Asian Studies

This course provides a study of Chinese historical celebrities, including representative politicians, ideologists, strategists, scientists, focusing on their careers and profound influence on future generations. The course uses celebrities in Chinese history and abstracts of works related to celebrities as teaching materials, including: Confucius and THE ANALECTS, Laozi and TAO DE JING, Sun Tzu and THE ART OF WAR OF SUN TZU, Qin Shi Huang and THE BOOK OF QIN SHI HUANG, Sima Qian and BAO REN AN SHU, Zhuge Liang and SHI SHI BIAO, Xu Guangqi and NONG ZHENG QUAN SHU, Sun Yat-sen and PUBLICATION OF MIN BAO.

This course examines the culture and philosophy of traditional Chinese medicine. It covers the development of Chinese medicine from the social, cultural, ideological and technological perspectives, including the safety of Chinese medicine, modernization of Traditional Chinese medicine, and internationalization. Topics include its origin and culture, historical evolution and development, modern development and humanistic background, strategy of modernization and internationalization, and basic concepts of Chinese medicinal base plants, classification, preparation, Taodi herbs, etc.

This course provides a broad and balanced picture of China's even growing presence and influence in the developing world, before and since the launch of its Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013. It examines readings about China in the developing world from Chinese and international sources and perspectives that shed light on the diversity and complexity of this topic. A closely related objective of the course is to encourage students to think critically about the strengths and lessons of China's development model and experience that other developing countries should assess and learn in pursuing their own development paths.

This course familiarizes students with the themes and history from late imperial (1842–1911) to republican (1912–1949) and Communist China (1949–). The course provides the major events and history makers, but not at the cost of micro history as it pays great attention to ordinary people and their lives. The course examines change, but change came in the shape of continuity, considering how a better understanding of China’s transformation from the “sick man of Asia” to economic superpower helps us better understand the making of the modern world.

A survey of Chinese narrative with its differing topical approaches: justice, history and fiction, romance, and the supernatural. Students are expected to comprehend the legacy of Chinese culture by examining its continuing articulations of archetypes and masterpieces. This class explores diverse narrative forms across time and genre: from the Han dynasty inceptions of historical records to Lu Xun`s personal essays; from the Tang romance to the Ming-Qing vernacular fiction; from the musical theatre in the Yuan dynasty to the revolutionary model plays during the Cultural Revolution, and also to contemporary cinematic representations of those popular themes.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. The course focuses on the history of Iran and Central Asia from the arrival of Islam to contemporary times. Special attention is placed on the methodology of historical research, and the treatment of historical themes in original and autonomous ways. Students are encouraged to evaluate sources and to know how to orient themselves with regards to specialized bibliographies. Emphasis is placed on how to prepare and communicate knowledge and how to make valid judgments in the historical field. The course is intended as a general introduction to the history of Iran and Central Asia in the Islamic period. Single historical periods are, broadly speaking, indicated below. Students are warmly encouraged to focus on specific thematic topics and to carry on, if possible, with further readings according to their personal interests. Basic historical periods covered: the Islamic penetration in Iran and Central Asia; the Mongol and Timurid periods, Iran and Central Asia under "Turkic" dynasties; the Safavid period and the formation of the so called "national state" in Iran; the contemporary condition of Caucasus and Central Asia and the relations of Iran with Ottoman Empire and Moghul India; contacts with Western countries: missionaries, diplomats and travelers; Iran under the Pahlavis, Caucasus, and Soviet Central Asia: "Cold War" challengers; the present-day situation: a "non-exotic" approach.

This course provides a general survey of the historical development of various aspects of Korean civilization, including politics, society and economy, thought and religion, and the arts. Half of the course covers the main themes in Korean history and their historical interpretations, from prehistoric times to the modern period. It also pays special attention to social systems, religion and culture, as well as the changing geopolitics of the region. The other half of the course will take a comparative approach by examining contemporaneous China, Japan, and northeast Asia, identifying similarities and differences between the regions. Through this course, students will have a better understanding of the challenges Korea faced in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and the historical processes through which Korea, China, and Japan developed.