Courses

This course explores the role of memory as a social, cultural, and political force in contemporary society. How societies remember difficult pasts has become a contested site for negotiating the present. Through the lens of memory, we examine complex roles that our relationships to difficult pasts play in navigating issues we face today. The course explores the politics of memory that takes place in the realm of popular culture and public space. It asks such questions as: How do you represent difficult and contested pasts? What does it mean to enable long-silenced victims’ voices to be heard? What are the consequences of re-narrating the past by highlighting past injuries and trauma? Does memory work heal or open wounds of a society and a nation? Through examples drawn from the Holocaust, the atomic bombing in Hiroshima, the Vietnam War, genocide in Indonesia, and massacres in Lebanon, to debates on confederacy statues, slavery, and lynching in the United States, the course approaches these questions through an anthropological exploration of concepts such as memory, trauma, mourning, silence, voice, testimony, and victimhood.

This seminar explores the origins and developments of Japanese spatial concepts and surveys how they help form the contemporary architecture, ways of life, and cities of the country. Many Japanese spatial concepts, such as MA, are about creating time-space distances and relationship between objects, people, space, and experiences. These concepts go beyond the fabric of a built structure, and encompass architecture, landscape, and city. Each class is designed around one or two Japanese words that signify particular design concepts. Each week, a lecture on the word(s) with its design features, backgrounds, historical examples, and contemporary application is followed by student discussion. Contemporary works studied include those by Maki, Isozaki, Ando, Ito, SANAA, and Fujimoto. The urbanism and landscape of Tokyo and Kyoto are discussed. Students are required to make in-class presentations and write a final paper. 

Intended for students with no background in Chinese. An intensive course with emphasis on spoken language and drills. Pronunciation, grammatical analysis, conversation practice, and introduction to reading and writing Chinese characters.

First level of the advanced learner sequence. Intended for students with some aural proficiency but very limited ability in reading and writing Chinese. Training in listening and speaking, with emphasis on reading and writing.

Continuation of CHNS 110.

Continuation of CHNS 112.

An intermediate course that continues intensive training in listening, speaking, reading, and writing and consolidates achievements from the first year of study. Students improve oral fluency, study more complex grammatical structures, and enlarge both reading and writing vocabulary.

The second level of the advanced learner sequence. Intended for students with intermediate oral proficiency and elementary reading and writing proficiency. Students receive intensive training in listening, speaking, reading, and writing, supplemented by audio and video materials. The objective of the course is to balance these four skills and work toward attaining an advanced level in all of them.

Continuation of CHNS 130. To be followed by CHNS 150.

Continuation of CHNS 132.

Third level of the standard foundational sequence of modern Chinese, with study in speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Use of audiovisual materials, oral presentations, skits, and longer and more frequent writing assignments to assimilate more sophisticated grammatical structures. Further introduction to a wide variety of written forms and styles. Use of both traditional and simplified forms of Chinese characters.

Continuation of CHNS 150.