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Asian Studies

ASIA 051 [006J]: Cultural Encounters: The Arabs and the West
North Atlantic World (NA) [GC Non-Western/Comparative]
Sahar Amer
This course will question some of the most common Western misconceptions of the Arab Islamic world, particularly the enduring association between Arabs and Muslims on the one hand and violence and eroticism on the other. Why have images of the Oriental despot, the terrorist, the harem or the veil become such powerful modes of structuring the Arab Islamic world? What ideological and economic power structures have contributed to the development and persistence of such stereotypes throughout the centuries? What key literary, artistic and cultural works has the West produced to express both its attraction to and fear of the Orient? This course will also confront Western myths of the Arab world with some of the forgotten "realities" of Arabs and Muslims. We will examine in particular some of the key contributions of the Arab Islamic world to Western civilization, and we will discuss a selection of literary and artistic compositions by Arab authors in response to Western stereotypes. Rather than uncovering a "clash of civilizations," these counter-narratives will provide us with an alternative literary history through which to view the great diversity of the Arab world and to appreciate the complex relations between the Arab world and the West today.

ASIA 052 [006J]: Food in Chinese Culture
Beyond the North Atlantic (BN); Literary Arts (LA) [GC Non-Western/Comparative, Cultural Diversity]
Gang Yue
This course examines the significance of food in Chinese culture and covers mainland China, Taiwan, and Chinese communities in North America. With literary texts, films, and scholarly works, the course combines historical studies with literary criticism. While food practice is connected to such issues as ecological and social changes, close readings is required to examine the relationship between food and word, between the mouth that eats and the mouth that talks. Written test, oral presentation, and term project will be used to evaluate performance and encourage participation.

ASIA 053 [006J]: The Geisha in History, Fiction, and Fantasy
Beyond the North Atlantic (BN); Literary Arts (LA) [GC Non-Western/Comparative]
Jan Bardsley
The Japanese have long celebrated the geisha, the women who entertain by practicing the arts of traditional music and dance. The phenomenal success of Arthur Golden's novel, Memoirs of a Geisha, has once again drawn international attention to the history of the geisha and the fantasies she evokes. This seminar explores how the geisha profession began in the age of the Shogun and the samurai (1600-1868), examines her role in the modernization of Japan in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and considers why she has so fascinated the West. This journey will take us from the literary and theater worlds of old Japan to the contemporary industries of tourism and entertainment. Combining the methods of Asian Studies and Women's Studies, we will ask how the geisha embodies notions of gender, race and sexuality. Students will contribute actively through online and class discussion, group projects, short writing assignments, and a term paper.

ASIA 054 [006J]: The American Life of Japanese Women
Beyond the North Atlantic (BN); Visual and Performing Arts (VP) [GC Non-Western/Comparative]
Jan Bardsley
How does the balance of power between Japan and the U.S. affect the creation of identity in both countries? How do notions of gender figure in this process? This course explores these questions by investigating how Americans have portrayed Japanese women through fiction and film, feminist debate, legal reforms, and even VOGUE photographs. At the same time, the course also examines how Japanese women have simultaneously imagined American women in their own popular culture.

ASIA 055 [006J]: Kung-fu: The Concept of Heroism in Chinese Culture
Beyond the North Atlantic (BN); Humanities & Fine Arts/Philosophical & Moral Reasoning (PH) [GC Non-Western/Comparative]
Li-ling Hsiao
Kung-fu has become a global phenomenon, but its central place in the traditional culture of China remains unknown to most of the world. This course will explore the rich and complex traditions of kung-fu in relation to the concept of the heroism (xia) from ancient to modern times. The course material will include historical biographies, kung-fu novels, theater, to kung-fu films. The course will also explore the appropriation of kung-fu traditions in Japanese and American movies.

ASIA 056 [006J]: Writing Women in Modern China
Beyond the North Atlantic (BN); Literary Arts (LA) [GC Non-Western/Comparative]
Robin Visser
In "liberating" China from its traditional cultural practices, Chairman Mao denounced the oppression of women by famously declaring that "women hold up half the sky." One of the Communist Party's achievements was its elevation of women. As China embraces a new market economy, however, women may be losing ground. This seminar compares the rhetoric of equality between the sexes presented by late Qing, May Fourth, and communist thinkers to perspectives by women writers. We examine how several generations of women reconciled themselves to - and resisted - the expectations of women under Confucianism, Communism, and Capitalism in the twentieth century.

ASIA 060: Israeli Culture and Society: Collective Memories and Fragmented Identities
Beyond the North Atlantic (BN)
Yaron Shemer
This seminar is oriented toward students who are interested in learning about the culture and society of modern Israel. Specifically, we will examine the transformative power of the early Zionist discourse in the formation of the new State of Israel and the challenges to this discourse in years that followed. Consequently, the emphasis in this class will be on the cultural and social manifestation of the tensions between the creeds of “one nation” and “the melting pot” on the one hand, and the reiteration of ethnic, gender, and religious identities on the other. The first five sessions will provide contextual and background accounts for later discussions. Then, until the middle of the semester, the seminar will focus on various arenas of Israeli culture, past and present. The second part of the semester will be devoted to selected themes and case studies pertinent to culture and society in modern Israel.