| Course | Title | Instructor | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| EAS 15K | REPRESENT KOR WAR | KIM, K. | One of the most conspicuous misconceptions about Korea is that the Korean War ended 70 years ago. Despite economic progress and cultural renaissance that South Korea has enjoyed in recent decades, it remains a precarious nation because of the inconclusive ending to the war that began in 1950. The ensuing division of the peninsula is what also plagues the region today. In addition, Korean War history is continuously rewritten by Koreans and their neighboring countries. This course seeks to understand both the origins and the lingering impacts of the Korean War through literature, cinema, and visual art. All of the texts read and discussed in class will be in English translation. |
| EAS 40 | JPN CLIMATE FICTION | PITT, J. | There has been a growing interest in recent years in the Science Fiction subgenre of Climate Fiction, or Cli-Fi. Cli-Fi is a form of speculative writing that imagines what might happen to our planet in the wake of climate change. In this course, we will focus on Japanese Cli-Fi in a variety of different mediums, including novels, short stories, films, and anime. Some of these texts predict catastrophic change and depict post-apocalyptic worlds. Others avoid such images of destruction and offer glimpses of new ways of living through a changing climate. While many of the works we read are responses to a contemporary understanding of environmental degradation, we will also look at early works that seem to have anticipated climate change in the first half of the 20th century. All readings will be in English and no prior knowledge of Japanese is required. |
| EAS 55 | EA X-ROAD TAIWAN | SCRUGGS, B. | This course is designed to introduce students to the interplay of the global and the local that comprise contemporary Taiwanese culture. Course materials include short stories, academic book chapters, and both fiction and documentary films screened in class. All readings are in English and all films include English subtitles. |
| EAS 116 | JAPANESE BUDDHISM | TINSLEY, E. | 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. |
| 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 65440 LSCI 165B, Lec A) |
| EAS 130 | KOREAN SOC & CULTRE | CHOI, C. | This course surveys social, cultural, and political aspects of contemporary Korea. We will examine and interpret some of the key cultural institutions and social changes including family and gender relationship, the impact of Korean War and national division, rapid industrialization and its legacies, social movement, globalization of market and Korean struggle for competitiveness, labor and marriage migration and multiculturalism, and popular culture and culture industry. We will also explore the life and society of North Korea and the issues of North Korean refugees in South Korea. As part of class activities, we will follow closely some of the current events and interpret them in light of what we learn in class for the purpose of enhancing the students’ practical skills to analyze the Korean society. Course materials include scholarly articles, films and literature. (same as 64525 Intl St 179, Lec C) |
| EAS 150 | KOREA: URBAN/RURAL | KIM, K. | South Korea has rapidly changed over the last few decades. No longer a rural country, it is now a nation with a mature capitalist economy and a swelling metropolis. This course will focus on how Korean literature and film have been impacted by modernization, urbanization and industrialization. With the rural and farming population in the entire country dwindled to only a very small percentage, the course asks, is it possible to even possible to represent the countryside as a place beyond a temporary vacation place for the urban dwellers? If there are values still firmly associated with the countryside, what are they and how are they different from the urban way of life? And more importantly how does the rural help define the urban? Through modern and contemporary Korean visual and literary texts, the class will seek to explore the urban/rural divide, and rethink the importance of the “rural” even in a modern setting. All mandatory texts for the class will be available in English translations. |
| EAS 155 | TRUM HEAL KR FLM LIT | CHOI, C. | Throughout the 20th century, the people of Korea have experienced a series of traumatic events: the Japanese colonial rule, two major wars –the Pacific War and the Korean War –and the national division of North and South, and decades of military dictatorship. While fighting for democracy, Koreans endured injustices and sacrificed their private lives for the nation’s economic development through intense industrialization. These social and political changes result in collective trauma that have persisted through generations and affected the ensuing generations, the phenomenon of which some historians define as postmemory. In this course, we will examine how contemporary Korean writers, film makers, and other artists tell the stories of their inherited historical trauma and seek ways of healing through their respective aesthetic media while engaging critical theories of trauma, postmemory, reconciliation and healing. The topics we will examine include Comfort Women, war memories, defection and diaspora. Kim Soom’s novel (One Left), Kim Bora’s film (House of Humming Bird) and the diasporic film maker Yang Yonghi’s autobiographical films will be some of the course materials. |
| EAS 160 | CHINESE FILM | SCRUGGS, B. | In this class we will watch ten films from China and portions of several others. Our focus will be on the films of the post-Socialist era and the manner in which they present contemporary China and memories of the socialist era. Some of the directors we will study are Xie Jin, Li Yu, Wang Xiaoshuai, and Ning Ying. All films have English subtitles and course readings are in English, the dialogue in the films is “Chinese” (Mandarin or local dialects). The grade is based on several quizzes, a midterm, and a cumulative final exam. |
| EAS 190 | BOTANICAL EAST ASIA | PITT, J. | What happens when plants do not stay silent? Are humans more like plants than we care to admit? With these questions in mind, this colloquium pairs theoretical readings from the field of Critical Plant Studies with novels, short stories, poetry, and films from Japan, China, and South Korea in which plants likes trees and moss are prominently featured. Through seminar-style discussion and student presentations, we will consider various depictions of plants, including plants as spiritual beings and at times as horrific monsters. How can cultural media from East Asia, including modern literary and cinematic works of drama, horror, and sci-fi teach us to see the botanical world in a new way? |