Courses

By arrangement with faculty and with approval of the DGS.

In recent times, world cinema has witnessed the rise of South Korean cinema as an alternative to Hollywood and includes many distinguished directors such as Park Chan-wook, Lee Chang-dong, Kim Ki-duk, and Bong Joon-ho. This course explores the Korean film history and aesthetics from its colonial days (1910-1945) to the hallyu era (2001-present), and also analyzes several key texts that are critical for understanding this field of study. How is Korean cinema shaped by (re)interpretations of history and society? How do we understand Korean cinema vis-à-vis the public memories of the Korean War, industrialization, social movements, economic development, and globalization? And how do aesthetics and storytelling in Korean cinema contribute to its popularity among local spectators and to its globality in shaping the contours of world cinema? By deeply inquiring into such questions, students learn how to critically view, think about, and write about film. 

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

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.

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.

Exploration of Yale’s rich historical connections to Japan. Focus on use of the University’s museum and library collections to learn about various aspects of the Japanese past, from ancient times to the post-World War II era.

This seminar takes scholars on a journey through the laws and the history of China. We encounter a series of case studies: scholarly analyses of sets of historical materials from different periods and various contexts that illustrate types of law and ways of writing history. Students read and analyze a wide variety of case materials: legal sources, trial accounts, printed records, and archival materials from different times and places in Chinese history to familiarize themselves with a range of texts used to narrate and analyze histories of law. At the same time, students familiarize themselves with materials used to study the law, and discuss and critique a diverse range of case studies written for various audiences. Working simultaneously with case materials and case studies, students become familiar with both the range of sources and the variety of methods used to study law and history in China. 

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.