Courses

This course examines the periodization, parameters, and implications of some of the many ways that China’s path to modernity has been theorizing by reviewing scholarship on what defines and constitutes China’s Early Modern era. From early twentieth-century adaptations of social and historical theories from European languages into Chinese historiographical discussions to post-Mao attempts to trace the “sprouts of capitalism” that might justify China’s socialist revolution as a valid one, from theories of Song dynasty absolutism and Ming autocracy, from the Great Divergence to urban history, this course surveys the many ways in which the study of China’s pre-modern experiences have been shaped to answer questions about China’s particular path to modernity.

After a general introduction to the broad array of sources and reference materials available for conducting research related to the history of Japan since ca. 1600, students prepare original research papers on topics of their own choosing in a collaborative workshop environment.

This course focuses on important works of Chinese painting and major painters from the fourth century CE to the twentieth century. Through close readings of the pictorial contents and production contexts of such works of art, this course investigates the works’ formats, meanings, and innovations from social, historical, and art-historical perspectives. In this course, students become familiar with the traditional Chinese world and acquire the knowledge necessary to be an informed viewer of Chinese painting. Discussions of religion, folkloric beliefs, literature, relationships between men and women, the worship of mountains, the laments of scholars, and the tastes of emperors and wealthy merchants also allow students to understand the cultural roots of contemporary China.

This introductory course explores the art of India, China, Japan, and Korea from prehistory to the present. We consider major works and monuments from all four regions. Themes include the representation of nature and the body, the intersection of art with spirituality and politics, and everything from elite to consumer culture. All students welcome, including those who have no previous experience with either art history or the study of Asian art. This class makes frequent visits to Yale University Art Gallery. 

Survey of major monuments in the visual arts of ancient and early medieval Japan with attention to the conditions and thought worlds of cultural production. Emphasis on the arts practices and philosophies of Buddhism and Shintō in juxtaposition with the courtly arts from narrative handscrolls to integrations of poetry and painting in landscape screens and picture albums.

Arts and theory of the Japanese garden with emphasis on the role of the anthropogenic landscape from aesthetics to environmental precarity, including the concept of refugium. Case studies of influential Kyoto gardens from the 11th through 15th centuries, and their significance as cultural productions with ecological implications. 

This course is an introduction to the art and culture of contemporary China, covering the period from 1960s to the present day. It focuses on art objects, performances, propaganda, and exhibitions produced by the government, the business sector, curators, and avant-garde artists in Mainland China. We also look at China’s Olympic stadiums, the Three Gorges Dam, and skyscrapers (including those in Hong Kong and Taiwan). Class meetings discuss the required readings and investigate artworks, films, and events that speak to China’s political ideologies, society, and economy, as well as its role in globalization and international conflicts. To establish a cross-cultural interpretation, this class also explores how Euro-American artists and filmmakers used their arts to express their views on contemporary China. 

This seminar uses the visual and material cultures of China to examine the notion of “modernity” and the relations among the “medieval,” “early modern,” and “modern” periods. By comparing these concepts with the historiographical frameworks of “Song-Yuan-Ming transition” and “late imperial China,” we will become familiar with the methodological concerns and contradictions that complicate these relativized temporal frameworks. Works by Craig Clunas, Jonathan Hay, and Wu Hung, along with the insights from historians, inform our discussions of Chinese prints, paintings, ceramics, and other decorative objects in the long-term development of global art history. This class is most suitable for graduate students who have background in Asian art history, the history of China, East Asian studies, or early modern studies.

The intersection of art, science, and diplomacy at Kyoto and Nagasaki in the time of Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch cultural and mercantile interaction in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, with attention to the entangled political relations linking the shogun Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Philip II of Spain, Jesuit missionaries such as Alessandro Valignano, and the Christian daimyō of Kyushu and the Inland Sea. Focus on Japanese castle architecture, nanban screens, world maps, arte sacra, and tea ceremony practices as related to the importation of European arte sacra, prints and drawings, scientific instruments, and world atlases such as Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. Includes inquiry into back-formations such as “baroque” and “global” to describe and/or interpret sixteenth- and seventeenth-century cultural productions.

Introductory course for students with no previous background in Japanese. Development of proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, and writing, including hiragana, katakana, and kanji characters. Introduction to Japanese culture and society. Individual tutorial sessions to improve oral communication skills. 

Continuation of JAPN 110, with supplementary materials such as excerpts from television shows, anime, and songs. Introduction of 150 additional kanji.

Continued development in both written and spoken Japanese. Aspects of Japanese culture, such as history, art, religion, and cuisine, explored through text, film, and animation. Online audio and visual aids facilitate listening, as well as the learning of grammar and kanji. Individual tutorial sessions improve conversational skills.