Graduate

This course is an experiment in rethinking what has conventionally been studied and taught as "postwar Japanese culture" as instances of Cold War culture. We will look at celebrated works of fiction, film and popular music from 1945 through 1990, but instead of considering them primarily in relation to the past events of World War Two, we will try to understand them in relation to the unfolding contemporary global situation of the Cold War. Previous coursework on modern Japanese history or culture is helpful, but not required. All course readings will be in English.

This year's course focuses on the martial arts film in Hong Kong cinema, in conjunction with a special quarter-long series on this topic at Doc Films. We will pay particular attention to the wuxia genre, tracing the genealogy of the chivalric code in the Chinese literary and performing tradition, and examining its continuous reinvention in the films of masters like King Hu, Chang Cheh, Bruce Lee, and Tsui Hark. Recurrent issues to be examined include the representation of violence, fantasy, and nationalism; the interplay between body, film style, and technology; the performance of masculinity and femininity; and the complex interactions between the global and local in today's trans-national film culture.

What is gesture and how should we understand the aesthetic and political work it performs? How does technological medium alter the shape and significance of bodily movements? This course takes up gesture as a concept through which to explore the relationship between Performance Studies and Japanese Studies. Through close readings of literary, cinematic, and theoretical texts, we will examine a range of issues related to embodiment in Japanese culture. The centerpiece of the course will be a two-week residency by award-winning choreographer and filmaker Yasuko Yokoshi during which she will engage students as she develops her newest dance composition, which melds Kabuki and ballet. Students will develop skills of performance analysis and critical writing. Readings by Tanizaki, Sontag, Sedwick, Zeami, Lamarre, Berlant, J. Butler, A. Lippit, Kittler, Uchino.

This course uses the robust field of Chinese legal history as a starting point for an examination of how historians have used legal records and documents to write different kinds of historical narratives. We will explore the intersection of law and society in modern China through both primary and secondary texts. While historiographic questions from the China field will arise, the class will also consider legal history ideas more generally. We will engage with debates about the role of civil law: How might more contemporary legal practices be a legacy of law or custom? How do societies' definitions of crime change over time. What role does the law play in shaping social attitudes toward different behavior?

This class examines the history of the Aynu peoples, the indigenous peoples of Japan. Particular focus will be given to their oral histories. Ability to read Japanese a plus but not required.

This quarter we will focus on reading selected tales from Liaozhai zhiyi 聊齋誌異, Pu Songling’s 蒲松齡seventeenth-century masterpiece, using Zhang Youhe’s 張友鶴variorum edition Liaozhai zhiyi huijiao huizhu huiping ben 聊齋誌異會校會注會評本alongside the nineteenth-century glossaries and pingdian 評點commentaries included. Problems to be addressed include how to deal with allusions (diangu) 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. This will culminate in a class anthology of our final translations. The course meets remotely Mon/Wed 11:30-12:50 PM.

E-versions of tales we select for translation in class will be available on canvas.

Throughout this sequence, students read selections 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. Each quarter's specific content varies by instructor. 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.

The Aynu indigenous peoples of Japan have an extensive collection of oral tales that have been collected over the past century. In this course we will read and translate (from Japanese and Aynu originals) into English, various examples of Aynu oral literature. The selections range from everyday tales in the Uwepeker(Talking Tales) genre to the sacred songs of the Aynu Yukar.  Reading ability in Japanese is required.

This graduate seminar confronts the challenges of writing history from the bottom up. Although the syllabus engages heavily with the debates launched by the Subaltern Studies collective, our investigation will not be bounded by any specific regional or temporal focus. Students should feel free to experiment beyond their usual comfort zone in both terms of writing style and or topic. We will consider the theoretical legacies and challenges of postcolonial history writing, the linguistic turn, subaltern studies, and microhistory. The course pays special attention to different ways to grapple with sources and the construction of diverse archives.