Course Offerings

East Asian Art I: China, Korea, Japan
EAST-UA 91 Identical to ARTH-UA 510. 4 points.
See description under art history.

Topics
EAST-UA 300 4 points.
Topics vary semester by semester.

Belief and Social Life in China
EAST-UA 351 Identical to RELST-UA 351. 4 points.
See description under religious studies.

The Western Encounter 
EAST-UA 518 4 points.
This class will attempt to trace the development of the field traditionally known as “Sinology” in the West. We will study a range of East-West encounters, including the accounts of European explorers beginning with Marco Polo, the pioneering translations of scholarly missionaries, and the academic contributions of European and American linguists and historians. Through reading the scholarship of earlier generations, students can expect to acquire basic familiarity with the Chinese classics, but the focus of the course will be on historiography. In addition to common reading assignments, students will be asked to write three short papers and give in‐class presentations on the work of particular Sinologists.

China and Taiwan
EAST-UA 529 Identical to HIST-UA 529. 4 points.
Examines 20th-century Taiwan and China in their interrelationship and their divergent paths. Rather than a diplomatic or international relations approach, takes up crucial issues in the history of each polity and society. Substantial reading requirements and expectations for student participation.

Mao and the Chinese Revolution
EAST-UA 535 Identical to HIST-UA 546. 4 points.
The revolution made Mao as much as Mao made the revolution. We investigate Mao's thoughts and theories as products of the revolutionary situation in China and the world in the 20th century, and of the revolutionary collective that gathered around Mao prior to and throughout his leadership of the Chinese Communist Party.

Gender and Radicalism in Modern China
EAST-UA 536 Identical to HIST-UA 536, SCA-UA 536. 4 points.
See description under history.

History of Modern Japan
EAST-UA 537 Identical to HIST-UA 537. 4 points.
See description under history.

Asia's Revolutions: China/India/Vietnam, 1885-1962
EAST-UA 538 Identical to HIST-UA 538. Roberts. 4 points.
A comparative approach to national independence movements and their contexts. Examines figures who led India and Vietnam from colonial subordination to independent nationhood and China from its semi-colonial status to liberation. Principal figures include Mohandas Gandhi, Mao Zedong, and Ho Chi Minh, with attention to Gokhale, Tilak, Jinnah, and Nehru (India); Li Hongzhang, Sun Yatsen, Chen Duxiu, La Dazhao, and Chiang Kai-shek (China); and Phan Boi Chau (Vietnam).

Seminar: Cold War in Asia
EAST-UA 552 Identical to HIST-UA 709. 4 points.
U.S. foreign policy in Asia since 1945 and how U.S. global interests and concerns sought to shape Asian realities (and were shaped in turn by them). Topics: the occupation of Japan and early U.S. global economic visions; the U.S. and the Chinese revolution; the Korean War and the isolation of China; the Vietnam War and the Kennedy/Johnson years; Nixon's global geopolitical vision and policies; Carter and human rights diplomacy; Reagan and the Asian issues involved in an intensified Cold War against Russia; George H. W. Bush and Asia's place in "a New World Order"; and the Clinton and George W. Bush years.

Translation Through Chinese Literature
EAST-UA 569, 4 points.
Rather than simply taking translation for granted as a necessary condition for accessing Chinese literature in English, this course will foreground the issue of translation and the particular challenges that arise when attempting to convey a Chinese work in English. Our examination will range from general theories of translation, to the fraught notion of world literature that inevitably lurks behind literary translation, to the specific historical and ideological conditions that have affected the translation of Chinese literature, to a range of English renderings of a wide array of Chinese texts. Because students will also have the opportunity to produce their own critical translations in English, a rudimentary knowledge of Chinese is recommended.

History of Modern Korea
EAST-UA 609 4 points.
Starts in the late 19th century and proceeds through the colonial period (1910-45), national partition (1945), the Korean War (1950-52), and the establishment of a "division system." Examines issues of national sovereignty, class and gender, and democracy within a broader, East Asian/global context.

Korean Modernism
EAST-UA 610 4 points.
Considers the problem of colonial modernism through a close reading of literary and other cultural texts from early 20th-century Korea. Questions the relationship among imperialism, writing, and subjectivity.

20th-Century Korean Literature in Translation
EAST-UA 611 4 points.
Traces literary development under the competing influences of tradition, history, and the West. Readings include drama, poetry, and fiction from modern and contemporary periods. Occasional lectures on classical forms of Korean literature and drama.

Japanese Cinema
EAST-UA 613 4 points.
Examines key theoretical and methodological issues in the study of Japanese cinema, such as the connections between Japanese films and cultural traditions, the effect of Americanization and modernization, the formation of national identity and specificity, and the "otherness" of Japanese cinematic form.

Aesthetics and Politics of Vision in Premodern Japan
EAST-UA 615 4 points.
A broad and interdisciplinary cultural history of Japan, roughly from the eighth century through the mid-19th. The focus is on visual regimes—differing conventions and practices of seeing—and on the changing role of aesthetics. These visual regimes are used to understand fundamental transformations in structures of power, community, and subjectivity. Draws on a range of materials, from literature to landscape gardens, visual arts, architecture, and technologies.

Approaches to Chinese Cinema
EAST-UA 618 4 points.
The development of the cinema in 20th-century China is inextricably linked to the emergence of the modern Chinese nation-state. Emphasizes the thematic, cultural, and historical content of films, as well as formal issues of filmmaking techniques. Explores all periods from the earliest Chinese cinema to contemporary fifth- and sixth-generation film, Hong Kong, and contemporary transnational Chinese cinema.

Mass Culture: Japan
EAST-UA 707 4 points.
Covers the early 20th century to life in Japan today. Considers differing theoretical positions on mass culture, everyday life, and modernity. Examples from cinema, animation, literature, and theatre, as well as new media and the fine arts. Utilizes a comparative perspective with the rest of Asia and with the West.

Japanese Animation and New Media
EAST-UA 708 4 points.
Examines how anime might, or might not, shift earlier modes of expression (both literary and animated): the prevalence of mythology in animation and the tension between mythology and ideology; the importance of genre; and the impact of "old" and "new" media on narrative structure and reception. Implications of these conditions for thinking about "Japanese" culture are considered.

Epic Romances of Asia: China, Japan, and Vietnam
EAST-UA 718 4 points.
Comparative coverage of three romantic classics: one Vietnamese (Tale of Kieu), one Japanese (Tale of Genji), and one Chinese (Dream of the Red Chamber), with selections from Buddhist texts. Topics: the role of heroines, the relationship of romance and marriage to political power and social customs, and the authority of parents and elders. Confucian secular concepts of authority co-exist and contend with Buddhism's reinterpretation of the secular world and offer of escape from worldly suffering.

Topics in Japanese Literature
EAST-UA 719 4 points.
Topics vary semester by semester.

Readings in Chinese Philosophy and Culture
EAST-UA 722 4 points.
Coverage from the era of Confucius (d. 479 B.C.E.) to the unification of the realm in 206 B.C.E., the pre-imperial period that is also known as the warring states. Begins with the Analects to establish the key elements of Confucius' ethical and political philosophy and then examines his critics and followers. Concludes with Sima Qian's Record of the Historian (excerpts) and the novel The Three Kingdoms. The former addresses the establishment of the Qin and Han dynasties; the latter chronicles the fall of the Han dynasty some four centuries later and the reconstitution of a unified realm.

Historical Epics of China and Japan
EAST-UA 726 4 points.
Comparative treatment of the two major military epics of China, Three Kingdoms and Outlaws of the Marsh (Sanguo yanyi and Shuihu zhuan), and the major military epic of Japan, The Tale of the Heike (Heike monogatari). Themes: nature of dynastic rule, qualifications for kingship, relation of civil to military authority, diplomatic and military strategies, and the roles of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism in these complex narratives.

Topics in East Asian Classics
EAST-UA 728 4 points.
Topics vary semester by semester.

Traditional Drama of China and Japan
EAST-UA 729 4 points.
Compares a selection of Chinese and Japanese pre-modern dramas and explores contrasts and parallels of incident, character, plot design, and theme in the two theatrical traditions. Attention to the historical background of each work and the social conditions and customs that each reflects. The cultural salience of each work is also considered.

20th-Century Chinese Literature in Translation
EAST-UA 731 4 points.
Explores changing trends in literary writing and how this relates to the social and historical contexts of the period. Literature as reflection on/of the culture and self-understanding of modern China.

Modern Japanese Literature and its Filmic Expression
EAST-UA 733 4 points.
Literature in its historical context. Topics include: the individual versus the bureaucracy, the struggle against the feudal past, intra-familial and generational conflict, the despised caste called Eta, the instability of gender roles, and the sources of political fanaticism.

Japan Through Its Literature
EAST-UA 734 4 points.
Covers about 10 major Japanese literary works, starting with the 11th-century Tale of Genji. Includes the Zen diary Essays in Idleness, texts of Noh plays, the Chushingura, and plays of Chikamatsu. Moves on to a series of modern novels starting with Ukigumo and followed by The Broken Commandment, Sound of the Mountain, and The Waiting Years.

Vietnam: Its History
EAST-UA 737 Identical to HIST-UA 737. 4 points.
Focus on the American War in Vietnam. Begins by examining Vietnamese cultural and national identity and the impact of French colonialism and then examines: the war of 1946-54 between the French and the Viet Minh; the early American OSS links with Ho Chi Minh and the Truman administration's deepening commitments to the French; the policies of the Eisenhower administration, from Dien Bien Phu and the Geneva Conference in 1954 to the decision to back Ngo Dien Diem; the deepening commitment of the Kennedy administration; the escalating war of the Johnson years; and the end of the war under Nixon and Ford. Concludes with legacies and interpretations of the war.

Introduction to Buddhism
EAST-UA 832 Identical to RELST-UA 832. 4 points.
See description under religious studies.

Topics in Asian Studies
EAST-UA 950 4 points.
Topics vary from semester to semester.

Topics in Korean Studies
EAST-UA 951 4 points.
Topics vary from semester to semester.

Topics in Chinese Studies
EAST-UA 952 4 points.
Topics vary from semester to semester.

Topics in Japanese Studies
EAST-UA 953 4 points.
Topics vary from semester to semester.

Internship
EAST-UA 980, 981 2 or 4 points per term.

Independent Study
EAST-UA 997, 998 2 or 4 points per term.