Asian Studies (ANS)
ANS 301M Introductory Topics in Asian Studies 3 Hours
Discussion of various problems involving language, history, and culture in Asia.
ANS 301M.11 Introduction to Buddhism 3 Hours
A structural and historical overview of Buddhism through the examination of various schools, doctrines, biographical narratives, and contemporary ethical issues.
ANS 301M.13 Forbidden Romance in Modern Chinese Literature 3 Hours
Introduction to modern Chinese literature from the late Qing Dynasty (latter half of the nineteenth century) to the present.
ANS 301M.14 East Asian Martial Arts Films 3 Hours
Explores the concept of "East Asian" from the cinematic perspective, focusing on the martial arts film genre.
ANS 301M.15 Introduction to Islam 3 Hours
The beliefs, theology, history, and main social and legal institutions of Islam, including the concept of God and society, the role of women, and Islamic government and movements.
ANS 301M.16 Introduction to Japanese Film 3 Hours
Broad survey of Japanese cinema, including silent films, feature films, documentaries, and anime, that covers the basic history of Japanese cinema. Background in Japanese not required, all films are subtitled in English.
ANS 301M.17 Introduction to Politics in East Asia 3 Hours
Introduction to politics and political systems of Japan, China, Taiwan, North Korea, and South Korea.
ANS 301M.3 History of East Asia to 1800 3 Hours
A survey of the traditional history and culture of China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.
ANS 301M.4 History of East Asia since 1800 3 Hours
A survey of the modern history of China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.
ANS 301M.6 Asia's Futures 3 Hours
Current issues, visible trends, and projections for Asia's future.
ANS 301R History of the Religions of Asia 3 Hours
Eastern religions: an introduction to the basic forms and the historical development of the religious traditions of India, China, and Japan.
ANS 302C Introduction to China 3 Hours
Introduction to Chinese civilization, past and present, including religion, literature, arts, philosophy, and history.
ANS 302D Introduction to Korean Culture and History 3 Hours
Introduction to Korea's history, culture, and civilization from antiquity to the present.
ANS 302E Female Voices in China 3 Hours
Introduction (in translation) to the most important texts and other sources by, for, and about women in Chinese intellectual, political, social, and cultural history.
ANS 302J Introduction to Japan 3 Hours
Introduction to Japanese civilization, past and present, including religion, literature, arts, philosophy, and history.
ANS 302K Introduction to South Asia 3 Hours
Introduction to Indian and south Asian civilization, past and present, including religion, literature, arts, philosophy, and history.
ANS 303D Introduction to the Asian Diaspora 3 Hours
Examine the global dispersal of Asian populations from the mid-1800s to the present.
ANS 304C Popular Culture in Modern Japan 3 Hours
Introduction to the history of popular culture in modern Japan focusing on works of literature, film, and visual culture.
ANS 305C Korean Literature and Film 3 Hours
Explore the literature and film of Korea from earliest times to the present.
ANS 307C Introduction to the History of India 3 Hours
Survey of the history of the Indian subcontinent from prehistoric times to the present.
ANS 307D Yoga Past and Present 3 Hours
Survey yogic practices in South Asian civilization and trace the development of yogic thought and embodied practices in Hindu, Buddhist, and tantric traditions from early history to the modern-day's social and legal complexities and controversies.
ANS 307E Bangladesh: History, Culture and Politics 3 Hours
Explore the general aspects of history, culture, and politics in Bangladesh. Examine late colonial and post-colonial history to evaluate the dynamics of national identity formation.
ANS 307F Gods and Goddesses of India 3 Hours
Explore a variety of gods and goddesses who have dominated the sacred landscapes of India and beyond, especially North America, from the past until now. Examine various issues relating to patriarchy, power, gender, sexuality, social hierarchy, and devotion.
ANS 119S, 219S, 319S, 419S, 519S, 619S, 719S, 819S, 919S Topics in Asian Studies 1-9 Hours
This course is used to record credit the student earns while enrolled at another institution in a program administered by the University's Study Abroad Office. Credit is recorded as assigned by the study abroad adviser in the Department of Asian Studies. University credit is awarded for work in an exchange program; it may be counted as coursework taken in residence. Transfer credit is awarded for work in an affiliated studies program.
ANS 320C Genji to Godzilla: Adaptations of the Japanese Classics 3 Hours
Examine how premodern, modern, and contemporary classics of Japanese literature, film, and theater get adapted over the centuries, and how culture, politics, gender, genre, and medium influence the adaptation process.
ANS 320D Classical Indian Literature in Translation 3 Hours
Explore narrative literature and poetry composed in the three classical languages of India (Old Tamil, Sanskrit, and Prakrit).
ANS 320E Myth, Legend, and Folklore in China 3 Hours
Introduction (in translation) to a selection of the most important myths, legends, and folktales in China's various storytelling traditions.
ANS 320F Classical Chinese Philosophy 3 Hours
Introduction (in translation) to thinkers, texts, and ideas from the golden age of Classical Chinese philosophy (circa sixth-second centuries BCE), including how to apply their teachings to current sociopolitical issues.
ANS 320G Chinese Language Cinemas from People's Republic of China and Taiwan 3 Hours
Survey contemporary Chinese language cinemas from Taiwan and the People's Republic of China.
ANS 320J The Bhagavad Gita: Interpretation and Ethics 3 Hours
Explore one of the most influential books in Indian and global contexts, the Bhagavad Gita, through interpretations, commentaries, and scholarly materials. Navigate ethical dilemmas in the Bhagavad Gita and real-life situations.
ANS 320K Korean Cinema 3 Hours
Explore Korean cinema, film history, and theory from the early twentieth century to the present.
ANS 320L Indian Cinemas: Bollywood and Beyond 3 Hours
Focus on Indian cinema, primarily Hindi popular cinema--many times known as Bollywood. Examine major works of Hindi cinema and explore independent film making and regional cinema.
ANS 321C Representing Disaster in Japan 3 Hours
Explore a range of human-made conflicts and natural disasters in Japan from earliest times to the present through literature, film, and new media to consider questions of history, representation, and mourning and memorialization.
ANS 321D The Environment and East Asia 3 Hours
Examine the relationship between humans and the environment through the literature, film, and media of East Asia.
ANS 321E Arts of the Avant-Garde in Modern Japan 3 Hours
Explore avant-garde works of modern Japanese literature, film, and visual culture. Focus on how these works advanced global trends in avant-garde theory and practice by rebelling against tradition and searching for radically new ways of imagining the purpose and practice of modern art.
ANS 321M Politics in Japan 3 Hours
Survey of postwar Japanese politics; the occupation, governmental institutions, interest groups, protest movements, industrial policy, the government-business relationship, and political and economic reform.
ANS 322M Politics in China 3 Hours
Survey of twentieth-century China: historical trends; 1911 revolution; Warlord-Nationalist period; Communist revolution; post-1949 issues; new social and political institutions.
ANS 323C Biomedicine, Ethics, and Culture 3 Hours
Examines ethical questions such as the allocation of medical resources, stem cell research and cloning, organ transplantation, abortion, human experimentation, prolonging life and the right to die, suicide, euthanasia, and diagnosis and treatment of illnesses, explored from a global perspective.
ANS 324C Musics of India 3 Hours
Explore the musical traditions of India, with emphasis on Hindustani and Carnatic musical styles, but including examination of other traditions.
ANS 325C The Chinese in Diaspora 3 Hours
Explores narratives of migration, race, ethnicity, and a wide range of experiences of acculturation and assimilation from the perspective of a sending society--China--which has one of the longest and most diverse histories of sending people overseas. Over the last millennia, Chinese have migrated around the world and made homes under a great range of adversity and opportunity, producing many stories of human differences and commonalities.
ANS 325D Greater China and United States Economic Relations 3 Hours
Explore contemporary interconnections between the United States and Greater China. Examine economic frameworks (for example, state-led, market-led, mixed, etc.); the economies of the PRC including Hong Kong as well as Taiwan and the Chinese diaspora; and linkages such as investments, supply chains, tech transfer, non-profit cooperation, and the globalized workforce.
ANS 325E Global Economies: Asia and the United States 3 Hours
Examines key trends in the economies of the United States and Asia, with emphasis on the links between these two major trading blocs.
ANS 326C Cultures of Southeast Asia 3 Hours
Comparative study of the peoples of Indonesia, Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, and other countries.
ANS 129S, 229S, 329S, 429S, 529S, 629S, 729S, 829S, 929S Topics in Asian Studies 1-9 Hours
This course is used to record credit the student earns while enrolled at another institution in a program administered by the University's Study Abroad Office. Credit is recorded as assigned by the study abroad adviser in the Department of Asian Studies. University credit is awarded for work in an exchange program; it may be counted as coursework taken in residence. Transfer credit is awarded for work in an affiliated studies program.
ANS 330C Anthropology of Travel and Tourism 3 Hours
Use the tools of cultural anthropology to understand the touristic encounter and the increasing (and decreasing) accessibility of travel and mobility.
ANS 330D Global Markets and Local Cultures 3 Hours
Examine contemporary theories of globalization, including materials exploring global governance, international monetary policy, migration regulation, offshoring, and cultural hybridity. Focus on case studies in Asia and elsewhere that reveal how these practices impact particular communities.
ANS 330E Tourism and Place in the Global South 3 Hours
Debunk the myth that tourism is inherently desirable by unpacking the mechanisms of violence and inequalities of power embedded in tourism and tourism development.
ANS 330F Development And Its Critics 3 Hours
Discuss aspects of the contemporary international aid and development in Asia and beyond. Examine the decision-making within the development industry and the scope of aid as a economic and social force in the contemporary world.
ANS 330G Food and Religion in Asia 3 Hours
Use the lens of food to approach study of religious communities, values, and identity formation in Asia's past and present, covering South Asia, China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia. Explore questions involving what is eaten and what is not, taboo, hunger, anomaly, gender, food security, and recent ethical problems regarding bio-engineered foods (GMOs).
ANS 330J Asian Mobilities 3 Hours
Explore alternative research methods and spatialities, in an attempt to produce new understandings of how people live in an increasingly mobile world.
ANS 330K Culture, Medicine, and Society in Asia 3 Hours
Analyze health and illness as a lens for exploring Asian cultures and societies. Discuss themes, concepts, and approaches in anthropology to interrogate the interaction between culture, medicine, and society.
ANS 335 Animals in Asia 3 Hours
Focus on how historical and modern-day philosophy, religious texts, and legal systems in South and East Asia provide the framework for probing the human-animal encounter and the tensions that arise due to human-animal interdependence.
ANS 336C Central Asian Politics and Economies 3 Hours
Relate major political and economic issues of post-Soviet Central Asia from Soviet legacy and regime types to state-business relations and investment environment. Learn about the characteristics that unite and distinguish the Central Asian region.
ANS 338L East Asian International Relations 3 Hours
Survey of Russian/Soviet, Japanese, Chinese, and American foreign policies of the twentieth century, emphasizing Pacific-region interests; historical policies; intermittent conflicts, such as China versus Japan, Korean War, Indochina Wars; China's emergence as a nuclear power.
ANS 340C Japanese Religion and Western Imagination 3 Hours
Examines Japanese religious traditions, with a focus on Zen, through the perspective of people living in non-Japanese societies since the end of World War II. Explores different ways in which non-Japanese have imagined Japanese religious and ethical ideas and both explained Japanese behavior and adopted ideas about Japan into their writings about philosophy and life.
ANS 340D History of Hindu Religious Traditions 3 Hours
History of major doctrines, practices, and institutions that shaped the development of Hinduism; how religions adapt to social and cultural change and often provide the catalyst for change.
ANS 340E History of Indian Buddhism 3 Hours
The institutional, social, economic, and doctrinal history of Buddhism in India.
ANS 340F Goddesses in World Religions and Cultures 3 Hours
Historical and cross-cultural overview of the relationship between feminine and religious cultural expressions through comparative examinations and analyses of various goddess figures in world religions.
ANS 340G Ritual and Religion in Korea 3 Hours
Examine major religious traditions of Korea; focus on the recent history and contemporary practice, and the relation between religion and politics during Korea's colonial (1910-1945) and postcolonial eras.
ANS 340I Saints and Shrines in Islam 3 Hours
ANS 340J Jainism: Religion of Non-Violence 3 Hours
Survey of the history, doctrines, institutions, and practices of Jainism from its origins to the present.
ANS 340L Post-Mao China: Change and Transformation 3 Hours
Examines in a historical context the Chinese economy, society, politics, and culture during the reform era that began in the late 1970s. Explores the transformation of rural and urban economies and related social consequences; government systems, political ideologies, and popular values; and China's integration into the global system and its impact on China's role in world politics.
ANS 340M Modern China 3 Hours
History of China from the intrusion of the West circa 1500 to the Communist revolution.
ANS 340P European Expansion in Asia 3 Hours
European exploration, the commerce of the East India Companies, and the beginnings of empire in South and Southeast Asia from the fifteenth to the early nineteenth century.
ANS 340Q Sufism: Islamic Thought and Spirituality 3 Hours
Explore Sufism and other Islamic mystical traditions that color cultural milieus spanning four continents and fourteen centuries. Focus on the historical developments in the Islamic theosophical tradition, as well as the relationship between Sufism and poetics, colonialism, and post-colonial resistance movements.
ANS 340R European Empires in Asia 3 Hours
The British in India and Malaya, the Dutch in Indonesia, and the French in Indochina since 1800.
ANS 340S The Chinese in the United States 3 Hours
History of the Chinese in the United States from their first arrival in significant numbers during the California Gold Rush of the mid-nineteenth century to the present.
ANS 340T Taiwan: Colonization, Migration, and Identity 3 Hours
Explores issues of ethnicity, empire, and modernization in East Asia from the sixteenth century to the present, as seen through encounters between Taiwan and aborigines, Han Chinese, Dutch, Portuguese, the imperial Qing, Japanese, mainland Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), and the United States.
ANS 340U Devotional Literature of India 3 Hours
Discuss the songs of major saints. Examine how holy men and women expressed their religiosity through the medium of songs and poetry over the centuries and consider the role these songs had in shaping the religious communities of India. All works will be studied in translation.
ANS 340V Religions in Contact 3 Hours
Critically examine the theories (religious othering, conversion, reinterpretation, appropriation, etc.) of how one religion responds to contact with another. Explore the ways in which religious actors grapple with religious plurality, draw or ignore boundaries, and form religious identities.
ANS 340W Shia Islam 3 Hours
Examine how the first century of Islamic history inaugurated debates concerning authority, piety, and justice and how these debates have continued to the present. Explore the social forces and ideologies that shaped Shiism.
ANS 341C Piracy in East Asia 3 Hours
Examine how pirates helped bind East Asia together into an integrated zone of economic and cultural exchange. Explore how they formed the leading edge of early modern globalization and linking diverse economies and societies together.
ANS 341K Origins of Modern Japan 3 Hours
Japan to the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution, with a focus on the culminating age of samurai rule, the Tokugawa period (1600-1867).
ANS 341M Imperial Japan 3 Hours
Japan from the Meiji transformation through war, defeat, and occupation.
ANS 341N Postwar Japan 3 Hours
Japan since the war and occupation.
ANS 341P Shamanism and the Primitive 3 Hours
ANS 341R Religion and Family in Japanese Society 3 Hours
Explores the structures of family, kinship, and religion in Japan since 1868 and their roles in the creation and expression of national and individual identities.
ANS 342D Political Economy of Japan 3 Hours
Historical development of the Japanese economy since early modern times.
ANS 342F Buddhist Thought and Practice 3 Hours
Explore important themes in Buddhist thought, various ways in which Buddhists practice their religion, and the relationships between religious concepts and practices.
ANS 343C Gender and Translation in the Arab World 3 Hours
Examine complex politics and poetics behind the translation and marketing of Arab women's writing in the West.
ANS 343D Muslim Travelers and Traders 3 Hours
Introduction to modern Middle Eastern and Islamic history in the broader context of globalization, with a primary focus on the nineteenth century to the present.
ANS 343E Cultures of Revolution in the Middle East 3 Hours
Examine the cultural production that surrounds key moments of political and social change in the Middle East.
ANS 343F Food History of Asia and the Middle East 3 Hours
Explore the history of food and beverages in the Middle East and Asia, including Palestine/Israel, Egypt, Iran, India, China, and Japan. Investigate themes of identity, capitalism, and globalization to reflect on the role of food consumers in an interconnected world.
ANS 346C Ancient India 3 Hours
History and culture of South Asia from its protohistoric beginnings in the Indus Valley through the period of the early empires of the Mauryas and Guptas.
ANS 346D Medieval India 3 Hours
History and culture of South Asia from approximately 500 to 1500, with emphasis on religious and political institutions and the emergence of regional cultures.
ANS 346E Partition of India in History and Memory 3 Hours
Discover the experiences and memories of many different groups affected by the Partition of British India in 1947 while tracing the effects of the Partition until the present.
ANS 346F Gandhi and Gandhism 3 Hours
Explore Gandhi's life, work, philosophy, and influence, as well as his historical and cultural context.
ANS 346G Gender and Modern India 3 Hours
Examine gender and the shifting nature of modernity between precolonial and colonial periods in the Indian subcontinent.
ANS 346J Mughal India in History and Memory 3 Hours
Focuses on South Asia during the era of the Mughal empire (1550-1750), continuing through the symbolic relevance of the Mughal dynasty in British India and in India today.
ANS 346K Slavery and South Asian History 3 Hours
Examine the presence of slavery in the subcontinent in the third century BCE to the twentieth century.
ANS 346M Early Modern India 3 Hours
The history and culture of South Asia from approximately 1500 to 1750.
ANS 346N The Indian Subcontinent, 1750-1950 3 Hours
Examines the cultural and political movements and events that led to formation of the two nation-states India and Pakistan.
ANS 346P Indian Philosophies 3 Hours
Investigate the theories and arguments of major Indian philosophers, considering both their historical positioning and contemporary relevance.
ANS 347C Business and Society in South Asia 3 Hours
Examine the long history of commerce and enterprise in the Indian sub-continent up to the present.
ANS 347K Governments and Politics of South Asia 3 Hours
A survey of political developments, governmental organization, and economic and social problems in South Asia.
ANS 348D Anthropology of the Himalayas 3 Hours
Examine the history and culture of the Himalayan region, including Northeast India, sections of Pakistan and Afghanistan, Tibet, and especially Nepal.
ANS 348E A Linguistic History of India 3 Hours
Explore the richly documented linguistic and literary history of languages in the Indian subcontinent, paying attention to linguistic phenomena, contact effects, and language-based movements.
ANS 348F Formation of Indian Art 3 Hours
Examine the artistic traditions of South Asia up to the fifth century C.E., with an emphasis on social and religious factors shaping its development.
ANS 348G Cinematic Cities: Mumbai 3 Hours
Explore political, social, and artistic transformations of the global city of Mumbai from the early 20th into the 21st century using cinema as the primary text complemented by theoretical, creative, and historical readings.
ANS 348I Offbeat Asian Cinema 3 Hours
Explore South Asian cinema, focusing on innovative and boundary-pushing films. Draw from a diverse range of countries including India, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, and languages like Hindi, Urdu, Marathi, Tamil, Malayalam, and Dari.
ANS 350C Why Chinese Has No Alphabet 3 Hours
Introduction to the history and evolution of the Chinese writing system and language. No background in Chinese language, culture, or linguistics is required.
ANS 350E The History of Chinese Language and Translation 3 Hours
Explore the Chinese language and culture, focusing on the cultural, social, historical, and political background against which the Chinese language has evolved and continues to evolve.
ANS 351C Banned in Japan: Censored Art 3 Hours
Focus on banned works of literature, painting, photography, film, and manga that encountered censorship in Japan from the early eighteenth century to today. Explore the censored texts in-depth alongside the sociopolitical contexts of their banning in order to understand how censorship worked historically and to help us consider how it works in our own time and place.
ANS 355C Japanese Foreign Policy 3 Hours
Examine the foreign and domestic determinants of Japanese foreign policy.
ANS 355D International Relations of East and Southeast Asia 3 Hours
Examine the international relations of East and Southeast Asia, with particular attention to postwar economic and security issues, the changing political landscape of the post-Cold War period, and the development and functions of regional institutions.
ANS 355E Political Economy of Asia 3 Hours
Explore the political economies of East Asia with an emphasis on Japan, China, South Korea, and Taiwan.
ANS 355F Asian Regionalism and Multilateral Cooperation 3 Hours
Explore the nature, functional principles, leadership, and policy-making process of contemporary Asian regionalism in comparison to the experiences of European integration.
ANS 355G Monarchies and Mini-States 3 Hours
Examine the remarkable variety among the political systems of the 28 remaining monarchies and the survival and thriving of mini-states around the world.
ANS 355I War and Peace: China, Japan, and Taiwan 3 Hours
Use the modern theory of war and cutting edge political science research to understand the evolution of war and peace over the past two centuries in East Asia.
ANS 356C Modernization in East Asia 3 Hours
Examines the different historical experiences of mainland China and Taiwan in the context of the East Asian model of development.
ANS 358F The Two Koreas and the United States 3 Hours
The political, social, and cultural relationship between North and South Korea, and between the Koreas and the United States, since 1945.
ANS 358G Capitalism, Consumption, and Civil Society in Korea 3 Hours
Explore contemporary social and political life in urban South Korea, including corporations, factory work, consumption, activism, popular culture, and changing gender systems and roles.
ANS 361 Topics in Asian Studies 3 Hours
Selected topics in south and east Asian anthropology, economics, history, geography, government, and sociology.
ANS 361.39 Anthropology of Globalization 3 Hours
ANS 361C Political Economy of Development in Postwar Korea 3 Hours
Explore the political economy of South Korean development during the postwar period. Examine the history, society, and culture of South Korea. Discuss compressed modernity, developmental state, social movements, gender politics, financial crisis, urbanization, migration, and recent globalization of Korean popular culture.
ANS 361D History of Food and Healing in China and Taiwan 3 Hours
Explore the cultural, historical, philosophical, social, and scientific background against which the connection between food and healing has evolved through Chinese history.
ANS 361E Urban Experiences In East Asia 3 Hours
Explores the process of urbanization in East and Southeast Asia focusing on the politics of capital accumulation and distribution.
ANS 361F Ethnic Politics in Taiwan and Asia 3 Hours
Explore ethnic politics in Taiwan including some comparison with ethnic politics in neighboring countries.
ANS 361G State Building in China and Taiwan 3 Hours
Compare and contrast the state building process in mainland China and Taiwan.
ANS 361J Development and Social Movement in East and Southeast Asia 3 Hours
Examine the notions of development and the ways in which development is associated with state building, moral economy, political performance, and accumulation regimes. Explore the development of civil society and social movement in East Asia, and explanations of the mechanisms and drivers of displacement. Conceptualize the "Right to the City", and alternative right-based approaches to land, housing, infrastructure, commons and public resources.
ANS 361K The Indian Republic Since 1947 3 Hours
An overview of Contemporary India, a republic that emerged from the British Empire.
ANS 361L Global Commodities: Asia and the World 3 Hours
Explore the vital role of commodities in Asian history with a particular focus on East and Southeast Asia.
ANS 361M Big Asian Histories 3 Hours
Examines ways in which Asia and other areas of the globe have had connected intellectual, artistic, and social developments with focus on world histories centrally involving Asia from the medieval period to the present.
ANS 361N Self and Culture in North Korea 3 Hours
Aims to understand North Korea's historical development and its current workings as a social, cultural, and political/ideological system.
ANS 361P Africa and Indian Ocean World 3 Hours
Explore the connected histories of the geographical regions and economic communities that share the littoral space of the Indian Ocean.
ANS 361Q The Age of the Samurai 3 Hours
Explore the history of Japan via an examination of the complex and ever-changing figure of the samurai.
ANS 361R Transnational Asia: From the Middle East to the Far East 3 Hours
Examine how various groups of people understood, experienced, and imagined concepts such as "the East" and "Asia" with a primary focus on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
ANS 362 Research in Asian Studies 3 Hours
Individual instruction for Asian studies majors and nonmajors. Discussion, research, and the writing of papers about various general and specialized Asian subjects.
ANS 372D A Tale of Five Chinese Cities 3 Hours
Explore themes of modernization, migration, international relations, gender, and labor through literary and cinematic texts about Beijing, Hong Kong, Nanjing, Shanghai, and Taipei. Consider certain historical moments and the notion of Chineseness in an increasingly and culturally deterritorialized world.
ANS 372E Globalizing East Asian Popular Culture 3 Hours
Takes the globalization of popular culture as an analytical lens through which to reflect modernity, (trans)nationalism, gender politics, and identity formations in East Asia.
ANS 372F Veiling in the Muslim World 3 Hours
ANS 372G Precolonial India, 1200-1750 3 Hours
Surveys the history of South Asia during the era prior to British colonial rule.
ANS 372K Gender, Sexuality, and the Family in Indian Religions and Cultures 3 Hours
A comprehensive historical overview of gender issues as they are represented in the textual traditions of South Asia.
ANS 372L Confucianism 3 Hours
Explore the philosophical and historical context of Confucianism, from its origins in ancient China through the early empire and beyond.
ANS 372M Taiwan: From Coloniality to Postcoloniality 3 Hours
Examine how Taiwan has transformed itself since the end of Japanese colonialism in 1945 through literature, films, and other cultural products, such as popular music and arts, in postcolonial Taiwan.
ANS 372N Japanese Concepts of Body and Self 3 Hours
Exploration of anthropological literature describing Japanese conceptions of self and body, and analysis of the intersection of these conceptions of self with Japanese ideas about religion, morality, aging, and medicine.
ANS 372P South Asian Migration to the United States 3 Hours
Examine the South Asian diaspora in the United States.
ANS 372R Japanese Popular Culture: Anime, Manga, and the Otaku 3 Hours
Examine a wide variety of Japanese popular media within the historical context during which these unique cultural forms developed. Focus on the popular manga and anime Japan has exported since becoming an economic superpower in the 1980s, the utopian/dystopian expression in Japanese sci-fi narratives of this era, and the complex interplay of gender and technology in the new post-human societies these narratives envision.
ANS 373C Decoding Classical Chinese Poetry 3 Hours
Introduction to the classical Chinese poetic tradition from the seventh century B.C.E. through the ninth century C.E., focusing on the literary, cultural, historical, social, political, philosophical, and religious background against which representative works arose. Conducted in English and all readings will be in English translation. Knowledge of the Chinese language is not required.
ANS 373D Popular Literature and Culture in Modern China 3 Hours
Examine modern Chinese literature and culture in the People's Republic of China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong from the popular culture perspective.
ANS 373E Modern Japanese Literature in Translation 3 Hours
Conducted in English. Analyze literature written by Japanese authors in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries with attention to a work's content, style, and form, as well as the socio-historical context of its production and reception.
ANS 373F Suicide in Japanese Fiction 3 Hours
Conducted in English. Examine Japanese literary and visual culture, including poetry, novels, plays, film, and manga, to analyze how artists grapple with themes of suicide in their works and lives in response to personal and national tragedies.
ANS 373G Epics and Heroes of India 3 Hours
Focus on India's classical epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, with emphasis placed on understanding the epic characters in relation to the heroic traditions of premodern India, as well as on the role of the epics in contemporary Indian political and religious culture.
ANS 373J Chinese Film and Literature 3 Hours
Analyze selected literary and cinematic texts from China in the last century. Explore how the Chinese people encounter modernity and cope with its consequences.
ANS 374C Buddhist Art 3 Hours
Explores the development of Buddhist art in South Asia, the land of its origin as well as its spread elsewhere. Focus on the question of "what is" Buddhist art.
ANS 374D Gender and Art in the Muslim World 3 Hours
ANS 374E Chinese Literati Art 3 Hours
ANS 375D Chinese Ethics and Political Philosophy 3 Hours
Examine Chinese ethical and political philosophy, with an emphasis on the Confucian tradition, through close reading of major works. Analyze ideas from the course both philosophically and historically.
ANS 678H Honors Tutorial Course 6 Hours
ANS 379 Topics in Capstone Seminars in Asian Studies 3 Hours
ANS 379.1 Writing and Authority in Early China 3 Hours
ANS 379.10 Comparing Religions 3 Hours
A discussion of major comparative approaches in the study of religion.
ANS 379.11 The Cultural Outsider: Memoirs of East Asia 3 Hours
Focus is on the cultural outsider's perceptions of East Asia in greater travel" dating from as early as Marco Polo up to works published in contemporary America. Selected memoirs and travelogues are presented from the perspective of the cultural outsider, written by missionaries, colonizers, journalists, POW's, scholars, students, and tourists.
ANS 379.12 Gender and Labor in Global Asia 3 Hours
ANS 379.13 Cultural Memory and the Classic Chinese Novel 3 Hours
Examine the metaphors and mythology from Chinese cultural memory that are present in classic novels, within literary and socio-historical contexts. Explore a cross-section of influential works from classical literature and the major founding schools of Chinese thought.
ANS 379.14 Translating Asia 3 Hours
Explore various ways to define translation in the Asian context through translation theory and translated texts and how translation impacts and represents different Asian identities.
ANS 379.16 Culture and Crisis in Contemporary Japan 3 Hours
Explore the cultural history of Japan from the 1980s to the present, with particular attention paid to economic and ecological issues represented in literature, film, and visual culture.
ANS 379.17 History and Memory in Japan and Korea 3 Hours
Explore the fraught and entangled histories of modern Japan and Korea as depicted in literature and film to consider experiences of imperialism, rapid modernization, war, decolonization, and trauma.
ANS 379.18 Death and the Afterlife in Ancient China 3 Hours
Investigate ancient Chinese beliefs and practices surrounding death and the afterlife from the Neolithic era to the arrival of Buddhism. Explore tombs, burial objects, and funeral rites; philosophical essays and historical accounts; medical practices; religious relics, tokens, and talismans; ghost stories; poetry; and paintings.
ANS 379.3 The Art of the Body in India 3 Hours
ANS 379.4 Indian Poetry and Religions 3 Hours
Explores the intersections of religion and poetry in the history of Indian literature as expressed in multiple settings and variations including hymns, chants, bhajans, poetic narratives, and new poetic conventions that deal with caste and gender identities.
ANS 379.5 Science, Technology, and Society in Contemporary Asia 3 Hours
Introduction to how social forces and interests impact scientific practice, and vice versa, including scientific incommensurability, cultural difference, colonialism, postcoloniality, and methodological issues.
ANS 379.6 Transnational Korea 3 Hours
Recent and contemporary manifestations of the Koreas in the world and the world in the Koreas. Subjects include labor and marriage migration, educational sojourning, transnational adoption, tourism, international sport, corporate expatriation, and media flows.
ANS 379.8 Radical Religion: Ascetics and Holy Persons 3 Hours
Explores asceticism and the concepts, practices, and goals associated with this radical way of life through case studies from various religions. Subjects include theories of the body and of culture, as well as issues of social status, gender, devotion, and violence.
ANS 379.9 Art of Autobiography in Japan 3 Hours
Examines autobiographies written by prominent artists and intellectuals in Japan from the tenth century to the present. Subjects include the authors' lives and legacies, and how these works are informed by both the historical and cultural contexts in which they were written and by the genre itself. All reading, writing, and discussion will be in English.
ANS 180C, 380C Conference Course in Asian Studies 1,3 Hours
Supervised individual study of selected problems in Asian studies.
ANS 381 Topics in Chinese Culture and Society 3 Hours
Study of various aspects and periods of Chinese culture and society.
ANS 381.1 Advanced Readings in Chinese Politics 3 Hours
ANS 382K Topics in Korean Culture and Society 3 Hours
Studies of various aspects and periods of Korean culture and society.
ANS 383 Topics in Japanese Culture and Society 3 Hours
Study of various aspects and periods of Japanese culture and society.
ANS 383.4 Japanese Politics 3 Hours
ANS 383.5 Japanese Religion 3 Hours
ANS 384 Topics in South Asian Culture and Society 3 Hours
Study of various aspects and periods of South Asian culture and society.
ANS 384.2 Communalism in Colonial India 3 Hours
ANS 384.3 Ethnicity, Religion, and Politics in South Asia 3 Hours
ANS 384.5 Social and Religious Reform in Modern India 3 Hours
ANS 384.6 South Asian Diaspora 3 Hours
ANS 384.7 Middle Indic Languages and Literature 3 Hours
Survey of the Middle Indic languages of South Asia, the communities that used these languages, and the literature composed in them.
ANS 384.8 The Body in Indian Medicine and Myth 3 Hours
Examines issues of embodiment in South Asia in various life stages, including conception, infancy, childhood, adulthood, and death drawn from various historical periods, medical traditions, religious narratives, and sociological and anthropological studies.
ANS 384C Core Studies in South Asia 3 Hours
An introduction to research methods used in South Asian studies.
ANS 384E Asceticism 3 Hours
Examines ascetic contexts of various religious traditions, definitions of asceticism, the relationship between ascetic beliefs and ascetic practices, and the benefits and risks of using a comparative approach to study asceticism.
ANS 384F Folklore and Oral Performance in South Asia 3 Hours
ANS 384G Gender and the Body in South Asian Text and Practice 3 Hours
An introduction to how gender is used as a category of analysis across the humanities and social science disciplines; and how the body is used as an object for analysis.
ANS 384P Theatre, Gender, and Performance in South Asia 3 Hours
ANS 385 Topics in Chinese Language and Literature 3 Hours
Study of various aspects and periods of Chinese language and literature.
ANS 385.1 Chinese Film and Literature 3 Hours
ANS 385.3 Modern Chinese Literature 3 Hours
ANS 385D Development of the Literary Field in Modern China 3 Hours
Applies French theorist Pierre Bourdieu's work on cultural production to the study of the development of modern and contemporary literature in China and Taiwan.
ANS 385H High and Popular Culture in Modern Chinese Societies 3 Hours
Explores the production and consumption of elitist (high) and popular cultures in modern Chinese societies.
ANS 385M Modern and Postmodern Chinese Literary Culture 3 Hours
Examines the complex phenomena of modernism and postmodernism in literature and the arts in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
ANS 385S Critical Scholarship on Modern Chinese Literature 3 Hours
Survey of English-language critical scholarship on modern Chinese literature.
ANS 386 Topics in Japanese Language and Literature 3 Hours
Study of various aspects and periods of Japanese language and literature.
ANS 386.2 Modern Japanese Literature 3 Hours
ANS 387K Topics in Korean Language and Literature 3 Hours
Studies in various aspects and periods of Korean language and literature.
ANS 388 Topics in South Asian Language and Literature 3 Hours
Study of various aspects and periods of South Asian language and literature.
ANS 388C Critical Approaches to the Study of South Asian Texts 3 Hours
Introduction to analyzing South Asian literature through the exploration of Indian "classics" on connoisseurship, reader response, style, and suggestion, as well as modern and contemporary works on literary theory from the West.
ANS 388M Translating India 3 Hours
Introduction to literary translation from a wide range of Euro-American and South Asian stances and viewpoints, focusing on the political nature of the act and the art of translation in colonial and post-colonial contexts.
ANS 389C Topics in Asian History 3 Hours
Studies in various historical periods of different Asian countries or regions. Topics may be comparative or single-area.
ANS 389C.1 Japan Since 1945 3 Hours
ANS 389C.2 War and Defeat in Japanese History and Memory 3 Hours
Interdisciplinary exploration of the Japanese experience and memory of the Pacific War, including topics such as Hiroshima, comfort women, the US occupation, and contemporary controversies surrounding textbooks and the Yasukuni Shrine.
ANS 390 Topics in Asian Studies 3 Hours
Study of various Asian studies-related topics that do not focus on any single geographic region.
ANS 390.10 Anthropology of East Asia 3 Hours
Explore contemporary anthropological research on East Asia, with a focus on a set of broad subjects (money, mobilities, cosmologies, media, etc.), and a consideration of what constitutes "the anthropological approach" to these subjects.
ANS 390.2 Authoritarian Political Systems 3 Hours
Comparative study of authoritarian and totalitarian patterns of government, past and present, Western and non-Western; special emphasis on Communist and Fascist systems.
ANS 390.6 Intellectual History of Indo-Iranian Islam 3 Hours
ANS 390.7 Feminist Theory 3 Hours
ANS 390.8 Asian Modernities 3 Hours
Theory and criticism in the study of Asia, with particular attention to the origins and rise of modern comparative literary and cultural studies.
ANS 390.9 Space and Place-Making In East Asia 3 Hours
Examines developmentalism, postcolonialism, neoliberalism, and compressed modernity in East and Southeast Asia.
ANS 390C Core Readings in Modern East Asia 3 Hours
Various aspects of East Asian history, culture, and society. Designed for new graduate students in the Department of Asian Studies.
ANS 390D The Arabic Humanities 3 Hours
Explore the traditions formed in pre-modern Islamic humanities.
ANS 390E Middle Eastern Modernities 3 Hours
Explore how Arabic literature and thought changed over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries through extended studies of poetry and prose written in Arabic. Examine the relationship of modernity to modernist literature in order to define what modernism means in an Arab/ic context.
ANS 390M Aesthetic Modernism in East Asia 3 Hours
Examines modernist trends in literature and the arts since the early twentieth century in places such as China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Vietnam.
ANS 391 Topics in Asia and the World 3 Hours
Study of various subjects with Asian studies-related content.
ANS 391.1 Comparative Ethnic Conflict 3 Hours
ANS 391.3 European Imperialism: British Empire 3 Hours
Study of the British empire in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
ANS 391.4 Gender, Ethnicity, and Nationalism 3 Hours
ANS 391.6 International Business Fellows Seminar 3 Hours
Multidisciplinary seminar for students in area studies, business administration, law, and public policy. The faculty includes both academics and business leaders.
ANS 391.7 Women in Islamic Societies 3 Hours
ANS 391.8 Sovereignty in Islam: Theory Practice 3 Hours
A historical and comparative survey of the concepts and rituals of sovereignty in Muslim societies across the Middle East, Central Asia, and South Asia, with an emphasis on the pre-modern era.
ANS 391C The Ideas of the East 3 Hours
Examine the significance of the transnational movement of people, ideas, and goods in the process of constructing geocultural categories such as the West, the East, and Asia; and their subcategories such as the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and East Asia.
ANS 391H Ethnographies of Global Asia 3 Hours
Methods and ethnographic study of transnational Asia and the Asian diaspora.
ANS 392 Topics in the Social Science of Asia 3 Hours
Examination of topics relating to the anthropology, sociology, politics, or economics of one or more Asian countries.
ANS 394 Topics in Tools and Methods in Asian Research 3 Hours
Study of the major research tools and methods used in current Asian scholarship.
ANS 395 Proseminar: Core Readings and Methods in Asian Studies 3 Hours
Various theories and methods used in the field of Asian studies, including disciplinary history, controversies, and the diversity of approaches within the field. Designed for new graduate students in the Department of Asian Studies.
ANS 397C, 697C, 997C Comprehensive Examination Preparation 3,6,9 Hours
ANS 698 Thesis 6 Hours
ANS 398L Pedagogy for Language Instruction 3 Hours
Individual instruction in language pedagogy.
ANS 398R Master's Report 3 Hours
Preparation of a report to fulfill the requirement for the master's degree under the report option.
ANS 398T Supervised Teaching in Asian Studies 3 Hours
Teaching under the close supervision of a faculty member. Includes weekly group meetings with the instructor, individual consultation, and reports throughout the teaching period.
ANS 399W, 699W, 999W Dissertation 3,6,9 Hours