In this seminar we will take a closer look at the prints, paintings, and illustrated books produced in the genre known as "ukiyo-e," the "pictures of the floating world." We'll begin by asking how the "Great Wave" became a global icon and we'll bust the myth of prints being used as wrapping paper. As we learn the history of the genre, from 1600 to ca. 1850, we'll also make critical interventions into that narrative, asking how "ukiyo-e" became a genre within a larger artistic sphere; how publishers collaborated with designers to construct artistic personae; how illustrated books contributed to knowledge formations; and how concepts of authenticity and authorship remain critical to its understanding. Taught online, this course will also consider how internet resources affect our understanding of the work of art. Students need not have any Japanese language skills, but should have taken related courses in art history or East Asian Studies. Advanced undergraduates and graduate students preferred.

How do people make sense of the multiple experiences that the simple words "love" and "loss" imply? How do they express their thoughts and feelings to one another? In this course, we will explore some means Japanese culture has found to grapple with these events and sensations. We will also see how these culturally sanctioned frameworks have shaped the ways Japanese view love and loss. Our materials will sample the literary tradition of Japan from earliest times to the early modern and even modern periods. Close readings of a diverse group of texts, including poetry, narrative, theater, and the related arts of calligraphy, painting, and music will structure our inquiry. The class will take an expedition to nearby Woodlands Cemetery to experience poetry in nature. By the end of the course, you should be able to appreciate texts that differ slightly in their value systems, linguistic expressions, and aesthetic sensibilities from those that you may already know. Among the available project work that you may select, if you have basic Japanese, is learning to read a literary manga. All shared class material is in English translation. Research in an East Asian language required for graduate credit.

This course offers a thematic introduction to the history of martial arts in China. Throughout the semester, we will explore the social, political, and cultural contexts of martial arts practice, from the classical period to the 21st century. The course will take an interdisciplinary approach to situating martial arts practices in history through an examination of religious, literary, and visual sources, against the backdrop of theoretical approaches from across gender studies, anthropology, and cultural theory. The course will be divided into three units. The first unit will focus on the cultural background that led to the emergence of martial arts practices in the pre-modern period. We will examine classical discourses on the human body and its cultivation and the role of medical practices and religious institutions, such as the Shaolin Temple, in the development of martial arts regimens. In the second unit, we will discuss the spread and popularization of martial arts practices in late imperial and modern Chinese society through a close reading of literary sources, such as wuxia novels and other works of fiction. In addition, we will explore the modernization and re-invention of martial arts in the late 19th and early 20th century, when China attempts to re-establish itself as a modern nation. The third and final unit will be devoted to the global impact of Chinese martial arts in contemporary popular culture. Through a discussion and analysis of Kung Fu films, as well as video games, we will explore the role of martial arts narratives and practices in the construction of gender, cultural, and national identity and the various ways in which they are used by the current Chinese regime to assert its influence in the global arena. No knowledge of Chinese is presumed, and all readings will be available in English on the Canvas website in PDF form. Graduate students may take this course as EALC536 and should see the instructor to discuss requirements for graduate credit.

This course will survey recent scholarship on East Asian diplomacy from the sixteenth century to the present. We will engage several fundamental debates about the relationship between China, Japan, Korea and the outer world and introduce not only orthodox diplomatic analyses but also newer approaches to modern China, Japan and Korea by international and global historians.

This course will survey recent scholarship on East Asian diplomacy from the sixteenth century to the present. We will engage several fundamental debates about the relationship between China, Japan, Korea and the outer world and introduce not only orthodox diplomatic analyses but also newer approaches to modern China, Japan and Korea by international and global historians.

This class is intended for new graduate students and upper-division undergraduates with some prerequisites who wish to get a solid grounding in the study of Inner Asia. The class will introduce Inner Asia as a coherent civilizational network, focusing on: 1) the steppe-imperial tradition; 2) the Tibetan-rite Buddhist commonwealth that developed from the Tibetan and Mongol empires; and 3) the increasing integration of these two Inner Asian civilizational patterns with that of imperial China. There will also be some consideration of the Islamic Turco-Mongolian synthesis that developed in the post-Mongol period. Regionally, the class introduce: 1) core Inner Asia (the Mongolian plateau, the Tarim Basin, the Tibetan plateau, the Manchuria) and 2) the main dynasties of China that formed in the Mongolia and Manchuria (Liao, Jin, Yuan and Qing). There will also be some consideration of historically Inner Asian populations in Hexi (Gansu-Qinghai), and the North China plains and the Shaanxi-Shanxi-Rehe uplands. Chronologically, the class will touch on prehistory and the contemporary period, but will mostly cover the period from the emergence of historical records on the Mongolian plateau and the Tarim basin to roughly 1950. Prehistory and the contemporary period will be give less detailed coverage.

This seminar offers a thematic overview of the academic study of Chinese history from the Neolithic period to the 21st century. Over the course of the semester, students will be introduced to different scholarly approaches to the study of history through a close reading and analysis of the work of leading scholars in the field of Sinology. We will learn about the various subfields in the study of history, such as cultural history, social history, administrative and legal history, intellectual history, history of religion, literary history, history of gender, world history, and historiography, examine their different methodological frameworks and tools, and draw on them in order to problematize and enrich our understanding of Chinese culture. In addition, this seminar will provide incoming students with the relevant tools to produce original graduate-level research on all aspects of Chinese history, society, and culture and present it in a clear and persuasive fashion orally and in written form. While original-language research for the final project is encouraged, all course materials will be in English. Prerequisite: Course intended for first year MA and PhD students. Undergraduates need permission.

This seminar offers a thematic overview of the academic study of Chinese history from the Neolithic period to the 21st century. Over the course of the semester, students will be introduced to different scholarly approaches to the study of history through a close reading and analysis of the work of leading scholars in the field of Sinology. We will learn about the various subfields in the study of history, such as cultural history, social history, administrative and legal history, intellectual history, history of religion, literary history, history of gender, world history, and historiography, examine their different methodological frameworks and tools, and draw on them in order to problematize and enrich our understanding of Chinese culture. In addition, this seminar will provide incoming students with the relevant tools to produce original graduate-level research on all aspects of Chinese history, society, and culture and present it in a clear and persuasive fashion orally and in written form. While original-language research for the final project is encouraged, all course materials will be in English. Prerequisite: Course intended for first year MA and PhD students. Undergraduates need permission.

In this class students who already know some modern Mongolian in the Cyrillic script will learn how to transfer that knowledge to the reading of first post-classical, and then classical texts written in the vertical or Uyghur-Mongolian script. Topics covered will include the Mongolian alphabetic script, dealing with ambiguous readings, scholarly transcription, vowel harmony and syllable structure, post-classical and classical forms of major declensions, converbs, verbal nouns, and finite verbs, syntax, pronunciation and scribal readings. Readings will be adjusted to interests, but as a rule will include selections from short stories, diaries, chronicles, Buddhist translations, government documents, popular didactic poetry, ritual texts, and traditional narratives. Students will also be introduced to the most important reference works helpful in reading classical and post-classical Mongolian. One year of modern Mongolian or equivalent required to enroll.

A site by site investigation of Buddhist and non-Buddhist ruins in Central Asia. Included are Nisa, Khwarezm, Pyandzhikent, Khalchayan, Ay-Khanum, Bamiyan, Miran, Tumshuk, Kizil, Kucha, Khotan, Adzhina-Tepe, Khocho, Khara-Khoto, and Bezeklik.