This seminar investigates classical Chinese conceptions of art and beauty as exemplified in philosophy, literature, music, painting, calligraphy, and architecture. All readings will be in English, and no knowledge of Chinese is presumed. Graduate students should see the instructor to discuss requirements for graduate credit.

How have gender and sexuality been historically constructed and shifted in modern and contemporary Korea? How did terms like “new woman,” “t'ibu,” or “soybean paste girl” enter the popular discourse at different points of its capitalist modernity? This graduate seminar investigates gender/sexuality at large in relation to heteropatriarchal kinship system, ableist national biopolitics, and normative citizenship on the Korean peninsula from late Chosŏn to current times. Moving through the eras of Japanese occupation, the Korean War and division, developmental dictatorships, to the current millennia, we focus on the critical role that gender and sexuality played—and continue to play—in the political, social, cultural, and economic dimensions of nation-building, democratization, and neoliberalization that shaped the contemporary Korean societies. In this discussion-based seminar, we will read a broad range of secondary sources and explore different methods in interdisciplinary Korean studies including historiography, feminist cultural anthropology, queer and crip theories, among others.

While the focus of this seminar will shift from year to year, the aim is to enable students to gain 1) a basic understanding of various theoretical approaches to literature, 2) familiarity with the histories and conventions of criticism, literary and otherwise, in Japan; 3) a few theoretical tools to think in complex ways about some of the most interesting and controversial issues of today, such as nationalism, imperialism, colonialism, postmodernism, and feminism, with particular focus on Japan's position in the world. The course is primarily intended for graduate students but is also open to advanced undergraduates with permission of the instructor. The course is taught in English, and all of the readings will be available in English translation. An optional discussion section may be arranged for those students who are able and willing to read and discuss materials in Japanese.

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. 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.

Using maps, city-panning, architecture, wall painting, sculpture, and minor arts as evidence, the course will examine the attitudes toward life and death in Han (206 BCE-AD 220) China.

Where are East Asian economies and education headed? Can a new model of East Asian economy and education be established to achieve economic sustainability and equity in rapidly changing global contexts?
In this seminar, we will survey 1) evolution of the East Asian economic model, focusing on changes in economic development strategies, labor market structures, and relationships with global economies; and 2) features of East Asian educational systems, focusing on educational opportunities and learning outcomes. In reviewing East Asian economy and education, a central question is not only how productive East Asian economy and education is but also how equal economic and educational opportunities are in the region. In the final part of the seminar, students will come up with some policy recommendations for East Asian economy and education to better achieve economic sustainability and equity.
This graduate-level course is also open to advanced undergraduate students.

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.

History of ceramic forms, techniques, and aesthetic principles in China, Korea, and Japan from neolithic times to the present century, illustrated by slides and examples, augmented by readings, field trips, and student presentations. Aimed at students with general interest in Japan and/or ceramics history; particularly but not exclusively those majoring in East Asian Languages & Civs, East Asian Area Studies or History of Art; also art majors interested in ceramics.

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.