Demonic women have stabbed and slithered their way through the pages of Japanese fiction ever since people began to write stories in the Japanese language more than a thousand years ago. This ghostly heritage still manifests itself in the twenty-first century, with all manner of disturbing apparitions haunting the airwaves and the internet. Where are these strange and creepy women coming from, and what do they want? In this course we will investigate both the paranormal and the psychological in an attempt to understand the cultural and universal themes and issues underlying the literary trope of the demonic woman in Japan.
We will begin our journey into the realm of the mysterious with the romances and folklore of premodern Japan before projecting forward to the postwar era, a time of changing social roles and hidden resentments. As we progress from the 1950s to the 2010s, we will examine the political ideologies that cast women as miscreants, deviants, and villains. We will also delve into theories concerning abjection and the uncanny, which render women as strangers in their own bodies. Along the way we will explore constructions of gender and sexuality as we study demonic men, queerness that resists binary categorization, and posthuman technophobia. By the end of this course, students will have developed a better understanding of how history and society inform the scary stories we tell ourselves about what frightens and fascinates us.

This course is an introduction to and exploration of modern East Asian literatures and cultures through close readings and discussion of selected literary works from the early 20th century to the start of the 21st century. Focusing on China, Japan, and Korea, we will explore the shared and interconnected experiences of modernity in East Asia as well as broaden our perspective by considering the location of East Asian cultural production within a global modernity. Major issues we will encounter include: nation-building and the modern novel; cultural translation; media and technology; representations of gender, race, and class; history and memory; colonialism; war; body and sexuality; globalization. No knowledge of the original language is required.

This is a global investigation of the relationship between horses and human beings. It begins with a brief look at the prehistory of both species, but quickly moves on to the domestication of horses, examining where and when that happened, and investigating what purposes horses were originally utilized for (primary and secondary products). Most important will be the question of harnessing the power and mobility of the horse, and above all with the monumental achievements of hitching horses to chariots and, even more difficult, climbing up on the horse's back and riding it. We will study the development of horse gear (saddle, saddle blanket, stirrups, cinch, bridle, reins, and more). In this seminar, we will also look at art, literature, and music dedicated to the horse. Along the way, we will study the biology and breeds of horses, as well as equestrian skills, competitions, and other phenomena involving human interaction with equines (e.g., war, agriculture, leisure, etc.). In short, the seminar will be a holistic approach to the horse in its symbiosis with its human masters and partners over the course of millennia.

The list of issues shaping the US-China relationship is extensive. Trade and investment, the status and future of Taiwan, China’s expansion into the South China Sea and its relationships with East and Southeast Asian neighbors, the Belt and Road Initiative and China’s expanding influence in the United Nations and other multilateral institutions, human rights, the status of Hong Kong, concerns about Xinjiang, technology transfer, intellectual property and cyberespionage, the status of people-to-people engagement in fields like education, health and cultural exchange and many others are all ongoing points of discussion between the two great powers. Understanding these issues in the present day requires exploring how these issues evolved over the decades and even centuries of engagement between the United States and China. Are there similarities between America’s Open-Door policy of the late 19th century and its position on trade with China today? What are the prospects for Taiwan policy given the complicated diplomatic history surrounding the recognition of the People’s Republic in the 1970s? When and why did human rights come to be a defining issue in the US-China relationship and how has it evolved over time? How have people-to-people exchanges been understood to undergird the relationship? How are 21st c. flashpoints, such as technology competition and cyberespionage, impacting the traditional list of tensions, such as Taiwan, maritime conflicts, and geopolitics in East Asia? What are the consistent through lines in America’s policies toward China and what has changed?
This course will look at a series of issues that are at the center of the US-China relationship through an historical lens, providing students with insight into the forces that have shaped positions on both sides. Students will develop an understanding of key issues in the diplomatic relationship the United States and China today and their deep historical roots. No previous study of Chinese history is required for this course, but students will be expected to engage enthusiastically with the course material.

In 1800, Beijing ruled the world's biggest, wealthiest, and most powerful empire. The Emperor, ruler of China's Qing dynasty, was a sage monarch, a Confucian scholar, even a Bodhisattva on the throne, but his not too distant ancestors had been hunters, ginseng smugglers, and soldiers of fortune in the forests of Manchuria speaking Manchu-a language closer to Mongolian and Turkish than to Chinese. This course will explore how the military organization of these dissident chiefs in the forest came to command all the resources of Chinese statecraft, scholarship, and economy and how by yoking these Chinese management skills to the Manchu "frontier style" built arguably the most successful empire in Asian history.

Home to vibrant economies and societies, East Asia is undergoing profound environmental transformations. These developments, crucial for understanding the crises of our time, have deep roots in the past. This seminar course investigates key topics in East Asian environmental history over the last three millennia as we think about the region’s role in the global ecological future.
Focusing on China, Korea, and Japan, we will explore not only how East Asian societies shaped and were shaped by the natural world they inhabited, but also how an environmental perspective helps us view issues such as economic development, ethnicity, state-building, urbanization, and colonialism in a new light. In examining narratives of ecological change in East Asia, we will gain a deeper understanding of the region and the role of the environment in history and historiography.

This course examines the relationship between religious institutions and the state in East Asia. Focusing on China and Japan, we will learn about the impact of religious ideas, practices, and organizations on social, political and economic processes and inspect the role of religion in the consolidation of individual, communal, and national identity. Adopting a comparative and transnational approach, we will examine the impact of Asian religious traditions: Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, and Shinto, as well as global religions such as Islam and Christianity, on the states and their role in shaping power relations on the international level.

In 2019, Bong Joon-ho's Parasite won the Palme d'Or at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival. This event marked the apex of South Korean cinematic renaissance, having steadily become a tour de force in the international film festival scene since 1997 onwards. This course explores the major auteurs, styles, themes, and currents of the so-called "New Korean Cinema" that emerged in the mid-to-late 1990s to continue to this day. Drawing from texts on critical film and Korean studies, we will pay particular attention to how the selected works re-present, resist, and interweave the sociopolitical climate they concern and are born out of. Using cinema as a lens with which to see the society, we will touch upon major events of the twentieth century including national division, military dictatorship and democratization movements, IMF economic crisis, youth culture, hallyu (the Korean wave), and more. In so doing, we will closely examine how each cinematic medium addresses the societal power structure and the role of the "Other" it represents in terms of class, race, gender, and sexuality in the construction of contemporary Korean society. No prior experience of Korean studies courses necessary; all films will be screened with English subtitles.

This course will explore fiction and film in contemporary Japan, from 1945 to the present. Topics will include literary and cinematic representation of Japan s war experience and post-war reconstruction, negotiation with Japanese classics, confrontation with the state, and changing ideas of gender and sexuality. We will explore these and other questions by analyzing texts of various genres, including film and film scripts, novels, short stories, manga, and academic essays. Class sessions will combine lectures, discussion, audio-visual materials, and creative as well as analytical writing exercises. The course is taught in English, although Japanese materials will be made available upon request. No prior coursework in Japanese literature, culture, or film is required or expected; additional secondary materials will be available for students taking the course at the 600 level. Writers and film directors examined may include: Kawabata Yasunari, Hayashi Fumiko, Abe Kobo, Mishima Yukio, Oe Kenzaburo, Yoshimoto Banana, Ozu Yasujiro, Naruse Mikio, Kurosawa Akira, Imamura Shohei, Koreeda Hirokazu, and Beat Takeshi.

The goal of this course is understanding the development of visual, performing, and literary arts in Korea and the historical, religious, and social contexts in which they flourished. It serves as an introduction to the arts of Korea, with emphasis on painting, sculpture, ceramics, and architecture and additional consideration of dance, drama, poetry, and culinary arts. Covers the whole history of Korea, from prehistoric times to the twenty-first century.