, and heroes, the course explores the development of significant themes in the Hindu tradition, from ethics and philosophy to asceticism and religious devotion. An important focus of the course is the enduring cultural significance of myth and the epics of South and Southeast Asia, as retold through the ages in a variety of languages, cultural contexts, and media, including classical and vernacular texts, the oral tradition, drama, dance, and cinema. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
ASIAN 251L South Asia and the India Ocean World +
Description:
The Indian Ocean region includes Southern and Eastern Africa, the Persian Gulf, South Asia, and parts of Southeast Asia. This course will study the influence of South Asia in the creation of systems of state, and the circulation of goods, labor and capital through this region over two hundred years. This course satisfies the international diversity requirement through focus on the experiences of and interrelationships between participants in the production, trade and consumption of commodities, with a focus on national origin, social class, and the free and unfree and the intersections of these experiences, identities and conditions. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
ASIAN 252L Premodern Japanese Culture:From Ancient Times to 1868 +
Description:
This course surveys Japanese culture from the 8th century to the 19th century, with particular emphasis on literature, history, as well as contemporary material culture and social history. All readings are in English, and no knowledge of Japanese is required. More Info
Offered in:ASIAN 265L Icons of East Asia: Stereotypes, gender, and cultural history from geisha girls to martial masters +
Description:
The purpose of this class is to explore, critically and comparatively, various discourses about popular cultural icons of East Asia. We will focus on two specific well-known examples - women entertainers and male figures adapt at martial arts- with the following aims: 1) to focus on specific historical contexts, which suggest how and why these categories were formed and became important; 2) to understand how dynamic and motivated these seemingly unchanging and timeless icons actually are; and 3) to investigate how gendered identities are constructed and manipulated for particular goals. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
ASIAN 271L Religion and the Arts +
Description:
This course examines the interplay between religion and aesthetics, as expressed through the literary, visual, and performing arts. Structured thematically rather than by religious tradition, this course covers topics such as religious seeing, visual representation of the divine through icons and iconography, iconoclasm and the power of images, aniconism, calligraphy and geometric design, sacred space and religious architecture, religion and the book arts, religious music, dance, and drama, visual narrativization, and religious ritual as performance. More Info
Offered in:ASIAN 275L Peoples and Cultures of China +
Description:
This course describes and analyzes China and Chinese society through the perspective of culture. By looking at the ways in which Chinese people lead their lives, the beliefs and ideas they place importance upon and the ways in which these ideas are manifested in people's actions, we hope to gain a more thorough understanding of China as a social, political and economic entity, and a more nuanced and analytical understanding of China's diverse peoples. Some of the themes we will address include the following: unity and diversity in Chinese society, the role of the family, the place of the state, food and eating, gender relations, ritual and religion, popular culture (particularly movies and opera), economic and social change, nationalism and international relations. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
ASIAN 280 Southeast Asian Cultures +
Description:
Southeast Asia is a crucial world region that is home to diverse peoples, languages, and religions and has been influenced by migration, trade and colonialism. This course examines themes in the cultures, history, and politics of the countries that constitute Southeast Asia: the mainland states of Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam and the island states of Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, East Timor, and Brunei. The central aim is to study this region's cultural diversity across complex geographies, cross-cultural transactions, and periods of dramatic social change. Understandings of culture will be informed especially by its interconnections with race, ethnicity, nationality, class, and gender. More Info
Offered in:ASIAN 314L Meditation traditions of Asia +
Description:
Meditation is integral to Asia's major religions and increasingly popular in the contemporary world. This course explores a range of contemplative practices, mainly from Hindu, Buddhist, and/or Daoist traditions. We will also explore modern, secularized offshoots of these practices, such as mindfulness and postural yoga, which are now used widely in clinical settings and are the subject of much scientific research. The course will draw on perspectives such as the comparative study of religion, philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience. Moreover, we will approach meditation both academically and experimentally: participants will study contemplative practices in their historical, cultural, and religious contexts, wand will likewise engage in the practice of mediation, in both traditional and modern varieties. Going beyond seated mediation, we will explore contemplative practices and the traditional creative arts (e.g. poetry and calligraphy); musical meditations; and contemplative body-mind practices (e.g. poetry and calligraphy); musical meditations; and contemplative body-mind practices (e.g. walking meditation, yoga, and/or Qi Gong). The course hence integrates conventional academic study with a unique form of experiential learning. Meditation practice is an essential component of the course. This is a hands-on, interactive course designed with the support of the Mellon Foundation. More Info
Offered in:ASIAN 335L Literature and the Arts of the Islamic World +
Description:
This course examines the development of literature and the arts of the Islamic world from the early Islamic period to the modern day, focusing upon the specific ways in which religion interacted with the cultures of Islamic lands to inform these developments. The course will draw upon visual, performing, and literary traditions from across the Islamic world, from Andalusia to Mughal India, and from Indonesia to the Caribbean. Through the semester, students will be exposed to a diversity of geographical, religious, devotional, sectarian, and gender perspectives. This is a hands-on, interactive course designed with the support of the Mellon Foundation. More Info
Offered in:ASIAN 351L Religion and the Arts +
Description:
This course examines the interplay between religion and aesthetics, as expressed through the literary, visual, and performing arts. Structured thematically rather than by religious tradition, this course covers topics such as religious seeing, visual representation of the divine through icons and iconography, iconoclasm and the power of images, aniconism, calligraphy and geometric design, sacred space and religious architecture, religion and the book arts, religious music, dance, and drama, visual narrativization, and religious ritual as performance. More Info
Offered in:ASIAN 357L Women in South Asian Religions: Gender Ideology and Practice in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam +
Description:
This course examines women in South Asian history through the intersections of women's lives with three major faith traditions of the subcontinent - Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam. Using historical, literary, and anthropological lenses the course will consider how various institutions of authority - patriarchy, religion, and the state - have shaped and reshaped gender ideology in South Asia, and how women, throughout South Asia's history, have, in turn, interpreted and negotiated their position in society. More Info
Offered in:ASIAN 358L Psychology, Politics, and Philosophy in East Asia +
Description:
Why do attitudes in China, Korea, and Japan differ from Western attitudes on such issues as human rights; individualism and community; child rearing; moral and psychological development; the role of government; and proper behavior in business organizations? This course explores the roots of these differences in the Confucian tradition. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
ASIAN 359L Women in Modern China +
ASIAN 360L Traditional China +
Description:
A survey of traditional China from ancient times to about 1800, with emphasis on cultural, intellectual, and social developments. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
ASIAN 361L The History of Modern China +
ASIAN 363L Modern Japan +
Description:
A historical survey of economic, social, political and cultural developments in Japan from 1800 to the present, special consideration of economic and foreign policy problems. More Info
Offered in:ASIAN 364L India since 1857 +
Description:
This course explores the formation and transformation of colonial systems of control, administration and governance of South Asia and Indian participation in this process from 1857 to 1947. The course begins looking at early colonialism under the East India Company and the resulting revolt of 1857. It goes on to explore a variety of sites and social issues which were governed by the British colonial state and literary, political and militaristic responses to systems and priorities of government. The colonial state and the colonized were engaged, responsive and adaptive towards each other but locked in an unequal relationship underwritten by race and culture. More Info
Offered in:ASIAN 365L Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan in Modern History +
Description:
In 1979, three separate events in three different countries marked the beginning of a new era of politics and religion in western Asia. A revolutionary Islamic government took control in Iran, a religiously-motivated military dictator took power in Pakistan, and the USSR invaded Afghanistan, triggering the Afghan Jihad. This course will explore the history leading up to the events of 1979 in the context of global events and political change and religious thought in Western Asia. It will then go on to examine the consequences of these events as they have played out into the new millennium.HIST 365L and ASIAN 365L are the same course. More Info
Offered in:ASIAN 366L Re-made in Asia: Tellings and re-tellings from the Buddha to Godzilla +
Description:
What is a ''remake''? Why are people interested in stories that are told and re-told, sometimes in many versions? This class explores narratives that travel across time and space in Asia, in order to find some answers to these questions. The purpose of this class is to consider how texts from the past are rendered relevant to concerns contemporary to the remakes. More Info
Offered in:ASIAN 367L Food and Culture in Japan: National Identity and Diversity, Past and Present +
Description:
This course explores how food and its consumption have been practiced and represented in premodern and modern Japan. Students will learn about the place of food in Japanese society, as well as the less commonly known aspects of Japanese food culture. The preparation, presentation, and consumption of food take place within structures of power. Food is often intimately tied to discourses of nationalism and national identity, yet it can also symbolize the diversity of society, such as regional identity, gendered divisions of labor, or the ''foreign'' and its appropriations. The class will investigate these and other aspects of Japanese food culture through written texts, visual arts, and film, in order to encourage a nuanced, complex, and critical understanding of the place of food in Japan. More Info
Offered in:ASIAN 371 Environmental Issues in China +
Description:
This course will analyze China's environmental and resource challenges including food security, wildlife, conservation, water, air, and land pollution, water distribution, deforestation, desertification and population control. We will study the issues from economic, scientific, and social perspectives and look at solutions as well as causes. We will also study China's environmental initiatives and accomplishments. Topics covered include pollution remediation, environmental protection,and investments in clean energy technology. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
ASIAN 478 Independent Study +
Description:
For those with special interest in a project dealing with East Asia. More Info
Offered in:ASIAN 480 Topics in Asian Studies +
ASIAN 488L The Idea of Asia +
Description:
This course examines the imagination of Asia from a variety of perspectives: historical, economic, religious, philosophical, literary, and artistic. It begin from the extreme social and cultural diversity of the continent as it is currently defined, and asks first, how the idea of a coherent Asia was constructed; and second, what effects this idea has had in both ''Asian'' and ''European'' history. More Info
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