East Asian Studies Course Listings - Fall 2009

EAS250WR
Reinders
MWF 10.40 – 11.30, Limit 18

This interdisciplinary course introduces students to major topics in East Asian Studies as well as relevant methods and approaches. This is a required course for East Asian Studies majors and minors, but is open to students in other disciplines. The course has a variety of themes, including Orientalism, Colonialism, globalization, and other “East/West” issues; poetry and visual culture; and religion in modern East Asia.

The course also emphasizes the development of skills in writing, research, and critical thinking. We will also deal with topics geared towards helping the student become proficient in East Asian Studies: a general review of writing systems; important reference works and resources; major institutions of East Asian studies; an introduction to the research interests and teaching areas of EAS faculty at Emory; and a history of the study of East Asia in the West.

Required books may include:

Patricia Buckley Ebrey, Chinese

Civilization: A Sourcebook; Ryusaku Tsunoda et al, ed.s, Sources of Japanese Tradition. vol. 1; James Watson (Editor), Golden Arches East: McDonald's in East Asia; Bill Porter, Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits; Susan J. Napier, Anime: From Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle.

Evaluation:

The grade will be based on: quizzes & short written assignments; a complete first draft of the paper and the finished paper; mid-term & final exams; and attendance.


EAS 375 Contemporary Chinese Politics (Same as POLS 375)
Mary Brown Bullock
T/Th    11:30-12:45
(POLS limit = 25; EAS limit = 5; total = 30)

Content: This course reviews Chinese politics during the Communist era with particular focus on the political and economic changes that have taken place in China since the death of Mao Zedong in l976. Key political questions include the changing nature of the state and the role of the Communist Party, the debate over the nature of political reform, the role of public protest movements and the partial retreat of the state from the lives of the people. China's transition from a socialist to a market economy and its evolving global economic and political role will also be considered.

Texts:

David M. Lampton, The Three Faces of Chinese Power: Might, Money and Minds
Kenneth Lieberthal, Governing China: From Revolution Through Reform (2nd Edition)
Elizabeth Perry, Chinese Society: Change, Conflict and Resistance
Additional readings will be on electronic reserve.
One or more documentary videos will also be assigned.

Assessment: This course will include lectures and active class discussion. In addition to a mid-term and final exam there will be several short writing assignments, a bibliographic essay, and responsibility for a class-led discussion.

Pre-Requisites: NA

JPN 363SWR: Literary and Visual Culture in Japan

Section 000 Crowley MWF 2:00-2:50
Same as EAS 363SWR
Same as ARTHIST 363SWR
4 credits

Content: The goal of this course is to develop visual literacy in Japanese images and iconography. The course will begin with explorations of basic vocabulary and theory related to visual culture. We will then view examples of Japanese visual art from the 6th century to the present day, discussing ways to “read” paintings, picture scrolls, painted screens, sculpture, woodblock prints, theatrical performances, films, animated films, and comic books in the context of discussion of literary texts and aesthetic treatises contemporary to these works.

Required Texts: TBA

Particulars: TBA

JPN 372WR: Introduction to Modern Japanese Literature

Section 000 Bullock TT 4:00-5:15
Same as EAS 364WR
4 credits

Content: This course is a survey of Japanese literature from the middle of the nineteenth century to the present. One goal of the course is to introduce students to the nature and range of literary genres as they developed in the context of Japan's confrontation with modernity. Another is to present and open for discussion issues in contemporary literary theory in order to understand and analyze important aspects of Japanese literature and culture, such as modernity, gender, nationalism, intertextuality, Orientalism, and identity. All texts are in English translation.

Readings include:
Kokoro, Natsume Sôseki,
Naomi, Tanizaki Jun’ichirô,
A Wild Sheep Chase, Murakami Haruki,
Kitchen, Yoshimoto Banana

Particulars: This course counts toward the Asian Studies major and Japanese major and minor.

JPN 375: Nature and the Environment

Section 000 Crowley MWF 12:50-1:40
Same as EAS 385
4 credits

Content: This course examines the rich history of the interaction between the human and the natural world in Japan. From haiku poetry to the whaling controversy, the austere spirituality of Zen gardens to the heartbreak of Minamata, the relationship between Japanese society, nature, and culture is fascinating and complex, and continues to have great impact on the world as a whole. Assignments are drawn from key texts of Japanese cultural and scientific history, including maps, poetry, religious scriptures, visual materials, fiction and current magazine and newspaper articles. Assessment will be based on two exams, short writing assignments, and a final research project.

Required Texts: TBA

Particulars: No prerequisites.

EAS 210: Chinese Calligraphy

Section 000 Crowley, Cheryl W 4:00-6:00
Same as CHN 210
2 credits

Content: This course introduces students the fundamentals of writing Chinese characters with brush and ink. It will be of interest to students of East Asian languages, visual art, and anyone who would like to learn an extremely pleasant and rewarding skill.

The class will meet once a week; the first third of the class will consist of short discussions of theoretical issues related to the week's project. In the remaining time, students will practice calligraphy under the instructors' supervision. The class will conclude with critique.

Particulars: NONE. The course is open to students of all backgrounds; some familiarity with East Asian languages may be helpful but is not required..

CHN 235WR: Chinese Writing Systems in Asia

Section 000 Yu Li TT 10:00-11:15
Same as EAS 235WR
Same as LING 235WR
4 credits

Content: This course examines the Chinese writing systems and the diverse contexts in which the Chinese characters have been used to shape and represent cultural identities at both the social and personal levels. It explores the multiplex relations between the Chinese script and language, literacy, technology, gender, ethnicity, literature, and art in and beyond Asia..

Texts: TBA

Particulars: Knowledge of Chinese, Japanese, Korean or Vietnamese is desirable but not required. Evaluation is based on class participation, written assignments (reading responses and final paper), and creative projects.

Students are encouraged to take CHN 210 Chinese Calligraphy, a two-credit practicum, concurrently or
consecutively with this course.

CHN 271WR: Modern China in Films and Fiction

Section 000 Rong Cai MWF 2:00-2:50 Limit 13
Same as EAS 271WR Limit 5
4 credits

Content: This course is an examination of twenieth-century Chinese society through cinematic productions and a critical reading of the writings of major Chinese writers in translation. Emphasis on self and society in a changing culture and the nature and function of literature in the modern nation-building.

Texts: TBA

Particulars: All readings are in translation. Knowledge of Chinese language not required. Course requirements include three short written assignments, a term paper, persentation, and active class participation.

CHN 272WR: Literature in Early and Imperial China

Section 000 Faculty TT 5:30-6:45
Same as EAS 272WR
4 credits

Content: An introduction to Chinese literature from its beginnings through the end of the imperial era in 1911. Focusing on close readings of selected pieces in their literary and historical contexts, we will analyze representative works of various eras, writers, and genres. The aim of the course is to illustrate the beauty and diversity of classical Chinese literary voices and poetic sensibilities, and enable students to come to adequate terms with literary texts that were produced in a cultural environment often portrayed as being 'worlds apart' from our own. All texts will be studied in English translation.

Texts:
Owen, Stephen. An Anthology of Chinese Literature. Beginnings to 1911. New York: W. W. Norton 1996. Mair, Victor H. (ed.). The Columbia Anthology of Traditional Chinese Literature. New York: Columbia University Press 1994.
Further readings will be made available on online reserve.

Particulars: No knowledge of Chinese required. Evaluation based on class participation, written assignments, research paper, midterm and final.

CHN 360WR: Chinese Women in Film and Fiction

Section 000 Cai MWF 12:50-1:40
Same as EAS 360WR
Same as WS 360WR

Mandatory film screening
4 credits

Content: An examination of woman as trope in modern Chinese cinema and literature in the twentieth century. It explores how “the modern woman” became a cultural construct and how that construct has redefined gender role and femininity. Special attention will be paid to such issues as self-identity, love, marriage, family, and social opportunities. All readings are in English translation. Knowledge of Chinese language is not required. Four credit hours.

Texts:
The Three-Inch Golden Lotus, by Feng Jicai
The Butcher's Wife, by Li Ang
I Myself Am a Woman: Selected Writings of Ding Ling , Ed. Barlow & Bjorge
Bamboo Shoots After the Rain: Contemporary Stories by Women Writers of Taiwan, Eds. Ann C. Carver and Sung-sheng Yvonne Chang

Particulars: All readings are in English translation. Course requirements include three short written assignments, a research paper, presentations, and active class participation.

MUS 366SWR 000: Beyond Orientalism: Hybrid Music and Social Identities

Y. Everett, TT, 10:00-11:15 a.m., MAX: 18, TPL

Content: In this seminar, we will examine the main tenets of Orientalism (Said) and exoticism (Bellman) in exploring the intersection and hybridization of cultural practices in musical, theatrical, and cinematographic genres from the eighteenth century to the present. How did Western nations construct the notion of the "Orient" according to Said? What are the attributes of musical Orientalism vs. exoticism? How have ideologies, politics, and human agencies shaped and transformed cultural representation of art forms that appropriate or reinterpret non-Western musical practices in the course of the twentieth century? We will explore such questions in application to diverse cultural and historical contexts and genres that include: Western operas by Mozart, Puccini, and Verdi, Japanese Kabuki, Noh-drama, Korean Pansori, Beijing opera, as well as popular music (such as rap and hip-hop) and film. In discussing how contemporary musicians construct and negotiate new forms of social identities, we will move beyond the Orientalist paradigm by focusing on issues such as: 1) interculturalism (Kartomi; Everett and Lau); 2) formation and contestation of "otherness" (Born and Hesmondhalgh); and 3) forms of cultural mediation, e.g., "mediated" music, "strategic inauthenticity" (Taylor; Apparudai).

Particulars: Background in music is preferred and some knowledge of musical terms will be required. This seminar is cross-listed under East Asian Studies.

MUS 206WR: Musical Transformations of Asia

Lee, Tu, 2:00-4:30 p.m., MAX: 25
TPL

Content: This is an introductory course to the musical cultures of South Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. The course examines Asian music, theater, dance, and rituals in the broad historical, social, and political contexts of India and China. Specifically, students will explore musical traditions that exemplify South Asian and Chinese philosophy and aesthetics to understand the significance of music in shaping social identities. Students will also learn to play the Central Javanese gamelan, West Javanese gamelan, and Korean percussion.

Texts: There is no required text for this course. Articles, book chapters, and sound recordings will be assigned throughout the course and made available in the library.

Particulars: No prerequisites. Cross-listed with ASIA 206. Assessment for this course is based on writing projects, tests, written assignments, class presentations, performance, and a final project.