Courses

This course examines the global new media situation through the lens of Korean and Chinese screen cultural interactions. Students explore the evolution of these interactions from the early twentieth century to the contemporary Hallyu era (late 1990s-present). The term “Hallyu” (한류/韓流), initially coined in Chinese as “hanliu” (韩流), has become a widely recognized term for Korea’s media cultural influence. The screen-based cultural diffusion of Hallyu—encompassing Korean films, K-dramas, K-pop, TV reality shows, video games, and social media—spreads Korean culture, values, and lifestyle globally, establishing Seoul as a new pop-culture hub. Hallyu first gained popularity in Asia, especially China and Japan, before extending its influence on other areas including the Middle East, Latin America, Europe, and the United States, becoming a global media phenomenon. Despite its worldwide impact, In North American academia, studies on Hallyu’s reception in film, media, and cultural studies still predominantly revolve around the U.S. as the primary focus, serving as the entry and exit point for the study of understanding and analyzing other cultures. This course seeks to shift that perspective by emphasizing Global Asias in world cinema, media, and cultural studies, offering an alternative to the Western views on global media dynamics. Students explore under-discussed themes and topics in media and cultural studies, such as transnational screen cultural interactions, collaborative productions, inter-Asian media exchanges, cultural boycotts, geopolitical tensions,(trans)nationalism, cultural affinity and resistance

For three decades after China’s economic opening in 1979, and especially after China’s 2001 accession to the WTO, U.S.-China economic relations were based on a U.S. assumption that China would integrate into the U.S.-backed international economic order. China’s rapid growth and adherence to a state-oriented economic model, however, combined with globalization’s challenges to the liberal economic system, have significantly increased tensions between the world’s two biggest economies. This course examines the factors driving economic friction between the United States and China, and is divided into four sections. The course is taught by a practitioner who spent over a decade managing U.S. Government economic policy in and on China.

This is a course about when governments borrow from foreign lenders and the political causes and consequences of the decision to borrow. To enable us to focus on politics, some training in economics is required. We begin by reviewing the internal determinants of China’s external lending behavior. Next, we study how international finance collides with domestic politics creating both opportunities and challenges for borrowers. The second half of the course surveys topics of contemporary importance: how effective is Chinese economic statecraft? Can China expect to be repaid in full? Will the renminbi become a global reserve currency?

China is the most influential non-democratic country in the world that exerts political and economic impact across a wide range of sectors and geographies. Today, international work requires at least a basic understanding of how China works and how international organizations work effectively with and in the country. International scholars, businesspeople, civil society practitioners, and journalists seek to understand and explain, shape and influence, and benefit from China’s rapidly developing economy and society. In so doing, these institutions and individuals encounter a political economy that defies traditional modernization theories that predict a high correlation between economic development and democratization. Rather, international actors encounter a system many scholars describe as “resilient authoritarianism,” characterized by opacity and predictability, rigidity and adaptability, repression and lenience, top-down and bottom-up governance, and by rhetoric aimed at international actors that is both welcoming and defensive. Most recently, given changes in the geopolitical environment, the political atmosphere related to China in the home countries of many international organizations is also shifting, and hardening, requiring multifaceted risk analysis and risk mitigation strategies. What is the nature of the Chinese political system? How have international actors navigated the contradictions in the system over time? What is the trajectory of the Chinese political system? And what are the implications for international organizations working there? This course explores these questions through five cases studies in the fields of academic exchange, business, civil society, multilateral diplomacy, and journalism to analyze how organizations manage their operations in China to achieve their goals. The course is taught by a practitioner who managed academic exchange programs, international businesses, and global NGOs in China for twenty-five years.

In the decades after 1979, China’s adherence to key tenets of the U.S.-backed liberal international economic system enabled it to achieve middle income status. After the 2008-9 global financial crisis, however, weaknesses in the U.S. model combined with China’s own sustained growth increased Beijing’s confidence in an alternative, state-oriented model that increasingly underpins China’s foreign economic engagement. This course examines the Global Security and Belt and Road initiatives, trade, investment, and development policies, international organization advocacy, business practices, and other aspects of China’s growing international economic footprint. These factors are analyzed from the perspective of China’s internal dynamics, competition with the United States, and overall foreign policy goals, and are evaluated for their impact on the prevailing global economic order. The course is taught by a practitioner who spent over a decade managing U.S. Government economic policy in and on China.

The global movement of people that occurred in the aftermath of the Second World War is often evoked today. It’s used as a benchmark against which the scale and scope of the current global refugee crisis is measured. However, histories of this ‘global’ post-1945 crisis of displaced people have mainly focused on Europe, especially the aftermath of the Holocaust. This was a global war, but historical work on its aftermath for those displaced by fighting, genocidal regimes, and wartime mobilization is far less global in scope. Unlike in Europe after 1945, where, as historian Tony Judt writes, “boundaries stayed broadly intact and people were moved instead,” in East Asia, “both people and boundaries moved.” In this seminar, we look at the histories of the wartime and postwar movement of people in Asia, especially those mobilized or displaced by the wartime expansionist Japanese state, its colonial governments, and military forces. 

A survey of Japan’s transformation over the course of the nineteenth century from an isolated, traditional society on the edge of northeast Asia to a modern imperial power. Aspects of political, social, and cultural history.

Examination of how, after centuries of war in Japan and overseas, the Tokugawa shogunate built a peace that lasted more than 200 years. Japan's urban revolution, the eradication of Christianity, the Japanese discovery of Europe, and the question of whether Tokugawa Japan is a rare example of a complex and populous society that achieved ecological sustainability.

Underlying causes of current issues facing China traced back to their origins in the premodern period. Topics include economic development, corruption, environmental crises, gender, and Pacific island disputes. Selected primary-source readings in English, images, videos, and Web resources.

An introduction to the legal systems of the Roman and post-Roman states and Han- and Tang-dynasty China. Emphasis on developing collaborative partnerships that foster comparative history research. Readings in surviving law codes (in the original or English translation) and secondary studies on topics including slavery, trade, crime, and family.

This reading seminar surveys major themes in Chinese history since the late nineteenth century. Through reading both classic and recent research, students familiarize themselves with key debates that have shaped the historical understanding of modern China.

An introduction to the social history of the Silk Road from 200–1000 CE through close examination of six archaeological sites in China and one in Uzbekistan. Emphasis on excavated documents (as opposed to transmitted documents) and what they reveal about local society, trade relations, and religious change in the first millennium CE.