| Course | Title | Instructor | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| EAS 15J | RACE&NATION MOD JPN | LONG, M. | This is a small-format class for Japanese majors, to be taken ideally at the beginning of the student’s career at UCI. We cover key historical and cultural debates in modern Japan by reading famous works of literature from the Meiji Period (1868-1912) through the multi-ethnic empire (1895-1945), the war, and the “economic miracle” (1960s). Assignments include workshops, group projects and short papers. Students strengthen the skills in close reading and persuasive writing that they need for upper-division classes in the major. They also meet other Japanese majors and build community. |
| EAS 55 | SPECULATIVE JAPAN | PITT, J. | How do we envision the future? What do our anxieties about and hopes for future generations tell us about the world in which we currently live? This class looks at works of Speculative Fiction from Japan in order to examine how writers and filmmakers imagine the future of humanity, Japan, the Earth, and the solar system beyond. We will read science fictional works of literature and watch films (both anime and live action) that present varying visions of the world(s) to come. We will analyze how concerns about race, gender, science, and environmental destruction influence how we speculate about the road ahead. |
| EAS 123 | STRUCT OF JAPANESE | RIGGS, H. | This course is an overview of the linguistic features of modern Japanese. Its main goal is to provide students a systematic introduction to the nature and characteristics of the language, including: Genealogical tree of the Japanese language; Orthography (What are the various writing systems used in modern Japanese?); Phonetics and phonology (How can we describe the sounds of Japanese words?); Morphology (How are Japanese words constructed and organized?); Regeneration of lexicon (How are new words created?); Syntax (How are Japanese sentences structured); Semantics Through this course students will also explore the structure of the Japanese language and its historical development in conjunction with socio-cultural factors. Upon completion of this course, students should understand the idiosyncratic behavior of Japanese as a language. (same as 65087 LSCI 165B, 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 24206 Flm&Mda 145, Lec A) |
| EAS 150 | SOUNDS OF KOREA | SUH, S. | This course looks at modern Korean literature through popular music. Popular music reflects the prevailing sentiment of society. It is particularly true in Korea that experienced political upheavals and economic turbulence in its modern history. Popular music loved by the masses in Korea has certainly echoed the milieu of a society undergoing drastic changes. The course juxtaposes literary texts with popular songs that are contemporaneous with each other and thematically related. Some of these stories resonate with the sentiments of the songs paired with them, but other stories counterpoint those coupled with them, sounding out of tune with the latter’s sentiments. In either case, these stories and songs, through their tones of emotion and messages, help students sense the general sentiment of Korean society at such crucial moments in its history as colonization, a fratricidal war, authoritarian rule, and democratization. |
| EAS 155 | CLTRS COLONIALSM | SUH, S. | “By drawing on literary works that depict interactions between the colonized and the colonizer during Japanese rule over Korea (1910-45), this course examines the complicated terrain of day-to-day life in a subjugated land under foreign rule. In order to appreciate the implications of the literary works for examining the issue of colonialism and to understand the stories’ historical context, students will also read critical essays on the colonial relationship and a history book on Japanese Assimilation Policies in Colonial Korea. The course aims to introduce students both to important literary works about Korea’s colonial experience and to the fields of colonial and postcolonial studies in East Asian context. “ (same as 26109 GlblClt 103B, Lec A) |
| EAS 160 | TAIWAN ON SCREEN | SCRUGGS, B. | This course is designed to introduce students to several Taiwanese filmmakers and their films as well as the Taiwan they render using film or digital technology. Towards reaching this goal we will consider the historical moments in which these films were made as well as the eras portrayed, in order to evaluate levels of engagement and reflexivity. Moreover, a second and an equally important focus of this course is the art and artifice of direction; sound design and editing; cinematography; and the audio-visual literacy which stitches sounds and images into a story for audience members (viewing subjects). We will look in particular at films directed by Lee Hsing (Li Xing), Edward Yang (Yang Dechang), and Wei Te-sheng (Wei Desheng), but screen several others for context. The course grade is based on two short (500-600 words) writing assignments, a midterm, and a cumulative final exam. Studio screening attendance is mandatory. |
| EAS 190 | CHINESE FRONTIERS | SCRUGGS, B. | This undergraduate colloquium focuses on the concept of frontiers and applies it to fiction and film from China. Topics to be discussed include but are not limited to rustication, pollution, colonialism, Daoism, Buddhism, nostalgia and solastalgia. The grade is based on a 4000-word essay, weekly statements, attendance, and participation. |
| EAS 220 | DOCUMENT URBAN ECOL | PITT, J. | This seminar focuses on Tokyo as a case study for "urban ecology" and examines various media forms that look to document the complex entanglements of Japan's metropolis. We will read works from infrastructure studies, architectural history, critical plant studies, and ecocriticism more broadly alongside works of modern and contemporary Japanese literature and cinema to question what kinds of emergent ecologies can be found among the rubble and ever-changing landscape of modern Tokyo. (same as 28610 Human 270, Sem A) |