Winter

This course examines the varied forms of prostitution and sex work in different societies in East Asia and the Asia Pacific region from the early modern period to the present. Paying close attention to the shifts in the organization of prostitution and sex work, state regulation and societal attitudes, the class explores how prostitution and sex work relates to broader questions of gender, sexuality, labor, family, and the state. This class is both thematic and loosely chronological. We cover prostitution, courtesans and social status in Qing China, Chosǒn Korea, and Tokugawa Japan, state-regulated prostitution in modernizing states in the early twentieth century, military prostitution and sexual violence during WWII and in the postwar period, as well as contemporary forms of sex work and queer sex work in the Asia Pacific. Through an examination of how prostitution was historically situated and regulated in the Asia-Pacific region, we will also engage with theoretical and contemporary debates about sex work. What counts as sex work? Should sex work be considered work or sexual violence? In other words, can sex work be interpreted as exercise of agency by women or is the work inescapably sexually violent and exploitative such that the “choice” to sell sex can never be freely made? How should the state regulate sex work?

This lecture course surveys the history of the island of Taiwan from the 16th through 21st Centuries. Beginning during the period of European mercantile expansion, we explore the successive regimes that have sought to control the island, as well as the historical arguments and narratives that constitute the cultural identity of this diverse and contested place. The course also seeks to understand Taiwan’s place as a seafaring part of the Pacific world and to consider legacies of different layers of colonial encounter. Concluding in the 21st century the course engages with questions of contemporary sovereignty, social movements, political party formation, as well as economic and technological innovation. Students can anticipate reading across disciplinary genres and learning how to develop evidence based historical arguments through brief writing assignments.

This class offers an overview of the history of feminism in China, with a focus on the genres of writing (manifestos, pamphlets, essays, poetry and fiction) and media (journals, posters, zines, digital platforms, hashtags) through which feminist ideas emerged and circulated from the late 19th century to this day. Topics to be discussed include: feminism and the public sphere, feminism and nationalism, the question of women's literature, feminism in the socialist revolution, family laws, feminism and trans and queer rights. No prior knowledge of Chinese is required.  Open to MAPH students.

This course examines the cultural, political, and technological dimensions of digital technologies in East Asia, with a specific focus on digital media. Through readings in media theory, cultural studies, and science and technology studies, as well as screenings and hands-on digital labs, students will explore the intersection between regional histories and the forms and practices of digital culture. Analytical topics include the Internet, platform economies, video games, digital culture, and emerging debates around AI. Alongside theoretical inquiry, the course also introduces digital humanities methods such as text mining, network analysis, and visualization, asking students to critically engage both the media they study and the tools that may be constitutive to new kinds of research projects. By the end of the quarter, students should gain an understanding not only theories and methodologies of digital technologies in general, but also their sociocultural development in the region of East Asia.

China has been in the "post-Mao" era for 50 years (or 48 years, if we take 1978, not 1976, as the turning point) - longer than the Mao or Republican eras (27 and 38 years), respectively). The post-Mao years have seen unprecedented economic growth, the transformation of a predominantly rural into an advanced industrial society, the lifting of millions out of poverty, the formation of a new working class composed of rural migrants and laid-off urban workers, and the rapid rise of inequality. China went through several severe crises: it is easy to forget that in the 1990s, the central government seemed to be losing control over the coastal provinces and observers predicted the imminent breakup of the country. Topics covered include the socialist legacy (state owenership of enterprises, the danwei and hukou system), the events around Mao's death, rural economic reforms (household responsibility system, township and village enterprises), urban reforms (SPecial Economic Zones, new labor laws, privatization), rural-urban migrations and its consequences, the Tiananmen protests, China's accession to the WTO, the 1997 and 2008 financial crises, and the recentralization of economy and society under Xi Jinping. While the focus is on large structural changes in society and economy, we will also discuss changes in gender norms and family life, and cultural change more broadly. All readings will be in English.

This course offers an interdisciplinary introduction to the histories, methodologies, and practices foundational to Korean visual, literary, oral, and performing traditions. Its central concern is how historical overlaps, ruptures, and interactions among diverse media and various cultural origins have shaped Korean artistic and cultural production—and contributed to its contemporary global visibility. The first half surveys Korean history, writing systems, and philosophical thought from ancient to modern periods, organized around the thematic framework of "heaven (ch'ŏn; hanŭl), earth (chi; ttang), and people (in; saram)." This triad has underpinned the Korean vernacular script (han'gŭl), indigenous belief systems, and artistic practices from antiquity to the present. The second half turns to intertwined studies of visual and literary sources ranging from the late Chosŏn period (eighteenth and nineteenth centuries) through the pre-digital contemporary era—the era in which Korea was richly and irrevocably exposed to the world outside. Designed for undergraduate and graduate students with limited or no prior exposure to Korea who wish to incorporate Korean materials into their studies or deepen their understanding of Korean culture, the course requires no prior knowledge of Korea or the Korean language. 

What can a horse tell us about power? In ancient China, horses made empire possible: they carried messages, moved armies, and connected distant frontiers. But horses were not machines. They got sick, died, and sometimes refused to cooperate. The more the state depended on them, the more it faced a basic problem: how do you build reliable power on something alive and unpredictable?  Using manuscripts, legal texts, tomb images, and movies, this course explores how people tried to manage that tension. All primary sources and readings (including excavated manuscripts) will be provided in English or in English translation. No prior background is required.  Graduate enrollment limited to MAPH students only.

The cataclysmic civil war fought during the “Three Kingdoms” period of China (220 – 280 C.E.) inspired one of the richest literary and artistic traditions in world history. For centuries, these events have been used to think about life in all its contradictoriness: exploring honor, brotherhood, violence, and transience. In this class we will read in translation the 17th-century version of the historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguo zhi yanyi), a foundational text of East Asian culture. Part sober chronicle, part thriller, part tactical manual, part lyrical meditation, it variously portrays warfare as something glorious, distasteful, necessary, or entirely pointless. But the “Three Kingdoms” tradition extends far beyond this work. We will read premodern Chinese works retelling this story in poetry, history, hagiography, and drama, and also think about how these texts were transformed into the Three Kingdoms media that now dominate global culture—reading the novel against video games, manga, and web novels from China, Korea, and Japan. No knowledge of Chinese language or culture is required.  Open to MAPH students.

This course explores the cinema of Japanese director Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998). We will screen a number of his best-known films, including "Stray Dog" (1949), "Rashomon" (1950), "Ikiru" (1952), "Seven Samurai" (1954), "High and Low" (1963), and "Ran" (1985). In addition to introducing basic tools of formal analysis of cinema, we will study the historical and cultural context of Kurosawa's filmmaking in postwar Japan, his place in the global history of film discourse, the director's own writings on the theory of cinema, and questions of literary adaptation.

This course registration is by consent only

One of the world’s largest and most populous cities, Tokyo has long captivated the imaginations of Japanese artists, especially ukiyo-e (woodblock print) designers, who returned repeatedly to the tradition of the “100 Views” (hyakkei) of the city in an effort to capture its mystery, majesty, and constant transformations.
This course is related to the planning phase of a special exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. It posits a periodization of Tokyo based around four major ukiyo-e series of “100 Views" from Hiroshige in the 1850s, to Kobayashi Kiyochika's 1876-1882 series in the Meiji period, and continuing on to the “100 Pictures of Great Tokyo in the Showa Era” (Showa dai Tokyo hyakuzue) by Koizumi Kishio (1893-1945), issued from 1927-1940. These prints will allow investigation of the creeping nationalism and rise in imperialism that would characterize the newly expanded “Great Tokyo” (Dai Tokyo) during the 1930s. The course concludes with an examination of a collaborative work entitled “100 Views of Tokyo: Message to the 21st Century” made from 1989-1999, which will allow investigation of new printing techniques, such as lithography and linocuts, as well as the culture and economy of “The Metropolis of Tokyo” (Tokyo-tou) in the post-Bubble era, concluding with Takashi Murakami’s famed commissions for the real estate development Roppongi Hills.