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Courses

Courses with no explicit focus on East Asia may also apply to the major if the final paper in the course is on East Asia.  Permission of the DUS is required before the course can be applied. Please contact the DUS or Registrar if you have any questions.

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Cultures and Markets in Asia
ANTH 342, EAST 346

Historical and contemporary movements of people, goods, and cultural meanings that have defined Asia as a region. Reexamination of state-centered conceptualizations of Asia and of established boundaries in regional studies. The intersections of transregional institutions and local societies and their effects on trading empires, religious traditions, colonial encounters, and cultural fusion. Finance flows that connect East Asia and the Indian Ocean to the Middle East and Africa. The cultures of capital and market in the neoliberal and postsocialist world.

Instructor permission required.
Seminar
Fall 2024
M 1:30 PM - 3:20 PM
Archaeology of East Asia
ANTH 397, ARCG 397

Introduction to the findings and practice of archaeology in China, Japan, Korea, and southeast Asia. Methods used by archaeologists to interpret social organization, economic organization, and ritual life. Attention to major transformations such as the initial peopling of an area, establishment of farming villages, the development of cities, interregional interactions, and the nature of political authority.

Seminar
Spring 2025
T,Th 4:00 PM - 5:15 PM
Cultures and Markets: Asia Connected through Time and Space
ANTH 542, EAST 546

Historical and contemporary movements of people, goods, and cultural meanings that have defined Asia as a region. Reexamination of state-centered conceptualizations of Asia and of established boundaries in regional studies. The intersections of transregional institutions and local societies and their effects on trading empires, religious traditions, colonial encounters, and cultural fusion. Finance flows that connect East Asia and the Indian Ocean to the Middle East and Africa. The cultures of capital and market in the neoliberal and postsocialist world.

Instructor permission required.
Seminar
Fall 2024
M 1:30 PM - 3:20 PM
Archaeology of East Asia
ANTH 797, ARCG 797

Introduction to the findings and practice of archaeology in China, Japan, Korea, and southeast Asia. Methods used by archaeologists to interpret social organization, economic organization, and ritual life. Attention to major transformations such as the initial peopling of an area, establishment of farming villages, the development of cities, interregional interactions, and the nature of political authority.

Seminar
Spring 2025
T,Th 4:00 PM - 5:15 PM
Decentering Computer Science: Transpacific Computing History across U.S., East Asia, and Beyond
CPSC 190, EAST 201

Escalating conflicts between China, Taiwan, and the U.S. are mediated in part by semiconductor manufacturing and their advanced uses, like artificial intelligence. Inquiries into the transpacific history of computer science (CS) can teach us that these relationships have been much more dynamic than ‘Friend or Foe,’ and have shaped CS in various ways. When cutting-edge computing capabilities are at the forefront of national interests, studying CS and U.S.-Asia relations should no longer be separate intellectual tasks, and multi-view perspectives are needed to understand both processes. This seminar discusses decentered, international history of CS. We focus on the transpacific relations between the United States and East Asian countries, including Asian diasporas in North America. The course focuses on CS research and engineering, with less emphasis on (anti-)social implications such as mis/dis-information and data privacy. The subjects of study include: China-born first-generation digital computer pioneers; digitizing Asian characters; developing transpacific networks of computers and labor; transpacific works in building CS fundamentals. The course culminates with current moods of exclusionism, trade protectionism, and ‘friendshoring’ across Asia-Pacific regions.

Seminar
Spring 2025
T,Th 11:35 AM - 12:50 PM
Topics in Modern Korean Literature
EALL 269

In this course, students read key works of Korean literature in English translation from the early twentieth century to the present day. The specific course topic varies by semester. Primary sources include long-form novels, short stories, poetry, and nonfiction writing by representative authors, as well as literary scholarship on themes and historical context relevant to the materials. The readings in this course are arranged in roughly chronological order, requiring us to examine Korea’s colonial modernization process in the first half of the twentieth century, the authoritarian regimes of South Korea from 1948 to 87, and South Korea’s integration into the neoliberal world order after democratization. Supplementary audio-visual materials such as artwork, video clips and music may be presented to students in class.

All class materials are in English translation, and no previous knowledge of Korean language is required.
Seminar
Fall 2024
M 1:30 PM - 3:20 PM
Gender and Sexuality in Korean Literature and Film
EALL 274

In this course, students explore how cultural representations of gender and sexuality in Korea and the Korean diaspora have changed over the twentieth century. Primary sources include literary texts, narrative and documentary films, as well as scholarship on themes and historical context relevant to the materials. We begin by exploring how gendered selfhood in Korea was constructed in relation to the colonial modernization process in the first half of the twentieth century. We then move onto stories of how women and men survived the Cold War, developmentalist, and dictatorial regimes of South Korea from 1945 to 87. In the last segment of the course, we focus our attention to voices from the contemporary moment, to examine how present-day Koreans of various gender and sexual identities contend with the challenges of an increasingly neoliberalizing social order. 

All class materials are in English translation, and no previous knowledge of the Korean language is required.
Spring 2025
T 3:30 PM - 5:20 PM
East Asian Martial Arts Film
EALL 280, EAST 260, FILM 307

The martial arts film has not only been a central genre for many East Asian cinemas, it has been the cinematic form that has most defined those cinemas for others. Domestically, martial arts films have served to promote the nation, while on the international arena, they have been one of the primary conduits of transnational cinematic interaction, as kung-fu or samurai films have influenced films inside and outside East Asia, from The Matrix to Kill Bill. Martial arts cinema has become a crucial means for thinking through such issues as nation, ethnicity, history, East vs. West, the body, gender, sexuality, stardom, industry, spirituality, philosophy, and mediality, from modernity to postmodernity. It is thus not surprising that martial arts films have also attracted some of the world’s best filmmakers, ranging from Kurosawa Akira to Wong Kar Wai. This course focuses on films from Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea—as well as on works from other countries influenced by them—covering such martial arts genres such as the samurai film, kung-fu, karate, wuxia, and related historical epics. It provides a historical survey of each nation and genre, while connecting them to other genres, countries, and media.

Lecture
Fall 2024
MW 11:35 AM - 12:50 PM
Screenings T 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Studies in Korean Popular Culture
EALL 353

This advanced undergraduate seminar examines the dissemination, visibility, and prominence of Korean popular culture within and outside its national borders. We spend time exploring a wide variety of cultural forms such as music, film, television, fashion, performance, and new media from the early twentieth century to the present-day moment, focusing our attention on the following questions: How did Korean cultural values and historical experiences shape the content, style, and aesthetics of contemporary Korean popular culture? What is the ideological, economic, and socio-political function of popular culture in South Korea today? What makes Korean popular culture attractive to a global audience who are not necessarily familiar with the Korean language and culture? In answering these questions, we examine Korean popular culture against major historical events that took place in Korea over the twentieth century such as Japanese occupation and the Korean War, as well as the military dictatorships, democratization, and neoliberalization of South Korea. On top of conventional research writing assignments, students are also expected to produce creative essays reflecting on their own relationship with Korean popular culture and present them in class. 

Students are not expected to be deeply familiar with Korean history, but some level of familiarity with Korean culture and language is helpful.
Seminar
Spring
M 3:30 PM - 5:20 PM
Topics in Modern Korean Literature
EALL 569

In this course, students read key works of Korean literature in English translation from the early twentieth century to the present day. The specific course topic varies by term. Primary sources include long-form novels, short stories, poetry, and nonfiction writing by representative authors, as well as literary scholarship on themes and historical context relevant to the materials. The readings in this course are arranged in roughly chronological order, requiring us to examine Korea’s colonial modernization process in the first half of the twentieth century, the authoritarian regimes of South Korea from 1948 to 1987, and South Korea’s integration into the neoliberal world order after democratization. 

Supplementary audio-visual materials such as artwork, video clips and music may be presented to students in class. All class materials are in English translation, and no previous knowledge of Korean language is required.
Seminar
Fall 2024
M 1:30 PM - 3:20 PM
Gender and Sexuality in Korean Literature and Film
EALL 574

In this course, students explore how cultural representations of gender and sexuality in Korea and the Korean diaspora have changed over the course of the twentieth century. Primary sources include literary texts, narrative and documentary films, as well as scholarship on themes and historical context relevant to the materials. We begin by exploring how gendered selfhood in Korea was constructed in relation to the colonial modernization process in the first half of the twentieth century. We then move onto stories of how women and men survived the Cold War and developmentalist and dictatorial regimes of South Korea from 1945 to 1987. In the last segment of the course, we focus our attention to voices from the contemporary moment, to examine how present-day Koreans of various gender and sexual identities are contending with the challenges of an increasingly neoliberalizing social order.

Seminar
Spring 2025
T 3:30 PM - 5:20 PM
Queer East Asian Studies
EALL 808

In this graduate seminar, we explore cultural representations of non-normative sexualities and gender variance produced in East Asia and its diaspora and survey the scholarly field that is broadly referred to as “queer East Asian studies.” The materials in this course include primary sources such as poetry, fiction, narrative and documentary films, as well as critical writings on LGBTQ history, culture, and activism in Japan, Korea, and the Sinophone world.

Seminar
Fall 2024
T 3:30 PM - 5:20 PM

Downloadable Course Lists