Fall 2014 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.
Social Sciences and Literature. The emphasis of this course is on Chinese social, political, and journalistic readings. The readings are further supplemented by newspaper articles. Students are required to turn in essays written in journalistic style in Chinese. Prerequisites: Chinese 100B or 100XB; 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 class is designed as a hands-on introduction to classical Chinese poetry, with an eye to developing the student’s ability to read and interpret poems in the original. Students will learn to perceive and articulate the aesthetic, formal, philosophical, and socio-historical features of selected poems thought to be representative of particular periods, movements, and genres. Prerequisite: Chinese 10B or permission of the instructor. Advanced students in Japanese and Korean (with reading knowledge of Chinese characters) are welcome.
This course discusses Taiwan’s social and cultural transformation throughout its history of colonization, economic development, and democratization. Students are expected to gain a better understanding of Taiwanese history, literature, and culture, new skills in the reading and analysis of textual and cultural artifacts, and the ability to rethink colonialism, nationalism, and resistance in the era of globalization. Prerequisites: Chinese 100A/100XA (may be taken concurrently); or consent of instructor.
This course will introduce students to selected works of Chinese literature written in the second half of the twentieth century. We will read stories and novels by major modern writers, as well as a number of newly emergent contemporary authors. The course is not a survey; rather, we will read an idiosyncratic selection of texts produced from out of the dizzying historical transformations of World War Two, the Cold War, and our own post-Mao, post-Chiang moment. In particular, we will ask why - in an age of globalization and economic effervescence - Chinese fiction remains haunted by questions of history, violence, death, and impermanence, be it of the self or the environment. All readings will be in Chinese, supplemented by occasional critical and biographical articles in English, and film screenings. Prerequisites: Chinese 100A/100XA (may be taken concurrently); good reading knowledge of modern Chinese; or consent of instructor. Previous coursework in Chinese or other literary traditions is also helpful, but not required.
This course introduces Chinese film auteurs since the late 1970s across the geopolitical divides between Mainland, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. We will focus on individual film auteurs (Jia Zhangke, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Wong Kar Wai, etc.) situated in distinct “new wave” movements in these three different regions, each in conversation with the global “new wave” cinema while engaging their respective political and cultural history. The class will combine inquiries of film style with pressing political and social issues facing contemporary Mainland, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Introducing major scholarship on contemporary Chinese language cinema, this class will investigate the assumptions and validity of the notion of “film auteur” as well as notions of New Wave cinema based on a European, particularly French model. We will end with a turn to popular cinema, by looking at how issues of genre and auteur suggest new possibilities of negotiations with the force of Hollywood and globalization. Prerequisites: None.
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.
An intensive introduction to research in the field of Chinese Buddhism. Topics will include: the early Chinese assimilation of Buddhism; the emergence of medieval Chinese Buddhist "schools" such as Chan, Tiantai, Pure Land, and the Esoteric tradition; the significance of the Mogao (Dunhuang) cave site and library; Song Buddhism; "popular Buddhism" and material culture; etc. Secondary readings will be supplemented (for those with a background in literary Chinese) with readings in indigenous Chinese sutra and sastra materials such as Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana, Visualization Sutra, Platform Sutra, Mulian Saving His Mother, etc. The course is intended for graduate students with a background in Buddhism, East Asian literature, or East Asian history or art history, who may not have a background in the study of Chinese Buddhism per se. (It is designed in part to serve as preparation for a Ph.D. qualifying exam in the area.). Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor required for all students, with the exception of graduate students in EALC or GBS.
Emotion takes place. It is not simply projected onto space or attached to a location, humanizing the external alienating reality with meaning; rather, in a more fundamental sense, emotion per se is spatial. This course reconceives emotion not as an inner state of mind but as a spatio-ontological structure that has a history. Covering literature, architecture, ritual practice, and intellectual discourse in antiquity to eighteenth-century in China, we pay special attention to the transformation of medieval dreamscapes to early modern theatricality. The goal is to chart an alternative history of Chinese poetics, performance, and narrativity, explore diverse models of subject and community formation, and put on trial recent approaches of cognitive psychology and affect theory. Prerequisites: Graduate standing; or consent of instructor.
This course investigates the interaction between film and theater both in theory and practice from the late nineteenth century to the present. We focus on key issues of film and theater as constructions of social space and subjectivity as well as technologies of perception. The course will discuss seminal works on theatricality, performance, spectatorship, intermediality, visual and space theories, ecology, and object oriented ontology while engaging historical practices and critical texts in a number of cultural contexts including Asia, Europe, and North America. The comparative aspects of the course thus pertain to both the comparison between film and theater—with our investigation of such media distinctions as a discursive and social construct—and comparative perspectives drawing on a variety of international contexts. Students are particularly encouraged to contribute to these two comparative perspectives by developing research projects situated in culturally and historically specific theories and practices and from their own fields of training and specialization. The course welcome graduate students from a number of disciplines, including but not limited to film and performance studies, East Asian Studies, architecture and environmental design, anthropology, art history, and other fields. 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.
Tea has a long and complex history in China and Japan. It has had a role in philosophical, religious, and literary discourse. It influenced, and was influenced by, visual arts, artisan endeavors, architecture, and social practices. This class considers the interaction of tea with arts, philosophy and poetics in premodern China and Japan. Broadly stated, we begin with the early tea origin myths of China then become more earnest in our analysis with events in the Tang and Song dynasties. While we cover briefly Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties our focus swings towards Japan in the second half of the course where we look at tea practices in the Kamakura, Muromachi and early Edo periods. Comparing how tea was received in these two countries illuminates characteristics of both cultures and provides a unique example of how culture flows between them. Further, there is a dialectic between the ordinariness of brewing and drinking tea with the arts and philosophy and we therefore consider the cross-over of concepts (the movement of cultural “signs”), such as how yin-yang philosophy and the Chinese medical texts based on it created contexts for thinking about tea (Tang China) and how linked-verse poetics informed tea-related social practice (Muromachi Japan). Of necessity, this class devotes a certain amount of time to overview-level historical perspectives (era-specific economies, politics, religions) in both countries, geography, and, to properly situate the tea plant itself, we begin with the basics of tea’s origin and the evolving cultivation and leaf-crafting practices associated with the plant. Prerequisites: none. [WEBSITE]
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. All readings will be in English. Prerequisites: None.
This course is designed as an upper division undergraduate class meeting twice a week. It will discuss the historical development of one school of East Asian Buddhism known as Pure Land. The Pure Land school is the largest form of Buddhism practiced today in China and Japan, though its study in the West has only recently been undertaken in earnest. There are literally thousands of books on this topic published in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese in the past 100 years, but limited materials are available in English. The curriculum is divided into India, China, and Japan sections, with the second half of the course focusing exclusively on Japan where this form of religious culture blossomed most dramatically, covering the ancient, medieval, and modern periods. The curriculum will begin with a reading of the core scriptures that form the basis of the belief system and then move into areas of cultural expression. The course will follow two basic trajectories over the centuries: doctrine/philosophy and culture/society. The first will require the critical reading of scriptures and their historical interpretations, the second looks at the impact of this doctrinal interpretation in society and the arts. Prerequisites: None.
We will explore the cinematic style of East Asian horror cinema, its power to provoke and disturb, in light of issues such as spectatorship, the fantastic and the uncanny, and the trauma of gender and sexuality. The aim of the course is to encourage a theoretical understanding of horror cinema, its stock figures and conventions, as well as its critical potential. Prerequisites: None.
This course introduces incoming graduate students to literary and cultural theory and criticism. Students explore perspectives that have been central to intellectual work across the humanities (including structuralism, poststructuralism, psychoanalysis, feminism and gender studies, postcolonialism, image-word studies, and Marxian and materialist approaches). A central concern will be to explore how critical perspectives produced from various positions within East Asian cultural, literary, and visual studies, both premodern and modern, intersect with current intellectual debates in the humanities. Prerequisites: Graduate student standing; or consent of instructor.
What did Buddhist ritual look like before the grand esoteric synthesis of the seventh and eighth centuries CE? To investigate the precedents of esoteric Buddhism, we must look to earlier genres of incantatory literature: vidyā (spells), rakṣā (wards), and dhāraṇī (encapsulations).The seminar will focus in detail on the Mahāmāyūrīvidyārājñī (Great Peahen, Queen of Spells) and the Amoghapāśahṛdaya (Unerring Lasso’s Heart-Spell, an early precursor to the Amoghapāśakalparāja). We will examine these texts and associated literature in a variety of languages, including Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Chinese; competence in reading at least one of these languages is required to participate in the course. Prerequisites: Graduate standing.
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.
Approach: Through lecture, discussion and essay, we will read and analyze selections from premodern Japanese literature (poetry, prose and drama), especially via the consideration of cultural concepts (such as purity, exile), themes (such as rancor, shame) and aesthetics terms (such as rustic beauty). While this class focuses on literature, we do take some time to consider the visual arts, music and the formation of the tea ceremony. Students will be expected to master a range of factual and conceptual information as well as produce interesting and credible analysis on course topics. Goals: Students develop sophistication in reading premodern literary works, become versed in a range of cultural concepts that are important to the cultural history of the country and/or relevant to contemporary Japanese culture, and obtain a good overview of some of the major historical events relevant to premodern Japanese culture. Texts and other materials: We read selections from a very wide range of literary texts, 10th to 18th centuries, but there is a considerable amount of visual information presented as well. Prerequisites: none. [WEBSITE]
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 course is designed specifically for heritage learners who possess high fluency in casual spoken Japanese but little reading and writing abilities. It introduces formal speech styles, reinforces grammatical accuracy, and improves reading and writing competencies through materials derived from various textual genres. Students will acquire the amounts of vocabulary, grammar, and kanji equivalent to those of 10A-10B. Prerequisites: Consent of instructor.
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.
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.
Content: In J155 we read, in the original language, full-length modern Japanese short stories by highly regarded authors from the Meiji through Heisei periods. The stories for this class are selected based on two primary qualities: distinct contrasts in written style and inherent interest of theme. Goals: Since we read in the original Japanese, there are inevitably questions of vocabulary and grammar. Our primary activity, however, is considering how sentence structure, rhythm, pace, word choice and dialect support a work's success as a literary object. Since we read a large number of short stories, the overall structure of the course also functions as an introduction to a variety of Japanese authors of merit. Prerequisites: Completed or concurrent enrollment in J100A (as a minimum), or consent of instructor.
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: 100A or equivalent, may be taken concurrently.
An overview of the concepts of theoretical and contrastive linguistics which form the basis for translation between Japanese and English. By means of translating selected texts, students will acquire abilities to recognize common problems, apply methods for finding solutions, and evaluate accuracy and communicative effectiveness of translation. . Prerequisites: 102 or equivalent.
Critical Readings on the Tannishō. A late 13th century text that has been the best-selling Buddhist book in modern Japan, the Tannishō has never received proper text-critical analysis or an assessment of its appeal in modern Japanese culture. Focus will be on its provenance, how it was read in Edo-period commentaries by Jinrei and Ryōshō, and how the text is understood in modern critical studies.
Despite the problematic relationship between the self and Buddhist enlightenment, self-reflective literature (jishô bungaku 自照文学) holds a particularly important place among classical Japanese literary genres. J230 will survey the masterpieces of the Japanese diary tradition, including selections from Kagerô nikki 蜻蛉日記 (The gossamer journal), Murasaki Shikibu nikki 紫式部日記 (The diary of Murasaki Shikibu), and Towazugatari とはづがたり (Confessions of Lady Nijô). Undergraduates who have taken J120, Introduction to Classical Japanese, are welcome to participate. Prerequisites: Graduate standing; or consent of instructor.
"The Future of Postwar Fiction." We will focus on the novels, short stories and essays of the postwar period. We will examine the ways in which aesthetics and politics are bound up in these texts, and how different writers and artists strove to represent their experience of war and social change. Our attempts to make sense of these works and the shapes of their relationships will also take place against the backdrop of a range of questions concerning subjectivity and the nation, censorship and the archives, theories of embodiment and performance. Finally, we will explore how these texts take up history and memory as a supplementary relation, one that is the basis for an understanding of the past (and futurity) that may never attain closure. Prerequisites: Graduate student standing.
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.
Five classroom hours per week are required. This course introduces students to beginning level Korean. This course is for students who can read Hangul (Korean writing system) or speak some Korean, but their ability to read, write, or speak in Korean is somewhat limited. Prerequisites: Some knowledge of the Korean language; or consent of Instructor.
This is an undergraduate survey course dealing with the most important works of Korean literature from the fifteenth through the nineteenth century, particularly focusing on the interactions between literature and performance. This class will consider adaptations of traditional Korean poetry, sijo and kasa, in various public and private venues of performance that include state rituals, gatherings of literati, and musical and dance performances by courtesans. Class readings will also include fictional narratives such as Tale of Ch’unhyang, which were circulated both as written texts and through oral transmission, and were adopted into the vocal performance of p’ansori. In the latter part of this course, the literary representation of courtesans as female performers will be investigated through readings of the tales of romance set at the court, as well as Dream of Nine Clouds, the most recognized classical Korean novel. Discussion topics will include the theatrical aspects of state ritual, the music and entertainment culture of the literati, the social functions of courtesan performance, and the conception of gender as a performed identity. All readings are in English. Prerequisites: None.
A second-year course in modern Korean with about equal attention given to listening, speaking, reading and writing with the cultural emphasis. This course meets five classroom hours per week and requires one hour of language lab per week. Prerequisites: Korean 1A/B; or consent of instructor.
A second-year course in modern Korean for students whose Korean proficiency level is higher in speaking than in reading or writing due to Korean-heritage background. Prerequisites: Korean 1BX; or consent of instructor.
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.
Advanced Korean for students whose Korean proficiency level is higher in speaking than in reading or writing due to Korean-heritage background.Prerequisites: Korean 10AX/10BX; or consent of instructor.
An advanced course in the reading and analysis of literary texts in modern Korean. Advanced conversation, writing skills, and practice in the use of standard reference tools will also be emphasized, with the goal of preparing students to do independent research in Korean. Prerequisites: Korean 100B or equivalent.
This course is designed to bring up the students' proficiency to advanced-high level in all aspects of modern Korean; it aims to prepare students for research or employment in a variety of Korea-related fields. Text materials are drawn from authentic sources including modern Korean literature, film, intellectual history, and readings on contemporary issues. Radio and TV broadcasts will also be included in the teaching materials. Texts will be selected, in part, according to student interests. With instructor's guidance, students will conduct research projects based on specialized readings in their own fields of study. The research projects will be presented both orally and in written form at the end of the semester. Prerequisites: Korean 102 or equivalent.
This course explores the formation and development of Korean literature during the colonial period (1910-1945) through key canonical texts and their thematic and stylistics features. Its post-colonial approach is designed to facilitate critical understanding of the relationship between the literary representation and the problems and contradictions of the Japanese colonial rule. Course will be conducted in Korean. Prerequisites: Korean 100A or equivalent (may be taken concurrently).
The course examines the development and transformation of Korean literature since the 1945 liberation to the present. In particular, it explores how Korean literature engaged, represented and thematized the tumultuous historical events and changes, such as literation, nation’s partition,
Korean War, industrialization, democratization etc. Course will be conducted in Korean. Prerequisites: Korean 100A or equivalent (may be taken concurrently).
This course will explore the moments of intercultural encounters captured in Korean literature from the sixteenth through the twentieth century. Encounters with foreign cultures and literary reflections on them have emerged as prominent at critical moments of Korean history, such as periods of great social transition or international conflict. It is not a coincidence, in this regard, that many of the most important works of Korean literature have been produced in response to interactions with foreign cultures. In this course, we will be addressing questions concerning how experiences of the encounters of foreign cultures have been represented in Korean literature from the sixteenth through the twentieth century; what their domestic ramifications were, especially in terms of literary genres; and how the transformation of Korean national identity have been imagined and articulated in literary works. The reading list for includes travel writings, fictional war narratives, the records of Chosŏn officials’ diplomatic visits to Qing China of the Chosŏn period. In the latter half of the course, we will be reading representative modern fictional narratives that deal with the crucial issues of modernization, colonization, and the division of Korea, all of which were occurring against the complex background of international relations of modern East Asia. All readings are in English. Prerequisites: None.
This course examines modern Korean literature of the first half of the twentieth century within the nexus of state, class, and gender. Because of the Japanese annexation in 1910, the modern Korean nation-state did not actually come into existence until 1948 when the two Korean states were established separately. The discourses on the nation-state in Korea, however, proliferated in conjunction with various resistant social movements throughout the colonial period. This course seeks to explore how modern Korean literature imagined the ideal nation-state, while grappling with colonialism, the rise of modern capitalism, and the reconfiguration of gender relations. The three parts of the course respectively deal with (1) the discourse of enlightenment and the making of modern Korean literature, (2) the rise of modern capitalism and the proletarian literature, and (3) the imperial discourse and the wartime mobilization. The course readings actively incorporate adjacent materials such as films and history monographs, as well as Japanese writings for comparative perspectives. All required readings are in English translations; the Korean original texts will also be provided. Prerequisites: None.
Tibetan Language and Literature Courses
A beginning Tibetan class developing listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in modern Tibetan (Lhasa dialect).
This course, a continuation of 1A-1B (elementary Tibetan), is designed to further develop the student's skills in modern standard Tibetan. The emphasis is on communication skills in vernacular Tibetan, as well as grammar, reading, and writing. Prerequisites: Tibetan 1B or equivalent.
This course is an introduction to the history, institutions, doctrines, and ritual practices of Buddhism in Tibet. The course will progress along two parallel tracks, one chronological and the other thematic, providing on the one hand a sense of the historical development of Tibetan Buddhism, and on the other a general overview of some central themes. Along the historical track, the course proceeds from Buddhism's initial arrival into Tibet through to the present day, with each week addressing another period in this history. At the same time, each week will focus on a given theme that relates to the historical period in question. Themes include tantric myth, 'treasure' (terma) revelation, hidden valleys, the Dalai Lamas, exile, and more. Prerequisites: None.
Tibetan Buddhists view the moment of death as a rare opportunity for transformation. This course examines how Tibetans have used death and dying in the path to enlightenment. Readings will address how Tibetan funerary rituals work to assist the dying toward this end, and how Buddhist practitioners prepare for this crucial moment through tantric meditation, imaginative rehearsals, and explorations of the dream state. Prerequisites: None.
This seminar will explore the doctrines of Chan Buddhism as reflected in the early Tibetan literature. The course will begin with the cig car ’jug pa chapter of the Bsam gtan mig sgrong by Gnubs chen sangs rgyas ye shes, with an eye for correspondences between that text and the Tibetan Chan collection preserved in the Dunhuang document Pelliot tibétain 116. Having gained some sense of how the Chan teachings were viewed by at least one central Tibetan author, we will proceed to delve more deeply into other Tibetan Chan documents from Dunhuang. At stake will be questions of how Chan meditation was understood by Tibetans of the ninth and tenth centuries, and how these traditions related to the contemporary practices of tantric Buddhism and early Dzokchen. Prerequisites: Graduate standing and consent of instructor.