Courses

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 Melissa Rubins at 404-727-2108, mrubins@emory.edu, if you have any questions.

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ASIA 100: Intro to South Asian Civilizations: Historical and Cultural Debates
Lal, TTh 10:00-11:15 (Sames as MESAS 370R)
(Max: 5)

Content: In this course, we shall investigate the area of South Asian Civilizations by focusing on the historical debates surrounding important themes such as religion, nationalism, history, and family life. We will explore these themes for two to three weeks through select texts that will include classical and recent writings, historical and literary texts, and films and fiction.

Texts: A Concise History of India , Barbara Metcalf and Thomas Metcalf; Modern South Asia , Sugata Bose and Ayesha Jalal; Selections from: The History of British India , James Mill; T he History of India as told by its own Historians , H.M. Elliot and John Dowson; The Discovery of India, J.Nehru; The Indus Saga, Aitzaz Ahsa! n. ; The Social Anthropology of a Civilisation ,Bernard Cohn; Homo Hierarchicus , Louis Dumont; Caste in Modern India and other essays , M. N. Srinivas; Early India , Romila Thapar.

Selections from: Life and Conditions of the people of Hindustan, K.M. Ashraf; The Indian Muslims, M.Mujeeb; Islamic Society on a South Asian Frontier , Stephen Dale; Construction of Communalism, Gyanendra Pandey.

Selections from: Recasting Women , Kumkum Sanghari and Sudesh Vaid; Hindu Wife, Hindu Nation , Tanika Sarkar; The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy; Ruby Lal, ‘Historicizing the Harem: the! challenge of a princess’s memoir’, Feminist Studies, vol. 30, no. 3 (Fall/Winter 2004); Being Muslim in India (film). Modern ‘– isms’ (colonialism, nationalism, communalism). Selections from Gandhi, Tagore, Salman Rushdie and Subaltern Studies; Khamosh Pani (film).

Particulars: A 10 page midterm paper and a 10 page final paper.

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ASIA 150: Cultures and Peoples of SE Asia: Space, Place and Personhood
MacLean, TTh 4:00-5:15 (Same as ANTHRO 150)
(Max: 7)

Content: This course will introduce students to a wide range of anthropological theories regarding space—both as a category of analysis and as a means of producing and bounding various forms of cultural difference. Particular emphasis will be placed on the relationship between space, place, and personhood in the context of Southeast Asia, which is an immensely diverse region that features an array of hierarchical and egalitarian social systems. A comparative approach to these concerns raises important epistemological as well as methodological questions about how “regions” should be drawn and why “nation-states” were and remain especially problematic categories for organizing difference in Southeast Asia. Case studies will be used throughout most of the course to ask how our understandings of Southeast Asia change when other categories besides state-centric ones are used? Towards this end, most of the cases will examine different kinds of mobile populations (e.g. monks, pirates, insurgents, NGO networks, sex workers, and upland groups that practice swidden) and other cross-border phenomena (e.g. flows of commodities, cultural forms, and information) that challenge the concepts routinely used to define regions and to compare areas. Readings will be drawn from a range of disciplines in addition to cultural anthropology, e.g.: history, geography, social theory, political ecology, and political science. Additional details regarding the content and the requirements of the course TBA.

 Particulars: Enrollment is limited to thirty-five students.

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ASIA 190: Freshman Seminar: Harem Tales
Lal, TTh 11:30-12:45, (Sames as MESAS 190)
(Max: 6)

Content: This seminar will consider a wide array of questions, such as: 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: Freshman Seminar: Buddhist Deities of China and Japan
Reinders, MWF 10:40-11:30, (same as REL 190 and CHN 190)
(Max: 4)

Content: Who are all the images you see when you go through a Buddhist temple, and what are their stories? This class will introduce East Asian Buddhism by way of its “cast of characters,” its Buddhas, bodhisattvas, devas, miracle-workers and saints. The course content is weighted towards Chinese materials but will include some Japanese narratives. In particular we will look at the Guanyin (Japanese, Kannon) in her form as the heroine Miaoshan; Dizang (J. Jizo), who has special jurisdiction in the afterlife; Budai (J. Hotei), the so-called “fat, happy Buddha”; and a number of famous monks such as Xuanzang (600-664), Kukai (774-835) and Xu Yun (1840-1959). We will examine the lore associated with the four Buddhist sacred mountains in China, especially Mt. Putuo and Mt. Jiuhua.

Readings may include: Chun-fang Yu, Kuan-yin; Xu Yun, Empty Cloud; Donald Lopez, Religions of China in Practice; a selection of articles and original sources.

Evaluation: active participation; a mid-term and a final exam; a term paper; occasional quizzes as needed; class presentation.

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ASIA 190: Freshman Seminar: Asian Music and Performance
Lee, TTh, 4:00-5:15 p.m., (Same as MUS 190)
(Max: 5)

Content: This course explores the musical traditions of South Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. Constituting a vast political and cultural region in the world, the area's unique histories and diverse societies differentiate one country from another, but at the same time, mark the region as a distinct entity. This course explores the Asian region from the musical perspective. We shall examine selected classical and popular music through in-depth reading, listening, and also hands-on performance on certain musical traditions to understand the role of music in the history of Asia. Cross-listed with ASIA 190.

Texts: There is no required text for this seminar. Articles, book chapters, and sound recordings will be assigned throughout the course and made available in the library.

Particulars: No prerequisites. Certain sections of the course may require knowledge of music analysis, but proper guidance will be provided to ensure adequate understanding. Assessment for this course is based on written tests, essays and class presentations.

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ASIA 206 WR: Musical Interactions: India & China
Lee, TTh, 5:30-6:45 p.m., (Sames as MUS 206WR)
TPL
(Max: 10)

Content: This is an introductory course to the musical cultures of South Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. The course examines Asian music, theater, dance, and rituals in the broad historical, social, and political contexts of India and China. Specifically, students will explore musical traditions that exemplify South Asian and Chinese philosophy and aesthetics to understand the significance of music in shaping social identities.
Texts: There is no required text for this course. Articles, book chapters, and sound recordings will be assigned throughout the course and made available in the library.

Particulars: No prerequisites. Cross-listed with ASIA 206WR. Assessment for this course is based on writing projects, tests, essays, and class presentations.

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ASIA 210WR: Classic Religious Texts: The Lives of the Ramayana, An Indian Classic
Courtright, MWF 10:40-11:30., (Sames as REL 210WR)
(Max 8)

Content: The course will focus on the great Indian epic, the Ramayana, through its various versions from Valmiki, Kamban, Tulsidas, oral recitations, to contemporary television and comic book renditions, and its Thai version, the Ramakien. Issues of narrative, characterization, theology, and themes such as moral order ( dharma), marriage, devotion, heroism, and sacrifice will be explored.  Exploration will also be made of how the visual and performative arts depict key episodes of the story. The course will conclude with modern uses of the Ramayana story and the figure of Rama in contemporary Indian politics and national identities.  

Texts:

• Sattar, Arshia, trans., The Ramayana of Valmiki
• Paula Richman, ed., Questioning Ramayanas: A South Asian Tradition
• Paula Richman, ed., Many Ramayanas: The Diversity of a Narrative Tradition in South Asia
• Philip Lutgendrof, The Life of a Text: The Ramcharitmanas of Tulsidas

Particulars: In-class writing, short assignments, and a term paper (submitted in first-draft and final draft stages). This course fulfills General Education Requirement IV.A (Humanities) and the Writing Requirement. 

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ASIA 305: Early and Medieval Buddhism
Dunne, TTh 10-11:15 (Same as REL 305)
(Max: 5)

Content: What is happiness, and how does one obtain it? Why do humans suffer, and how can we stop our suffering? These are the fundamental questions that animate the teachings of the Buddha, the “Awakened One,” who left his life of privilege some 2,500 years ago set out to seek the answers. Despite the great diversity of Buddhist practices and beliefs, these questions and their various answers still remain at the core of the Buddhist traditions that survive to this day. Focusing on the first 1,500 years of Buddhism’s development, we will examine how the predecessors of contemporary traditions, despite their disagreements and divergences, consistently place the twin methods of philosophical analysis and contemplative practice at the heart of the Buddhist path. With this in mind, we will attempt to see how these twin methods might reveal some continuity within the wide variety of Buddhist philosophies and practices in South Asia up until the end of the first millennium (C.E.). At the same, we will also be mindful of the unique development of Buddhist institutions and their relation to the wider culture in which they are embedded.

Texts: Our texts will include: Rupert Gethin, The Foundations of Buddhism; Paul Williams, Mahāyāna Buddhism: The Philosophical Foundations; Selections from Buddhist sūtras and systematic philosophical works; A variety of secondary works on specific aspects of Buddhist thought and practice, including works by G. Dreyfus, J. Garfield, Lama, and several others. C. Hallisey, M Kapstein, D. Lopez, T. Tillemans, H.H. the Dalai Lama.

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ASIA 358R : Religion and Healing: Tibetan and Western Perspectives on Mind-Body Connection
Negi, TTh 1:00-2:15, (same as REL 358R)
(Max: 5)

Content: This course aims at examining the fundamental principles underlying the processes of body-mind connections from both Tibetan Buddhist and Western perspectives. We will focus on the role of emotions and stress in understanding various psychological and physical ailments, as well as the mind’s role in healing as explored in current Western research and Tibetan Buddhist contemplative and medical traditions. The course will explore the mind-body connection, illness and healing from the perspective of Tibetan Buddhism, examining historical context, rituals, practices and methods. We will also look at some current medical treatments that are drawn from this tradition, as well as recent developments in medicine that are shedding light on the interconnection of the mind and the body, demonstrating the ways that emotions can affect our health in positive and detrimental ways.

Texts: Readings will be drawn from: Herbert Benson, M.D., The Relaxation Response; Terry Clifford, Tibetan Buddhist Medicine and Psychiatry: The Diamond Healing; Daniel Goleman, Ed, Destructive Emotions: A Scientific Dialogue with the Dalai Lama; B. Allan Wallace, Genuine Happiness; Jon Kabat-Zinn , Full Catastrophe Living

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ASIA 360: Chinese Women in Film and Fiction
Cai Rong, MWF 2:20-2:50 (Same as CHN 360, WS 360)
(Max: 5)

Content: An examination of woman as trope in modern Chinese cinema and literature in the twentieth century. It explores how “the modern woman” became a cultural construct and how that construct has redefined gender role and femininity. Special attention will be paid to such issues as self-identity, love, marriage, family, and social opportunities. All readings are in English translation. Knowledge of Chinese language is not required. Four credit hours. Mandatory film screenings.

Texts: TBA

Particulars: All readings are in English translation. Course requirements include two short written assignments, a research paper, presentations, and active class participation.

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ASIA 370: Mystical Thought and Practice: Tibetan Mysticism and the Study of Religion
Dunne, TTh 2:30-3:45 (Same as REL 353R)
(Max: 5)

Content: In Buddhist Tibet, two rival styles of meditative practice developed, and while these styles hold a great deal in common, they disagree fundamentally on two points: the nature of the mental states that a meditator must develop, and the best techniques for inducing those states. These traditions’ points of disagreement—as well as their common heritage—will form the focus of this course. We will examine the theoretical background of the meditations in question, the arguments used to favor one tradition over another, and the assumptions that must be in place in order for those arguments to succeed. Likewise, we will examine the specific techniques recommended by the two traditions and the theories of personal transformation that underlie those techniques.

The overall frame for our study of this mystical rivalry in Tibet will be the contemporary categories of “mysticism” and “experience.” In the early twentieth century, “mysticism” became a central theme for several influential theorists in what was then a new field: the academic study of religion. Indeed, some theorists maintained that a certain genre of mystical experience constituted the only irreducible aspect of religion. So too, they maintained that some such experience lies at the heart of all the great religions. This notion of “experience,” along with a parallel theory of the “sacred,” became foundational for many academic visions of “religion.” We will begin and end the course with readings from this style of religious studies—along with the often convincing critiques offered by its many detractors.

Texts: Primary texts will include selections from: Dakpo Tashi Namgyael, Moonbeams of Mahāmudrā ; Wang-Chûk Dorjé, Mahāmudrā Eliminating the Darkness of Ignorance; Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, Essentials of Mahāmudrā.; Jé Tsongkhapa, Great Stages of the Path.; H.H. the Dalai Lama, The Gelug / Kagyü Tradition of Mahāmudrā; Khédrûb Géleg Pelzang, A Dose of Emptiness.

Secondary works will include selections from: Steven T. Katz (editor), Mysticism in Philosophical Analysis; Michael Sells, Mystical Languages of Unsaying; Rudolf Otto, Mysticism: East and West; Robert Sharf, “Experience” in Critical Terms for Religious Studies; Robert K.C. Forman (editor), The Problem of Pure Consciousness.

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

Content: This course analyzes the political and economic developments in South Asia 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.

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ASIA 370WR: Postcolonial Literature
Literature of the Indian Subcontinental Partition
Bahri, TTh 2:30-3:45 (Same as ENG 345 WR)
(Max: 7)

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 372WR: Introduction to Modern Japanese Literature
Bullock, TTh 2:30-3:45 (Same as JPN 372WR)
(Max: 3)

Content: This course is a survey of Japanese literature from the middle of the nineteenth century to the present. One goal of the course is to introduce students to the nature and range of literary genres as they developed in the context of Japan's confrontation with modernity. Another is to present and open for discussion issues in contemporary literary theory in order to understand and analyze important aspects of Japanese literature and culture, such as modernity, gender, nationalism, intertextuality, Orientalism, and identity. All texts are in English translation. Satisfies GER post-freshman writing requirement.

Readings include: Kokoro, Natsume Sôseki; Naomi, Tanizaki Jun’ichirô; A Wild Sheep Chase, Murakami Haruki; Kitchen, Yoshimoto Banana

Particulars: This course counts toward the Asian Studies major and Japanese major and minor.

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ASIA 375: Special Topics Course, National Cinemas: Japanese Films
Crowley/Bernstein TTh 2:30-3:45 (Same as ASIA 375 and FILM 395)
Mandatory film screening Th 6-8pm
(Max: 3)

Content: This course will examine key, influential texts in the rich traditions of classical and modern Japanese literature and theater and their adaptation into major films. Topics to be covered include the romantic depiction of love as frustrated longing, the influence of Chinese culture, of Buddhism and Confucianism on literature, tales of the supernatural, representations of ‘the female,’ of ‘Japaneseness,’ of sorrow, nostalgia and impermanence, human nature, and masculinity and militarism in the depiction of samurai and in the World War II period and afterward. We will also read some criticism on the nature of film adaptation. Required screenings of adaptations or relevant films will occur weekly.

Literary texts will likely include excerpts from The Tale of Genji, the folk tale and modern retelling of Sansho the Bailiff, Akutagawa’s “In a Grove” and “Rashomon,” Chikimatsu’s bunraku play Double Suicide, Mishima’s Rite of Love and Death, and the postmodern writings of Murakami Haruki.

Films will likely include Kenji Mizoguchi’s Princess Yang Kwei Fei, Ugetsu Monogatari and Sansho The Bailiff, Akira Kurosawa’s Men Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail and Rashomon, Mishima’s Rite of Love and Death, Masahiro Shinoda’s Double Suicide, and a film by Juzo Itami or ‘Beat’ Takashi.

Particulars:  Weekly short response papers (format TBA); Midterm & final exams; 8-10 page paper; and informed and lively class participation.

Prerequisites: none

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ASIA 375S: Special Topics Course, Science in China 1600-1900
Kurtz, TTh 2:30-3:45 (Same as CHN 375S and ILA 375)
(Max: 3)

Content: This course reconstructs the encounter between Chinese natural studies and European science from the early seventeenth to the late nineteenth century. After a brief survey of the state of natural studies in China circa 1600, we will trace the interactions between Chinese and European learning in a wide array of disciplines, ranging from astronomy, mathematics and medicine to physics and zoology. Situating our explorations in their intellectual, social and cultural contexts, we will try to understand the forces that have shaped the formation of modern science in China and, more generally, the factors influencing the migration of ideas across cultures.

Texts: TBA

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

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ASIA 375WR : Literature in Early and Imperial China
Kurtz, TTh 10:00-11:15 (Same as CHN 272WR and CPLT 203WR)
(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 context, 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. Satisfies G.E.R. post-freshman writing requirement and G.E.R. area IV.A (Humanities - Textual).

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 497:  Applied Music, Non-Major - Sitar for 1 credit.
Bandyopadhyay, (Same as MUS 310F)

Content: The study of applied music involves the understanding of music literature through performance. A limited number of students may receive private instruction in instruments and voice for Emory University credit. Admission is by qualification and determined through audition. STUDENTS MUST CONTACT THE MUSIC DEPARTMENT (727-6445) TO ARRANGE AN AUDITION PRIOR TO REGISTRATION. Every semester, 1 hour instruction weekly, one semester hour credit. Individual instruction in instrumental or vocal techniques and in the performance of selected compositions. By consent of instructor only. May be repeated for credit.

Particulars: MUS310F 00P: Sitar. Faculty, Location and Time TBA, Limit: 6. Permission of instructor required. Contact the Music Department at 727-1124 for more information.

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TBT 101: Tibetan Language 101
McClintock, MWF 9:35-10:25,Tu 10:00-11:15
(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.
Dunne, John and Sara McClintock. First Year Primer of Literary Tibetan. Unpublished manuscript to be distributed in class.

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
McClintock, Time and Dates TBA
(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. The course will meet for one hour each week, with day and time to be determined. 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

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

 

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