2014-2015 Catalog

CHIN 10100-10200-10300. Elementary Modern Chinese I-II-III.

This three-quarter sequence introduces the fundamentals of modern Chinese. By the end of 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. In Spring Quarter, students are required to submit a video project for the Chinese Video Project Award. The class meets for five one-hour sessions a week. A drill session with the TA is held one hour a week in addition to scheduled class time. All courses in this sequence must be taken for a quality grade. No auditors permitted. Two sections.

CHIN 11100-11200-11300. First-Year Chinese for Bilingual Speakers I-II-III.

This three-quarter series is intended for bilingual speakers of Chinese. Our objectives include teaching students standard pronunciation and basic skills in reading and writing, while broadening their communication skills for a wider range of contexts and functions. The class meets for three one-hour sessions a week. Consultation with instructor encouraged prior to enrollment. All courses in this sequence must be taken for a quality grade.

CHIN 20100-20200-20300. Intermediate Modern Chinese I-II-III.

The goal of this sequence is 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. The class meets for five one-hour sessions a week. All courses in this sequence must be taken for a quality grade. No auditors permitted. Two sections.

CHIN 20401-20402-20403. Advanced Modern Chinese I-II-III.

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. We begin with discussion in Chinese on topics relevant to modern China and then shift to authentic Chinese texts in an effort to better prepare students to deal with original Chinese source materials. Discussion in Chinese required. The class meets for five one-hour sessions a week.

CHIN 20501-20502-20503. Fourth-Year Modern Chinese I-II-III.

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 not only expand their vocabulary and knowledge of grammatical structures but also learn sophisticated speaking and writing skills through intensive readings and discussions. The class meets for three one-hour sessions a week.

CHIN 20508-20509-20510. Readings in Literary Chinese I-II-III.

Readings in Literary Chinese I-II-III

CHIN 20601-20602-20603. Fifth-Year Modern Chinese I-II-III.

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 tutorial sessions to prepare for assigned language projects.

CHIN 20701-20702-20703. Business Chinese I-II-III.

This three-quarter sequence aims at improving overall language skills and introduces business terminology. Students learn about companies and their services and/or products, the stock market, real estate market, insurance, and e-commerce. The class meets for three ninety-minute sessions a week.

CHIN 20800-20900-21000. Elementary Literary Chinese I-II-III.

This sequence introduces the basic grammar of the written Chinese language from the time of the Confucian Analects to the literary movements at the beginning of the twentieth century. Students will read original texts of genres that include philosophy, memorials, and historical narratives. Spring Quarter is devoted exclusively to reading poetry. The class meets for two eighty-minute sessions a week. All courses in this sequence must be taken for a quality grade.

CHIN 21100-21200-21300. Accelerated Modern Chinese for Bilingual Speakers I-II-III.

This three-quarter sequence offers texts from both Intermediate Modern Chinese (CHIN 20100-20200-20300) and Advanced Modern Chinese (CHIN 30100-30200-30300). Our goal is to help bilingual students further develop listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. Extensive reading is encouraged, and writing is strongly emphasized. The class meets for five one-hour sessions a week.

JAPN 10100-10200-10300. Elementary Modern Japanese I-II-III.

This is the first year of a three-year program, which is intended 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 sessions a week. All courses in this sequence must be taken for a quality grade. No auditors permitted.

JAPN 19000. Introduction to Classical Japanese. 100 Units.

Introduction to the grammar and style of premodern Japanese through a variety of literary texts. Emphasis will be placed on extensive grammatical analysis and translation. Work with original manuscripts will also be introduced as the course progresses. 

Instructor(s): R. Jackson     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Three years modern Japanese or consent of instructor
Note(s): Not Offered 2014-5
Equivalent Course(s): EALC 19001,JAPN 39000

JAPN 20100-20200-20300. Intermediate Modern Japanese I-II-III.

The emphasis on spoken language in the first half of the course gradually shifts toward reading and writing in the latter half. Classes conducted mostly in Japanese. The class meets for five fifty-minute sessions a week. All courses in this sequence must be taken for a quality grade. No auditors permitted.

JAPN 20401-20402-20403. Advanced Modern Japanese I-II-III.

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.

JAPN 20500-20600-20700. Fourth-Year Modern Japanese I-II-III.

This course is intended to improve Japanese reading, speaking, writing, and listening ability to the advanced high 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 (from brain death and organ transplants to Japanese values on work and religion), reading assignments include academic theses in psychology and anthropology, literary texts, and popular journalism. After each reading, students are encouraged to discuss the topic in class. Videos/DVDs are used to improve listening comprehension skills. There are also writing assignments. The class meets for two eighty-minute sessions a week.

JAPN 21200-21300. Intermediate Modern Japanese through Japanimation I-II.

This course focuses on learning spoken Japanese that is aimed at native speakers. Our goals are to get students accustomed to that sort of authentic Japanese and to enable them to speak with high fluency. To keep the balance, writing and reading materials are provided. Students are encouraged to watch videos and practice their speaking.

KORE 10100-10200-10300. Introduction to the Korean Language I-II-III.

This introductory course is designed to provide a basic foundation in modern Korean language and culture by focusing on the balanced development of the four basic language skills of speaking, listening comprehension, reading, and writing. Students in KORE 10100 begin by learning the complete Korean writing system (Hangul), which is followed by lessons focusing on basic conversational skills and grammatical structures. To provide sufficient opportunities to apply what has been learned in class, there are small group drill sessions, weekly Korean television drama screenings, and a number of other cultural activities (e.g., Korean New Year’s game competitions). The class meets for five fifty-minute sessions a week. All courses in this sequence must be taken for a quality grade.

KORE 20100-20200-20300. Intermediate Korean I-II-III.

As a continuation of KORE 10100-10200-10300, this course is intended to continue to build on students’ language skills with an emphasis on enhancing the speaking ability, presentational skills, composition writing skills, and usage of more complex constructions. Approximately 150 Chinese characters are introduced for the achievement of basic literacy and vocabulary expansion. The curriculum also includes media, authentic reading materials, and weekly Korean language table meetings to maximize cultural exposure and opportunities to apply Korean language skills in real life situations. The class meets for five fifty-minute sessions a week. All courses in this sequence must be taken for a quality grade.

KORE 20401-20402-20403. Advanced Korean I-II-III.

This course introduces a wide selection of authentic reading materials from Korean newspaper articles, college-level textbooks, and literary prose as an entry point to discuss topics and issues in Korean society, culture, and history. The primary objective is further enhancement of advanced reading comprehension, composition writing, and presentational skills. In addition, Chinese character (Hanja) lessons are incorporated into each lesson with the purpose of expanding vocabulary to the advanced level. The class meets for two eighty-minute sessions a week. All courses in this sequence must be taken for a quality grade.

KORE 22100. Korean Contemporary TV and Language. 100 Units.

KORE 42100 is a content-based language course designed to meet the needs of high-advanced level students of Korean, including international/heritage language students who have studied in Korea up to the primary school levels. We study and analyze genres of Korean TV programs on the internet (e.g., such dramas as soap operas and sitcoms, entertainment talk shows, children's shows, news programs). Main discussion topics are sociolinguistics and socio-cultural issues (e.g., speech levels, honorifics and address terms, language and gender, pragmatics and speech acts, language and nationalism).

Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): KORE 30300 or equivalent, or consent of instructor.
Equivalent Course(s): KORE 42100

KORE 22200. Contemporary Korean Society and History through Fiction and Film. 100 Units.

KORE 42200 is a content-based language course designed to meet the needs of high-advanced level students of Korean, including international/heritage language students who have studied in Korea up to the primary school levels. We analyze cultural and historical issues in contemporary Korea through four contemporary short novels and related film and media. Other goals are to foster fluency, accuracy, and comprehension in reading authentic contemporary texts, as well as advancing language skills for formal presentation, discussion, and writing.

Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): KORE 30300 or equivalent, or consent of instructor.
Equivalent Course(s): KORE 42200

KORE 22300. Changing Identity of Contemporary Korean through Film and Literature. 100 Units.

KORE 42300 is a content-based language course designed to meet the needs of high-advanced level students of Korean, including international/heritage language students who have studied in Korea up to the primary school levels. In particular, we deal with how contemporary Korean society can be understood through the diverse perspectives of emergent minority groups. Topics include Korean language and identity, gender and sexuality, and Korea as a multi-ethnic society. Class activities include watching contemporary films featuring minorities in Korea. We also read essays written by minorities (e.g., Korean-Japanese, Russian-Korean) and Korean social activists. Student are encouraged to foster their own views on contemporary social issues through diverse activities of discussion, debate, presentation, and writing.

Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): KORE 30300 or equivalent or equivalent or consent of instructor
Equivalent Course(s): KORE 42300

EALC 10800-10900-11000-15400. Introduction to the Civilizations of East Asia I-II-III-IV.

This sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies. This is a sequence on the civilizations of China, Japan, and Korea, with emphasis on major transformation in these cultures and societies from the Middle Ages to the present.

EALC 16100. Art of Asia: China. 100 Units.

This course is an introduction to the arts of China focusing on major monuments and artworks produced in imperial, aristocratic, literati, religious, and public milieus. Lectures will reconstruct the functions and the meanings of objects, to better understand Chinese culture through the objects it produced.

Instructor(s): Wu Hung     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): Students must attend first class to confirm enrollment. For nonmajors, any ARTH 14000 through 16999 course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts.
Equivalent Course(s): ARTH 16100

EALC 16600. Introduction to South Korean Cinema: Gender, Politics, History. 100 Units.

This undergraduate course examines the cinematic representation of modern Korean history, politics, and gender in South Korean films, aiming to establish a comprehensive understanding of Korean film history from its early stage to its contemporary global recognition. While proceeding chronologically, we will interrogate key problematic subjects in South Korean cinema such as gender politics, the discourse of modernity, the representation of historical and political events, and practices of film culture and industry. The film texts examined in this course include not only break-though masterpieces of prominent film auteurs but also popular genre films that enjoyed box-office success. Through these examples, we will examine how the most influential art form in South Korea has recognized, interpreted, and resolved current societal issues through creative endeavor. The course also seeks to establish a balance between understanding Korean cinema as both a reservoir of historical memory and as an example of evolving world cinema. Being presented with methodological issues from film studies in each week’s film reading, including the question of archives, national cinema discourse, feminist film theory, auteurism, and genre studies, students in this course will learn to analyze Korean filmic texts not only as a way to understand the particularity of Korean cinema and history but also as a frontier of cinematic language in the broader film history.

Instructor(s): H. Park     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): All the materials are available in English and no knowledge of Korean language is required.
Equivalent Course(s): CMST 24620,GNSE 16610

EALC 16806. Arts of Japan. 100 Units.

This course surveys the arts of the Japanese archipelago through the study of selected major sites and artifacts. We will consider objects in their original contexts and in the course of transmission and reinterpretation across space and time. How did Japanese visual culture develop in the interaction with objects and ideas from China, Korea, and the West? Prehistoric artifacts, the Buddhist temple, imperial court culture, the narrative handscroll, the tea ceremony, folding screens, and woodblock prints are among the topics covered.

Instructor(s): C. Foxwell     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): Students must attend first class to confirm enrollment. This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts.
Equivalent Course(s): ARTH 16800

EALC 19000. Early Modern Japanese History. 100 Units.

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.

Instructor(s): N. Toyosawa     Terms Offered: Spring 2015
Equivalent Course(s): EALC 39900,HIST 24112,HIST 34112

EALC 19001. Introduction to Classical Japanese. 100 Units.

Introduction to the grammar and style of premodern Japanese through a variety of literary texts. Emphasis will be placed on extensive grammatical analysis and translation. Work with original manuscripts will also be introduced as the course progresses. 

Instructor(s): R. Jackson     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Three years modern Japanese or consent of instructor
Note(s): Not Offered 2014-5
Equivalent Course(s): JAPN 19000,JAPN 39000

EALC 19025. Autobiographical Narratives in Modern China: Fiction, Diary, Autobiography, and Memoir. 100 Units.

Autobiographical writings have thrived in modern China. Why this is the case and what engaging in the writing of autobiographical narratives has meant at different times in the history of twentieth-century China are among the questions that this course intends to address. In the attempt to contextualize and historicize autobiography as a mode of expression and a socio-cultural phenomenon, we will reflect on how autobiography signifies, to whom, and its consequences on mechanisms of subjectivity formation in the context of China’s modernization and nation-state building process. We will examine autobiographies, real and fictional diaries, fiction, and memoirs written by Chinese intellectuals/writers, from the late 1910s up to the late 1980s, to interrogate in what ways these forms qualify as autobiographical narratives and what they have achieved in China. Theoretical and scholarly studies on autobiography and diary, among others, will help orient our discussions toward issues of gender, space, time, and performativity. All the texts will be in English, however, those who have linguistic competence in Chinese will be encouraged to work with the material in the original language, when possible.

Instructor(s): D. Licandro     Terms Offered: Spring

EALC 19800. History of Ancient China. 100 Units.

This course will survey the history of China from the late Shang dynasty (c. 1200 B.C.) through the end of the Qin dynasty (207 B.C.). We will explore both traditional and recently unearthed sources, and will take a multi-disciplinary approach.

Instructor(s): E. Shaughnessy     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): EALC 39800

EALC 19909. History of Chinese Theater. 100 Units.

This course covers the history of Chinese theater from its emergence as a full-fledged art form in the 10th to 11th centuries (the Northern Song) up through its incorporation into modern urban life and nationalist discourse in the first decades of the 20th century (the Republican period). In addition to reading selections from masterpieces of Chinese dramatic literature such as Orphan of Zhao, Romance of the Western Chamber, and The Peony Pavilion, we will pay particular attention to the different types of venues, occasions, and performance practices associated with different genres of opera at different moments in time. A central theme will be the changing status of the entertainer and the cultural meanings assigned to acting. All texts to be read in English translation.

Instructor(s): J. Zeitlin     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): An additional graduate session may be offered weekly or biweekly if there is sufficient demand.
Equivalent Course(s): TAPS 28454

EALC 22031. Scholars and Society in Early Modern Japan. 100 Units.

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.  Prior knowledge of early modern Japanese history is recommended.

Instructor(s): N. Toyosawa     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Prior knowledge of early modern Japanese history is recommended.

EALC 22322. Society, Empire, and the Law in East Asia, c. 1700-1950s. Units.

This course examines dynamic interactions between law and society in China, Japan, and Korea from 1700 through 1950s. The course deals with law as a realm of high politics especially in an age of nineteenth-century imperialism and colonialism, but it focuses on family and communal relations, gender and sexuality, and crime and punishment in relations to law because these topics can highlight not only theoretical discussions of law in domestic and international politics but also down-to-earth practices of law and societal implications that followed them. To consider the historically rich experiences of law in East Asian societies, we engage with a body of scholarly works on these topics, actual codes and cases, and novels and films. The aim of the course is to help us to understand how significantly East Asia has had its own local experiences of law that were simultaneously entangled with Western legal thoughts and practices in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. All readings are available in English.

Instructor(s): Ishikawa     Terms Offered: Spring

EALC 22500. The Rise of Writing in East Asia. 100 Units.

This course will survey the uses to which writing was put in China during the period 1200–200 BC and then, more briefly, in Japan during the period AD 600–900. We will be concerned both with the mechanics of writing itself and with its role in society. The survey will be broken into four discrete topics: the invention of writing in China, the nature of the Chinese script, the uses to which writing was put during its first thousand years in China, and early writing in Korea and Japan. All reading will be in English, though some knowledge of an East Asian language will be useful.

Instructor(s): E. Shaughnessy     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): EALC 32500

EALC 24312. Korean War, Family and Generational Difference under Division. 100 Units.

This course examines a selection of literary and cinematic texts that engage with the Korean War and the various political, ideological, and cultural divisions that occurred against the backdrop of the Cold War. The thematic focus of the course is placed on the family as an institution and experience, as well as the generational differences with which the war, division, and family matters were experienced. We will discuss texts with a view to exploring the formative and derivative effects of the war and its divisions upon the individual self-fashioning amidst disasters, crises, and unavoidable dilemmas. Discussion will pay special attention to the ways in which the dynamics between the trope of family, a rhetorically unifying force, and the effects of generational difference, an often divisive factor, reinforced and/or challenged the conventional ideological discourses on the Korean War and Korea’s various divisions. All the film and literary texts chosen for the course have English translation/English subtitles.

Instructor(s): K. Choi     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): EALC 34312

EALC 24500. Reading Qing Documents. 100 Units.

Reading and discussion of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century historical political documents, including such forms as memorials, decrees, local gazetteers, diplomatic communications, essays, and the like.

Instructor(s): G. Alitto     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 24500,HIST 34500,EALC 34500

EALC 24608. Chinese Social History, Eighteenth to the Twenty-First Century. 100 Units.

This class provides an overview of major developments in Chinese social history from the high Qing period (roughly the eighteenth century) until very recent times. It focuses on the lives of “ordinary people,” especially in the countryside, where over 80 percent of China’s population lived until roughly 1980, and over 40 percent still live today. Topics include family organization, relations between the generations, and gender roles; property rights, class relations, and their implications for economic activity; the nature of village communities and their relationship to political/legal authority; migration, frontier settlement, and changes in ethnic and national identity; twentieth-century urbanization, consumerism, and changing notions of the individual; and collective protest, violence, and revolution. A secondary theme is more theoretical: what is it possible to know about the lives of people who left few records of their own, and how do we evaluate what are often, inevitably, thinly documented claims? The class format will include a lot of lecture, but mixed with both in-class and online discussion. No background knowledge is required.

Instructor(s): K. Pomeranz     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 24607,CRES 24607

EALC 24803. Histories in Japan. 100 Units.

An examination of the discipline of history as practiced in Japan from ancient times to the modern. Readings in translation of works such as the Kojiki, Okagami, Taiheiki, and others will be used to explore both the Japanese past and the manner of interpretation of that past.

Instructor(s): J. Ketelaar     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 24803,HIST 34803,EALC 34803

EALC 24808. Twentieth-Century China. 100 Units.

This lecture and discussion course surveys twentieth-century China through recurring themes or evolving media. Students should expect to understand key historical turning points during the course of the century, as well as to grapple with these events through a thematic lens. Successful students will move adeptly between the broad narrative and the narrower theme when approaching the readings for discussion section. In spring 2014 the course looked at the century through great trials. Possible future themes include the novel, reform and revolution, human rights, local and national social movements, dissent and expression, gender and the Communist revolution.

Instructor(s): J. Ransmeier     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Due to overlapping themes, HIST 24807 is not open to students who previously took HIST 24306.
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 24807

EALC 24930. Delinquent Cinemas in Japan. 100 Units.

This course examines Japanese film history from the perspective of youth: films made for, about, and by young people. Starting with 1933’s Dragnet Girl and moving through 2003’s Bright Future, we will study a wide range of films dealing with juvenile delinquency and ask how the bad boys and girls of the screen reflect and embody the sociocultural crises, ideological debates, and aesthetic aspirations of their times. Young people have long been the Japanese film industry’s largest (and most economically important) demographic group. The ways in which young characters are used to hail, edify, and/or entertain their counterparts in the audience will be closely considered. Readings will mostly be secondary scholarship, but where appropriate we will address contemporaneous fiction and non-fiction texts as well. All readings are in English and available on Chalk. No prior Japanese or cinema studies background required.

Instructor(s): R. Davis     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): CMST 24914

EALC 24950. Fictions of Selfhood in Modern Japanese Literature. 100 Units.

As Japanese leaders in the mid-19th century faced the threat of colonization at the hands of the Western powers, they launched a project to achieve “Civilization and Enlightenment,” quickly transforming Japan into a global power that possessed its own empire. In the process fiction became a site for both political engagement and retreat. A civilized country, it was argued, was supposed to boast “literature” as one of its Fine Arts. This literature was charged with representing the inner life of its characters, doing so in a modern national language that was supposed to be a transparent medium of communication. Between the 1880s and the early 1900s, a new language, new literary techniques, and a new set of ideologies were constructed to produce the “self” in novels and short stories. As soon as these new practices were developed, however, they became the objects of parody and ironic deconstruction. Reading key literary texts from the 1880s through the 1930s, as well as recent scholarship, this course will re-trace this historical and literary unfolding, paying special attention to the relationship between language and subjectivity. All readings will be in English.

Instructor(s): M. Bourdaghs     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): Limit: 25
Equivalent Course(s): EALC 34950

EALC 25009. Comparative Modernisms: China and India in the Modern Literary World. 100 Units.

This course takes a comparative approach to the literary term “modernism.” Instead of reading the term as originating in the West and subsequently travelling to the East, we will explore modernism as a plural and globally constituted literary practice. In doing so, we will also challenge the literary and real categories of “East” and “West.” Reading the roles and imaginations of China, North India, and the (differentiated) West in a variety of texts, we will question the aesthetics and politics of representation, of dynamic cultural exchange, and of the global individual in the modern literary world. Through novels, short stories, poetry, and theoretical orientations, we will conduct close readings and develop working definitions of cross-cultural comparative modernisms. Contributing to recent interest in China-India relationships, this course also aims to uncover new dialogues between Chinese and Indian writers during the modern period. Literary readings include E.M. Forster, Franz Kafka, Lu Xun, Yu Dafu, Premchand, Nirmal Verma, among others. We will also consider the theoretical works of Fredric Jameson, Edward Said, and Georg Lukacs, and others. All readings will be in English.

Instructor(s): A. Mangalagiri     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): CMLT 25009,SALC 27300

EALC 25600. Gender and Modernity in Colonial Korea. 100 Units.

No knowledge of Korean language required. This course deals with literary, journalistic, and visual texts produced in and about colonial Korea with a view to exploring the construction of masculinity and feminity in the context of colonial modernity, colonialism, and nationalism from other national and racial contexts.

Instructor(s): K. Choi     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): EALC 35600,GNSE 25600,GNSE 35600

EALC 26001. Anyang: History of Research of the Last Shang Dynasty Capital. 100 Units.

Anyang, or Yinxu, the ruins of Yin, 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 in the field of Chinese archaeology. While the emphasis is on the archaeological finds and research, this course nonetheless stresses an interdisciplinary approach by reviewing, in addition, scholarly works in art history and epigraphy. The course will also examine Anyang in the modern social and cultural contexts in terms of world heritage, national and local identity, and the looting and illicit trade of antiquities.

Instructor(s): Li     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): Undergrads must consult instructor.
Equivalent Course(s): EALC 36001

EALC 26300. Medicine in Traditional China. 100 Units.

Survey of medical ideas and practices in premodern China

Instructor(s): D. Harper     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): Undergraduates only

EALC 26601. East Asian Languages, Acquisition and Pedagogy. 100 Units.

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.

Instructor(s): H. Kim     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): EALC 36601,LING 29601,LING 39601

EALC 26613. Literature and Public Intellectuals in Twentieth-Century Korea. 100 Units.

Korean intellectuals played a leading role in the rapid transformation of twentieth-century Korean society, and literature provided a crucial space for conveying their thoughts, as well as their social and political imagination. The grave consciousness of social responsibility weighing on their shoulders in particular has been a significant subject of literature and has been often reproduced in popular culture as well. This course examines major works of Korean literature with a focus on two of the most distinctive groups—writers and university students. By doing so, this course explores the history of Korean intellectuals and their interactions with the public, as well as basic literary and cultural concepts in modern Korea. Along with literary works, films, TV dramas, newspaper and journal articles, and visual images, related scholarly works are also explored in order to help our understanding of the historical and cultural context. The main topics of discussion in class range from Korea’s historical events of colonization and decolonization, collaboration and conversion, and the democratization movement and anti-Americanism, to broader theoretical issues, including the Sartrean idea of engaged literature, and global discussions regarding (post)colonialism and intellectuals. All materials are available in English and no previous knowledge of Korean language or literature is necessary.

Instructor(s): J. Kim     Terms Offered: Spring

EALC 26707. Modern Chinese Art in a Global Context. 100 Units.

This course will explore the ways in which Chinese artists have defined modernity and tradition against the complex background of China’s history from the late nineteenth century to the 1970s. We will study modern Chinese art through the lenses of social and cultural history as well as cross-border comparison. A key issue for this art is the degree to which Chinese artists chose to adopt or adapt Western conventions and the extent to which they rejected them. Equally legitimate positions have been taken by artists whose work actively opposes the legacy of the past and by those who pursued innovations based upon their particular understandings of the Chinese tradition. Through examining art works in different media, including oil painting, graphic design, woodblock prints, traditional ink painting, photography, and architecture, along with other documentary materials including theoretical writing, bibliographical and institutional data, we will investigate the most compelling of the multiple realities that Chinese artists have constructed for themselves.

Instructor(s): Yanfei. Zhu     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): ARTH 26707,ARTH 36707,EALC 36707

EALC 27014. Voices from the Iron House: Lu Xun’s Works. 100 Units.

An exploration of the writings of Lu Xun (1881–1936), widely considered the greatest Chinese writer of the past century. We will read short stories, essays, prose poetry, and personal letters against the backdrop of the political and cultural upheavals of early 20th century China and in dialogue with important English-language scholarly works.

Instructor(s): P. Iovene     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): CMLT 27014,CMLT 37014,EALC 37014,FNDL 21907

EALC 27105. Concentrator's Seminar: Issues in East Asian Civilization. 100 Units.

This seminar (required for all East Asian majors) is intended to expose students to the different disciplines and areas represented in the study of East Asia at the University of Chicago. Students should take this chance to meet fellow majors in the various areas of East Asian studies and to familiarize themselves with the work of faculty members. Third-year students should be already thinking about finding a topic and a faculty advisor for a senior thesis. Conventionally, the Concentrators Seminar is organized around a theme. The goal of this interdisciplinary seminar is to expose students to a range of important problems and methods across time and space in the study of China, Japan, and Korea. Guest lecturers and reading assigned by different University of Chicago faculty members are an integral part of the course. Students work on an individual research project tailored to their own interests, which they may subsequently develop into a BA paper. This course is offered every year; however the quarter may change.

Instructor(s): H. Long     Terms Offered: Winter

EALC 27420. Divinity and Femininity: Women's Religious Lives in Pre-modern China. 100 Units.

This course focuses on the religious lives of women in pre-modern China, beginning with the female deities that women may have worshipped and transitioning into the acts of piety that demonstrated their dedication. In translation, we will read popular religious texts, excerpts of novels about women, and scholarship on the goddesses and their worshippers. Throughout this course, we will come back to questions such as: What space did religion provide for women in traditional Chinese society?  What unique experiences did women bring to religious devotion, and how did religion address their concerns?  How do we examine the relationship between religious practices and social structures? All course readings will be in English translation, and no prior background is required.

Instructor(s): K. Alexander     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): GNSE 27420

EALC 29500-29600. Senior Thesis Tutorial I-II.

One quarter of this sequence may be counted for credit in the major.

EALC 29704. The Objects of East Asian History. 100 Units.

The collections of Japanese and Chinese objects in the Field Museum will be examined as a case study in museum and collection research. Assembled in the 1950s by Commander Gilbert and Katherine Boone, the Boone Collection includes over three thousand Japanese objects. Individual objects will be examined, not only for religious, aesthetic, cultural, and historical issues, but also for what they tell us of the collections and of museum and collections studies in general. The course is also timed to coincide with the reinstallation of the museum's Chinese galleries. The course will be co-taught by Chelsea Foxwell from Art History and James Ketelaar from History, and will include methods and texts from both disciplines. Several study trips will be made to the storage rooms of the Field Museum during class time.

Instructor(s): C. Foxwell, J. Ketelaar     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): ARTH 29704,ARTH 39704,EALC 39704,HIST 24603,HIST 34603