Asian Studies

Development economics is a relatively new and unique field, emerging after post-World War II decolonization and is unique in certain aspects. This course covers the leading issues in economic development for social science students, promoting a balanced understanding based on theories and empirical research. Starting from a basic understanding of poverty, inequality and economic growth, this class focuses more on international issues that less developed economies face in present time, such as trade, foreign direct investment, balance of payment crisis, and structural adjustment, as well as other policy issues. 

This course examines Asia's cultures, track its political evolution from pre-colonial to post-colonial times, and explains its renewed prominence in contemporary global affairs.

This course examines Japanese culture, language, and way of thinking through current Japanese pop culture (movies, manga, and music) to gain a deeper understanding of “Modern Japan.”  Each class will divide international students and local students in pairs so they can discuss topics in Japanese and English effectively.

Prerequisite: International students must have completed at least one semester of college-level Japanese to enroll in this course. Japanese students should be able to express themselves in clear Japanese or English, ideally those interested in Japanese language teaching.

This course examines the history of early modern China and Japan (ca. 1600–1912) through the lens of gender and sexuality. By examining topics including Confucianism and the family, Samurai status, imperial expansion, commerce and leisure, medicine and religion, it makes a case for gender and sexuality as drivers of historical change in the early modern world. It examines not only women and women’s history, but also men and masculinity, gender-nonconforming communities, and the changing relationship between gender, sexuality and social, economic, and cultural power. It will introduce key questions and debates in the study of East Asian history and the history of gender and sexuality through a range of primary and secondary sources as well as film, fiction and multimedia.

This course offers a broad introduction to the most relevant features of human geography in Asia. The first part of this course offers insights into main themes that are relevant across this diverse continent. As Asia is huge and the semester is short, this course focuses on Southeast Asia in the second part of the semester. On one hand Southeast Asia includes successful and developed countries like Singapore, Brunei, and Malaysia, while it also includes countries where poverty is still widespread and difficult to reduce. Also, Southeast Asian countries both look at the USA and China for economic and political cooperation.  

This course discusses a range of prominent issues such as colonial legacies; nation-building projects amidst ethnic and religious diversity; natural disasters and climate change; economic geographical patterns; poverty; socioeconomic inequality; spatial disparities; land governance, and the South China Sea dispute.  

This course does not include in-depth studies of the Republic of Korea, China, and Japan. 

This course instructs on how to perform using Gayageum, a 12-string Korean traditional instrument and aims to deepen an understanding of Korean traditional music. 

This course explores how forbidden romance —amorous engagement in fiction and reality—became the most volatile form of cultural expression in the modern world of revolution and enlightenment. Drawing on literary masterpieces across China and the West, the course examines how the modern lure of free will and emancipated subjectivity drove Chinese intellectuals, Sinophone writers, and their Western contemporaries to redefine terms of affect, such as love, desire, passion, loyalty, and sacrifice. The course also explores how the moral and political consequences of affect were evoked in such a way as to traverse or fortify consensual boundaries and their literary manifestations.

As a result of Chinese diaspora and increasing global cultural interactions, scholars have proposed various analytical frameworks to remap the current field of Chinese-language literature and film. The concept of “sinophone” is such an attempt which celebrates the diverse expressions of “chineseness” and underscores the local particularities in which each Chinese-language or film is produced. This course offers students an opportunity to study selected sinophone literary works (by writers residing primarily in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the west) and films, and to explore and challenge existing notions of nationalism, cultural identity, and linguistic authenticity.

The purpose of this course is for students to learn about Japanese communication behaviors and culture, using a comparative approach with other cultures, while also learning through their own lived experiences. This course covers the chapters that are not covered in spring semester and aims to deepen understanding of the spring course; it is not mandatory to enroll in the spring course.

This course is taught in English and some Japanese and utilizes the peer teaching approach at the beginning of each class. 

This course provides an overview of the history of Japanese literature from ancient (上代) to pre-modern times. The goal of this class is to understand traditional Japanese literature deeply by examining certain representative works from each period, genre by genre. Students will learn about the background and analyze the content of each work, i.e. Heian Court literature, medieval military literature, pre-modern Chonin (町人) literature, to gain a broad understanding of traditional Japanese society.