80-level Courses: Advanced Seminars
Advanced seminars are ASCL's capstone courses for majors. They may be discipline specific or interdisciplinary. They foreground current theoretical and methodological considerations of the field. They satisfy the culminating experience requirement.
ASCL 80.01 Colonial Photography in Asia and the Middle East
This course examines the uses of photography by colonial governments, anthropologists, commercial photographers, and tourists in nineteenth-century Asia and the Middle East. It also addresses indigenous uses of photography that conform with and/or react against colonialist uses of the medium. The primary focus of the course is on photographs, but consideration is also given to the diffusion of photographic images into other media including news publications, government documents, scientific studies, travelogues, fiction, textbooks, and museum displays.
- Dist: INT or ART; WCult: CI
- Hockley
ASCL 80.03/ARTH 82.01 Arts and Culture of Korea's Last Dynasty
This course provides an introduction to the arts and culture of the Joseon dynasty (1392-1910), which was founded on Confucianism. We will examine Confucian philosophy and how Confucian ideas shaped the social hierarchy, gender roles, and aesthetic values through exploration of the architecture of royal palaces and aristocratic houses, paintings both sacred and secular, ceramics, textiles and other crafts. Use of color, symbolic motifs, and stories in the arts and culture will be investigated. Understanding Korea's final 500-year dynasty will deepen your comprehension of contemporary Korean culture as it manifests the legacy Joseon Korea.
- Dist: INT or ART; WCult: NW
- Kim
ASCL 80.05 Regional Identity in Modern Chinese Literature
How does the concept of "region" in contemporary Chinese literature connect to discussions of gender, ethnicity, tradition/modernity, country/city, and north/south? In this course, we will examine ways in which contemporary writers have evoked place through literature, looking at how social discussions occur across/between spaces. Students will be encouraged to explore authors, places, and subtopics related to their own interests in the final papers. No knowledge of the Chinese language is required for this course, although students who can read Chinese are encouraged to make use of Chinese-language materials.
- Dist: LIT; WCult: NW
- Gibbs
ASCL 80.07 History of Development in Asia
For more than a century, development has been a central theme in the study of Asian politics, culture, and societies. But what is "development," exactly? This seminar explores the history of development in Asia by treating development as a species of politics, rather than a socio-economic process. In the assigned readings and discussions, we will examine the complex interactions between development and empire in various places in Asia, in both colonial and postcolonial contexts. We will also compare recent efforts by scholars to develop new methodological approaches to the study of development ideas and practices in Asia. In addition to completing the assigned readings, each student will write an article-length paper about a particular topic or event in the history of development in Asia. This paper must be based on original research in primary sources.
- Dist: INT or SOC, WCult:NW
- Miller
ASCL 80.08/HIST 77 Imperialism in Modern East Asia
An examination of Western and Japanese imperialism in East Asia from the Opium War to the Pacific War. Subjects to be treated include the imposition of unequal treaties, the "scramble for concessions" in China, the creation of Japan's formal and informal empires, and the rise and fall of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. Open to all classes.
- Dist: INT or SOC, WCult: NW
- Ericson
ASCL 80.09/HIST 96.40 War and Peace in Korea, 1231-1876
This seminar examines Korea's responses to the three foreign intrusions: The Mongol Invasions of 1231–1271, the East Asian War of (or the Japanese Invasions of) 1592–1598, and the Manchu Invasions of 1627–1636. When compared, the three moments of national crises elucidate interregional forces that shaped political, diplomatic, and cultural changes in the Korean peninsula. Korea's experiences of conflicts, negotiation, and endurance shed light on the meaning of being a neighbor to the rising and declining empires in East Asia.
- Dist: SOC; WCult: NW
- Suh
ASCL 80.10/ARTH 82.03 Asian Art Herstory: Gender, Culture, and Politics
This course looks closely at women as subjects and creators in the realm of art from the pre-modern period to contemporary times in Asia. The class will initially examine how Confucian ideology defined the social roles and values of women and how women and their activities were depicted visually and confined architecturally. Then, through study of the global women's rights and feminist art movements in the context of world economic and political history, the class will scrutinize the rise of Asian "New Women" and "Modern Girls" (the Asian counterparts of American "flappers" and French garc\u0327onnes) in the 1920s and 1930s, and look at individual and groups of women artists who expressed their social and political agendas through their art. Extensive attention will be given to the creation, modification, and persistence of certain images throughout history, in relation to various social, political, psychological, and intellectual conditions. The class will also see how modern women artists have developed new and diverse media, including textiles, films and photography, installation and performance, and other hybrid materials, in reaction to a long patriarchy in fine art, male-gazed artistic rendering, and traditional cultural and social norms.
This course does not require prior knowledge or experience in Asian history or languages, but it is designed for students interested in interdisciplinary approaches to art and culture. As a senior advanced seminar, it involves extensive reading, class discussions, and research presentations. The course is primarily offered to ARTH majors, who are expected to have a strong foundation in art history, though no prior knowledge of Asian history is necessary. It is also available to ASCL majors, who are not required to have taken an ARTH course but should demonstrate some pan-Asian expertise.
- Dist: ART; WCult: NW
- Kim
ASCL 80.12 /REL 80.12 Religions on the Silk Road
For centuries, travelers, merchants, and missionaries of various religions crisscrossed Asia along the so-called Silk Road, trading silk, horses, and spices while exchanging ideas about gods, divine powers, and efficacious rituals for securing the living and the dead. This class explores a variety these religious traditions, including Buddhism, Daoism, Christianity, Islam, Manicheism, Zoroastrianism, and Judaism. These discussions will also explore how religions, languages, and ethnic identities were understood in traditional Asia.
- Dist: TMV; WCult: NW
- Raz
ASCL 80.20 The Tale of Genji
The Tale of Genji is a defining work of Japanese culture. Expansive in form, sophisticated in its depiction of the inner lives of its characters, challenging in its representation of ethical concerns and aesthetic ideals, Murasaki Shikibu's masterpiece occupies a central place in one of the world's most important literary traditions.
I have several objectives for this course. First, to cultivate the practice of slow, close reading as a way to develop critical self-awareness of our own cultural/historical position vis-à-vis the text we will be studying and critiquing. Second, to foster a deeper understanding of the culture and history not just of Japan, but of Asia more broadly. Third, to help you develop important elements of writing and analysis: formulating productive questions; using comparative strategies to develop a thesis and support analysis: producing your own unique analytical voice and writing style. Finally, to increase your understanding of the social and symbolic differences that make meaning in literary art possible.
- Dist: LIT; WCult: NW
- Washburn