Courses

For the most current information, please refer to the following web-site:
http://www.college.emory.edu/current/courses/atlas/fall.html

Fall 2008 Course Offerings

Max number of Asian Studies students able to register in cross-listed courses can be found in each description below the instructor name and class time.
Please contact Angie Brewer at 404-727-2108, angie.brewer@emory.edu, if you have any questions.

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ASIA 102: Introduction to South Asian Civilizations
Juneja, WF 3:00 - 4:15 (Same as MESAS 102)
Max: 15

Content: This course is intended to introduce major themes of South Asian Civilizations – religious beliefs and practices, state forms, visual culture, social organization and gender relations – by tracing the ways these domains have historically evolved. It adopts a broad chronological frame in which each theme will be examined. At the same time it will use different entry points to initiate a discussion of subjects. We will analyze materials such as monuments, paintings, archaeological finds, novels, biographies or political texts to understand structures and recover the workings of social and cultural processes. The course will also plot the ways Indian history was first written about and its rewritings over the recent decades. In doing so it hopes to generate an awareness of how each generation takes a fresh look at older histories through the prism of newer concerns and contexts.

Texts: Romila Thapar, The Penguin History of Early India. From the Origins to AD 1300, London/New York/New Delhi: Penguin Books , 2003 (updated and revised edition); Barbara D. Metcalf and Thomas R. Metcalf, A Concise History of Modern India, Cambridge: CUP 2006 (second edition), also available online as e-book; Annemarie Schimmel, The Empire of the Great Mughals: History, Art and Culture, Chicago: University of Chicago Press 2006; Catherine B. Asher and Thomas R. Metcalf (eds.), Perceptions of South Asia’s Visual Past, Oxford and IBH: New Delhi 1994; and a collection of important articles will be placed together in a separate file. A set of materials – maps, visuals and texts – together with links to important websites will be made available online.

Particulars: The course will be structured as a mix of lectures, class presentations and discussions of textual or visual material. Students will be graded for regular attendance, reading and class participation. In addition they will be expected to make two oral presentations in the course of the term, submit a mid-term paper (5-6 pages) and write an end-of-term exam. At least one of the presentations and/or the term paper should be a study of either an art object (e.g. from the Carlos Museum), a novel, a film or a primary text (to be decided after discussion with me), locating it in its historical context and using it as a window onto aspects of South Asia’s past and/or present.

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ASIA 190: Harem Tales
Ruby Lal, TTh 4:00 - 5:15 (Same as MESAS 190 and HIST 190)
Max: 6

Content: What is a harem? Are the following images invoked in your mind straight away: a reclining naked woman holding grapes and a cup of wine, attendants serving her? Or, groups of women engaging in convivial activities, bathing together, absorbed in festivity? Is the harem exactly like this? Is it merely a place for pleasure? Who inhabits it? Only women? Sometimes eunuchs? What about children? Is it possible that the harem could be one of the most sacred concepts in Islamic thought? And that it is a highly contested terrain? By looking at a variety of primary and secondary texts, essays, films, and slides, this seminar will investigate the ‘activities’ of various harems – set in different historical times and places.

Texts: Selections from Leslie P. Peirce, The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire; Ruby Lal, Domesticity and Power in the Early Mughal World; Malek Alloula, The Colonial Harem; Fatima Mernissi, Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood; Ruth Yeazell, Harems of the Mind: Passages of Western Art and Literature; and Montesquieue, The Persian Letters.

Particulars: Regular and informed participation in class, a mid-term and a final paper.

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ASIA 190: Discovering International Atlanta
Tefft , W 10 - 12:30 (Same as JRNL190 and LAS 190)
Max: 5

Content: New immigrants are shaping international Atlanta. This seminar explores the city's international character through news coverage, field trips, meetings with journalists, politicians and other newsmakers and volunteer work in diverse neighborhoods. Students examine how the news media shape Atlanta's identity as home to growing immigrant communities and define public opinion and policy on major immigration issues. Students taking this course as LAS 190 would focus on Latin American and/or Caribbean migrant communities.

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ASIA 210: Classic Religious Texts: Buddhist Narrative Literature
McClintock, TTh 1:00 - 2:15 (Sames as REL 210)
Max: 4

Content: This course is a writing intensive seminar that takes as its focus the Buddhist narrative literature of South Asia. Our goal is to engage in a sustained encounter with the many worlds of this literature. These worlds include the worlds behind the texts (the historical and cultural settings in which the narratives were produced); the worlds inside the texts (the worlds envisioned or created by the narratives themselves); and the worlds before the texts (the audiences for whom the narratives have been, could have been, and may still be meaningful). Such worlds can be explored for any text, and we will also ask and think about the worlds of the student papers produced in this course. The methods we will use to penetrate the worlds of Buddhist narrative literature include reading, thinking, discussing, and writing. Since this is a writing intensive course, it is natural that we will place a lot of our attention on this form of inquiry and expression. At the same time, it is important to recognize that this course is just as much about becoming a more accomplished reader as it is about becoming a better writer. Likewise, the course is also about learning how to think more clearly about what we read, as well as how to hone our ideas through discussion with colleagues. Deep and nuanced understanding of literary texts requires the development of all four of these skills: writing is simply the most public face of a much larger intellectual process of inquiry, discovery, and communication.

Particulars: The course will be conducted as a seminar, apart from a small number of lectures (marked in the syllabus). Starting in October, we will have a number of student led sessions. Exploring and communicating your ideas with colleagues is an important part of the learning experience. Please note that this is a course on South Asian Buddhist narrative texts. It is not a survey course or an introduction to Buddhism. Students interested in such overviews may choose from a number of courses offered through the Religion Department and the Asian Studies Program. Previous study of Buddhism is helpful but not required.

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ASIA 212: Asian Religious Traditions
Doyle, TTh 11:30-12:45 (Sames as REL 212)
Max: 5

Content: This “theory-practice-learning” (TPL) class is an introduction to a number of prominent texts and associated religious practices found within the Hindu and Buddhist traditions of South Asia. Texts will include Vedic hymns, selections from the Upanishads, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra, the Devi-mahatmya, medieval bhakti poetry, Ashvaghosa’s Buddha-carita, the Satipatthana Sutta, Shantideva’s Bodhicaryavatara, and selections from Buddhist tantras. In line with the TPL nature of this course, students will also witness important rituals and/or festivals at the Hindu Temple of Atlanta and Wat Buddha Bucha, study about and practice Hindu yoga and Buddhist meditation, and watch performances of Carnatic devotional music and Tibetan chanting. All these will be studied within historical and contemporary contexts, thus revealing both the continuity and innovativeness of these two major religious traditions.

Texts: Eck, Darsan; Shantideva, Way of the Bodhisattva; Thich Nhat Hanh, Heart of Understanding; and photocopied sourcebook of articles.

Particulars: Class participation (15%), three 2 page reflection papers (30%), mid-term exam (25%), and final exam (30%).

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ASIA 270: Introduction to Japanese Culture
Crowley, TTh 1:00 - 2:15 (Same as JPN 270 and EAS 270)
Max: 2

Content: An introduction to aspects of the study of the culture of modern Japan. We will explore such issues as writing and writing systems, gender, memory and history, geography and the environment, science, aesthetics, and the formation of national identity. No background in Japanese studies is required. Special attention will be given to these questions: When is Japanese culture? How do the Japanese view their culture and tradition, and how is it viewed by non-Japanese? How have these views changed throughout history?

Texts: Texts will include (but not be limited to) Helen McCullough, Genji and Heike, Ryusaku Tsunoda, et al., eds., Sources of Japanese Tradition; Yoshida Kenko, Essays in Idleness, Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai, Conrad Totman, Japan Before Perry, and films.

Particulars:  No Prerequisite.

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ASIA 301: Early and Medieval Hinduism
Patton, TTh 2:30-3:45 (Sames as REL 301)
Max: 9

Content: The purpose of this course is to provide an historical overview of the origins of the religious movements in India we now call "Hinduism." Through the reading of mythological, philosophical and poetic primary texts, as well as historical and anthropological studies, we will show how such a tradition was constructed through a set of ongoing tensions: between ascetic and sacrificer, between villager and city-dweller, between outcaste and brahmin, between poet and philosopher. In tracing these tensions throughout Indian history, we will: 1) examine the roots of Indian tradition; 2) master the basic terminology of Indian thought; 3) use that terminology to study the development of Indian philosophy and popular religious movements. We will focus in particular on the mediation of religious conflict, and how Hindus have served as intriguing figures in this regard.

Texts:  Klostermaier, Klaus K. A Survey of Hinduism. Albany: SUNY Press, 1989; O'Flaherty, Wendy The Rg Veda. New York: Penguin, 1981; O'Flaherty, Wendy. Hindu Myths. New York: Penguin, 1977; Olivelle, Patrick. The Upanisads. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996; Ramanujan, A.K. Speaking of Siva. New York: Penguin, 1973; Dimock, Edward and Levertov, Denise. In Praise of Krishna. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1967; Radhakrishnan and Moore. A Sourcebook for Indian Philosophy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1957; Stoller Miller, Barbara. The Bhagavad Gita. New York: Bantam, 1986; Patton, Laurie. Authority, Anxiety, and Canon. Albany: SUNY Press, 1994; Hawley, Jack and Jurgensmeyer, Mark, eds. Songs of the Saints of India; Selections from Mittal and Thursby, Eds. The HIndu World, 2004.

Particulars: Two short answer exams, One mid-term paper (5-8 pp), One final research paper (15-20 pp). 

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ASIA 310: Modern Buddhism: Becoming the Buddha in America
Doyle, TTh 2:30 - 3:45 (same as REL 310)
Max: 5

Content: This seminar investigates the complex historical and sociological processes by which Buddhism has been transplanted in American soil during the last two centuries, focusing particularly on Buddhist groups and institutions within easy reach of Emory. Discussions, films, and fieldtrips to temples are integral to this course. Throughout, we will also investigate such issues as Orientalism, cultural accommodation, identity formation, immigration, conversion, and religious pluralism in our attempts to understand the various Buddhisms that exist today in the U.S.A.

Texts: Seager, Buddhism in America; Thich Nhat Hanh, Being Peace; and two photocopied selections of articles

Particulars: requirements include 1) a short presentation on a late 19 th-century person involved in the transplanting of Buddhism in American soil, 2) a short paper on some aspect of the early history of Asian Buddhism in North America, 3) a group presentation on a local Buddhist temple or center, and 4) a research paper on some aspect of Socially Engaged Buddhism.

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ASIA 365: Buddhist Philosophy: Mind and Mental Transformation
Lobsang Tenzin Negi, Thur 2:30 - 5:15 (same as REL 365)
Max: 15

Content: This course is an opportunity to study the Tibetan Buddhist contemplative tradition of Mahamudra, meaning "The Great Seal," a highly respected meditative tradition that involves meditation on the nature of the mind itself. Each year Emory University invites a Distinguished Visiting Tibetan Scholar for a one-semester long residency to teach a course and give lectures. This Fall's distinguished scholar, Khenpo Losal Zangpo, is a highly regarded scholar and meditation master, and will present the tradition of Mahamudra in a traditional pedagogical style. Opportunities to engage in the meditation practice will also be possible given student interest. Preliminary readings and lectures will place Mahamudra in the wider context of Buddhist contemplative theory and practice.

Texts: William Hart, The Art of Living. Vipassana Meditation as Taught by S.N. Goenka; Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, Essentials of Mahamudra; Dakpo Tashi Namgyal, Clarifying the Natural State; and Alan Wallace, The Seven Point Mind Training.

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ASIA 370: Family in South Asia
Lal, TTh 2:30 - 3:45 (Same as MESAS 370)
Max: 5

Content: This course investigates the history of Muslim and Hindu families and the construction of domestic norms in northern India from the sixteenth century to today. We shall use a variety of texts - historical and anthropological writings, films and fictional accounts - to examine how contemporary thinkers and writers consider familial relationships and norms of comportment and everyday life.

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ASIA 370: Postcolonial Literature: Literature of the Indian Partition
Bahri, MWF 3:00 - 3:50 (Same as ENG 345)
Max: 5

Content: The partition of India in 1947 left a million dead and 12 million displaced.  How does history recount this traumatic event?  What stories are told about the partition in the community?  How do writers, poets, artists, cartoonists, and filmmakers recreate the drama of partition? How does literature render the historic poetic, the traumatic theoretical, the violent aesthetic?

In this multi-media course we will learn about the treatment of the historical event of the partition of the Indian subcontinent history in literary and popular accounts: novels, stories, poems, art, cartoons, and films from Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan.  Translated texts constitute about 10% the course content, while the rest of the material is originally in English.  Special features of this course include a blackboard platform and lectures by survivors of the partition from the Atlanta South Asian community.

Texts: Literary readings include Amitav Ghosh's The Shadow Lines,Bapsi Sidhwa's Cracking India, Khushwant Singh's Train to Pakistan, short stories and poetry.

Particulars: Presentation and two papers.

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ASIA 370: South Asian Politics since 1945
Creekmore, TTh 11:30 - 12:45 (Same as POLS 385 and HIST 385)
Max: 5

Content: This course analyzes the political and economic developments in South Asia, particularly in India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, over the past 50 years from a historical, political institutional, and policy perspective. Possessing 20 percent of the world's population, this region will play an increasingly important role in international affairs in the future.

Texts: TBA

Particulars: TBA

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ASIA 372: Introduction to Modern Japanese Literature in Translation
Bullock, TTh 2:30 - 3:45 (Same as JPN 372 and EAS 364)
Max: 2

Content: Surveys Japanese literature from the mid-19th century to the present. Introduces the nature and range of literary genres as they developed in the context of Japan's confrontation with modernity. The course opens for discussion issues in contemporary literary theory in order to understand aspects of Japanese literature and culture, such as gender, nationalism, intertextuality, Orientalism, and identity. Texts are in English translation.

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ASIA 375: Literature in Early and Imperial China
Kurtz, TTh 10:00 - 11:15 (Same as CHN 272, EAS 272 and CPLT 333)
Max: 3

Content: An introduction to Chinese literature from its beginnings through the end of the imperial era in 1911. Focusing on close readings of selected pieces in their literary and historical contexts, we will analyze representative works of various eras, writers, and genres. The aim of the course is to illustrate the beauty and diversity of classical Chinese literary voices and poetic sensibilities, and enable students to come to adequate terms with literary texts that were produced in a cultural environment often portrayed as being ‘worlds apart’ from our own. All texts will be studied in English translation.

Texts: Owen, Stephen. An Anthology of Chinese Literature. Beginnings to 1911. New York: W. W. Norton 1996; Mair, Victor H. (ed.). The Columbia Anthology of Traditional Chinese Literature. New York: Columbia University Press 1994. Further readings will be made available on online reserve.

Particulars: No knowledge of Chinese required. Evaluation based on class participation, written assignments, research paper, midterm and final.

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ASIA 375: Screening China
Rong Cai, TTh 1:00 - 2:15 and M 6pm film screenings (Same as CHN 394, FILM 394 and CPLT 389)
Max: 2

Content: The course explores the history and development of Chinese cinema since the early twentieth century. It discusses "film in China" and "China in film" by focusing on the function of cinema and the continual reconfigurations of time, space, gender, and history in Chinese films under different historical conditions in the past hundred years.

Texts: TBA

Particulars: Several one-page film response papers; two presentations; and a final paper (8-10 pages) of film analysis and discussion of a representative feature of Chinese cinema (research required). Attendance and active participation will count in determining final grades.

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ASIA 375: Tradition in Modern China
Kurtz, TTh 2:30 - 3:45 (Same as CHN 471, EAS 471 and HIST 385)
Max: 3

Content: This seminar examines the multiple ways in which traditions have been attacked, defended, revised, and reinvented in twentieth-century China. Our aim is to disentangle the anxieties, interests, and rhetorical devices that have shaped modern Chinese answers to the question of historical continuity. In our explorations, we will scrutinize representations of the past in scholarly works, including histories of Chinese science and thought, as well as depictions of historical events and personalities in historiography, film, fiction, music, monuments, and art.

Texts: Course readings on Reserves Direct.

Prerequisite: Completion of one China or East-Asia related seminar or lecture course. Knowledge of Chinese is desirable but not required. Evaluation based on class participation, written assignments, exams, research paper.

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ASIA 378: Postwar Japan Through Its Media
Bullock, TTh 4:00 - 5:15 (Same as JPN 387 and EAS 378)
Max: 2

Content: This course examines the way the postwar Japanese experience has been reflected (and constructed) through various types of popular media. Through film, television, magazines, newspapers, music, and manga, we will explore the various ways in which Japanese society has narrated its experiences of recovery and rebuilding after World War II, and the role these media sources have played in this reconstruction. Whenever possible, class discussions will incorporate methodologies of cultural criticism that elaborate the relationships between media, representation, and national or racial identity.

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ASIA 495: Directed Study Honors Thesis
Faculty
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ASIA 497: Directed Study
Faculty
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TBT 101: Tibetan Language 101
Tsondue Samphel, MWF 12:50 - 1:40 and Tu 4:00 - 5:15
Max: 15

Content: This course is an introduction to spoken and literary Tibetan for students with little or no prior exposure to the language. The emphasis in the first semester will be on oral expression and comprehension, as well as on learning to accurately read and write the most common Tibetan script (dbu can). Students will also be introduced to aspects of Tibetan culture that impact social interaction, such as the use of honorific speech and particular gestures and body language. Classroom activities will include skits, dialogues, games and songs to remind us that learning a foreign language can be fun!

Required Texts: Tournadre, Nicolas and Sangda Dorje. Manual of Standard Tibetan: Language and Civilization. Translated from the French by Charles Ramble. Snow Lion Publications, 2003.

Recommended Text: Goldstein, Melvyn C., ed. The New Tibetan-English Dictionary of Modern Tibetan. University of California Press, 2001. [This text will be required in subsequent semesters.]

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TBT 192: Tibetan Conversation
Tsondue Samphel, W 2:00 - 2:50
Max: 15

Content:This one-credit conversation course is designed to help students maintain or improve their conversation skills in colloquial Tibetan. All students must have at least one semester of prior Tibetan language instruction to register. Students returning from Emory’s Tibetan Studies Abroad Program in Dharamsala who wish to enter Tibetan 102 in the Spring semester are especially encouraged to attend. Please contact Dr. Sara McClintock (slmccli@emory.edu) to find out more about this course.

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For Asian language courses listed in REALC or MESAS, please visit the following web site:

CHINESE COURSES:
Please see Russian and East Asian Languages and Culture:http://www.emory.edu/REALC/index.html for courses related to Chinese language, literature and culture.

HINDI LANGUAGE COURSES:
Please see Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies: http://www.mesas.emory.edu/course.atlas/fall06.htm for Hindi Language Courses

JAPANESE COURSES:
Please see Russian and East Asian Languages and Culture: http://www.emory.edu/REALC/index.html

KOREAN COURSES:
Please see Russian and East Asian Languages and Culture: http://realc.emory.edu/korean/courses.shtml

SANSKRIT COURSES:
Please see Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies: http://www.mesas.emory.edu/course.atlas/fall06.htm

 

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