Fall 2011 Course Descriptions
Chinese Language and Literature Courses
A beginning (Mandarin) Chinese class developing basics in listening, speaking, reading, and writing in Modern Standard Chinese, using pinyin and simplified characters. Five hours in class, two hours in the language laboratory, and one required half-hour tutorial meeting every week. Prerequisites: None.
Please note: Chinese 1A is for students who: 1) are of non-Chinese origin and were not raised in a Chinese-speaking environment; or 2) are of Chinese origin but do not speak any dialect of Chinese and whose parents do not speak any dialect of Chinese. Students are responsible for enrolling in the appropriate level and section. They must also accurately inform instructors about their language proficiency level. Any student who enrolls in a class below his/her level will be dropped from the class. The required tutorial sections will be scheduled once classes begin.
This course is designed specifically for heritage Chinese students who possess speaking skill but little or no reading and writing skills in Chinese. It introduces functional vocabulary and provides a systemic review of grammar through various cultural related topics. The course teaches and uses pinyin and traditional/simplified characters. Prerequisites: Consent of instructor.
Please note: Chinese 1X is for students who: 1) were born in a non-Chinese-speaking country but were raised in a home where Mandarin (or Mandarin and another dialect) was spoken and possess little or no reading and writing skills in Chinese, or 2) were born in a Chinese-speaking country and received zero or limited formal education in that country up to the second grade. All students must take the online Chinese Language Placement Test at ealc.berkeley.edu before enrolling. Any student who enrolls in a class below his/her level will be dropped.
This course is designed for students who have had exposure to a non-Mandarin Chinese dialect but cannot speak Mandarin and possess little or no reading and writing skills in Chinese. Students will gain fundamental knowledge of Mandarin Chinese. While there is training in listening, speaking, reading, and writing, prominence is given to listening and speaking. This course will help students meet their basic needs in functioning in Mandarin-speaking environments, while exploring aspects of their Chinese heritage. Prerequisites: Consent of instructor.
Please note: Chinese 1Y is for students who: 1) were born in a non-Chinese speaking country but were raised in a home where a non-Mandarin Chinese dialect was spoken but cannot speak Mandarin and possess little or no reading and writing skills in Chinese, or 2) were born in a Chinese-speaking country in a home where a non-Mandarin Chinese dialect was spoken and received zero or limited formal education in that country up to the second grade. All students must take the online Chinese Language Placement Test at ealc.berkeley.edu before enrolling. Any student who enrolls in a class below his/her level will be dropped. The required tutorial sections will be scheduled once classes begin.
Chinese 7A is the first semester in a year long sequence introducing students to the literatures and cultures of China. We will read many of the major authors, works, and literary genres from the beginnings of Chinese civilization to the Song dynasty, look at aspects of Chinese visual and material culture, and place these artifacts in their historical and cultural contexts. This course does not assume or require any previous exposure to or coursework in Chinese literature, history, or language. The course surveys the expansive literary and cultural topography of early China, while at the same time helping students to develop the reading and writing skills needed to engage critically and imaginatively with that historical terrain. Prerequisites: None.
This course is designed to develop student's reading, writing, listening and speaking abilities in Mandarin Chinese. It teaches both simplified and traditional characters. Additional time is required for tutorials and language lab. Prerequisites: Chinese 1A/B; or consent of instructor.
Please note: The required tutorial sections will be scheduled once classes begin.
This course takes students to a higher level of communicative competence and language social interaction. Students learn to differentiate between written and spoken discourses and between different types of spoken discourse. Students are exposed to the speech of native speakers in real situations and develop sensitivity to communicative strategies. The course trains students to interpret subtle textual meanings and to describe, narrate, and write about opinions using connected paragraph length discourse. A half-hour tutorial meeting is required every week. Prerequisites: Chinese 10B; or consent of instructor.
Please note: The required tutorial sections will be scheduled once classes begin.
This course helps students to further develop their Chinese language competence. More sophisticated linguistic forms are used and reinforced while dealing with various socio-cultural topics. Close reading knowledge and skills, formal and informal registers, discourses in speaking and writing, and different genres of Chinese reading and writing are introduced and practiced. Students learn to recognize a second version of Chinese characters. Prerequisites: Chinese 10X or 10Y; or consent of instructor.
The goal of the course is to assist students in attaining high levels of proficiency in listening, speaking, reading and writing. The primary instructional tool will be comparative studies of contemporary works of Chinese literature in conjunction with the movies that are based upon them. This multimedia approach serves to cultivate skills in all four areas listed above. Three hours of lecture/discussion per week. Prerequisites: Chinese 100B or 100BX; or consent of instructor.
This course is the first semester in a yearl-long sequence that introduces the basic grammatical structures and core vocabulary of literary Chinese, also commonly known as "classical Chinese". During this semester, students will focus on reading excerpts of key pre-Han philosophical texts. Emphasis is on grammatical analysis and careful explication of classical usage; in addition, students will acquire some introductory background on the formation of the “Confucian Classics” and the texts of the “Taoist Canon.” Prerequisites: Chinese 10B is recommended.
This course is designed to bring up the students to advanced-high competence in all aspects of modern Chinese; it aims to prepare students for research or employment in a variety of China-related fields. Materials are drawn from native-speaker target publications, including modern Chinese literature, film, intellectual history, and readings on contemporary issues. Radio and TV broadcasts will also be included among the teaching materials. Texts will be selected, in part, according to the students' interests. With the instructor's guidance, students will conduct their own research projects based on specialized readings in their own fields of study. The research projects will be presented both orally and in written form by the end of the semester. Prerequisites: Chinese 102; or consent of instructor.
This course provides an introduction to the elements of the Chinese language structure. The main objective of this course is to provide students with insights into the current study of Chinese language. Lectures will reinforce the participants’ analytical competence in the language. Several aspects of language including language typology, prosody, morphology, syntax, semantics, and discourse will be discussed and analyzed in lectures. Prerequisties: Chinese 100B or equivalent; or consent of instructor. Linguistics 5 or 100 recommended.
This course examines the development of Confucianism in pre-modern China using a dialogical model that emphasizes its interactions with competing viewpoints. Particular attention will be paid to issues of ritual, human nature and morality, stressing the way that varieties of Confucianism were rooted in more general theories of value. Prerequisites: None.
This course will examine selected moments in the history of Chinese cinema from the silent era to the present, focusing on the dialectics of realism and convention in film aesthetics and historical representation. In mainland China, realism in cinema was often tied to broader notions of modernity and revolution. At the same time, Chinese film culture always was intricately tied to global cinema, from Hollywood entertainment to Soviet socialist realism, and Chinese filmmakers drew creatively on various foreign film conventions as well as those of indigenous art forms such as traditional Chinese opera and painting. Whether in the “golden age” of Shanghai cinema of the 1930s-40s, the Maoist period of 1949-76, or the post-Mao reform era, various styles of cinema donned the “realist” mantle while also establishing new sets of conventions for later filmmakers to either follow or subvert. This course mainly will follow the dynamics of realism and convention in mainland Chinese cinema up to the present, but some highly influential films from Taiwan also will be considered. Prerequisites: None.
We will read the Zhuangzi, the Liezi, and commentaries on both texts, paying particular attention to text formation, to the influence of the text on Chinese religions, and to the way that the Zhuangzi has been positioned relative to other texts, theories, and movements both inside and outside of East Asia.
The social and cultural experience of modernity has long been characterized by successive waves of new visual media, from the periodicals of printing presses to the various forms of moving-image technologies, from silent cinema to computer-generated animation. This course explores new media and intermediality from specific moments in the history of modern China. The new illustrated periodicals of the late Qing Dynasty serve as examples of how new forms of visual culture became both reflexive and constitutive of modernity. Later, silent cinema of the Republican era both drew upon and defined itself against existing Chinese dramatic forms, particularly opera. In the 1930s, the arrival of sound in cinema provided a space for phonographic modernity to be expressed through film. In the People’s Republic, the productive interplay between traditional art forms and cinema entered a new era, culminating in the cinematic adaptations of the “model plays” of the Cultural Revolution. Finally, recent years have seen the explosive growth of internet culture, gaming communities, computer animation, and digital cinema. Prerequisites: Graduate student standing.
East Asian Languages and Cultures Courses
This course will provide a basic understanding of the teachings and practices of Buddhism. The central issues will be situated within their broader Indian historical contexts, and the readings follow a generally chronological order. The course begins with the life of the Buddha, the early teachings, and the founding of the Buddhist monastic order. The course then progresses to the cosmological and philosophical developments of the Mahayana, followed by the ritual and mythological innovations of the Buddhist tantras. The final section takes a brief look at how Buddhism moved into other regions such as Tibet, China, and Japan. Prerequisites: None.
This course uses the framework of the history of tea in China and Japan to consider how religion, philosophy and the arts (especially literature, ceramics, garden design and architecture) stimulated and were stimulated by practices related to the consumption of tea. It considers tea's role in defining elite and powerful social circles and intercourse between different centers of power. It also considers how each country uses tea to represent its traditions in particular ways. Understanding the tea culture of these countries informs students of important and enduring aspects of both cultures, offers an opportunity to consider how tea ritual draws on religion and art to promote specific social practice, creates a forum for cultural comparisons between the two countries, and, provides an example of the transfer of cultural knowledge from China to Japan. Prerequisites: None.
This course will discuss the social, economic, and cultural aspects of Buddhism as it moved along the ancient Eurasian trading network referred to as the “Silk Road”. Instead of relying solely on textual sources, the course will focus on material culture as it offers evidence concerning the spread of Buddhism. Through an examination of the Buddhist archaeological remains of the Silk Road, the course will address specific topics, such as the symbiotic relationship between Buddhism and commerce; doctrinal divergence; ideological shifts in the iconography of the Buddha; patronage (royal, religious and lay); Buddhism and political power; and art and conversion.
This course is designed as an historical introduction to the Silk Road, understood as an ever-changing series of peoples, places, and traditions, as well as an introduction to the study of those same peoples, places, and traditions in the modern period. In this way, the class is intended both as a guide to extant textual, archaeological, and art historical evidence from the Silk Road, and as a framework for thinking about the modern Silk Road regions from the perspective of a contemporary American classroom. Prerequisites: None.
Japanese Language and Literature Courses
Japanese 1A is designed to develop basic speaking skills and to learn hiragana, katakana, and approximately 150 kanji. At the end of the course, the students should be able to describe themselves, their family and friends, and to talk about everyday events with basic vocabulary and structures. They also should be able to read simple passages in Japanese. Prerequisites: None.
This course surveys many of the best recognized works of poetry, prose and theater of premodern Japan between the 8th through 17th centuries. The poetic tradition is traced from its early origins in the Ancient Period around the time of the first major collection, the Collection of Ten-thousand Leaves, through the development of the 31-syllable waka (tanka), Middle Period renga (linked-verse) sequences and the short haiku form of premodern Japan. For prose, the two canonical classics of premodern Japan, The Tale of Genji and The Tale of the Heike will be read in some depth. Other prose texts include early poem-tales of romance, personal journals by both men and women from both the High Classical and Middle Periods, and stories of romance set in the "floating world" of premodern Edo pleasure quarters. For theater we will read several major plays of the Middle Period's noh drama theater then plays revolving around romantic trust written for the puppet theater during the premodern era. Reading the texts will afford discussion of the culture and history of the various eras as well as an exploration of aesthetic values. This course does not assume or require any previous exposure to or coursework in Japanese literature, history, or language.
In this course, students will learn how to integrate the basic structures and vocabulary which they learned in Japanese 1A/B in order to express a wider range of ideas and will study the new structures and vocabulary necessary to express such ideas in a manner appropriate for many social situations. Students are expected to participate fully in classroom activities and discussions. Although the main emphasis will be aural/oral skills, an increasing amount of reading and writing will also be required. Prerequisites: Japanese 1A/B or equivalent; or consent of instructor. Students who have not taken Japanese 1A/B at this University may wish to contact the instructors during Phase I Tele-BEARS to have their language proficiency assessed.
This seminar is an introduction to Japanese animation, or anime. We will screen several animated feature films and read critical works with a focus on the themes of gender, sexuality and the contours of the post-human. Students will be introduced to a number of approaches to analyzing and understanding Japanese popular culture. Attendance at the first meeting is mandatory to secure your place in the course. Prerequisites: Freshmen standing.
This course aims to develop further communicative skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing in a manner appropriate to the context. It concentrates on enabling students to use acquired grammar and vocabulary with more confidence in order to express functional meanings, while increasing linguistic competence. Course materials include the textbook, supplemented by newspaper and magazine articles and short stories to provide insight into Japanese culture and society. There will be a project which will give students the opportunity to interact with Japanese university students. Active student participation is not only encouraged but required. Prerequisites: Japanese 10B or equivalent; or consent of instructor.
This course provides further development of reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills to enable students to express their points of view and construct argumentative discourse. Readings include Japanese newspapers, magazines, a selection of Japanese literature as sources of discussions. Students learn various writing styles and in-depth aspects of Japanese culture. Prerequisites: Japanese 100B or equivalent; or consent of instructor.
This course provides further development of reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills to enable students to express their points of view and construct argumentative discourse. In addition to Japanese literature, readings include newspaper articles and other texts as sources of discussions in order to become familiar with various writing styles and learn more aspects of Japanese society and culture. Prerequisites: Japanese 100B or equivalent; or consent of instructor.
This course provides focused, high-level language training for those students who possess fourth-year level ability or equivalent in the modern Japanese language. Students will improve their ability in reading, writing, speaking and listening in their areas of specialty and in fields of particular interest to them. The course may have a dual-track approach, requiring the completion of both class-wide and individually designed projects. The balance of the course will focus on the development of reading and writing skills. With the instructor’s assistance, students will conduct their own projects based on in-depth reading of materials drawn from their areas of specialization. These projects will be presented orally to the class. Further, when possible, visiting scholars from Japan will be invited to the classroom to speak, their topics to be discussed afterwards. This will provide an additional opportunity for the student to practice listening and speaking of high-level, educated Japanese. Committed study at home will be essential for success in this course. Prerequisites: Japanese 102 or equivalent; or consent of instructor.
A critical survey of major themes in the history of Japanese Buddhism. The course covers: the transmission of Buddhism from China and Korea to Japan; the subsequent evolution in Japan of the Tendai, Shingon, Pure Land, Nichiren, and Zen schools of Buddhism during the medieval period; the interaction between Buddhism, "Shinto," and "folk religion"; the relationship between Buddhism and the state, especially during the Edo period; Buddhist perspectives on nature, healing, and pilgrimage; and Buddhist modernism of the Meiji period. Prerequisites: None.
Japanese 120 is an introduction to classical Japanese, defined as the native literary language of the ninth to the fourteenth centuries. Four texts are read in whole or in part: 1) Hôjôki 2) Heike monogatari 3) Tsurezuregusa, and 4) Taketori monogatari. The emphasis is on grammatical explication and translation of the texts into English. Most class meetings are devoted to the reading of the assigned texts. Students read the text aloud, answer questions regarding grammar, and translate into English. Prerequisites: Japanese 10B or equivalent; or consent of instructor. Not open to graduates of Japanese high schools.
Description not available.
Intensive look at a transformative period of Japanese artistic and intellectual culture, focusing on literature, film, and debates over the place of politics in art from 1945 to 1970. Memory and war responsibility; the reimagination of eros; avant-garde experimentation. Prerequisites: Japanese 100A (may be taken concurrently).
This course deals with issues of the structure of the Japanese language and how they have been treated in the field of linguistics. It focuses on phonetics/phonology, morphology, writing systems, dialects, lexicon, and syntax/semantics. Students are required to have advanced knowledge of Japanese. No previous linguistics training is required. Prerequisites: 10B or equivalent.
This course provides an overview of the considerations that the translator must take into account when approaching a text. Special attention is paid to the structural differences between Japanese and English, cross-cultural differences in stylistics, writing with clarity, reference work, etc. Texts to be considered are drawn from both expository and literary writings in Japanese. By means of translating selected texts into English, students will acquire abilities to recognize common translation problems, apply methods for finding solutions, and evaluate accuracy and communicative effectiveness of translation. In consultation with the instructor, each student chooses an appropriate text to be translated during the course of the semester. Prerequisites: 100B or equivalent.
This course is an introduction to archaeology of East Asia with emphases on the areas known today as China, Japan and Korea. The time periods covered in this course are from the migration of human ancestors (approximately 1 MYA) to proto-historical periods. We will explore the differences and similarities in archaeological traditions of East Asian countries and that of North America, examine the role of archaeology in contemporary East Asian societies, and discuss how archaeological interpretations have been influenced by contemporary social and political milieu. The topics highlighted in this course include: 1. changes in subsistence, 2. human-environment interactions, 3. origins of food production, 4. the development of social complexity, and 5. formation of states. These topics are discussed in relation to the various scientific analyses employed in contemporary archaeology.
This course is an introduction to Japanese animation, or anime, from its earliest forms (in relationship to manga) to recent digital culture, art, and games. We will analyze and study mainly animated feature films and read the critical work they inspired. We will address such issues as cultural memory and apocalyptic imagination, robots and the post-human, cities, nature, and the transnational; gender, shôjo, and the aesthetics of “cute,” as well as consider specific issues in the theoretical understanding of anime within technology and media theory. Prerequisites: None.
This seminar explores the relation between literary genres and cultural/social memory in the context of colonial history and theories of postcoloniality. Readings will be focused on specific genres that prove especially relevant in remembering and transforming past experiences (historical novels, memoirs, autobiographical writings, poetry). Students will read primary works by Japanese and Korean writers as well as a selection of historical and theoretical texts.
Formations of modernity in Japan from the late Meiji to the early Shôwa period and their political and economic contexts. Materials will include fiction, essays, philosophy, and other sources such as visual texts according to student interest.
Korean Language and Literature Courses
Five classroom hours per week are required. This course introduces students to beginning level Korean, including Hangul (Korean writing system) and the basic grammar of the language. Emphasis is on listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. This course is for students with minimal or no knowledge of Korean. Prerequisites: None.
Please note: Korean 1A is not open to heritage students who have some background knowledge in Korean.
This course provides an overview of Korean literature and cultural history, from the seventh century to the late nineteenth century. We will examine the development of oral tradition from the ritual songs recorded in Remnants of Three Kingdoms to p’ansori in late Chosôn period; the major vernacular verse forms such as sijo and kasa; autobiographical prose; and vernacular as well as classical narratives, tales, and parables. We will focus on the interplay of literary texts and performance tradition by exploring such topics as: various aspects of literati culture of Koryô and Chosôn; literary articulations of gender relations; and representations of humor and material culture. We will also consider the suppleness of traditional vernacular culture forms as they have been rearticulated throughout history. Prerequisites: None.
Three 1-hour meetings per week. Readings and discussions in Korean, of modern writings. A variety of texts such as essays, literary works, magazines and newspapers will be introduced. Emphasis is on advanced-level vocabulary, including approximately 100 Sino-Korean characters. Prerequisites: Korean 10A/10B; or consent of instructor.
Tibetan Language and Literature Courses
A beginning Tibetan class developing listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in modern Tibetan (Lhasa dialect).
This course is designed for advanced students of Tibetan language. Its goal is to provide an opportunity for students to further develop their colloquial Tibetan conversation skills. More sophisticated linguistic forms are used and reinforced while dealing with various socio-cultural topics, with a particular focus on Buddhist-related subjects toward the end of the term. Primary emphasis will be on the Lhasa dialect of Tibetan, though some variant dialects may also be introduced. Prerequisite: Tibetan 10B or equivalent; or consent of instructor.
This is a reading course in classical Tibetan for students of intermediate and advanced abilities. The selected readings will cover several literary modes, including autobiographical narrative, dialogue written in the vernacular, contemplative instruction, and philosophical discourse. Many of the readings were composed in Eastern Tibet in the 19th century and reflect the religious culture of this region and era. Students will be assigned translation exercises and short research projects into the persons, places, and traditions mentioned in the readings.