300 Level EASIA Courses

EASIA 305 Introduction to Chinese Linguistics
Xiaoting Li
This course provides students with a general understanding of the Chinese language from a linguistic perspective. It offers an introduction to important linguistic elements of the Chinese language – its phonological (sound system), morphological (word formation system) and syntactical structure (sentence structure) and its writing system. Covered also are other topics concerning the Chinese language, including dialects, and the relationship between language, culture and society. This is NOT a language course but a course about the Chinese language. The lectures and discussions will be in English. This course is intended to help you with your understanding of the Chinese language in a systematic manner.

EASIA 307 Chinese Psycholinguistics
Kuo-Chan Sun

EASIA 315 Introduction to Japanese Linguistics
Tsuyoshi Ono
An introduction to some important aspects of the Japanese language as well as basic linguistic concepts. Topics covered in the course include: the sound system, word formation, parts of speech, sentence structure, and language use, variation, and change. This course will train students in basic skills for analyzing data and presenting findings and prepare them for further study of Japanese linguistics and pedagogy.

EASIA 316 ‘Language and Society in Japan’
Tsuyoshi Ono

EASIA 322 Buddhist Art of Asia
Walter Davis
This course considers the Buddhist art of South and East Asia. After introducing Buddhism’s basic ideas and historical development, the course examines how architecture, sculpture, painting, and other forms of visual expression have articulated such concerns as suffering, wisdom, compassion, and salvation and have been used in diverse cultural, social, and political contexts. The course teaches methodologies that are fundamental to the study of Buddhist and Asian art, such as iconographic, formal, and contextual analysis. In addition, by tracing how Buddhism and its modes of visual expression spread across Asia and were adapted to different cultural contexts, the course heightens awareness of religious art’s cultural, social, and political dimensions and draws attention to ways in which Buddhist art has mediated relationships between different societies and systems of thought.

EASIA 325 Modern and Early Modern Japanese Religions
David Quinter
This seminar examines Japanese religions from the 17th century through the present. Topics will be analyzed under two main rubrics, “Performance and Play” and “Conflict and Separation.” We will begin with a brief introduction to Japanese religions in the ancient and medieval periods, focusing on the synthesis of Buddhism and Shinto. Next we will investigate popular preaching and performance, pilgrimage and travel, and Shugendō and mountain cults in Edo (1600-1867) and modern Japan. We will then turn to issues of outcasts and discrimination, the separation of Buddhism and Shinto, and conflicts among religious groups. We will close with analyses of Japan’s “new religions” and the Aum affair, rites of separation, and revisionist appraisals of Zen Buddhism.

EASIA 331: Premodern Chinese Literature in Translation 
Evan Nicoll-Johnson
A survey of Chinese literature from the earliest written texts through the nineteenth century. We will read major figures, works, and genres from throughout Chinese history. By taking this class, you can get to know the most famous and influential works in Chinese literary history, and also learn about lesser-known (but still fascinating!) stories, poems, and plays. All readings are in English translation, no knowledge of modern or classical Chinese is required, and there are no required textbook purchases. There is no final exam. Instead, students will have the option to make artwork, music, poetry, or other creative works for their final project, or write a traditional analytical or research paper.

EASIA 336 Modern Chinese Literature in Translation
Clara Iwasaki
This course is intended as a survey of modern Chinese literature from 1900-1949 with a particular focus on the ways that literature in Chinese has intersected with other literatures through the travel and circulation of writer and texts. Students should expect to gain competency in the modern vernacular literary tradition of China, learn about different styles and schools, learn literary trends in modern Chinese literature such as realism, modernism, socialist realism, the use of first person narration, and what it means for a work of literature to be considered modern.. Students should also expect to learn (or review) the basics of literary analysis. This course will culminate in a final paper.

This course has no required textbooks. All readings will be available electronically or through the library’s online catalogue. The class will feature texts such as:

  • Lu Xun, “Diary of a Madman”
  • Xiao Hong, “Hands”
  • Xu Dishan, “A Merchant’s Wife”
  • Ding Ling, “Miss Sophie’s Diary”
  • Mu Shiying, “Five in a Nightclub”
  • Eileen Chang/Zhang Ailing, “Love in a Fallen City”

EASIA 342:ANIME: PROCESS, HISTORY, AND AESTHETICS
William Carroll
What is anime? What distinguishes it from other animation, and what, if anything, is specifically Japanese about it? This course will offer students an overview of the historical emergence of anime, its rise in both feature filmmaking and television, and the formation of Japan’s animation industry(ies) at different times in its history. We will further investigate how the aesthetics of anime relate to other visual art forms in Japan, including manga, and how the technical processes used in anime (especially “limited animation”) invent forms of visual motion. Finally, we will consider the role of anime viewers, particularly fan cultures, in the creation of meaning and the transnational circulation of anime from Japan. Students will get an overview of the history of animation in Japan, and will learn to identify the technical practices of animation that have become identified with anime. Further, they will learn about the ways that textual meaning can be altered in the process of reception, specifically of popular anime by international fan communities.

EASIA 347: The Japanese Supernatural
Anne Commons
This course offers a selective introduction to the depiction of supernatural entities and phenomena in the literature of Japan, supplemented with reference to visual art and film. We will examine literary representations of the supernatural in a variety of genres, situating them within their social, religious, and historical contexts, and will relate them to larger trends and themes within Japanese history and culture. We will also consider the characteristics of categories such as “natural” and “supernatural,” and analyse the uses to which supernatural or monstrous entities have been put in creative works in Japan. The texts to be examined include setsuwa (anecdotes), nō theatre, kabuki theatre, and Edo-period and modern comic books.

EASIA 348: The Chinese Supernatural 
Evan Nicoll-Johnson
Supernatural and fantastic themes and imagery in Chinese literature and pop culture, including short stories, poetry, religious literature, and film from throughout Chinese history. In addition to introducing supernatural creatures and phenomena that recur throughout Chinese culture, the course will also invite students to consider different perspectives on the definition of ‘fiction’ throughout history, examine how the supernatural and otherworldly can impact everyday life, and analyze what is preserved and what is reinvented when traditional stories are adapted for contemporary audiences.

EASIA 351 Culture and Identity in Taiwan
Clara Iwasaki
This course is intended as a survey of literature and culture in Taiwan from roughly 1930 to the present. At the end of this course, successful students should be able to define distinct political and cultural periods in Taiwanese history, define distinct linguistic, cultural, and ethnic groups in Taiwan and their relationship to one another, note the differences between the major literary and cinematic movements and trends in Taiwanese literature and cinema, discuss the evolving and shifting definitions of Taiwanese identity, describe continuities and tensions between these conceptions of identity, and be able to apply these concepts to a reading of a literary or cinematic text in the form of a final paper.

Works covered in previous versions of this class include:

  • Yang Kuei “The Newspaper Carrier”
  • Pai Hs’ien-yung “Wandering in the Garden, Waking from the Dream”
  • Home Sweet Home dir. Pai Ching-jui
  • Hwang Chun-ming “His Son’s Big Doll”
  • Li Ang, The Lost Garden
  • Ch’iu Miao-chin, Notes of a Crocodile
  • Finding Sayun, dir. Laha Mebow
  • Hebei, Taipei, dir. Lee Nien-hsiu
  • Detention (video game)

EASIA 359 Culture and Identity in Hong Kong
Clara Iwasaki
This course is intended to be a survey of literature, cinema, and other culture in Hong Kong. Students will learn the broad outline of cultural, media, and literary history in Hong Kong. They will gain an understanding of major authors and artists in literature and cinema in Hong Kong more broadly. In addition, students will learn about the different periods of colonial and postcolonial rule in Hong Kong as well as how Hong Kong has continued to be represented from a remove. Students should be able to discuss common themes and identify similarities and differences between related works and articulate these in a final paper or final project.

Works covered in previous versions of this class include:

  • Come Drink With Me, dir. King Hu
  • Rouge, dir. Stanley Kwan
  • Liu Yichang, “Intersection”
  • Police Story, dir. Jackie Chan
  • PTU, dir. Johnnie To
  • Chungking Express, dir. Wong Kar Wai
  • Xi Xi, Flying Carpet
  • Pik Shuen Fung, Ghost Forest

EASIA 375 Introduction to Korean Linguistics
Kyungsook Kim
This course is designed for undergraduate students who wish to understand the Korean language in terms of a linguistic perspective. This course introduces the general overview of Korean sound systems, word formation systems, and sentence structures. In addition, this course also teaches the historic background of Korean language and letters, the Korean government’s efforts to develop the romanization of the Korean letters, and the comparisons of the Korean language with other languages.

EASIA 376 Korean Sociolinguistics
Kyungsook Kim
This course is designed for undergraduate students who wish to understand the interactions between Korean language and society. This course deals with various Korean sociolinguistic phenomena, such as the history of Korean writing system, the differences and similarities between the North and South Korean, Korean dialects, unique sensory expressions, idioms, proverbs, neologisms, “Konglish” (mix of English and Korean words), loanwords, honorific language systems, address/reference terms, cultural etiquette, body language, ceremonial expressions, speech acts, the Korean language issues related to gender and mass media, etc.