|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Course Criteria
Add courses to your favorites to save, share, and find your best transfer school.
-
3.00 Credits
This course studies a number of works in Chinese dramatic traditions from the premodern times up to the twentieth century. While attention will be paid to Chinese theater as performing art, the plays selected for this course will be studies primarily as literary texts. The purpose of the course is to familiarize students with some of the most outstanding formulations in Chinese drama and their underpinning cultural meanings. All readings are in English translations, and no prior knowledge of Chinese culture or language is required.
-
1.00 Credits
Students who have completed advanced Chinese are eligible to sign up for an additional single credit of work in the target language as part of the Languages Across the Curriculum (LAC) initiative of the College of Arts and Letters. Choosing this option means that students will do some additional reading in the Chinese language materials, and meet once a week with faculty tutor from the Department of East Asian Languages & Cultures, who will guide the discussion and direct the written work. The LAC section in association with this course will be graded on a pass/fail basis and will be credited on the student's transcript. Up to three LAC discussion sections can be applied toward a major, secondary major or minor in Chinese. This course is for: Heroism and Eroticism in Traditional Chinese Fiction In this course we will read works in Chinese fiction from the late imperial periods. We will discuss the aesthetic features of such works and their cultural underpinnings, especially the infusion of Confucian Taoist, and Buddhist meanings. Particularly, we will focus on heroism and eroticism as two major themes in Chinese fiction and their specific expressions in each work. We will consider the transition from heroism to eroticism as a shift of narrative paradigm, which coincided with a general trend of "domestication" in traditional Chinese fiction. Through the readings and discussions, the students are expected to become familiar with pre-modern Chinese narrative tradition and acquainted with some aspects of Chinese culture. All the readings are in English translation.
-
1.00 Credits
Students who have completed the first semester of third year Japanese or higher, or who possess equivalent Japanese language skills, are eligible to sign up for an additional one credit section. The Languages Across the Curriculum (LAC) section will meet for one hour once a week for discussion of course material in Japanese. Students will also read selections of course material in the original, and submit three short (2-3 page) writing assignments. The LAC section will be graded on a pass/fail basis. This course is a component of LLEA 33316, Introduction to Japanese Popular Culture. This course will examine postwar Japanese popular culture using the theories and methods of cultural studies, media studies and gender studies. We will explore some of the primary sites of postwar popular culture across media, as well as emphasizing the theoretical distinctions between those media. Rather than chronological order, the course will be grouped into sections by media, including novels, film, television, manga, and anime. As we discuss issues specific to each of these media and across genres, however, our discussion will be framed by some key questions: What was the role of popular culture in defining a national identity in the postwar? What was the role of foreign influences, most importantly, American pop culture? How have popular culture texts spoken to and defined specific audiences (for instance, teenagers, women, non-Japanese)?
-
3.00 Credits
This course showcases the multifaceted aspects of China not only in the ethnic sense but also in the political sense. We will read literary works by writers of different ethnic backgrounds (e.g., Han, Tibetan, the Atayal tribe from Taiwan) and geographical origins (the PRC, Taiwan and Hong Kong). The objective of this course is to help students to gain a deeper understanding of the notion of 'Greater China' and the concept of 'Chineseness.' Through analyzing works by different ethnic writers, we will learn to appreciate the diversity of Chinese culture that is often oveshadowed by a misconception about Chinese homogeneity. Likewise, fictional creation by writers from the three regions will give us a broader knowledge of Chinese culture that is constantly threatened by a political need for unity. This course is taught in English and no prior knowledge of the Chinese languages is required.
-
3.00 Credits
In this course we will explore the themes of love and death in the three main forms of traditional Japanese theater: Noh, Kabuki, and Bunraku (puppet theater). We will begin with the medieval Noh theater, which evolved out of a variety of performing arts and reached maturity in the fifteenth century under the patronage of the warrior aristocracy. In an effort to create an atmosphere of mystery and beauty, these plays transformed episodes from folk tales, courtly romances, and military epics into highly stylized dance-dramas imbued with the austere aesthetic of Zen Buddhism. For the remainder of the course, we will study Kabuki (a theater of live actors) and Bunraku. These two rival forms of popular entertainment first appeared in the 17th century as part of a new and lively urban culture. This was the 'floating world' (ukiyo) of teahouses, brothels and theaters, where townsmen mingled with samurai in the pursuit of pleasure and spectacle, and where Kabuki actors became the first 'superstar' celebrities. We will focus on plays by Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1725), the 'Japanese Shakespeare,' who wrote for both Kabuki and Bunraku. Plays such as The Love Suicides at Sonezaki (1703) Gonza the Lancer (1717), and The Woman-killer and the Hell of Oil (1721), bring to life tragic tales of star-crossed lovers, adulterous wives, and murdering ne'er-do-wells. In addition to reading and discussing selected plays, students will view scenes from modern performances and from modern film adaptations. All readings will be in English translation and no previous knowledge of Japan is required.
-
3.00 Credits
From the wide-eyed children of anime to the crazy street fashions of Harajuku, images of kids and teens in Japanese popular culture are now distributed and consumed around the world. How then are those young audiences depicted and addressed within Japanese popular culture? What aspects of childhood or teen identity are repeated across generations? In order to answer these questions, we will look at Japanese films, including animation, from across the 20th century, that represent children and teens from a variety of perspectives, from the celebration of innocence to the threat of juvenile delinquency. In addition to analyzing representations of children and teens, students will also gain familiarity with Japanese film history and genres, and develop the critical vocabulary of film analysis. Films will include I Was Born But, Crazed Fruit, A Cruel Story of Youth, Battle Royale, All About Lily Chou Chou, Nobody Knows, Grave of the Fireflies, and Akira. All films will be subtitled. There will also be secondary readings in cultural studies and film studies, relating to the films we watch in class. Assignments will include an oral presentation, several short writing assignments, a film viewing journal, and a longer paper.
-
3.00 Credits
In 20th century Japan, as old roles such as samurai and geisha waned, both men and women had to re-define the characteristics and meaning of masculinity and femininity. This course will look at constructions of gender in modern Japanese literature by both female and male authors. As we discuss both normative and deviant depictions of male and female roles, some topics we will address include: men and women at work and at war, marriage and family life, homosociality and homosexuality. Students will also gain familiarity with some of the major authors, genres, and literary movements of modern Japanese literature. Texts will include Kokoro by Natsume Soseki, Confessions of a Mask by Mishima Yukio, Diary of a Vagabond by Hayashi Fumiko, and short stories by Higuchi Ichiyo, Kono Taeko, and Oe Kenzaburo. This course is taught in English and no knowledge of the Japanese language is required.
-
3.00 Credits
This course will examine postwar Japanese popular culture using the theories and methods of cultural studies, media studies and gender studies. We will explore some of the primary sites of postwar popular culture across media, as well as emphasizing the theoretical distinctions between those media. Rather than chronological order, the course will be grouped into sections by media, including novels, film, television, manga, and anime. As we discuss issues specific to each of these media and across genres, however, our discussion will be framed by some key questions: What was the role of popular culture in defining a national identity in the postwar? What was the role of foreign influences, most importantly, American pop culture? How have popular culture texts spoken to and defined specific audiences (for instance, teenagers, women, non-Japanese)? The goals of this course are to gain familiarity with some key texts in postwar Japan, and to learn various methods of analyzing those texts. As we approach each medium, we will be using film, television, and comics theories to analyze them. In order to gain proficiency in the academic analysis of popular culture, you will use those theories in writing and in a formal oral presentation. Students who have completed the first semester of third year Japanese or higher, or who possess equivalent Japanese language skills, are eligible to sign up for an additional one credit section. The Languages Across the Curriculum (LAC) section will meet for one hour once a week for discussion of course material in Japanese. Students will also read selections of course material in the original, and submit three short (2-3 page) writing assignments.
-
3.00 Credits
The sword-wielding samurai warrior is perhaps the most familiar icon of pre-modern Japan, one that continues to influence how Japanese think of themselves and how others think of Japan even in modern times. Who were the samurai? How did they see themselves? How did other members of Japanese society see them in the past? How did the role and the image of the samurai change over time? To answer these questions, we will explore the depiction of Samurai in various kinds of texts: episodes from quasi-historical chronicles, 14th century Noh plays, 17th century short stories, and 18th century Kabuki and puppet plays (many Kabuki plays, a theater of live actors, were first written for the puppet theater). While some of these texts emphasize themes of loyalty, honor, and military prowess, others focus on the problems faced by samurai in their domestic lives during times of peace. The last part of the course will be devoted to the most famous of all stories, "The Revenge of the 47 Samurai."' Students will read eyewitness accounts of this vendetta, which occurred in 1702, and then explore how the well-known Kabuki/puppet play Chushingura ("A Treasury of Loyal Retainers" 1748) dramatizes the conflicting opinions surrounding it. All readings will be in English translation and no previous knowledge of Japan is required.
-
1.00 Credits
Students who have begun the study of Chinese or Japanese and are interested an introduction to Classical Chinese may sign up for an additional single credit of work in Elementary Classical Chinese as part of the Languages Across the Curriculum (LAC) initiative of the College of Arts and Letters. This one unit course is an addendum to Prof. Gimello's course on "Buddhism in China." Students choosing this option will meet once a week with Prof. Gimello who will guide them in reading a few relatively brief passages from primary Chinese Buddhist texts chosen not only for their content but also for their suitability to the purpose of introducing the rudiments of Classical Chinese (Wenyan wen). The LAC course will be graded on a pass/fail basis and will be credited on the student's transcript. Up to three LAC discussion sections can be applied toward a major, secondary major or minor in Chinese. No prior study of Classical Chinese is required and even students who are still at the early stages of Chinese and Japanese, as well as more advanced students, are welcome to enroll. The "Buddhism in China" course, to which this one-unit LAC course is an addendum, is a thematic and historical overview of the development of Buddhist thought and practice in China with special emphasis on the process of mutual influence by which Buddhism, without ceasing to be Buddhist, became also a Chinese religion while China, without abandoning its indigenous religious heritage, became also a Buddhist culture.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Privacy Statement
|
Terms of Use
|
Institutional Membership Information
|
About AcademyOne
Copyright 2006 - 2025 AcademyOne, Inc.
|
|
|