Fall 2006 Course Descriptions
Buddhism Literature Courses
A historical survey of the Buddhist tradition, in all of its incredible religious and cultural diversity. The first half of the course focuses on the evolution of Buddhist doctrines, practices, and institutions in India, from the origins of the religion as a group of world-renouncing ascetics through the development of large state-supported monastic communities and the rise of the movements known as Mahayana and Tantra. The second half of the course treats major Buddhist movements in other parts of the world: the Theravada Buddhism of Southeast Asia; the Tantric Buddhism of Tibet; and the various schools of East Asian Buddhism, such as Tientai, Pure Land, and Chan (Zen). It also deals with the issues of Buddhism in the modern world and the contemporary spread of various branches of the tradition from Asia to the West. Prerequisites: None.
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. Prerequisites: None.
This semester the class will focus on the contemporary practice of Indic Buddhism in Nepal and Sri Lanka, the two areas in South Asia where Buddhism has survived uninterruptedly to the present. We will approach these two traditions by examining particular themes such as Buddhist monasticism and its interaction with the laity, Buddhist "modernism," the practice of meditation, the cult of stupas and images, festivals of Buddhists deities, life-cycle rituals, and the relationship to the respective local Hindu traditions. As far as possible we will do so in a comparative vein, in order to explore differences and commonalities between the Theravada tradition preserved in Sri Lanka and the Mahayana tradition preserved in the Kathmandu Valley. Prerequisites: None.
This seminar is an intensive introduction to various genres of Buddhist literature in Classical Chinese, including translations of Sanskrit and Central Asian scriptures, Chinese commentaries, philosophical treatises, hagiographies, and sectarian works. It is intended for graduate students who already have some facility in Classical Chinese. It will also serve as a tools and methods course, covering basic reference works and secondary scholarship in the field of East Asian Buddhism. The content of the course will be adjusted to accommodate the needs and interests of students. Prerequisites: Consent of instructor required. Prerequisites: Consent of instructor required.
Chinese Language and Literature Courses
A beginning (Mandarin) Chinese class developing listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in modern standard Chinese, using pinyin and simplified characters. Five hours in class, two hours in the language laboratory, and one-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 course teaches both pinyin and traditional characters, introduces functional vocabulary, and provides a systematic review of grammar. The class meets on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, one hour a day. Prerequisites: Consent of instructor.
Please note: Chinese 1AX for students who: 1) were born in a non-Chinese-speaking country but were raised in a home where Mandarin 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.
The class uses Pinyin and traditional characters. Five hours in class, one-half hour discussion session, and at least two hours in the language laboratory every week. Prerequisites: Consent of instructor.
Please note: Chinese 1AY 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 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.
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, and teaches both simplified and traditional characters. Five one-hour meetings in class and two one-hour periods in the language or computer lab per week. Prerequisites: Chinese 1A/B; or consent of instructor.
Students who have completed Chinese 1AX/1BX may enroll in Chinese 10AX, an intermediate level course for Mandarin speakers. The course teaches both pinyin, simplified and traditional characters, develops a functional vocabulary, and provides a systematic review of grammar. Three one-hour meetings in class and one one-hour periods in the language or computer lab per week. Prerequisites: Chinese 1BX; or consent of instructor.
The goal of the course is to introduce modern Chinese culture while developing competence in reading, speaking and writing standard modern Chinese. The readings and conversation include stories, essays, and plays, mostly by leading writers of recent decades. Students prepare in advance, then read and discuss texts and sentence patterns in their literary, social, and cultural contexts. Class meets 5 days a week for one hour per day; students spend 2 hours per week in the language or computer lab. Prerequisites: Chinese 10B; or consent of instructor.
Students who have completed Chinese 10AX/10BX may enroll in Chinese 100AX, an advanced level course for Mandarin speakers who have intermediate-level knowledge of reading and writing in Chinese. The goal of the course is to introduce modern Chinese society through reading materials and discussion. The readings and conversation materials include stories, essays, and plays, mostly by leading writers of recent decades. Students prepare in advance, then read and discuss texts and sentence patterns in their literary, social, and cultural contexts. Class meets 3 days a week for one hour per day. Prerequisites: Chinese 10BX; 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 consent of instructor.
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.
Reading of well-known examples of pre-Han and early Han historical narrative and philosophical argument. This semester, the course will focus on tales of the supernatural in the Mozi and the Zuo zhuan. Prerequisites: Chinese 110A and 110B or a comparable college-level introduction to Classical Chinese. Courses in literary Chinese at the primary or secondary school level are not considered adequate preparation. Consent of instructor is required.
This course is an introduction to the history, literature, and music of pre-modern Chinese drama. It is designed to teach the basic knowledge of the literature and performance aspects of drama of the Ming and Qing dynasties up to the present. Focus will on the chuanqi, a poetic drama genre dominant in Chinese society until the mid 19th century and still performed today. Students will read plays in translation or Chinese, depending on language competence. Chinese language and music ability are not required but helpful. Prerequisites: None.
This course introduces students to modern Chinese (diasporic) fiction throughout the 20th century, covering short stories, novellas and novels from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and overseas. We will explore how modern experience of dislocation in various senses — class and gender, spatial and temporal, geopolitical and genealogical — figures in these narratives. The first half of this course includes texts from the Republican period (1911-49), which register the alienation of intellectuals from the masses, the invention of the solitary individual, the rupture between city and countryside, the haunting of the past, the ruin of historical disjunction, and the soul/body search of new women. The second half brings us away from the China proper to marginal and oversea loci in the post-1949 era, where such issues as the imaginary mapping of a rootless city, the queer imagination of the origin, the body politics of (post) coloniality, and the linguistic promiscuity in the contact zone become prominent. We will read all the stories in the original Chinese, supplemented by critical and biographical articles in English. Prerequisites: Chinese 100A or consent of instructor.
This course will acquaint students with key thinkers from the Zhou dynasty through the end of the Qing dynasty. While the course is arranged chronologically, we will also take up more thematic considerations, such as the development of statecraft, the idea of the self, and the discourse on kinship. Much of class time will be devoted to careful readings of primary sources in translation, with attention to major themes and modes of argument. Prerequisites: None.
In this seminar we will read and discuss sources in traditional literary theory and criticism, from the Southern Dynasties through late-imperial China, in a range of genres including systematic theoretical treatises, popular composition manuals, and a range of forms of practical criticism such as prefaces, marginal notes, and critical commentaries. Topics to be discussed include theories of adequacy or inadequacy of literary expression, genre theory, problems in periodization, and views on the relation between literary composition and Traditionalist scripture (jing). Prerequisites: Graduate standing and a good reading knowledge of classical Chinese.
This course investigates the possibility suggested by late imperial Chinese drama and fiction that emotion, instead of being interior in oneself, is rather uncannily exterior. This exteriority of emotion is best captured by performance and theatricality — not only peculiar to opera but also pervasive in fiction — in which emotion is staged on behalf of the other and for the eyes of the other rather than self- expression and absorption. We will examine by what kind of material process emotion was internalized (and why this internalization was a recurrent illusion), what sort of socio-economical as well as philosophical issues informed and were informed by this internalization and valorization of emotion, and how this repeatedly enacted (and failed) process of internalization backfired, resulting in perturbed spirits, broken tokens, mis-delivered letters or writing women as the very "symptoms" pervading Ming-Qing drama and fiction. We will focus on both canonical and obscure zaju, chuanqi, short stories, and novels dating from the sixteenth to eighteenth
century, placing them in the context of a wide range of other discourses such as philosophical essays, medical treatises, connoisseurial guidebooks, and woodblock illustrations. All the primary texts will be in Chinese. Prerequisites: Graduate standing; or consent of instructor.
East Asian Languages and Cultures Courses
This course will examine a range of European, Asian and African responses to and representations of violent conflict. We will pay close attention to how catastrophic events are productive of new forms of expression—oral, written, visual, and musical—as well as destructive of familiar ones. We will examine the ways in which experience and its representation interact during and in the aftermath of extreme violence. Our empirical cases will be drawn from our research on comparative European and Asian responses to WWII atrocities, and on the post-Cold War civil wars in Africa. Our different perspectives, from both literary and anthropological studies, will bridge the disciplinary divides among literary and cultural theory, psychiatry and psychoanalysis, and anthropology and social theory. We will be especially attentive to the limits and possibilities of representing violence both during the time it is experienced and also in the history of its aftermath. Among the representational genres explored will be personal memoirs, literature and poetry, film, photography, and other visual arts, music (from protest songs to classical compositions), built memorials, as well as the “language of numbers”—the statistical projections and casualty estimates embedded in human rights reports about otherwise undocumented atrocities. Through both humanistic and social science modes of analysis, and through their combination, we will treat this material as both evidence and representation. Prerequisites: None.
An introductory course on Chinese poetry, both ancient and modern, in English translation. The course will explore poetic translation, across languages, across cultures, and across historical ages, not merely from the perspective of the "accuracy" with which a classic text is represented in the translation, but as a window into the nature of poetic tradition and poetic writing itself. Works to be covered in the course will be primarily drawn from the Chinese tradition, but in the interest of allowing a comparative discussion of the course's central themes, a significant amount of reading, also in translation, from ancient and modern Greek poetry will be included as well. The goal of the class is not simply to gain familiarity with Chinese poetry and poets, but more fundamentally to gain skill and sophistication in reading, responding to, and thinking about poetry. All readings will be in English translation. 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.
A course designed to be taken concurrently with 1A to help students improve overall kanji performance. The course will make the kanji learning process easier by providing exercises and background information about the relationships between characters and how they function.
This course surveys many of the best recognized works of poetry, prose and theater of premodern Japan between from the 8th through the 17th centuries. The poetic tradition will be 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. There will be two tests during the regular class schedule and one final paper of moderate length due during final exam week. The paper in most cases will involve a careful reading of the complete text that was covered either partially or not at all in the class. 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 supplementary course is designed for students who are concurrently enrolled in 10A to enable their acquisition of a better understanding of Japanese grammar in general and clause linkage in particular.
For students who are concurrently enrolled in 10A to acquire a better understanding of kanji writing system and to improve overall kanji performance.
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 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.
This course introduces premodern literary Japanese (bungo). The first portion of the semester covers basic principles of classical grammar. For the rest of the term, we read from three texts, one each from the Heian period (11th c.), the Middle period (13th c.), and the Genroku period (17th c.). This exposes students to various types of bungo. While the focus will continue to be on the grammar of premodern Japanese, the assigned texts will also be discussed in terms of their literary achievements and the cultural context within which they were written. Students are expected to prepare well before class and be ready to answer questions about the grammar and meaning of the passages assigned. Prerequisites: Japanese 10B. Students who have not completed Japanese 10B require permission from the instructor prior to enrolling.
Students will learn approaches to reading, in the original language, traditional Japanese poems (waka) by discussing nature poems from two imperial anthologies (Kokin shû, 10th c. and Shin-Kokin shû, 13th c.) and the exchange of romantic poems as contained in one woman’s memoir (Izumi Shikibu nikki, 11th c.). Emphasis is on basic waka principles and the ability of the waka to be ambiguous when used for romantic dialogue. This class assumes that the student has a basic understanding of the grammar of premodern literary Japanese (bungo). Preparation for this class requires the use of a Japanese-to-Japanese classical dictionary (kogo jiten). Prerequisites: Japanese 120 (may not be taken concurrently). Students who have not completed Japanese 120 will be unceremoniously dropped from the course.
This course introduces students to the various aspects of modern Japanese literature with particular emphasis on the increasingly evident sense of geographical and psychological dislocation represented in prose fiction, popular narratives, and criticism. We will consider the modernist works of Natsume Sôseki and Akutagawa Ryûnosuke, the crime stories of Edogawa Rampo, and the hardboiled postmodern writings of Murakami Haruki. Selected passages in Japanese will be assigned for close reading, analysis and discussion. Prerequisites: Japanese 100A; or consent of instructor.
Selected readings in fiction and criticism. Prerequisites: Consent of instructor required.
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 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.
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.
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 will explore various literary representations of home, garden and other private spaces in the Choson period in Korea. Reading focuses on poetry and essays drawn from the recent collections of Choson literature. The goal of the class is not only to introduce traditional Korean literature, but also to think about the relations between everyday life and literature, and between the lived space and its representation in literature. Prerequisites: Korean 100B; or consent of instructor.
This course will provide an overview of the considerations that a translator must take into account when approaching a Korean text. Special attention will be paid to the structural and linguistic differences between Korean and English as well as cross-cultural differences in stylistics. Texts to be considered are drawn from both expository and literary writings in Korean. By means of translating selected texts in English, students will acquire abilities to recognize common translating problems, explore methods for finding solutions, and evaluate accuracy and communicative effectiveness of translation. Prerequisites: Korean 100B or equivalent; or consent of instructor.
Tibetan Language and Literature Courses
This course is an intensive introduction to both standard spoken Tibetan (Lhasa dialect) and written literary Tibetan. As such, it will serve the needs of students who intend to continue the study of modern Tibetan so as to function in a Tibetan-speaking environment, as well as the needs of students who will concentrate on classical Tibetan and it's rich literature. Prerequisites: None.
This course, a continuation of 1A-1B (elementary Tibetan), is designed to further develop the student's skills in modern standard Tibetan (Lhasa dialect). The emphasis is on communication skills in vernacular Tibetan, as well as grammar, reading, and writing. Students with a particular interest in reading classical literature, particularly Buddhist texts, are encouraged to enroll simultaneously in 110A-110B. Prerequisites: Tibetan 1B; or consent of instructor.
This course is an intensive course in reading modern and classical Tibetan literature, with an emphasis on classical Buddhist texts. It builds on basic reading skills acquired in 1A-1B (elementary Tibetan), and is designed to be taken either concurrently with 10A-10B (intermediate Tibetan) or independently. Prerequisites: Tibetan 10A (may be taken concurrently); or consent of instructor.