Fall 2012 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 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 will read key prose accounts from early imperial and medieval China that deal with the cycles and stages of history from both a descriptive and prescriptive perspectives. Early Chinese writers used different historical schemata to describe history, from that of a 500-year cycle between the appearance of sage kings, to the "three stages" of society culminating in an age of "Great Peace," to the periodic intercessions of the Way or Lord Lao, to the Buddhist eras of the True, Semblance and Final Dharmas. How do these views of the stages of history mesh with political and philosophical theories of the time? Prerequisties: Chinese 110B or equivalent; or consent of instructor.

Intensive reading of the most beloved of Chinese novels, The Story of the Stone (Hong lou meng). We will pay particular attention to the novel's representation of literary subjects and literary objects, asking how it creates characters who seem to be full psychological entities, and how it depicts a richly sensual material world. Students will be expected to be able to read the original text, though a translation of the entire novel will also be available. Students interested in taking the course would be well served to read as much of the novel over the summer as possible, either in translation (use David Hawkes' Story of the Stone) or in the original. Prerequisites: Chinese 100A/100AX (may be taken concurrently); or consent of instructor. 

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 seminar explores the power of language as it appears on nearby buildings, streets, neighborhoods and other public spaces—the so-called “linguistic landscape” of the Bay Area. In light of such realities as the nationwide English Only movement and California’s ban against bilingual education, it asks how the meanings that are written into and read from bilingual signs on the streets relate to controversial issues of societal multilingualism. Focusing on (but not limited to) public displays of Chinese, Korean, and Japanese, the seminar features a balance of on-campus discussions with class visits to locations beyond UC Berkeley. Readings and guest speakers will challenge participants to contextualize and understand what they see not just with the descriptive tools of sociolinguistics, but also through the lenses of U.S. multicultural and ethnic studies, human and cultural geography, and visual culture studies. Throughout the duration of the course, students will engage in group multimedia projects representing an issue or topic of interest in the linguistic landscape. As a class, we will dialog with other On the Same Page classes at Berkeley, where the politics of visual and linguistic representation in the Adams & Newhall Fiat Lux project are being addressed. Although fluency in Chinese, Korean, Japanese or other languages is not required, this seminar will offer numerous opportunities for students currently enrolled in a language course to enrich and extend their language study. This seminar is part of the On the Same Page initiative. 

This course will explore how the Chinese and English-language literary traditions (broadly defined) delineate the realm of the ineffable, and how cultural notions of the inexpressible shape the writing and reading of poems, songs, and a selection of prose pieces, from the uses of figurative language and prosody to genre and canon formation. In addition, in order to deepen our understanding of how writing achieves its aims, some attention will be given to non-verbal modes of expression, including calligraphy and painting—and attempts to render them in writing. Over this course of study, students will not only refine their sensitivity to the power of artistic modes of indirection, but will also hone their skills in close reading, analytical writing, and oral expression. All readings will be in English. 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.

This class will focus on the Newar Buddhist tradition of the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal. While in India itself Buddhism did not survive beyond the 14th century, it has persisted among the Newars till the present day in Nepal. This allows for the unique chance to study Indic Mahāyāna Buddhism (and the manifold forms of tantric practice it includes) "on the ground" as a vibrant and dynamic religious tradition that concretely shapes and structures the lives of people and the culture and society they inhabit, and that in turn is transformed by the adaptation to this culture and society. We will approach the Newar Buddhist tradition and the dynamics of adaptation by examining particular themes such as Buddhist monasticism and its interaction with the laity, the adaptation to the caste system, the cult of stupas and images, festivals of Buddhists deities, life-cycle and other rituals, the tradition's narrative literature, etc. Particular attention will be paid to the complex relations between Newar Buddhism and the Hindu and autochthonous religious traditions it coexists with. Another important topic will be the recent introduction of Theravāda Buddhism to the Kathmandu Valley, and the impact of Buddhist modernism. The exploration of Newar Buddhism will be tied to other Buddhist and Indic religious traditions and their practice in society. In this way the class will not only make sense of a complex religious field, the Newar tradition of the Kathmandu valley, but also allow for more general insights into Indic Buddhism and how its functions in society. Prerequisites: None.

This course introduces incoming graduate students to literary and cultural theory and criticism. We’ll explore perspectives central and/or foundational 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 which the ways in which 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.

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. Prerequisites: None.

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.

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

In this class we read in the original Japanese poems related to the autumn season, with some additional reading in poems exchanged in love letters. The autumn poems will be drawn from the Man'yôshû (mid-8th century), Kokinshû (early 10th century), Shin-Kokinshû (early 13th century), and Edo period haikai mostly of the 17th-19th centuries. With attention to grammar, vocabulary and various poetic techniques, the goal is to introduce ways of approaching, understanding and appreciating premodern poems, particularly 31-syllable waka (tanka) and 17-syllable haikai (haiku). The class has two midterms that check the students' ability to work with the poems in the original and one final term paper which allows each student to explore more extensively an area of premodern Japanese poetry of interest to him and her. Prerequisites:  Completion of Japanese 120; or consent of instructor.

Description not available.

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.

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 examines representation of history and memory in South Korean cinema. Contemporary South Korean films demonstrate thematic preoccupation with the nation's history by rendering diverse stories of the past events and experiences. The cinematic rendition of the past registers different ways to project, remember and imagine the past, thereby actively creating the new senses and ideas of historical time. The goal of the course is to develop critical understanding of diverse temporalities of South Korean national cinema. Prerequisites: None. Prerequisites: None.

Tibetan Language and Literature Courses

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 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 year's seminar will examine the formation of Buddhist traditions in Tibet from the tenth to the twentieth centuries. After a preliminary review of the kinds of sources that are available to the Tibetan religious historian, class discussions will focus on a range of mechanisms for establishing authority, from polemical writings to lineage formation, visionary encounters and biography, to temple construction, sacred geography, and warfare. The readings will procede chronologically, and class discussions will be supplemented with selections from Tibetan art dating from the period in question. Each student will be expected to pick, in consultation with the instructor, a week (or two, depending on enrollment) in which s/he will present on a Tibetan text (either in Tibetan or in translation) relating to that week’s readings. Prerequisites: C114 ("Tibetan Buddhism"); or consent of instructor.