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Course Criteria
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3.00 Credits
Not offered in the period from 08F through 10S The cultures of Southeast Asia are remarkably varied, ranging from elaborate Hinduized civilizations (Bali) and modern city-states (Singapore) to "hill tribes" (e.g., the Meo of Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam) and nomadic foraging bands (e.g., the Semang of Malaysia). This course is a survey of Southeast Asian societies focusing on the question of why their cultures take the form they do. This entails an examination of the modes of environmental adaptation of the various peoples, their integration into regional and world-wide systems, and the historical influences of the great civilizations of India, China, the Middle East, and Europe. The course looks at how Southeast Asians live and at the religions that give meaning to their lives . Dist: SOC; WCult: NW.
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3.00 Credits
09S, 10S: 10A This course is interdisciplinary, exploring the interaction of Hebrew literature, film, music, religion and society. For millennia, Hebrew has had a unique spiritual hold on both the Jewish and Christian imagination. We will focus on the Bible as wisdom, law and poetry, the Talmud of the ancient Rabbis, Kabbalah and Hebrew alphabet mysticism, war and the Israeli cinema, Hebrew folk and rock culture, and a modern political mystery: how today's Hebrew was raised from the dead. No knowledge of Hebrew is assumed. Dist: LIT; WCult: NW. Glinert.
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3.00 Credits
09S, 10S: 12 The history and contemporary issues of the island nation of Indonesia-home to the world's fourth largest population-will be examined in religion, politics, literature and language, with particular attention to the independence movement and the development of a national identity. Course resources will include readings in fiction and non-fiction, workshops in performing arts, guest instructors, and multi-media materials both by and about Indonesian s. WCult: N W. Diamond
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3.00 Credits
Not offered in the period from 08F through 10S Belying Orientalist stereotypes of harems and veils, Islamic societies are engaged in a lively questioning of traditional masculine and feminine roles. We will follow this discussion in the work of writers and filmmakers in Egypt and the Maghreb, such as Nawal el Saadawi, Tahar ben Jelloun, Fatima Mernissi, Leila Ahmed, Rachid Boudjedra, Leila Abouzeid, Assia Djebar, Abdelhak Serhane, Ferid Boughedir, and Moufida Tlatli. Open to all students. Dist: LIT; WCult: NW. Green.
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3.00 Credits
09W: 11 Western and native folk views of the Japanese language and Japanese society emphasize uniqueness, homogeneity, and adherence to tradition. Linguistic Anthropology argues, however, that areas of Japanese Women's Language and Honorific Register, long thought to be exemplary of these sociolinguistic traits, have in fact emerged historically through Japan's engagement with the West, and through the production of social difference within Japan. This course takes up the social and historical relation between these Japanese linguistic forms, speech practices, and the production of Japanese cultural identities and differences . Dist: SOC; WCult: CI . Ball.
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3.00 Credits
09W, 10W: 2A Selected subjects at the discretion of the instructor. Each course offering will examine a theme, author, period or genre in the context of Korean cultural history, often from a multidisciplinary and comparative perspective. In 09W, Humor in Twentieth Century Korean Literature and Film will examine the genre of comedy against the backdrop of Korean political, social and cultural history, drawing connections between comedic works and the Korean context while working both to understand the meaning of the "comic" or "humor" through various thinkers' perspectives on wit, jokes, farce, humor, and so on and to examine deep connections between this oft-neglected genre and developments on the peninsula in the contemporary period. Students should emerge with a set of analytical tools for understanding comedic works as well as a general sense of the trajectory of modern Korean literary and film histor ies. Dist: SOC; WCult: NW. Hansc
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3.00 Credits
09S: 2 This course introduces students to the peoples and cultures of Tibet and the greater Himalayan region (Nepal, northern India, Bhutan). We examine the cultural, ecological, political, religious, and economic interfaces that define life on the northern and southern slopes of Earth's greatest mountain range. In addition to learning about Himalayan and Tibetan lifeways, we will also learn about how these mountainous parts of Asia have figured into occidental imaginings, from the earliest adventurers to contemporary travelers and scholars. Dist: SOC, WCult: NW. Craig.
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3.00 Credits
09S, 10S: D.F.S.P. This course analyzes the historical and contemporary urban life of a traditional Islamic city as seen through the eyes of the town's scholars, planners, educators, writers, and crafts people, as well as scholarly readings that have shaped discussions in anthropology, history, and the history of religions. Fez is the locus of classical discussions of urbanism, public space, and civic life in the Muslim world. Participating in the life of the city, students have an opportunity to experience first hand its educational, economic, religious, kinship, and political institutions. Dist: SOC; WCult: NW. Vandewalle, Higgins.
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3.00 Credits
09S: 1110S: 2A This course will provide a broad introduction to the historical, literary, artistic, and popular cultures of the Middle East, from pre- and early Islamic times to the present. The aim of the course is to give students an appreciation of Arab and Arabo-Islamic culture, but also to examine ways in which prevailing historical, political, economic and social conditions have impacted cultural production and expression in the Middle East. Sources and texts will include, but not be limited to, selections from the Quran, hadith, Arabic poetry and literature, historical chronicles, and film. Dist: LIT; WCult: NW. Abouali, Smolin.
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3.00 Credits
09S: 11 In 09S, Sacred Architecture of Asia. This course uses sacred architecture to provide an introductory survey of religious beliefs and practices in Asia. This is not an architectural history course. Rather, emphasis will be on the relationship between the form and function of architecture and religious doctrine, ritual practice, and community. Examples include Buddhist monasteries, Hindu and Jain temples, Mughal mosques and tombs, Chinese funerary architecture, and Shinto shrines, as well as the sacred dimensions of political authority as manifested in palaces and city plans. Case studies will represent all of Asia's major national and regional cultures. The pan-Asiatic nature of some religions (Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam) affords an excellent opportunity to examine local and sectarian adaptations of both architectural and ritual practices. With guest lecturers from across the program. Hockley.
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