Related Courses: Chinese Across the Curriculum

A survey of the arts of Asia, Africa, and the indigenous peoples of the Pacific and Americas. NOTE: This course fulfills the Fine Arts: Aesthetic Mode of Inquiry and the Intercultural Interconnection Perspective requirements of the LSP.

Myths and mythic patterns inherent in world cultures and literatures, including classical Greek and Roman, South American, North American, African, Asian, Sumerian, and Germanic civilizations. Students should take ENG 208 Writing about Literature either before or in conjunction with this course. NOTE: General Honors Course.

A survey of major works from one of more Asian cultures - Japanese, Chinese, Indian, etc. Classic and contemporary texts will be studied both as reflections and as creators of their culture’s human insights. NOTE: General Honors Course.

A topical and regional study of South, Southeast, and East Asia. Areas of inquiry include economics, political, urban, and environmental geography. NOTE: General Honors Course.

The first half of the two-semester sequence of East Asian Civilization. It deals with cultural, political, and socioeconomic evolution in “traditional” China and Japan.

The second half of the two-semester sequence of East Asian Civilization. It explores the following themes: the interaction between East Asia and the West, nationalism and imperialism, reform and revolution, democracy and modernization, leaders and masses, the future of East Asia and its role in global development.

Since the nineteenth century, Asian immigrants have braved their way to America in search of better economic opportunity. Today Asian Americans belong to the fastest growing ethnic minority group in the United States, and they have been a dynamic part of American socioeconomic and political life. Yet very little is known about them and their history. Why and how did they come to America? What are their American experiences as workers, professionals, family members, and activists? How have issues of gender, race, and class affected their lives? NOTE: General Honors Course.

This course explores the lives and history of Asian American women from the middle of the nineteenth century to the present. It focuses on the socio-economic and political forces that have shaped their lives: immigration, settlement, employment, education, family and marriage, community services, and political empowerment. This course shall be counted as either an American elective or an Asian elective within the History major (but not both) at the option of the student and advisor concerned. NOTE: General Honors Course.

An intensive investigation of Chinese history from ancient times to the mid-19th century. Emphasizes classical Chinese thought, political, socio-economic, and intellectual developments of ancient China, and the contributions of Chinese ancient culture to world civilization. NOTE: General Honors Course.

An intensive investigation of modern Chinese history from the mid-19th century to the present. Explores interactions between China and the West, the rise and development of Nationalism and Communism, democracy and modernization in China, important political leaders and recent political events, and China ’s position in the modern world. NOTE: General Honors Course.

Directed study of selected topics of Asian History.

An interdisciplinary approach to the relationships among law, history and literature. During this course students will examine legal documents, legal history, and immigrant literature concerning a particular ethnic group (for example: Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Jewish, or Irish Americans). By the end of the course each student will have completed a portfolio consisting of 4000 words of deeply revised prose.

An examination of the history, cultural base, presuppositions, structure, essential concepts and practices of Buddhism. Our encounter with Buddhism will involve both heart and mind in a close reading of classical texts, providing an opportunity to break down narrow understandings of the nature of religion itself.

An encounter with the cultural blending of Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and popular folk religion in China with respect to their history, cultural base, presuppositions, structure, essential concepts, and practices. How is harmony to be achieved in this world and the next?

A consideration of literary sources of Taoism and the varieties of practice in classical and modern times. How does the philosophy of the I Ching, Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, alchemical traditions, meditation, and ritual grow out of and transform Chinese culture?

This course will examine how women are perceived in various Buddhist traditions -Theravada (India and Sri Lanka) and Mahayana (Tibetan, China, and Japan) - as well as women’s responses and contributions to Buddhism from past to present and in both east and west.

This course will study the images, roles, and experience of women, both lay and ordained, in Chinese religions: Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, and popular religious sects. Discussion will focus on the following gender issues: gender concepts, norms and roles defined in each religion; attitudes toward women and the feminine; the female body as a central theme in religious doctrine and practice; the biographies of women recorded in Confucian, Taoist, and Buddhist literature; and female deities in Chinese religions. Readings will be taken from primary texts in translation and secondary studies.