| Course | Title | Instructor | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| EAS 55 | STORIES FROM KOREA | SUH, S. | The course surveys modern Korean literature by focusing on short stories. All required readings are in English. |
| EAS 110 | FANTASTIC FICTION | HU, Y. | This course samples a wide range of fictional works that are not “realistic” in some way: postmodernist stories by an Italian (Calvino), a Surrealist film (Antonioni) adapted from a short story by an Argentinean (Cortázar), an anime from an award-winning Japanese artist (Yuki Urushibara), and recent Science Fiction from China (Liu Cixin, Xia Jia, Tang Fei, Chen Qiufan and others) and America (Ken Liu). Using a variety of techniques that do not conform to the conventions of Realism, these writers and artists confront the strangeness at the heart of reality itself. Our aim is to investigate imaginative portrayals of fantasy as alterity through close examination of different traditions of utopia/ dystopia. All readings are in English. |
| EAS 120 | NARR NATURE MOD JPN | PITT, J. | Many critics, historians, and literary authors have written about the Japanese relationship to nature. From haiku poetry to the animated films of Miyazaki Hayao, nature has served as a central concern for Japanese writers and artists more broadly. Japanese culture is often portrayed as having a uniquely harmonious relationship to nature. At the same time, Japan has suffered from devastating natural disasters (including the March 11, 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami) and industrial pollution (including the mercury poisoning of Minamata in the late 1950s). This course begins with two questions: 1) How can the human relationship to nature be both harmonious and harmful? and 2) What happens when we stop seeing nature as merely the background for human action, and start considering it as a character in a text? In an effort to answer these questions, we will focus on several pieces of modern Japanese fiction and film in which landscapes and non-human animals and plants play a central role, as well as several critical essays and book chapters that will help provide context for these works. All readings will be in English and no prior knowledge of Japanese is required. |
| 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, such as its phonology, syntax, lexicon, and writing systems. Through this course students will 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 65416 LSCI 165B, Lec A |
| EAS 130 | WMN, BEAUTY, &KR | KWON, H. | How do we interpret changing representations of Korean beauty in different historical periods, ranging from those of colonialism to neoliberalism? In the era of globalization and the proliferation of internet media, we will explore how representations of "Korean Beauty" affect Korean women's everyday beauty aesthetics, racial stereotypes, and identities. We also will address how these two distinct realms interact. What is now dubbed as "K-Beauty" (a term that refers to an array of Korean aesthetic and beauty practices) has been generated in specific socio-cultural, national and transnational contexts. This course aims to trace the genealogy of images of Korean "beauties" through a variety of media platforms, including archival materials, literature, films, "webtoons," videos, and YouTube beauty tutorials. Drawing on visual/literary representations of young Korean women, we will examine how these representations and "everyday life performances" of beauty subvert some racial stereotypes and structures of gender normativity in patriarchal Korean society. Finally, we will investigate how these national images and behaviors are disseminated globally, and whether and how we might extrapolate from Korean society in international and global contexts. |
| EAS 150 | LABOR AND PRECARITY IN JAPANESE LITERATURE | ENDO, M. | The literary resurgence of Kobayashi Takiji’s 1929 proletarian classic The Factory Ship [Kani Kosen] in 2008 marked an unexpected return to themes of labor and the working classes in Japan. Countering Japan’s long-standing image as a middle class society, the twenty-first century proletarian boom reflected increasing concerns with precarity in socioeconomic life since the bursting of the economic bubble in 1991. Lingering economic recession, social stratification, contingent labor, as well as a shrinking population and labor force have produced discourses of precarity that continue to be explored in fictional modes. The course begins with early twentieth century works from the socialist and proletarian movements, and moves forward in time to more contemporary works of fiction that depict late capitalist discontents. Throughout the course, we will examine how works represent labor of both a physical and intellectual nature, as well as the effects of such labor on the inseparable dimensions of physical and spiritual life. Other topics that will be covered are images of class division, gendered work, underage labor, activism, solidarity, social identity, and marginalization. Readings will include, among others, works by Uno Koji, Kobayashi Takiji, Abe Kobo, Kirino Natsuo, Tawada Yoko, and Murata Sayaka. All readings in English. |
| EAS 160 | KOREAN CINEMA | JEON, J. & KIM, K. | This course examines the South Korean cinema today, and seeks to understand how it is shaped by re-interpretation of history and genre bending. The course will explore the Korean film history, aesthetics, and commercial industry, and also analyze several key texts that are critical to their understanding. This class, I insist, is on learning how to watch, think about, and write about film; in the same vein that we need to learn how to think about literature or other topics in humanities. Please be advised that some of the films featured in this class may contain scenes of explicit sexual or violent nature. All films will be screened with English subtitles. Same as 23460 English 105, Lec C; and 24280 Flm&Mda 160, Lec B |
| EAS 190 | WHAT IS LIT FOR? | SUH, S. | Why do we read literature? What do we want from reading novels and poems? What does it mean to read literature in the age of the internet and interactive media? What is literature for? To answer these questions, the course traces the history of modern Korean literature from its emergence to its current state by examining a number of critical essays that address the value of literature and reading a diverse range of literary texts that reflect the different views of literature’s value. |
| EAS 192W | WRITING EAST ASIA | SCRUGGS, B. | This seminar is designed to introduce students to the process of writing a research paper on East Asia. During the quarter each student will develop and write a substantial paper (15-20 pp.) on the culture, film, or literature of East Asia. The paper topic (with the approval of the instructor) is the student’s choice. We meet as a whole bi-weekly to discuss formulating a research question, refining research skills, engaging in critical thinking, developing analysis, using standard citation, employing advanced writing techniques, and proofreading/editing. On weeks when we do not meet as a whole, students will meet with the instructor one on one to discuss research/writing methodologies and progress. |