| Course | Title | Instructor | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| EAS 55 | LOCAL TAIWAN CULTURE | SCRUGGS, B. | "Students become familiar with Taiwanese fiction, film, culture, and history in the discourses of cultural and ecological postcolonialism, literary nativism and modernism, and globalization by reading short stories, two novels, and scholarly essays as well as watching fiction and documentary films. Grades are based on three exams, several quizzes, and section discussions." |
| EAS 110 | TRANSLATED CONTEMPORARY CHINESE NOVELS | SCRUGGS, B. | We interpret several translated novels from the People’s Republic of China by considering the reciprocal, ideological relationship between fiction and the present. In addition to the novels, assigned readings include theoretical texts and secondary studies. Grades are based on three essays, one of which is presented in class, and regular participation (including attendance and active listening). |
| EAS 116 | JAPANESE BUDDHISM | STAFF | This course is an introduction to the history of Buddhism in Japan. Japanese Buddhism--which preceded its official introduction in the sixth century with a famous and fabled tale of conflict with leaders of its indigenous beliefs--appeared little by little with icons, writings and teachings that often arrived with merchants as they travelled the extensive, multi-cultural Silk Road. Nevertheless, in time a number of "schools" were established - all the way in co-existence with the twists and turns of political changes. Reclusive practitioners also co-existed with (or even founded) soon-to-prosper temple communities who gathered the fervent faith of many laypeople - from imperial pilgrims to women who, banned from much sacred space and practice, worshipped from a fenced-off distance. Elsewhere, nuns found their way in convent lives, or personal paths that involved self-mutilation, or as unmarried princesses placed in and provided for by lavish cloisters. Men ensconced on sacred mountains and in urban temples also developed elaborate rituals and doctrine: Zen, Shingon, Tendai, Pure Land, Nichiren. Today multiple “new religions” draw on Buddhism. All flourished, and from each was born often stunning art, literature, music, culture, and of course, salvation - in various forms of enlightenment. Seated meditation, name-chanting, important sutras, and fire-rituals are a few of the diverse practices we will learn, and art and literature will be positioned in the context of beliefs. Each school, too, and individual Buddhist figures, found their way to join forces with the pre-Buddhist sacred beings who, they claimed, "softened their light and mingled with the dust" of this world. In order to cultivate a solid understanding of Buddhism in a specific cultural context, we will look at a variety of important primary texts, art, and artifacts that represent the traditions, and explore the ideas and rhetoric they present, their unique vocabulary (reading in translation), and the socio-historical context from which they emerged. (Deals with both premodern and modern culture. Literature is only premodern) (same as 31187 Rel Std 120, Lec B) |
| EAS 116 | CHRSTNTY &MDN KOREA | CHOI, C. | Christianity has made a significant contribution to the shaping of modern Korea. In this course we will explore the impact of Christianity on modern Korean culture and society that include social relationship, anti-colonial nationalism, education, gender relationship, and other areas of public culture. Course materials will be drawn from modern Korean history, literature, film, arts and music. (same as 31180 Rel Std 100, Lec A) |
| EAS 140 | KOREAN POP CULTURE | KIM, K. | This course will examine the history of Korean popular culture--from the early 20th Century to the present. In so doing, the course will learn concepts like ‘colonial modernity,’ ‘postmodernism,’ ‘mimicry,’ and ‘cultural hybridity.’ The class will first think about whether it is possible for Koreans to extricate nationalism (minjok-juui) from its popular culture by examining the pop culture of the colonial period. Then we will examine, via pop music, sports, television, food, film, and visual materials, how the globalization pursued by Korean Wave has defined the core of Korea’s national identity over the past several decades. The course will tackle each area of the aesthetic, geopolitical, and ‘authenticity’ debates that are crucial to the redefining of Korean popular culture. (same as 24230 Flm&Mda 145, Lec A) |
| EAS 150 | WOMEN POETS | ZHAO, Y. | This course will introduce the Classical Chinese poetic culture and women’s active literary practice utilizing both shi (ancient-style and regulated poems) and ci (song lyrics) within the enduring tradition. After establishing the historical and theoretical framework of women’s writings in pre-modern China, the class will be a survey of representative women poets and their works from the Han (202BC–220AD) to the late imperial period. These women authors were mainly from the two social groups of gentry ladies and courtesans, and we will examine their female agency in relation to their personal lives and experiences in the dynamic historical context. For some women with dual identity of poets and painters in late imperial China, we will also juxtapose their poems with paintings to elaborate on the text-image interaction as shown in their numerous painting-poems (tihua shi). Through investigating the Classical Chinese poetic tradition from a gendered perspective, the course seeks to broaden the perception of women’s engagement in literary and artistic activities in pre-modern China. |
| EAS 155 | JAPN HORROR & RELGN | STAFF | There is a fine line between the sacred and the horrific or profane. Both are taboo; both may provide powerful experiences; both are often to be approached or exposed to with care, caution, and permission. Religion and horror are closely bound: what is awesome may also be awful. This course teaches narratives of fear according to different religious cultures (here, primarily Japanese) so that the student may recognize and, perhaps, disarm them. We will look not only at the motifs and stories that horrify, but the "structure" of fear, and the ways in which fascination, repulsion, and terror are evoked. Through a series of acclaimed films (including The Ring (Ringu リング) and Dark Water (Honogurai Mizu no soko kara 仄暗ã„æ°´ã®åº•ã‹ã‚‰), and Tag (Rearu Oni-gokko リアル鬼ã”ã£ã“), as well as earlier founding masterpieces of horror cinema such as Black Cat (Kuroneko), Onibaba, Kwaidan, along with contemporaneous postwar works like Gate of Flesh (Nikutai no mon 肉体ã®é–€) we explore the roots of horror in postwar expression and the reshaping of old folk religious ghost tales into new reflections of contemporary issues. New technology, conformity, contagion, the issue of the "shut-in" (hikikomori 引ãç± ã‚Š), the shifting shape of the family unit, and concepts of purity and impurity will all be examined. These explorations will be buttressed by readings (in English) from - among others - Edogawa RanpŠ江戸å·ä¹±æ©, Yukio Mishima (三島由紀夫), Kirino Natsuo æ¡é‡Žå¤ç”Ÿ, and Suzuki KÅji 鈴木光å¸, and by both pre-modern canonical as well as popular art of the current era that drew religion into the region of horror and the horror film. Alongside religious concepts and practices that pertain to the development of horror, theories of hauntology and of the ethics of viewing sacredness and horror will also be presented. Japanese language and cultural knowledge are not required for this course, only a passion for exploring the depths of the sacred and the profane, the way these intertwine with cultural anxieties, and the ethical approaches we might bring to the subject of dealing with the realms of the sacred and of the disturbing. (same as 31185 REL STD 120, Lec A) (deals with both premodern and modern culture, but there's hardly any premodern literature involved) |
| EAS 170 | KOR WMN SINCE 1500 | CHOI, C. | The course examines the construction of and articulation by Korean women since the 16th century to the present. Topics of discussion include Confucian gender construction during the Choson period (1392-1910), the New Women that emerged during the Japanese colonial period (1910-1945), post-war working women and feminism and feminist movement in the 21st century against the backdrop of modern Korea’s experiences of war, industrialization, social movement, and globalization. Materials will be drawn broadly from history, women’s literature, films made by women directors and other visual images. (same as 25230 Gen&Sex 170, Lec A) |
| EAS 190 | KOREAN DOCUMENTARY | KIM, K. | This new course is an interdisciplinary and historical introduction to the Korean documentary filmmaking over the past four decades from the 1980s to the present. The subject matters explored in the documentaries featured in class will range from comfort women and democratization protest movements to ecological disasters and found footage essays of the YouTube era. This course will not only engage with ethical and political issues that arise from formal and aesthetic visual experimentations, which will allow the class to revisit important moments in Korean history through documentary films, but also will examine recent impacts of verité aesthetic forms on entertainment television and streaming content. |
| EAS 220 | JPN MEDIA & ENVIRO | PITT, J. | John Durham Peters writes, “If media are vehicles that carry and communicate meaning, then media theory needs to take nature, the background to all possible meaning, seriously.” This seminar heeds Peters’ call. We will explore the emergence of Environmental Media/Elemental Media Theory, reading works by Peters, Melody Jue, Nadia Bozak, Jussia Parikka, Paul Roquet, and Yuriko Furuhata, among others. We will examine how cinema and sound media not only represent the natural world, but how they emerge from and alter the environment, and how natural elements—fire, water, soil, air—are media in and of themselves. Each week will feature a “soundtrack” to accompany readings, and screenings of documentary, narrative, and experimental films related to Japan. Japanese language ability is not required. (same as 28657 Human 270, Sem B) |