Graduate

This course is designed for undergraduate and graduate students who are interested in East Asian languages and in learning or teaching East Asian languages. In this class, we will address significant issues in learning and teaching an East Asian language through key concepts in second language acquisition (SLA) and the analysis of the linguistic characteristics of Korean, Japanese, and Chinese. In particular, we will discuss the internal processes of acquisition to begin addressing the (pedagogical) issues pertinent to teaching and learning specific linguistic structures of the East Asian languages. Hence, each week, students will do readings in SLA as well as academic papers for each language on a given topic. For a comparative approach and perspective of the East Asian language and society, we will explore several linguistic and sociolinguistic issues common to the three languages that underlie the linguistic diversity and similarities of East Asia, such as the use of Chinese characters or the development and use of honorifics in China, Japan, and Korea. Such an approach will also allow us to analyze the language influence and interaction among the three languages and how that shapes the culture, society, and language use. The objectives of this course are as follows: (i) to gain a basic knowledge of the structures of East Asian Languages; (ii) to gain a basic understanding of the key theories and concepts in second language acquisition and teaching methodology; and lastly (iii) to gain new insight on East Asian history, culture, and society through the analysis of Chinese, Korean, and Japanese language.

In this course we will read a number of works by renowned Confucian, Shinto, and the Nativist scholars in Japan's early modern period, while concurrently reading the major historiographical debates about them.  We will also study the social context of these thinkers in which they attempted to define the core of Japan's cultural identity. 

This course introduces the basic narrative and critical discourses of the history of early modern Japan, roughly from 1500 to 1868.  The course examines the emergence of the central power that unified feudal domains and explores processes of social, cultural, and political changes that transformed Japan into a "realm under Heaven."  Some scholars consider early modern Japan as the source of an indigenous birth of capitalism, industrialism, and also of Japan’s current economic vitality, while others see a bleak age of feudal oppression and isolation.  We will explore both sides of the debate and examine the age of many contradictions.

During the winter quarter, students write a paper on defined topic, based on the secondary literature and primary sources studied during the autumn. The seminar meets every week to discuss the progress of each student’s paper.

This course aims to review theories and case studies of regional and inter-regional interaction in the anthropological archaeology literature. The course will examine chronologically important theories and topics in the field, such as interaction sphere, peer polity, circumscription theory, world systems theory, center and peripheries, prestige goods exchange, warfare, colonial encounter, network society, etc. Areas of cases studies discussed in the course include Mesopotamia, Mesoamerica, American Southwest, Central Asia, China, and Southeast Asia. The goal of the course is to establish understanding of the existing theoretical discourse and to provide perspectives from wide geographic scope.    

This seminar is designed to introduce the student to the use of bronze inscriptions in interpreting the history of the Western Zhou dynasty (1045-771 B.C.). While much of the seminar will be spent in attaining the methodological skills necessary to read the inscriptions, historical issues will also be discussed.

This course explores the development and narrative of contemporary Chinese art. Through examining original documentation and analyzing existing narratives and interpretations, students explore the major trends and issues in this art since the late 1970s and reflect on how we tell the story of this art in its domestic and global contexts.

This graduate seminar explores relationships between bodies and boundaries in the context of premodern Japanese cultural production. We will theorize the politics of  embodiment across literary, theatrical, and art historical texts, paying close attention to the ways in which these texts inscribe bodies' movement through space. Emphasis on reading original materials in conjunction with contemporary scholarship on embodiment, performance, and territory in Japanese and English. 

During the winter quarter, students write a paper on defined topic, based on the secondary literature and primary sources studied during the autumn. The seminar meets every week to discuss the progress of each student’s paper.

This course will survey works of Japanese fiction and poetry revolving around issues empire, ranging from the late nineteenth century to the contemporary period. We will also read theoretical works on the problem of imperialism and culture, as well as recent scholarship on the problem of empire in Japanese literature. Advanced reading ability in Japanese is required; a large number of the assigned texts will be in Japanese.