Courses

This is the first year of a three-year probram designed to provide students with a thorough grounding in Modern Japanese. Grammar, idiomatic expressions, and vocubulary are learned through oral work, reading, and writing in and out of class. Daily practice in speaking, listening, reading and writing is crucial. Students should plan to continue their language study through at least the second-year level to make their skills practical. The class meets for fove fifty-minute periods a week.

KORE10100 is the first course of the three Introductory Korean sequences which is designed to build students’ solid foundation in modern Korean language and culture. Students will learn how to read and write in Hangeul (the Korean alphabet) and how to communicate on a variety of daily topics such as self, family, location, food, and daily activities. In order to provide sufficient practice and opportunity to use what has been learned in real life situations, there will be small group practice sessions. In addition, students will be introduced to Korean culture through media, music, and other cultural activities.

This three-quarter sequence introduces the fundamentals of modern Chinese. By the end of the spring quarter, students should have a basic knowledge of Chinese grammar and vocabulary. Listening, speaking, reading, and writing are equally emphasized. Accurate pronunciation is also stressed. A video project is required in spring quarter, which will be entered in the competition for the Chinese Video Project Award. Class meets for five one-hour sessions each week. Additional small group discussions of 40 minutes per week will be arranged. Maximum enrollment for each section is 18. Must be taken for a letter grade. No auditors permitted.

This non-core beginner’s course is specially tailored for students who want to learn a new language in a fun and stress-free way. Compared to core courses, this course is more focused on communication activities with hands-on exercises to automatize and internalize simple basic expressions related to their daily lives. This course will provide students with a strong foundation to start learning the language with confidence and comfort.

KORE 10200 is the second quarter of the Introductory Korean sequences. It is designed to continue to build students’ solid foundation in modern Korean language and culture. Students will learn how to communicate on a variety of familiar topics and how to handle straightforward social situations or transactions. In order to provide sufficient practice and opportunity to use what has been learned in class in real life situations, there will be small group sessions. In addition, the course will introduce students to Korean culture through media, music, and other cultural activities.

Part 2 of this three-quarter sequence introduces the fundamentals of modern Chinese. By the end of the spring quarter, students should have a basic knowledge of Chinese grammar and vocabulary. Listening, speaking, reading, and writing are equally emphasized. Accurate pronunciation is also stressed. A video project is required in spring quarter, which will be entered in the competition for the Chinese Video Project Award. Class meets for five one-hour sessions each week. Additional small group discussions of 40 minutes per week will be arranged. Maximum enrollment for each section is 18. Must be taken for a letter grade. No auditors permitted.

This is the first year of a three-year program designed to provide students with a thorough grounding in Modern Japanese. Grammar, idiomatic expressions, and vocabulary are learned through oral work, reading, and writing in and out of class. Daily practice in speaking, listening, reading and writing is crucial. Students should plan to continue their language study through at least the second-year level to make their skills practical. The class meets for five fifty-minute periods a week.

This non-core beginner’s course is specially tailored for students who want to learn a new language in a fun and stress-free way. Compared to core courses, this course is more focused on communication activities with hands-on exercises to automatize and internalize simple basic expressions related to their daily lives. This course will provide students with a strong foundation to start learning the language with confidence and comfort.

KORE 10300 is the third quarter of the Introductory Korean sequences. It is designed to continue to build students’ solid foundation in modern Korean language and culture. Students will learn how to communicate on a variety of familiar topics and how to handle straightforward social situations or transactions. In order to provide sufficient practice and opportunity to use what has been learned in class in real life situations, there will be small group sessions. In addition, the course will introduce students to Korean culture through media, music, and other cultural activities.

Part 3 of this three-quarter sequence introduces the fundamentals of modern Chinese. By the end of the spring quarter, students should have a basic knowledge of Chinese grammar and vocabulary. Listening, speaking, reading, and writing are equally emphasized. Accurate pronunciation is also stressed. A video project is required in spring quarter, which will be entered in the competition for the Chinese Video Project Award. Class meets for five one-hour sessions each week. Additional small group discussions of 40 minutes per week will be arranged. Maximum enrollment for each section is 18. Must be taken for a letter grade. No auditors permitted.

This is the first year of a three-year program designed to provide students with a thorough grounding in Modern Japanese. Grammar, idiomatic expressions, and vocabulary are learned through oral work, reading, and writing in and out of class. Daily practice in speaking, listening, reading and writing is crucial. Students should plan to continue their language study through at least the second-year level to make their skills practical. The class meets for five fifty-minute periods a week.

This course surveys a variety of scholarly approaches to the study of popular music in East Asia since 1900, including questions of authenticity, gender, media technologies, circulation, and translation. The course will introduce a variety of musical genres from China, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan, ranging from forms considered 'traditional' to contemporary idol and hiphop music.

What is a ghost? How and why are ghosts represented in particular forms in a particular culture at particular historical moments and how do these change as stories travel between cultures? This course will explore the complex meanings, both literal and figurative, of ghosts and the fantastic in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean tales and films. Issues to be explored include: 1) the relationship between the supernatural, gender, and sexuality; 2) the confrontation with death and mortality;  4) the visualization of "invisible" ghosts and the uncanny in film; 5) responses to ecological and political trauma.

Part 1 of this three-quarter sequence introduces the fundamentals of modern Chinese to bilingual speakers. Bilingual Speakers are those who can speak Chinese but do not know how to read or write. By the end of the spring quarter, students should have a basic knowledge of Chinese grammar and vocabulary. Listening, speaking, reading, and writing are equally emphasized. Accurate pronunciation is also stressed. A video project is required in spring quarter, which will be entered in the competition for the Chinese Video Project Award. Class meets for three one-hour sessions each week MWF. Must be taken for a letter grade. No auditors permitted.

Part 2 of this three-quarter sequence introduces the fundamentals of modern Chinese to bilingual speakers. Bilingual Speakers are those who can speak Chinese but do not know how to read or write. By the end of the spring quarter, students should have a basic knowledge of Chinese grammar and vocabulary. Listening, speaking, reading, and writing are equally emphasized. Accurate pronunciation is also stressed. A video project is required in spring quarter, which will be entered in the competition for the Chinese Video Project Award. Class meets for three one-hour sessions each week MWF.

Part 3 of this three-quarter sequence introduces the fundamentals of modern Chinese to bilingual speakers. Bilingual Speakers are those who can speak Chinese but do not know how to read or write. By the end of the spring quarter, students should have a basic knowledge of Chinese grammar and vocabulary. Listening, speaking, reading, and writing are equally emphasized. Accurate pronunciation is also stressed. A video project is required in spring quarter, which will be entered in the competition for the Chinese Video Project Award. Class meets for three one-hour sessions each week MWF.

From K-pop and K-drama to K-beauty, “Korea” is spreading across the world as a brand through popular culture.However, Korean popular culture’s heterogeneous forms and styles, varying responses to different sociopolitical stakes, and constant negotiations with global agents demonstrate the need to think critically about the use of “Korea” as a category or a method. This introductory level course aims to recognize and address this issue by examining a selection of materials including film, television, literature, music and fashion from the 20th and 21st centuries that are associated with Korea. While gaining knowledge of Korea’s modernization and developing an understanding of popular culture’s involvement in and reflection of society, students will put Korea at the center to reassess the various traditions and contentions in global popular culture. All required readings will be in English and all viewing materials will be available with English subtitles. Undergraduate students of every level and major with an interest in Korea or film and media more broadly are welcome.

What can the world’s earliest known pottery shards tell us about human survival and creativity? How was earliest Chinese writing invented and used? Why were thousands of life-sized soldiers (Terracotta Army) buried in silence beneath the earth near Xi’an? This course introduces students to the archaeology of China, from the Neolithic period (c. 8000 BCE) to the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE). Over the course of the term, we will examine current stage of archaeological research while surveying major sites, artifacts, and architectural remains to explore key aspects of culture, society, and history in early China. A class visit to the Art Institute of Chicago will offer students the opportunity to engage directly with objects from the periods we study.  Beyond cataloging discoveries, the course challenges students to critically examine how archaeology constructs narratives of the past—and how those narratives are reinterpreted over time. With a touch on antiquarianism and the impact of modern archaeology in the Chinese context, we will explore how the ancient past has been used as a symbolic resource by people in the past and the present—elites, antiquarians, the state, archaeologists, and ourselves.  Prior knowledge of Chinese language or history is not required.

What is comedy, where is comedy, and to what end? This course foregrounds the function of comedy as a critical lens on and political catalyst for social change. We will explore how comedy and laughter emerge across both media and location, centering on Mainland Chinese moving image history. Rather than studying “China” and “comedy” as pre-established entities that then interact, the course investigates how area, genre, and media each come into being through their dynamic relations.

Each week centers on theoretical readings that conceptualize the functional definition of comedy and/or media. These readings are paired with primary texts ranging from films and animation, to television shows and Internet shorts, organized chronologically from the early 20th century onwards. By the end of the course, students will have learned to (1) identify and engage a genealogy of Chinese comedy in moving image media, (2) articulate intricate relationships among area, genre, and media, and (3) produce their own critical position on the global-situated sociopolitical functions of comedy.

This course explores the multifarious entanglements between shamanism—as a religious phenomenon, as an anthropological imaginary, and as a mode of existence—and global modernity. How did shamanism as a concept emerge in the age of colonial expansion and ethnological racialization, how did it affect modernity's understanding of human history, and how do shamanic (dis)articulations of historicity, personhood, sexuality, trauma, translation, and the "nature/culture divide" intervene in modernity's politics? In contemplating these questions, we will consider a variety of "shamanic" artworks ranging from shamanic liturgies to travelogues, music recordings, film, performance art, contemporary literature, and beyond. We will attend both to the spiritual worlds of the "original" shamans of Northeast Asia (through texts from the Evenki, Khakas, Manchu, Tuvan, and other Siberian languages) and to a much broader corpora of (Anglophone, Chinese, German, Greco-Roman, Indigeneous American, Japanese, Tibetan, etc.) works that can be generatively thought of as shamanic in some way. In doing so, we will reflect on the limitations and powers possessed by the figure of the shaman in various broader contexts, both in the history of ideas and in the contemporary world.

JAPN 20100 continues to work on building a solid foundation for basic Japanese language skills while preparing students to progress to an Intermediate level. The emphasis on the spoken language gradually shifts toward reading and writing in JAPN 20200 and 20300, but spoken Japanese continues to be enriched throughout the sequence. Students at this level will be able to handle successfully a variety of uncomplicated communicative tasks in straightforward social situations. The class meets for five fifty-minute sessions each week, conducted mostly in Japanese. All courses in this sequence must be taken for a quality grade. No auditors permitted.

Part 1 of this sequence aims to enhance students' reading, listening, speaking, and writing skills by dealing with topics at an intermediate linguistic level. In addition to mastering the content of the textbook, students are required to complete two language projects each quarter. Chinese computing skills are also taught. Class meets for five one-hour sessions each week.

The emphasis on spoken language in the first half of the course gradually shifts toward reading and writing in the latter half. The course is conducted mostly in Japanese and meets for five fifty-minute periods a week.

Part 2 of this sequence aims to enhance students' reading, listening, speaking, and writing skills by dealing with topics at an intermediate linguistic level. In addition to mastering the content of the textbook, students are required to complete two language projects each quarter. Chinese computing skills are also taught. Class meets for five one-hour sessions each week.

Part 3 of this sequence aims to enhance students' reading, listening, speaking, and writing skills by dealing with topics at an intermediate linguistic level. In addition to mastering the content of the textbook, students are required to complete two language projects each quarter. Chinese computing skills are also taught. Class meets for five one-hour sessions each week.

The emphasis on spoken language in the first half of the course gradually shifts toward reading and writing in the latter half. The course is conducted mostly in Japanese and meets for five fifty-minute periods a week.

For both graduates and undergraduates. The goal of this sequence is to help students develop advanced proficiency in reading, listening, speaking, and writing. This sequence emphasizes more advanced grammatical structures, and requires discussion in Chinese on topics relevant to modern China. Over the course of this sequence, the emphasis will shift to authentic Chinese texts in an effort to better prepare students to deal with original Chinese source materials. Class meets for five one-hour sessions each week.

For both graduates and undergraduates. The goal of this sequence is to help students develop advanced proficiency in reading, listening, speaking, and writing. This sequence emphasizes more advanced grammatical structures, and requires discussion in Chinese on topics relevant to modern China. Over the course of this sequence, the emphasis will shift to authentic Chinese texts in an effort to better prepare students to deal with original Chinese source materials. Class meets for five one-hour sessions each week.

The goal is to help students learn to understand authentic written and spoken materials with reasonable ease and to solidify the grammar, vocabulary and kanji foundation built during the students’ study at Elementary and Intermediate Modern Japanese levels. Students will expand their four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, and writing) as well as the socio-cultural knowledge they need for communication, thereby easing their transition into Advanced Japanese. The class meets for three eighty-minute sessions each week. All courses in this sequence must be taken for a quality grade. No auditors permitted.

The goal of this sequence is to help students develop advanced proficiency in reading, listening, speaking, and writing. This sequence emphasizes more advanced grammatical structures, and requires discussion in Chinese on topics relevant to modern China. Over the course of this sequence, the emphasis will shift to authentic Chinese texts in an effort to better prepare students to deal with orginal Chinese source materials. Class meets for five one-hour sessions each week.

The goal of this sequence is to help students develop advanced proficiency in reading, listening, speaking, and writing. This sequence emphasizes more advanced grammatical structures, and requires discussion in Chinese on topics relevant to modern China. Over the course of this sequence, the emphasis will shift to authentic Chinese texts in an effort to better prepare students to deal with orginal Chinese source materials. Class meets for five one-hour sessions each week.

The third year marks the end of the basic modern language study. Our goal is to help students learn to understand authentic written and spoken materials with reasonable ease. The texts are all authentic materials with some study aids. Classes conducted in Japanese. The class meets for three eighty-minute sessions a week. All courses in this sequence must be taken for a quality grade.

The third year marks the end of the basic modern language study. The purpose of the course is to help students learn to understand authentic written and spoken materials with reasonable ease. The texts are all authentic materials with some study aids. All work in Japanese. The class meets for three eighty-minute periods a week.

The goal of this sequence is to help students develop advanced proficiency in reading, listening, speaking, and writing. This sequence emphasizes more advanced grammatical structures, and requires discussion in Chinese on topics relevant to modern China. Over the course of this sequence, the emphasis will shift to authentic Chinese texts in an effort to better prepare students to deal with orginal Chinese source materials. Class meets for five one-hour sessions each week.

The goal of this sequence is to help students develop advanced proficiency in reading, listening, speaking, and writing. This sequence emphasizes more advanced grammatical structures, and requires discussion in Chinese on topics relevant to modern China. Over the course of this sequence, the emphasis will shift to authentic Chinese texts in an effort to better prepare students to deal with orginal Chinese source materials. Class meets for five one-hour sessions each week.

Open to both graduate and undergraduate students. This sequence introduces a range of essays by journalists and scholars on Chinese cultural and social issues after 2001. Students will not only expand their vocabulary and knowledge of grammatical structures, but also learn sophisticated speaking and writing skills through intensive readings and discussions. Class meets for three one-hour sessions each week. Additional two one-to-one tutorial sessions during the quarter will be arranged for each student to prepare for their language projects.

Open to both graduate and undergraduate students. This sequence introduces a range of essays by journalists and scholars on Chinese cultural and social issues after 2001. Students will not only expand their vocabulary and knowledge of grammatical structures, but also learn sophisticated speaking and writing skills through intensive readings and discussions. Class meets for three one-hour sessions each week. Additional two one-to-one tutorial sessions during the quarter will be arranged for each student to prepare for their language projects.

This sequence introduces a range of influential literary works and scholarly essays on Chinese cultural and social issues from the 1920s to the 1990s. Students will not only expand their vocabulary and knowledge of grammatical structures, but also learn sophisticated speaking and writing skills through intensive readings and discussions. Class meets for three one-hour sessions each week.

This sequence introduces a range of influential literary works and scholarly essays on Chinese cultural and social issues from the 1920s to the 1990s. Students will not only expand their vocabulary and knowledge of grammatical structures, but also learn sophisticated speaking and writing skills through intensive readings and discussions. Class meets for three one-hour sessions each week.

This sequence introduces a range of influential literary works and scholarly essays on Chinese cultural and social issues from the 1920s to the 1990s. Students will not only expand their vocabulary and knowledge of grammatical structures, but also learn sophisticated speaking and writing skills through intensive readings and discussions. Class meets for three one-hour sessions each week..

This sequence introduces a range of influential literary works and scholarly essays on Chinese cultural and social issues from the 1920s to the 1990s. Students will not only expand their vocabulary and knowledge of grammatical structures, but also learn sophisticated speaking and writing skills through intensive readings and discussions. Class meets for three one-hour sessions each week.

This course is intended to improve Japanese reading, speaking, writing, and listening ability to the advanced low level as measured by the ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) Proficiency Guidelines. Weekly assignments require students to tackle modern Japanese texts of varying length and difficulty. Organized around a range of thought-provoking themes, reading assignments include academic theses, literary texts, and popular journalism. After each reading, students are encouraged to discuss the topic in class and are required to write their own thoughts on each reading along with a summary. The class meets for two eighty-minute sessions each week.

This course is open to students who have previously taken fourth year modern Chinese or who are placed into this level. The goal of this course is to help learners get an in-depth knowledge on Chinese culture, society, and history, to further develop students literary reading and writing skills in Chinese, and to help students master the skills of writing Chinese essays on a wide variety of topics. This course will use films and television shows as basic content. Students get the opportunity to view different genres of films. Formal expressions, Chinese grammar patterns and sentence structures for advanced level language learning will be introduced. Learners at this level are expected to be able to participate in discussions on various topics and be able to explain in detail and narrate with accuracy. They are also expected to demonstrate the ability to write on different topics by meeting the academic writing needs.  Class meets for three one-hour sessions each week. 

Open to both grads and undergrads. This course is designed to prepare students for academic research and activities in Chinese language environment. Besides selected influential Chinese articles, TV and Radio broadcast will be also included among the teaching materials. Students will learn not only general skills of listening and reading but also speaking and writing skill in academic style through the teaching materials and instructor-guided language projects. Class meets for three one-hour sessions each week. Additional two one-to-one tutorial sessions during the quarter will be arranged for each student to prepare for their language projects.

Open to both grads and undergrads. This course is to help learners get an in-depth knowledge on Chinese culture, society and history, to further develop students literary reading and writing skills in Chinese, and to help students master the skills of writing Chinese essays on a wide variety of topics. This course will use Chinese literature as basic content. Students get the opportunity to view different genres of literature including short stories, poems and proses. Learners at this level are expected to be able to participate in discussions on various topics and be able to explain in detail and narrate with accuracy. They are also expected to demonstrate the ability to write on different topics by meeting the academic writing needs. Class meets for three one-hour sessions each week. 

Open to both grads and undergrads. This sequence is designed to prepare students for academic research and activities in a Chinese language environment. Modern classic essays, documentary film and TV broadcasts will be included among the teaching materials. Students will learn not only general listening, speaking, and reading skills but also academic writing. Class meets for three one-hour sessions each week. Students can arrange two additional one-on-one sessions to prepare for assigned language projects.

Open to both grads and undergrads. The course is to help learners get an in-depth knowledge on Chinese culture, society and history, to further develop students literary reading and writing skills in Chinese, and to help students master the skills of writing Chinese essays on a wide variety of topics. This course will mainly discuss issues happening in contemporary China. Learners at this level are expected to be able to participate in discussions on various topics and be able to explain in detail and narrate with accuracy. They are also expected to demonstrate the ability to write on different topics by meeting the academic writing needs. Class meets for three one-hour sessions each week. 

This course is intended to improve Japanese reading, speaking, writing, and listening ability to the advanced low level as measured by the ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) Proficiency Guidelines. Weekly assignments require students to tackle modern Japanese texts of varying length and difficulty. Organized around a range of thought-provoking themes, reading assignments include academic theses, literary texts, and popular journalism. After each reading, students are encouraged to discuss the topic in class and are required to write their own thoughts on each reading along with a summary.

KORE 21100 is designed for the students who aim to improve their speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills to an advanced level. This course will focus on enhancing speed, accuracy, and comprehension in advanced listening and reading of authentic texts (such as newspaper articles, essays, poems, reports etc.) as well as the refinement of writing skills in various styles. Students will also discuss social and cultural issues in Korea using their analytic skills and knowledge acquired in class.

This three-quarter sequence is intended for bilingual/heritage speakers of Mandarin Chinese. Paralleled with the Intermediate sequence for non-heritage speakers, the goal of this sequence is to further develop students’ reading, speaking, and writing skills by dealing with topics in personal settings and some academic or professional settings. Upon completing this sequence, students are expected to pass the Practical Proficiency Test to earn a certificate on their transcript. The class meets for three one-hour sessions a week.

This three-quarter sequence is intended for bilingual/heritage speakers of Mandarin Chinese. Paralleled with the Intermediate sequence for non-heritage speakers, the goal of this sequence is to further develop students’ reading, speaking, and writing skills by dealing with topics in personal settings and some academic or professional settings. Upon completing this sequence, students are expected to pass the Practical Proficiency Test to earn a certificate on their transcript. The class meets for three one-hour sessions a week.

This three-quarter sequence is intended for bilingual/heritage speakers of Mandarin Chinese. Paralleled with the Intermediate sequence for non-heritage speakers, the goal of this sequence is to further develop students’ reading, speaking, and writing skills by dealing with topics in personal settings and some academic or professional settings. Upon completing this sequence, students are expected to pass the Practical Proficiency Test to earn a certificate on their transcript. The class meets for three one-hour sessions a week.

This course presumes that to describe what is normal in human culture, premodern and modern, we can observe how one culture’s monsters and marvels define the abnormal. The history of monsters and marvels in China, Japan, and Korea is explored on several levels: indigenous constructions of monsters and marvels in each culture; cross-influences among the three cultures; the place of monsters and marvels in everyday life; their religious and political significance; and their influence in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean aesthetic products—literature, visual and plastic arts, and performance. The focus is premodern with an eye to modern revivals in East Asia and globally.

This course introduces readings from a wide selection of written styles including journalistic pieces, college-level textbooks and literary prose. The class focuses on exercises in reading comprehension and discussions on various topics/issues related to contemporary Korea. Some audio and videotapes (e.g., televised news programs, movies, and dramas) will be used in order to improve the students' capacity in advanced Korean. Classes are conducted in Korean and meet for eighty-minute periods two times a week.

For graduates and advanced undergraduates. This course introduces readings from a wide selection of written styles including journalistic pieces, college-level textbooks and literary prose. The class focuses on exercises in reading comprehension and discussions on various topics/issues related to contemporary Korea. Some audio and videotapes (e.g., televised news programs, movies, and dramas) will be used in order to improve the students' capacity in advanced Korean. Classes are conducted in Korean and meet for eighty-minute periods two times a week.

This course introduces readings from a wide selection of written styles including journalistic pieces, college-level textbooks and literary prose. The class focuses on exercises in reading comprehension and discussions on various topics/issues related to contemporary Korea. Some audio and videotapes (e.g., televised news programs, movies, and dramas) will be used in order to improve the students' capacity in advanced Korean. Classes are conducted in Koran and meet for eighty-minute periods two times a week.

This three-quarter series are intended for bilingual speakers of Chinese who already have intermediate level ability to understand and speak mandarin Chinese in daily communication, although they may have some accent or some difficulty using the language in formal settings. While all the communicative skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing will be trained in CHIN23100, the emphasis will be on standard Mandarin pronunciation, discourse level discussion on topics about modern China , and advanced reading and writing. The class meets for three one-hour sessions a week.

This course explores Korea’s many diasporas in the twentieth century. What factors shaped twentieth-century Korean migration? How were individuals and families impacted by their diasporic contexts? We will examine migration trajectories from Korea to other parts of the Asia-Pacific, to Europe, and to the Americas, tracing the historical processes of colonization, war, marriage migration, international adoption, and labor migration. We will also engage with questions of citizenship, identity, and memory. Readings will include a range of primary sources such as personal letters, diaries, interviews, and artwork, as well as selected excerpts from literature and film. By the end of the course, students will have a deeper understanding of the diversity of experiences within Korea’s twentieth-century diasporas.

This course introduces students to sociological approaches to the study of culture, using K-pop (South Korean popular music) as a central case. The course draws from a wide repertoire of disciplines, with a thematic focus on gender and labor and a methodological focus on qualitative methods. Such a design helps students understand the analytical power of different approaches while developing their own sensibilities toward theorizing and researching popular culture from a sociological standpoint. The first half of the course covers foundational frameworks such as the production of culture perspective, art worlds, and field theory, while the latter half engages with newer topics including fandom, branding, aesthetic labor/socialization, celebrity, and platforms. The course does not assume prior knowledge of sociology or K-pop, although they are welcome. Students will be expected to post weekly reflections on the readings, which will eventually help them develop a research proposal or a short research paper. The course will be generally helpful to those interested in sociology of culture or K-pop/Korean popular culture, but it will be especially well-suited for students who are considering a B.A. thesis or want to conduct a pilot study before embarking on a larger project.

Experience the rich cultural heritage of Tibet through this immersive course exploring three fundamental aspects of Tibetan civilization. Students will study traditional Tibetan thangka painting, learning the techniques and symbolism behind these intricate religious artworks. The culinary portion introduces traditional dishes like momos (dumplings), Tsampa (roasted barley flour), and butter tea, along with their cultural significance and preparation methods. In calligraphy sessions, students practice the 3 distinctive Tibetan scripts used in Tibetan Buddhist texts, mastering the basic strokes and letter formations of this ancient writing system.

Open to both grads and undergrads. This course is designed to prepare students for academic research and activities in Chinese language environment. Besides selected influential Chinese articles, TV and Radio broadcast will be also included among the teaching materials. Students will learn not only general skills of listening and reading but also speaking and writing skill in academic style through the teaching materials and instructor-guided language projects. Class meets for three one-hour sessions each week. Additional two one-to-one tutorial sessions during the quarter will be arranged for each student to prepare for their language projects.

KORE 21200 is the second quarter of the Fourth-Year Modern Korean sequences. It is designed to continue to improve students’ speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills to an advanced level. This course will be focusing on enhancing speed, accuracy, and comprehension in advanced listening and reading of authentic texts (such as interviews, movies, novels, essays, reports, etc.) as well as the refinement of writing skills in various styles. Students will also discuss social, cultural, and political issues in Korea using their analytic skills and knowledge acquired in class.

In KORE 21300, students will learn basic principles, methods, and techniques in translation and apply appropriate strategies and methods to the practice and description of translation. Students will watch pre- recorded lecture videos, complete their weekly translation assignments (Korean to English and English to Korean), and participate in group or individual sessions to discuss their translation works. Students will also choose a literary work or a text of their own choice for their final translation project. The materials covered in this class include medical guidelines, campaign flyers, newspaper articles, reports, brochures, resume, business/academic emails, and editorials.

This course aims to provide a comprehensive social science perspective on contemporary China. Here, contemporary Chinese society is loosely defined as the society that emerged after the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949. The course takes an interdisciplinary approach, incorporating readings from various social science disciplines, including history, sociology, political science, anthropology, economics, and law.

This course investigates literary strategies in China through which material things are depicted and animated. Our emphasis will be on reading primary sources about objects up through the 18th century, but we’ll also incorporate approaches from anthropology, the history of material culture and technology, and art history in a comparative context.  Genres to be covered include the ode on things, the it-biography, tales of the strange, the vernacular novel, handbooks for connoisseurs and collectors, paintings, illustrated books, and decorative objects.Some previous background in Chinese literature, history, or art history would be helpful but is not required. All materials will be available in English but students with classical Chinese will be encouraged to read materials in the original when feasible.  

This course is designed to explore the notion of “global China” and examine its role and impact in
global society. China’s increasing presence concerns not only its economic power and massive
investments in the Global South, but also its growing cultural, social, and religious influence—its socalled
soft power in the world. This course will look at major scholarly discussions of Chinese global
engagements from both historical and contemporary perspectives to explore how we can advance an
understanding of global China that is no longer restricted to a nation-state framework, or to a linear
or singular approach. By combining theoretical discussion with ethnographic studies on diaspora,
migration, Chinese capital, soft power, race, and racism in global Chinese contexts, the course will
offer useful frameworks and perspectives for raising critical inquiries and tackling cutting-edge issues
related to global China. By the end of the course, the students will develop their own research
subject on a topic that is related to global China; write a thorough literature review on their chosen
topic; and present their research to the class.

Natsume Sōseki (1867-1916) is often celebrated as modern Japan's greatest novelist. This course will cover several of his major novels, as well his short stories and works of literary theory, looking at questions of selfhood, gender, property ownership, and empire. We will also look at critical studies of Sōseki from Japan and elsewhere. All readings will be available in English.

In this course, we will survey Western Sinologists' major works concerning early Chinese civilization, from the nineteenth century through the end of the twentieth century. Each week we will consider one or two major scholars who have contributed to our contemporary understanding of ancient China, reading one or more of their representative works. Scholars to be considered will include James Legge, Marcel Granet, Henri Maspero, Bernhard Karlgren, Herrlee Creel, Peter Boodberg, A.C. Graham, K.C. Chang, Noel Barnard, David Keightley, and Michael Loewe. All readings will be in English. Students will also be expected to select one scholar not treated in the course, to make a class presentation and to write a term-paper introducing the scholar and his contributions to the field.

In this course, we will survey contemporary Western Sinologists' major works concerning early Chinese civilization. For each class we will consider one major scholar who has contributed to our understanding of ancient China, reading one or more of their representative works. Scholars to be considered may include Roger Ames, Sarah Allan, William Baxter, Erica Brindley, Constance Cook, Scott Cook, Lothar von Falkenhausen, Paul Goldin, Marc Kalinowski, Maria Khayutina, Donald Harper, Martin Kern, Mark Lewis, Li Feng, John Major, Dirk Meyer, Michael Nylan, Yuri Pines, Michael Puett, David Schaberg, Roel Sterckx, Wu Hung, and Robin Yates, though not necessarily in that order. All readings will be in English. Students will also be expected to select one scholar not treated in the course, to make a class presentation and to write a term-paper introducing the scholar and her contributions to the field

This course will consist of close readings, in Classical Chinese, of commentarial expansions on the Yijing (Zhouyi) developing its ontological, metaphysical, cosmological, epistemological and ethical implications. Readings will include some or all of the following: the “Ten Wings” (including the “Xicizhuan”), the works of Wang Bi, Han Kangbo, Wei Boyang, Dongshan Liangjie, Shao Yong, Zhang Boduan, Zhou Dunyi, Zhang Zai, Cheng Yi, Zhu Xi, Wang Fuzhi, Ouyi Zhixu, and Liu Yiming. PQ: Proficiency in Classical Chinese required. 

In an era of globalization and rapid technological innovation, “adaptations” are becoming increasingly widespread and diverse. In addition to discussions of an adapted work’s fidelity to the prior material, this advanced seminar aims to develop multiple approaches to adaptation by conceptualizing it as a process of negotiating with changes across time, space and medium. By examining a variety of selected materials including poems, short stories, novels, films, theater performances, TV series, animations, webtoons, online games and short form videos from or about East Asia, students will practice analyzing a cultural product’s narrative and form in relation to the sociopolitical contexts of its production, circulation and reception. In the course of the semester, students will de-Westernize adaptation studies while generating nuanced understandings of Korea, China, and Japan as relational constructs emerging as a result of negotiating with other cultures and wielding various technologies. All required readings will be in English, either originally or in translation, and all viewing materials will be available with English subtitles. This seminar is open to graduate students in East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Cinema and Media Studies, and the Master of Arts Program in the Humanities. Advanced undergraduate students can apply to join the course by submitting a paragraph-length description of their knowledge and experience with East Asian culture or film and media studies.

Each week will focus on a particular sense or sensation (sound, touch, horror, wonder, etc.) in works of premodern Japanese theater and fiction, paying particular attention to performance (broadly defined to include noh, kabuki, and puppet theater as well as comic storytelling and spectacle shows) as a public site for the exploration of intimacy and alienation, the circulation of feelings, and the staging of somatic difference. Considering, for example, anti-theatrical bias and discourses of contagion, scenes of possession and physical transformation, and the psychologizing of emotion and the senses, the course will engage with theories of embodiment, emotions, disability, and wonder. All readings will be available in English.

This course will explore the philosophical doctrines of classical Tiantai Buddhism and their extensions and reconfigurations as developed in the ideas of later thinkers, both Tiantai and non-Tiantai, both Buddhist and non-Buddhist. Readings will be drawn from the classical Tiantai thinkers Zhiyi, Zhanran and Zhili, followed by writings of early Chinese Chan Buddhism, Japanese Tendai “Original Enlightenment” thought, Kamakura Buddhist reformers including Dōgen, Nichiren and Shinran, the 20th century Confucian Mou Zongsan, and contemporary Anglophone “Neo-Tiantai” thinking.

Following FDR’s Executive Order 9066 and the forced incarceration of Japanese Americans, Chicago’s Japanese American population exploded beginning in 1943 when the wartime internment camps began to release internees deemed sufficiently ‘loyal’ on the condition that they not reside on the West Coast. More than 20,000 former internees settled in Chicago, creating new communities that persisted for decades with their own institutions and cultural practices—often in the face of racial discrimination, economic hardship, and continuing Cold War suspicions of ‘disloyalty.’ This course traces the history of this local community in terms of questions of collective and individual memory and cultural imagination. With a focus on visual culture (photography, painting, and motion pictures), musical practice, fiction and poetry, and oral history, we will explore the complex legacies of both the prewar and postwar Chicago Japanese American communities, including their alliances and conflicts with other marginalized groups and with more recent immigrants from Japan and elsewhere.

The course is a systematic introduction to pre-modern and early-modern texts written in classical Japanese (bungo or kogo), the standard written language in Japan up to the beginning of the twentieth century. We will learn and absorb the fundamentals of classical Japanese grammar and engage with some of the core grammatical problematics of the language. Throughout the course students will gain a firm foundation in how the language is constructed, increase their comprehension of the language’s vocabulary, and will familiarize themselves with original texts in prose and poetry alike, including narrative fiction (monogatari), anecdotes (setsuwa), essays (zuihitsu), and traditional Japanese poems (waka). The goal is to acquire a firm foundation in the classical language and to be able to read pre-modern texts with the help of a dictionary, for the purpose of academic research.

The course is a systematic introduction to pre-modern and early-modern texts written in classical Japanese (bungo or kogo), the standard written language in Japan up to the beginning of the twentieth century. We will learn and absorb the fundamentals of classical Japanese grammar and engage with some of the core grammatical problematics of the language. Throughout the course students will gain a firm foundation in how the language is constructed, increase their comprehension of the language’s vocabulary, and will familiarize themselves with original texts in prose and poetry alike, including narrative fiction (monogatari), anecdotes (setsuwa), essays (zuihitsu), and traditional Japanese poems (waka). The goal is to acquire a firm foundation in the classical language and to be able to read pre-modern texts with the help of a dictionary, for the purpose of academic research.

The course is a systematic introduction to pre-modern and early-modern texts written in classical Japanese (bungo or kogo), the standard written language in Japan up to the beginning of the twentieth century. We will learn and absorb the fundamentals of classical Japanese grammar and engage with some of the core grammatical problematics of the language. Throughout the course students will gain a firm foundation in how the language is constructed, increase their comprehension of the language’s vocabulary, and will familiarize themselves with original texts in prose and poetry alike, including narrative fiction (monogatari), anecdotes (setsuwa), essays (zuihitsu), and traditional Japanese poems (waka). The goal is to acquire a firm foundation in the classical language and to be able to read pre-modern texts with the help of a dictionary, for the purpose of academic research.

This course will explore contemplative practices from nontheistic thinkers and traditions that focus on the experience of timelessness, and the relationship of these practices to each system’s conception of time, experience, knowledge, suffering, beauty and beatitude. Readings will be drawn from the works of Plotinus, Spinoza, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Bergson, Santayana, Tiantai Buddhism, and Dōgen.

This class will trace the emergence of the vernacular short story as a new genre in the late Ming and early Qing. We will focus on the seventeenth-century story collections of Feng Menglong, Ling Mengchu, Aina Jushi, and Li Yu, whose stories map the social whole of late imperial China—from merchant schemes to courtesan romances, from the friendships of students to the follies of emperors. Alongside close readings of selected stories, we will examine the structure, sources, and publication histories of these collections and locate them in a broader discussion of the meanings and functions of vernacular literature. All readings in English, though students with Chinese reading ability will be encouraged to read the original texts.

This seminar examines a selection of modern and contemporary Korean fiction in dialogue with East Asian and Western literary traditions and critical theory. Students analyze how Korean literature engages with and can be interpreted through literary movements and theoretical frameworks developed in other contexts, while exploring its distinctive characteristics.  Through these investigations, the course explores how linguistic, cultural, geopolitical, and ethnic factors—along with readers' individual perspectives—shape the reading experience and understanding of concepts like "national literature," "world literature," and "global literature," and ultimately, the nature of literature itself. While all required readings will be available in English, students who can read Korean are encouraged to engage with original texts at their level of proficiency.

What happened to Peking Man? Where did rice cultivation begin and who made the first pottery? Why were hoards of bronzes buried and what were they used for? This course will explore themes such as the origins of humans, the beginning of agriculture, early villages and cities, metal technology, ancient writing systems, and the rise of states and civilizations in East Asia. It will also discuss the current state of archaeological research in Asia, and the role of archaeology in nation building and modern geopolitics. The rich resources available in the museums of Chicago will also be explored.

This course is intended to improve Japanese reading, speaking, writing, and listening ability to the advanced low level as measured by the ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) Proficiency Guidelines. Weekly assignments require students to tackle modern Japanese texts of varying length and difficulty. Organized around a range of thought-provoking themes, reading assignments include academic theses, literary texts, and popular journalism. After each reading, students are encouraged to discuss the topic in class and are required to write their own thoughts on each reading along with a summary. The class meets for two eighty-minute sessions each week.

Selected readings in pre-modern Chinese literature from the first millennium B.C.E. to the end of the imperial period. The course covers important works in topics ranging from philosophy, history and religion to poetry, fiction and drama. Specific content varies by instructor.

Selected readings in pre-modern Chinese literature from the first millennium B.C.E. to the end of the imperial period. The course covers important works in topics ranging from philosophy, history and religion to poetry, fiction and drama. Specific content varies by instructor.

This quarter we will read selected tales from Liaozhai zhiyi 聊齋誌異, Pu Songling's蒲松齡seventeenth-century masterpiece. Problems to be addressed include how to deal with allusions (diangu 典故) and engage with period/ individual style in literary Chinese. We will work on not only understanding the meaning of the text but also on producing stage by stage polished English translations.

The seminar topic is the formation of Warring States correlative thought as evidenced by excavated manuscripts, with focus on the Tsinghua University looted Warring States bamboo-slip manuscript "Wuji" 五紀 (Five structural strands)

China's first discovery of ancient texts in a tomb took place in 279 CE, in Ji Commandery, near Weihui County in present-day northeastern Henan province. Although the tomb was opened by tomb-robbers, most of the bamboo-slip texts that had been placed in the tomb were preserved and transported to the Western Jin capital at Luoyang, where they were edited by a committee of high-ranking scholars. The texts, including especially the Mu tianzi zhuan (Biography of the Son of Heaven Mu) and the Zhushu jinian (Bamboo Annals), were an immediate sensation, and were cited and quoted for centuries thereafter, much in the way that discoveries of ancient manuscripts today have stimulated great interest. With the experience gained from editing these new discoveries of ancient manuscripts, it is an opportune moment to turn our attention anew to this first discovery of manuscripts and to try to reconstruct both the editorial process to which they were subjected and also the original structure of the texts themselves.

This will be a two-quarter course. We will begin with a consideration of the tomb, its robbing, and the work done to edit the texts. We will then move on to consider the texts themselves. In the first term, we will focus on the Mu tianzi zhuan. Then in the second term, we will move on to the Zhushu jinian.

This course is designed for students aiming to advance their Korean proficiency through close reading and analysis of selected texts from Korean short stories and novels. Students will engage in discussions, compositions, and presentations to critically reflect on these works. By exploring themes such as love, gender, family, human rights, and relationships, the course offers deeper insights into the customs, values, and beliefs that shape Korean society and culture, as well as the universal human experiences conveyed through literature.

This course examines the operation and consequences of censorship in the Japanese Empire, with focus on those of colonial Korea. The Japanese authorities’ repressive measures and the Korean responses to them exhibit both general characteristics of censorship and distinctively colonial ones. With a larger goal of exploring the relationship between censorship practices and legacies in modern East Asia, it studies the institutions, the human agents, and texts produced by censors as well as by writers, stressing the need of a comparative understanding of censorship. In addressing the institutional aspects of censorship and the reactions by journalists and writers, the course pursues two main objectives. The first aim is to examine the workings and impact of prepublication censorship in particular, one that shaped the journalistic culture of colonial Korea. Secondly, the class seeks a better understanding of censorship-inflected textual matters, not only in terms of the sites of censorship but also in regard to the strategies of counter-censorship, which may or may not be visually inscribed on the printed texts.

Anyang is one of the most important archaeological sites in China. The discoveries of inscribed oracle bones, the royal cemetery, clusters of palatial structures, and industrial-scale craft production precincts have all established that the site was indeed the last capital of the Shang dynasty recorded in traditional historiography. With almost continuous excavations since the late 1920s, work at Anyang has in many ways shaped and defined Chinese archaeology and the study of Early Bronze Age China.  This course intends to examine the history of research, important archaeological finds, and the role of Anyang studies in the field of Chinese archaeology. While the emphasis is on archaeological finds and the related research, this course will also attempt to define Anyang in the modern social and cultural contexts in terms of world heritage, national and local identity, and the looting and illegal trade of antiquities.

This graduate seminar examines key English-language scholarship on Korean film and media from the recent decade. The goal is to cultivate critical insight into the theoretical frameworks, critical debates and historical inquiries of this evolving field. Core readings will include major monographs and edited collections, alongside select critical essays as well as relevant film and media objects.

This graduate seminar examines key English-language scholarship on Korean film and media from the recent decade. The goal is to cultivate critical insight into the theoretical frameworks, critical debates and historical inquiries of this evolving field. Core readings will include major monographs and edited collections, alongside select critical essays as well as relevant film and media objects.

With the long tradition of Chinese archaeology, archaeological monographs and site reports have become the primary source for studying ancient China, from the Paleolithic, the Neolithic, to the Bronze Age and the Late Imperial period. Thanks to the scale and the intensity of archaeological operations across China, tens if not hundreds of new titles are published each year. As a genre, archaeological site reports are supposed to describe excavated data in an objective, descriptive, and scientific way. But are archaeological site reports truly "objective"? How do we “read between the lines” and identify and discover the important information hidden in the seemingly dry and tedious details?  This course is designed for students to read and analyze Chinese archaeological site reports for the information and the hidden and underlying theoretical approaches. Site reports included in the course are selected both for the importance of the finds and for the approaches taken to reflect the history and the practice of Chinese archaeology.

This course examines key texts from antiquity through the 18th century related to music and sound. “Literature” is construed broadly to include the many genres in which music or sound play a principle part: philosophical and scientific essays; anecdotes, biographies, and tales; poems and informal essays; songbooks, formularies, and scores; encyclopedias and manuals. The course will be organized historically and thematically. Some of the issues we hope to investigate: the role of music in ritual and governance; theories of the voice and sound production; the translation of sound into words, and what is lost and gained; the pictorial representation of sound and listening; the relation between music and emotion; the social roles of musicians and entertainers; and the cultural significance of musical instruments.

This discussion-based course aims to familiarize EALC PhD students with different aspects of the academic profession. Topics include research methodologies and library resources, coursework and qualifying exams, the dissertation process, teaching and class design, journal publishing, and the academic job search. We will also discuss the history of Area Studies and its future directions. Required for all EALC PhD students.

The course will review anthropological literature and case studies of craft production and craft specialization in ancient civilizations. It also takes a multi-disciplinary approach by adopting perspectives developed in history and art history. Topics discussed in the course include organization of production, craft production and the elite, chaîne opératoire, status and identity of artisans, and political economy and craft production. Students are expected to become familiar with prevalent theoretical discussions and are encouraged to apply, adopt, or revise them in order to analyze examples of craft production of their own choice.