Exposes students to some of the most provocative and entertaining novels written in Japanese since the end of the Second World War. Students see how the collapse of totalizing ideologies brought by Japan?s defeat led to an extremely fertile and yet somewhat atomized literary landscape. In this new postwar terrain, it became increasingly difficult to think of literature in terms of ?schools? or ?influences,? as questions of cultural and individual identity became harder and harder to answer in a world of material prosperity and cultural hybridization.
This course is intended to develop students’ bilingual and bicultural fluency for those who aspire to work in culturally diverse settings. With a focus on China and the US, we will discuss the challenges and strategies to interact with and lead team members in culturally diverse settings.Through a combination of lectures, real-life case discussions, in-class activities, and hands-on practice, students will gain valuable insights into how cross-cultural differences are manifested in daily life and the workplace, and the challenges they create therein. You will acquire knowledge and skills necessary for more effective communication with individuals from cultures different from your own, particularly in a professional setting. Prerequisite: EAST-UA 206 (minimum third-year level Chinese) or equivalent with instructor permission. No business background is required.
This is a 2-credit repeatable course designed for students who have completed Intermediate Chinese II or equivalent, and wish to get additional opportunities to further expand their vocabulary and grammatical knowledge with a focus on strengthening their conversational skills and/or get more chance to practice speaking outside of their regular Advanced Chinese I/II classes. Students will perform in various conversational tasks, such as presenting, discussing, debating, etc. and improve the description and narration skills that the advanced level learners are expected to have. Students will engage in conversation in a clearly participatory manner in order to communicate information on autobiographical topics, as well as topics of community, national, or international interest.
This course is designed for students whose levels of Japanese are EAST-UA 248 and EAST-UA 249. The overall goal of this course is to help students build reading speed, reading fluency, and vocabularies and expressions through experiencing the pleasure of reading in Japanese. The focus of the class will be individual reading activity and consultations with the instructor.
This course will survey literature produced at various points in the tumult of modern Chinese history, from the late Qing through to the present day. While the time period will be broad, we will hope to engage in close, critical readings of significant works of fiction from a selection major authors primarily from Mainland China. How do certain concerns of modernity arise in different texts, at different times, and for different writers? What different relationships do we see being shaped between literature, life, and politics, and how does fiction negotiate certain tensions and anxieties about modern and contemporary life? By exploring a variety of engaging novels and short stories, we will hope to gain a more nuanced understanding of modern China and the role that fiction has played as both an agent of modernity and a reflection of modern Chinese life.
Basic introduction to the writings of Confucius, his adversaries, and his successors, followed by a reading of several novels regarded as national classics.
This course looks at the terms and conditions of Japanese animation (primarily, though not exclusively, anime) as, in many ways, a new and unique mode of expression. The course is framed in which 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 also considered.
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.
This course will focus on U.S. foreign policy in Asia since 1945. The ways U.S. global interests and concerns sought to shape Asian realities (and were shaped in turn by them) will be the touchstone for examining the Cold War in Asia. We will examine the following topics: the occupation of Japan and early US global economic visions; the US and the Chinese revolution before the Korean War; the Korean War and the isolation of China; the Vietnam War and the Kennedy/Johnson years; Nixon’s global geopolitical vision and his policies towards Vietnam, China, and Japan; Carter and the meaning of human rights diplomacy in Asia; 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 finally, the Clinton and George W. Bush years. Throughout the course, we shall examine key de-classified National Security documents, interpreting their meaning and language, while carefully assessing the arguments used to justify American policy.
An introduction to this complex religion, emphasizing its history, teachings, and practices. Discusses its doctrinal development in India, then emphasizes certain local practices: Buddhism and the family in China; Buddhism, language, and hierarchy in Japan; the politics of Buddhist Tibet; and Buddhist art. Finally the course touches on Buddhism in the United States.
The aim of this introductory course is to develop a comparative understanding of the national independence movements in China, India, and Vietnam, as well as the context within which they unfolded, in the period 1885-1962. The course will introduce students to some of the figures in modern Asian history who played a major role in the transition of India and Vietnam from colonial subordination to independent nationhood and of China from its semi-colonial status to liberation. The principal figures whose writings will be studied and compared are Mohandas Gandhi, Mao Zedong, and Ho Chi Minh in order to develop a third angle of comparison. The course will give due attention to other relevant figures such as Gokhale, Tilak, Jinnah, and Nehru in the case of India; Li Hongzhang, Sun Yatsen, Chen Duxiu, La Dazhao, and Chiang Kai-shek in the case of China; Phan Boi Chau in the case of Vietnam.
Designed to help students understand and appreciate the linguistic and aesthetic features of Chinese language rendered in poetic form and to improve their ability to read and interpret authentic texts in general. Integrates language learning with poetry study, introduces the formal structure of Chinese classical poetry and surveys its stylistic variations at different historical conjunctures. Conducted primarily in Chinese. English translations of the poems are provided as references from time to time.
This course is designed to give students an introduction to basic syntax, grammar, and vocabulary of Classical Chinese through close readings of authentic texts. Almost all these texts are historically significant canon texts that are extremely rich in classical Chinese cultural connotation. They are selected from a wide variety of genres, such as historical literature, philosophical and political writings, written correspondence, poetry, essay, some of which are unique to Chinese culture. The course aims to develop the students’ reading and comprehension skills in this highly stylized form of written Chinese, acquaint students not only with the classic Chinese cultural heritage but also underlying working mechanism that is in many ways relevant to the form and usage of today’s Mandarin Chinese.
Designed to enhance Chinese proficiency through reading authentic materials rich in cultural connotations. Stresses primarily reading and writing. The objectives are: to develop speaking skills needed for semi-formal or formal presentation on academic topics; to develop specialized vocabulary; to further improve reading speed and develop skills needed to conduct textual analysis on and, on some occasions, translate texts with syntactical sophistication and stylistic nuance; to develop responsiveness to and ability to interpret linguistic features of different genres and writing styles; to advance strategies for autonomous learning of Chinese from an analytical perspective.
This intensive intermediate course covers the second-year Korean material in a semester. The course is designed for students with intermediate-level speaking proficiency but with reading and writing ability equivalent to a student who has completed elementary level Korean, who can understand, with near-standard pronunciation and without basic major grammatical errors, conversational Korean related to daily-life situations and simple sociocultural topics. It aims to further strengthen students’ correct pronunciation and intonation, grammatical accuracy, ability to understand differences in nuances and overall competence in reading and writing.
This intensive elementary course covers the first-year Korean material in a single semester. The course is designed for students with some Korean-speaking background, who can understand and speak basic to intermediate conversational Korean but do not have previous formal language training in reading and writing. It aims to develop students’ correct pronunciation, grammatical accuracy and overall competence in reading and writing.