Liu Institute for Asia & Asian Studies

Hindi is offered through the Less Commonly Taught Languages (LCTLs) Program at the Center for the Study of Languages and Cultures (CSLC). Class days and times are TBA and will be determined based on the availability of the students who have registered for the course. Days and times will be selected after all students have registered but before the add/drop period has finished. This course will be taught by a visiting scholar for whom Hindi is a native language. For more information, please visit the CSLC website (cslc.nd.edu) and select the "Students" tab.

This course is for learners who have completed Beginning Hindi I and II and builds on the foundations established there but focuses on aural and oral (listening and speaking) skills with limited reading/writing. This class is also intended for heritage learners who want to build confidence in their spoken Hindi skills--enhancing fluency, building vocabulary, and incorporating more complex sentence structures. Primary attention will be placed on listening comprehension and speaking/pronunciation. Repeatable for advanced learners.

This course is for learners who have completed Beginning Hindi I and II and builds on the foundations established there but focuses on written language skills (reading and writing) with limited speech-based language learning. This class is also intended for heritage learners who are confident in their spoken Hindi but need to become more proficient in the written language, including grammar and different registers. Primary attention will be placed on reading comprehension and writing/spelling. Repeatable for advanced learners.

This is a topics course that covers a variety of cultural learning lectures and discussions related to the Hindi language and the cultural groups who use Hindi as a primary language. Led by our visiting Fulbright instructor, participants will have the opportunity to gain authentic insights, perspectives, and experiences from a native Hindi speaker and Indian national. Conducted in English, no Hindi language proficiency required.

This course provides students with a unique introduction to Asia in all its diversity, ranging from its languages, cultures, and histories to its political and economic systems and its relations with the US. As the global balance of power is shifting towards Asia, it is more important than ever for Notre Dame students to have more than just basic knowledge about the continent. This course provides just that: an opportunity to take your understanding of Asia beyond the level of what you read in the newspapers, providing you with the knowledge and the tools to formulate your own critical understanding of the region and its global environment. Different types of writing about Asia – academic, journalistic, diplomatic, political, popular – will be examined alongside different ways in which Asia has been and continues to be represented in the western imagination. Asian perspectives will be accessed through English-language writings and English-language media published in Asia. Guest lecturers with specific expertise on individual Asian countries will join the class at regular intervals. Assessment methods will include both written work and classroom (group) presentations.

Special studies course for students interested in learning Hindi.

The Thousand and One Nights, also known as the Arabian Nights, is a collection of tales originated in the Arab lands that has become a masterpiece of world literature. These enchanting stories, framed by the tale of Scheherazade (or Shahrazad), have enjoyed a widespread and varied reputation over the centuries and across cultures. It is said that the Thousand and One Nights is the most read (or heard about) book in human history, second only to Bible. In this class, we will examine these stories from a variety of academic and cultural perspectives, taking advantage of the wealth of material available (both textual and audio-visual). We will examine issues of provenance: where did these stories originate and when? We will study the stories as literary texts as well as historical documents, asking what, if anything, they tell us about the cultures they reflect and the societies in which they are set. We will examine how these tales have been interpreted by later societies, both Arab and Western, and what those interpretations tell us about the interpreters. We will use this class and its content to introduce ourselves to the study of the Middle East, its languages, history, literature, and peoples. We will gain a better understanding of the analytical tools and techniques for the study and appreciation of literature in general.

The gateway course will provide students with initial preparation and acquaint them with the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). More specifically, the course will introduce students to the historical milieu of MENA cultures and societies as well as the various dynamics that continue to shape them. It will survey the history of the region from the end of late antiquity to the present. Themes will include the rise of Islam; Muslim-Christian interactions; the caliphate; the age of gunpowder empires; engagements with modernity; encounters with European expansion; Islamic and secular reform movements; nationalism and revolution.

This course examines the history of the Middle East from the late eighteenth century to the Arab uprisings of 2011. We will approach cultural, social, political and intellectual transformations in the Middle East. We will pursue a number of themes including engagements with modernity; reactions to Western colonial expansion; religious and secular reform movements; nationalism and revolution; changes in gender and family experiences; the Arab-Israeli conflict; the impact of oil and the Cold War; postcolonial state-building; the rise of political Islam and piety movements; globalization and economic disparities; and movements for democracy and social justice.

This course is designed to introduce students to Islamic civilization and Muslim culture and societies. The course will cover the foundations of Islamic belief, worship, and institutions, along with the evolution of sacred law (al-shari`a) and theology, as well as various aspects of intellectual activities. The Koran and the life of the Prophet Muhammad will be examined in detail. Both Sunni and Shi`i perspectives will be considered. Major Sufi personalities will be discussed to illuminate the mystical, and popular, tradition in Islam. Topics on arts, architecture, literary culture, and sciences will be covered. Although the course is concerned more with the history of ideas than with modern Islam as such, it has great relevance for understanding contemporary Muslim attitudes and political, social, and cultural trends in the Muslim world today. MMME minors will need to secure an override from the Department office to register.

This course aims at introducing students to the history of the Arab world. Through a panoramic view encompassing twelve centuries of Arab history and culture, we look at all sides of this rich and venerable civilization: the beauty of the Alhambra and the great mosques, the importance attached to education, the achievements of Arab science—but also internal conflicts, widespread poverty, the role of women, and the contemporary Palestinian question. We explore how the religion of Islam created a far-flung Arab Muslim world that embraced lands reaching from the shores of the Atlantic to Iraq and the Indian Ocean. Each has its own geographical features and historical traditions, yet certain themes and experiences are common to all: the rise and spread of Islam, the growth of the Ottoman Empire, the expansion of European trade and empire, and in the last decades, the challenge of Islamic resurgence and integration into a new kind of world. We attempt at a clear and comprehensive interpretation of the paths of the Muslim religion, its divisions, its authorities and traditions, its current contradictory powers to unite and to divide. Throughout, social institutions and culture are intertwined with politics and economics. The texts we read in this class are studded with famous names from the past—Ibn Khaldun, al-Ghazali, and Ibn Sina (Avicenna); Saladin and ‘Abd al-Nasir (Nasser)—as well as with those of the recent memory—Hafiz al-Asad and Saddam Husayn; the Nobel Prize winner Najib Mahfuz, the cultural critic Edward Said and popular singer Umm Kulthum.

When India gained independence from British Rule in 1947, democracy was not expected to last in the heterogeneous and poor sub-continent. Yet, democracy has thrived in India for over 70 years. More recently, other South Asian countries have democratized. What explains this unexpected trend? Is there a connection between colonial legacies, international institutions and South Asian democratization successes (and failures)? After an overview of caste, religion and language in the region, this course explores South Asian politics by examining the historical and institutional development of democracy in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, including internal and external threats to democratic institutions. In particular, we will examine how the politics of accommodation and good institutional design have affected the persistence of democracy on the sub-continent, while also considering how non-state actors and international organizations have impacted outcomes. The course also takes a deep look at the degree to which findings from South Asia might be used in other parts of the world and relevant policy implications.

This course examines the late 20th and early 21st century "economic miracles" of several East Asian countries and the political, social, and spatial factors underpinning them. We will explore similarities, differences, and interdependencies in the development trajectories of Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and mainland China, and will debate how accurate and useful concepts like "the developmental state" and "state capitalism" are in describing the political economy of the region. To what extent has China's economic rise followed the existing playbooks of its East Asian neighbors? What human costs and developmental distortions have accompanied booming industrial and urban growth? And what lessons does East Asia's experience offer for the contemporary developing world?

This course introduces students to the field of social-cultural anthropology. Cultural anthropologists are primarily interested in exploring issues of human cultural diversity across cultures and through time. This course will explore key theoretical, topical, and ethical issues of interest to cultural anthropologists. We will examine diverse ways in which people around the globe have constructed social organizations (such as kinship, and political and economic systems) and cultural identities (such as gender, ethnicity, nationality, race, and class) and we will consider the impact of increasing globalization on such processes. Throughout the course we will consider how different anthropologists go about their work as they engage in research and as they represent others through the writing of ethnographies.

This course examines the most important bilateral relationship in the world today. It begins with an overview of the major historic episodes in U.S.-China relations, then, adopting a theme-based approach, it examines the relationship among important topics in the contemporary bilateral relationship across the overlapping political, economic and security spheres. The course will stress the importance of perceptions in policymaking, and use student presentations and a crisis simulation to allow students to understand the problem from various perspectives.

In this course we will survey influential figures and ideas from the Buddhist philosophical tradition, especially as embodied in the work of Indian and Tibetan Buddhist philosophers. We will focus in particular on formulating and evaluating four distinctively Buddhist philosophical theses: no-self, impermanence, dependent origination, and emptiness.

What does it mean to be Korean? How are definitions of Korea and “Koreanness” affected by recent waves of globalization and migration? This course investigates the social construction of race and nationhood within the context of South Korea. While many believe South Korea to be ethnically and racially homogeneous, the country has increasingly opened up its borders to foreign migration to offset the adverse impact of its rapidly aging society. More than one in ten marriages in South Korea involves a foreign-born person today, and growing numbers of racially mixed people consider themselves Korean. In addition, members of the Korean diaspora have started to “return” to their country of origin in recent years, only to find that they are marginalized because of their culturally different backgrounds. This course introduces students to sociological theories of race, ethnicity, and nationhood by analyzing how South Koreans define self and Other. We will learn how racial and ethnic identities continue to evolve as the contexts of migration change. We will also learn why it is difficult for individuals of particular backgrounds to find a sense of belonging in the societies in which they live and work.

In a 1971 interview, Bruce Lee said "Martial arts has a very very deep meaning as far as my life is concerned because as an actor, as a martial artist, as a human being - all these I have learned from martial arts." By merging multiple aspects of human identity, artistic expression, and cultural activity, martial arts have a unique ability to access the human imagination. From Hong Kong cinemas, to Black Belt magazines and black light posters, to disco songs and shopping mall kiosks for ninja equipment, martial arts are intertwined with popular culture. After more than a half century of association with aesthetic violence, mystical secrets, and Orientalist mystique, the cultural phenomenon of martial arts lends itself to anthropological analysis and critique. This course synthesizes the global dissemination of martial arts with the anthropology of media and symbolic violence. By tracking the proliferation of the martial arts in popular culture, from muay thai action films to karate tournament supply catalogs and dojo iconography, students can simultaneously explore these arts' cultural origins. We will examine these origins in a range of styles from kung fu in China, to jujitsu in Japan, kali/escrima in the Philippines, pencak silat in Indonesia, and savate in France. In this way, the course crafts informative linkages between the cultural variations of martial arts, and their global influence in popular consciousness.

How and why do some of the roads taken by migrants (including refugees) lead to Rome and Italy? What are the challenges faced by migrants upon their arrival, and on their path to citizenship? How does civil society intervene to mitigate those challenges, and to facilitate mutual integration and engagement? What are the distinctive features of Roman lay and Catholic approaches to migration? The course addresses such questions, building on contemporary Rome both as a compelling case study and as a gateway to the causes, lived experiences, and consequences of global migrations. Migrants' reception and integration happens at the local level, and in interaction with residents and existing communities. Attention to the realities of the host civil society is therefore fundamental: migration is not an issue that can simply be delegated to experts, bureaucrats, and politicians. Students investigate how the experience of the city is at the same time the experience of globalization, embodied in older and new residents' everyday life in the built environment; and they appreciate situated social engagement and its potentialities.

What is college? How do students experience it? How is it structured? How does it contribute to the development of adulthood or, possibly, to the extension of childhood? How do different types of colleges differ, and how does higher education vary around the world? We’ll investigate the goals of college, student life, learning, athletics, entertainment, social and racial inequality, gender and sexuality, mental health and wellbeing, drawing on published research, our own experiences, and our own research findings.

"Scholars have long speculated about the rise of Asia, but Asia has already risen. Asian economies are driving global growth; Asian governments are some of the largest purveyors of foreign aid and investment; and Asian superpowers like China are shaping and shifting geopolitics. This course, taught by a political scientist and a historian, offers students the opportunity to unpack the complexity and diversity of Asia across time and space. We will explore Asia through political and historical concepts against the background of China's evolving role within the region. At the same time, we will focus on elevating diverse Asian voices to understand how historical concepts and political and economic trajectories have shifted over time and what it means for domestic and global audiences in the 21st century. As an integration course, our focus is analytical and interdisciplinary: we examine the political, economic, and social trajectory of Asia to shed light on the most dynamic region of the world. We also devote considerable time to understanding how historical legacies and patterns such as colonialism or economic imperialism impact Asia today. Lectures, assigned readings covering a wide range of primary and secondary sources in political science and history, and a discussion-oriented format introduces students to issues ranging from populism, party-state capitalism, and poverty alleviation to soft and sharp power, demographic crises, surveillance, and social unrest. All majors and backgrounds are welcome. No prior knowledge of Asian languages or topics is required."

Understanding religious communities and their values are crucial to understanding human societies and global affairs. One particular group of interpreters of Islam, namely the traditional or orthodox religious scholars called the ulama and their institutions, are often hidden from contemporary accounts of Islam when in fact they are critical players. This course will provide historical contexts in order to explore how traditional Muslims navigate the discourses of modernity and how they resist it. We will read original texts in translation and secondary sources of descriptions of representatives of the orthodox tradition in regions of Asia, the Middle East and in the West. The course will pay particular attention to the institutions of learning known as madrasas, jami` and hawzas. Of course, the orthodox views are challenged by other Muslims and some of those debates will also be channeled in the class while the focus will remain on the Ulama. The course aims to equip students with analytical skills and the resources to understand how religious ideas impact religious communities and global affairs.

This course offers a survey of South Asian art and architecture from prehistory to the contemporary moment. Students will examine both canonical and lesser-known works of art, including examples of early Buddhist stupas and sculpture, Hindu cave temples, monumental architecture, and miniature painting of the Mughal era, “Company” painting, art and architecture under the British Raj, modernism, and contemporary art. Special attention will be given to intersections between art and religion (Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism, and Islam), art and conquest, gender and sexuality, transcultural exchange and hybridity, the impacts of colonialism and postcolonialism, and South Asian art in museums. Through a combination of close looking, critical reading, and class discussion, students will gain an understanding of the religious ideas, political events, and socio-cultural forces that have shaped the visual culture of South Asia across time. Finally, the course is designed to prepare students for more advanced courses in the department. Students will become familiar with the discipline of art history and its knowledge-making techniques, including formal analysis, comparative analysis, and critical contextualisation.

This class introduces students to the aims and methods of meditation with a particular emphasis on its Buddhist and Christian forms. It covers the stages of meditation in both traditions, their Scriptural foundations, and the wide variety of techniques used to attain contemplative states, including prayer, visualization, and the control of posture, breath, sleep, and dreams. Christian sources will include the Bible, St. Gregory of Nyssa, Evagrius Ponticus, St. John of Sinai, St. Dominic, St. Bonaventure, Gregory Palamas, St. Ignatius Loyola, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Seraphim of Sarov, and Pavel Florensky. Buddhist sources will include Tsongkhapa, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Lati Rinpoche, and other modern Tibetan authors. Special attention will also be given to recent debates about the Christian practice of yoga.

This course explores the interactions between Christianity and three Asian religious traditions: Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism. Through a comparative perspective, students will examine key theological concepts, ritual practices, and ethical frameworks in Asian religions, highlighting both their distinctiveness and commonality with Christianity. Special attention will be paid to the spread of Christianity in Asia and its encounters with Asian religions and culture. The goal of this course is to deepen our understanding of both Christianity and Asian religions through comparative studies. By engaging with primary texts and scholarly articles, students will develop a nuanced understanding of the rich tapestry and complexity involved in cross-cultural religious interactions.

The purpose of this course is to introduce the student to the basic teachings and spiritualities of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam. We will approach these religions both historically and theologically, seeking to determine where they converge and differ from Christianity on such perennial issues as death, meaning, the nature of the ultimate Mystery, the overcoming of suffering, etc. We will also examine some traditional and contemporary Catholic and Protestant approaches to religious pluralism. Our own search to know how the truth and experience of other faiths is related to Christian faith will be guided by the insights of important Catholic contemplatives who have entered deeply in the spirituality of other traditions. By course end we ought to have a greater understanding of what is essential to Christian faith and practice as well as a greater appreciation of the spiritual paths of others. Requirements: Short papers, midterm exam, and final exam.

The relationship between Christianity and Islam is absolutely unique, in part because of the way that Muslims challenge Christian teaching on Jesus. According to standard Islamic teaching, Jesus was not God, not a savior, and did not die on the cross. Instead, he was a Muslim prophet who predicted the coming of Muhammad. Several centuries later Muhammad came to correct the errors of Christians and to preach the same eternal religion that Jesus once taught: Islam. Muslims, in other words, have something to say to Christians: that Jesus was a Muslim and that Muhammad is a true prophet sent to the entire world. In this course, we will listen to how Muslims explain and express this idea, examine how Christians have responded through the centuries, and ask how Christians today might fruitfully promote dialogue with Islam. NO PRIOR BACKGROUND in Arabic or Islam is required for this course.

IChristian theologians have long been interested in Buddhism, not least because it promises a complete religion, spirituality, and culture without the existence of God. This class introduces students to the life of the Buddha, the Buddhist religious orders, and the various schools of Buddhist philosophy in India, China, Korea, Japan, and Tibet. Topics explored include proofs and refutations of God's existence, reincarnation and future lives, the nature of the human person, the origin of evil and suffering, Buddhist approaches to ethics, and contemporary Buddhist-Christian dialogue. No previous knowledge of Buddhism is required.

This course focuses on major films representing milestones in Japanese film history, from the 1930s to the turn of the twenty-first century. We will examine masterpieces by great directors, including, Kurosawa Akira, Ozu Yasujirô, Mizoguchi Kenji, and Miyazaki Hayao, among others. We will explore genres from samurai and historical dramas to comedy, science fiction, and animated fantasy. In addition, we will consider the capacity of movies to provide and provoke cultural, social, and political commentary. On the way, we will take stock of significant contributions to film technique and film theory.

Where do regional and national identities collide? Has the rise of the internet and globalization made national borders increasingly obsolete? Or, has it ironically caused people to embrace ultra-nationalism and xenophobia? This class analyzes these questions within the context of East Asia. We will study the growing impact of cultural hybridization—and in particular, the soft power of K-Pop boy bands and Korean soap operas—on fan culture, online communities, and migratory patterns. We will then juxtapose these trends with more sobering evidence of the lingering effects of Cold War politics, the Japanese empire, and territorial disputes in Korea, China, and Japan in the past decade. By using materials from history, anthropology, and literature, students will explore the influence of colonialism, nationalism, and globalization on everyday life across the continent. All majors and backgrounds are welcome. No prior knowledge about Asian languages or topics is required.

The course provides students with a unique introduction to Asia in all its diversity, ranging from its languages, cultures, and histories to its political and economic systems and its relations with the United States. As the global balance of power continues to shift towards Asia, it is more important than ever for Notre Dame students to understand the continent's many complexities. This course provides just that: an opportunity to understand the multiple domestic and foreign forces that constitute the expanding global presence of these nations and regions (Burma, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam). Classroom sessions will be structured around a set of common assumptions about Asia as a whole or about specific Asian countries. Through reading, discussion, and lectures, students will be encouraged to reflect critically on those assumptions and consider a range of alternative interpretations. Assignments include primary work from visiting experts and will revolve around making comparative connections across the range of topics. Readings for the course will introduce perspectives gained from these experts' research and practice so that students will be able to formulate their own critical understanding of the region and its global environment.

The extraordinary rise of East Asia during the past several decades is in large part a story of the region's metropolises - from Tokyo and Seoul to Hong Kong and Shanghai. Following decades of booming growth, such cities have emerged as crucial pivots in the global economy, pulsating with the activity of industry, commerce, finance, and innovation. But the very success of such cities has introduced tremendous challenges for urban policymakers, from overcrowding, inequality, and environmental strain to the political balancing act of being at once patriotic and cosmopolitan. To what extent have the governance capabilities of East Asian metropolises kept pace with these cities' economic growth, and to what extent have such cities emerged not just as global economic hubs but also as policy innovators and political beacons? This seminar-style course examines the rapidly changing economic roles and political identities of East Asian metropolises between the post-World War II period and the present, combining a theoretical look at the political economy of cities with in-depth case studies of some of the region's most dynamic urban centers. We start by exploring contemporary debates about the problems and the promise of cities in an era of economic globalism and resurgent political nationalism. We then look at the various ways in which the East Asian context for urban growth and governance differs from that of the liberal west. The course then makes a deep dive into the development and governance experiences of eight East Asian cities, using paired case studies (Tokyo and Seoul, Hong Kong and Taipei, Shanghai and Shenzhen, Chongqing and Chengdu) to explore how national and historical contexts have shaped the growth trajectories and governance models of different metropolises. During the final weeks of the course, we look at how the distinctive development trajectories of East Asian cities have, in turn, influenced their approaches to international politics and pressing global policy challenges.

This interdisciplinary course offers a topical survey of the relationships between biological sex, culturally bound notions of "masculinity" and "femininity," and the gendered body in the Islamic tradition. The primary aim of the course is to explore the intersection of religion and social constructions of gender and the body in a variety of historical and cultural contexts in the Muslim World. Students read and interpret religious texts and commentaries, literary and legal texts, women's writings, and media in English translation. Coursework focuses on increasing students' understanding of the diversity of scholarly views on women's bodies as sites of piety and sites of political and social contestation (reproductive rights, public vs. private space, etc.).

The course supports the creation of FTT's spring production 2023: "TUKO! TUKO! or Princess of the Lizard Moon"" (Alexander Onassis International Award for Playwriting) written and directed by Dr. Anton Juan (his final production for FTT). Student artists enrolled in the course will form part of the acting and production ensemble itself. They will have the opportunity to learn and engage in the aesthetics, principles, practice and methods of production and expression in a variety of genres and styles of theatre:1) Yu-gen and Sound-Sense - the essence of Noh and Kabuki; 2) Bunraku - the unity of puppeteer and the puppet; 3) Butoh- tracing the inner spaces in the movement from memory to history; 4) Cubism in dramatic narrative- breaking the moment into non-temporal presences and surfaces. 5) Contrasting styles between Eastern and Western Theatre techniques; The plot, based on historical documents, counters historical revisionism and resurrects the buried voices of the oppressed through poetic theatrical expression. The ghost of a comfort woman in World War II and the ghost of a tortured murdered sex slave in Japan 1990's meet in the memory of a Butoh actor who embodies them and claims justice for them. TUKO! TUKO! has been performed in Greece, in Korea, Philippines, and Chile.

This course will provide advanced undergraduates and graduate students with a critical introduction to digital humanities for the study of early China, the fountainhead of Chinese Civilization. Collaborating with the Center of Digital Scholarship, this course will focus on relational data with structured information on historical figures, especially high officials, of early Chinese empires. Throughout the semester, we will read academic articles, mine data from primary sources, and employ Gephi and ArcGIS to visualize data. Those constructed data will cover three major themes: how geographical mobility contributed to consolidating a newly unified empire over diversified regions; how social networks served as the hidden social structure channeling the flow of power and talents; and how criminal records and excavated legal statutes shed light on the unique understanding of law and its relationship with the state in Chinese history.

This course studies the major themes of Islamic theology. It starts from the early debates concerned with Muslim views of God, the nature of the Qur'an, the prophethood of Muhammad and ends with current debates about the status of Islamic law (shari'a). It also discusses divine vs. human will, the role of politics in Muslim view of salvation and the limits of rationality. It traces how these topics moved from simple formulae to complex concepts due to socio-political controversies and conditions, whether they were sectarian or interreligious conflicts, crises of legitimacy, colonialism or modernity. The arguments of various schools are presented, and translated excerpts from prominent theologians are studied. As we read these texts we ask ourselves a number of questions. For example, what alternatives were possible for theologians other than what later became standard Muslim doctrines? What is the importance of imagination in the creation of these theological systems? Did modern Muslim theologians have better options to handle ancient traditions that most of them ended up adopting? Do some modern Muslim theologians have an alternative view to offer? The course is meant to help students see the problems of theology from an Islamic viewpoint that may deepen their understanding of wider religious questions.

India, Pakistan and Bangladesh account for more than a fifth of humanity: nearly two billion people in one of the most densely populated parts of the planet. South Asians speak more than a hundred languages, and represent most of the Hindus, Muslims, Sikh, Jains, and Zoroastrians in the world. The region;s major economy, India, is by itself among the ten largest economies and one of the fastest growing. Yet, there is much about South Asia that can be perplexing. Caste based violence remains widespread in a society that is fast modernizing; billionaires mushroom alongside widespread malnourishment; space missions are launched to Mars amidst vast numbers of illiterate and uneducated citizens; Bollywood thrives while freedom of expression is often under threat; religious fundamentalism exists alongside extraordinary religious pluralism; gay rights expand alongside the murders of atheist bloggers; a democratic government lives in fear of military overthrow; a society that has that has chosen women as heads of state also sees increasing reports of sexual crimes. This course will unravel these knots and explain the processes that gave rise to them. Beginning in the middle of the twentieth century, this course will progress chronologically and bring us to the present day via themes on politics, economy, society, and popular culture. It offers an understanding of contemporary India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh and their place on the global stage.

This lecture and discussion course on the religion, philosophy, and intellectual history of China that introduces the student to the world view and life experience of Chinese as they have been drawn from local traditions, as well as worship and sacrifice to heroes, and the cult of the dead. Through a close reading of primary texts in translation, it also surveys China's grand philosophical legacy of Daoism, Buddhism, "Confucianism" and "Neo-Confucianism," and the later religious accommodation of Christianity and Islam.

This new lecture and discussion course offers students a detailed introduction to the diverse, dynamic and widespread presence of religion in contemporary Chinese life. China is—increasingly—a nation of energetic religious believers. Today there are more than 95 million Christians in China, 25 million Muslims, and as many as 500,000,000 practitioners of traditional local rites of sacrifice and worship to deities and spirits (most importantly ancestors). In the last decade plural religious traditions have grown with a speed greater than that of the economic and political reforms. It is within this specific context that students will learn about the impact of religious ideas, practices, and organizations on social, political and economic phenomena and explore the role of religion in the consolidation of individual, communal, and national identity. Adopting a comparative and interdisciplinary approach, the class will ascertain the impact of `various Chinese religious traditions: Catholicism, Christianity, Islam, Daoism, Buddhism, and popular sects, on the internal socio­political structure of the Chinese state. As well the course will evaluate religions and their effects on shaping power relations on a regional, national, and local level. The class is discussion based, supplemented by lectures, student presentations, and documentary films. No knowledge of Chinese is required.

History is not a single "true story," but many competing narratives, each defined by values, interests, and political commitments. This course on ancient Japanese history provides an overview of three sets of competing narratives: first, the politically charged question of Japan's origins, when we explore archeological evidence and chronicles of the Sun Goddess; second, the question of whether culture (through continental imports of writing, religious forms, and statecraft) or nature (as disease and environmental degradation) defined the Yamato state from the sixth to the ninth century; and, third, whether Heian court power rested on economic, political, military, judicial, or aesthetic grounds and if its foundations were undermined internally or by the invasion of the Mongols. In examining these competing narratives, we aim to develop the disciplined imagination necessary to enter another culture and another time.

Around 1600, Japan closed itself off for 250 years, neither importing food nor exporting people. It was, in short, an almost hermetic ecological system, and yet, instead of outstripping their natural resources, Japanese people managed to attain a level of well-being above that of most other people. Some scholars have acclaimed this era an "eco-utopia" while others point to problems with this view. This course explores the interplay between political, social, economic, and ecological forces asking whether Tokugawa Japan modeled resilience.

This course provides students with a critical understanding of how South Korean society is organized, the major social issues that have dominated the contemporary era, and how systems of social inequality have changed since the postwar period. We will analyze in particular, three major periods of social change, including 1) the democratization movement of the 1970s and 1980s, 2) the Asian financial crisis and its impact on social inequality and poverty, and finally, 3) South Korea’s aging crisis and its implications for the future. No prior knowledge of Asian languages or topics is required.

This class will survey the various historical and contemporary dimensions of Asian American experiences including immigration & integration, family & community dynamics, ethnic/gender/class identity, as well as transnational and diasporic experiences. We will explore contemporary and historical issues of racism, the model minority myth, inter-generational relationships, and the educational experiences of Asian Americans. To accomplish this, our class will pose such questions as: Who is Asian American? How did racism create Chinatown? Is there an Asian advantage? Coursework includes essays based on topics of your choice, presentations, and a creative narrative.

This introduction to modern Japanese history focuses on political, social, economic, and military affairs in Japan from around 1600 to the early post-WWII period. It considers such paradoxes as samurai bureaucrats, entrepreneurial peasants, upper-class revolutionaries, and Asian fascists. The course has two purposes: 1) to provide a chronological and structural framework for understanding the debates over modern Japanese history and 2) to develop the skill of reading texts analytically to discover the argument being made. The assumption operating both in the selection of readings and in the lectures is that Japanese history, as with all histories, is the site of controversy. Our efforts at this introductory level will be dedicated to understanding the contours of some of the most important of these controversies and judging, as far as possible, the evidence brought to bear in them.

This course traces the history of Buddhism in the United States since the nineteenth century. After considering the history of Asian immigrants who brought Buddhism with them and American-born converts who embraced it here, we take some steps toward a cultural history of Buddhism in the US since 1945, analyzing the tradition's influence on other faiths and on politics, activism, fiction, poetry, painting, video art, film, music, architecture, martial arts, how-to literature, psychology, and medicine.

This course is an interdisciplinary introduction to Chinese history and culture, beginning with the archaeological record and extending over the dynastic period and into early 17th century. Providing a chronological overview of development of the Chinese civilization, this course will focus on a few themes and a few approaches. We pose several questions, such as: what forces came together to produce Chinese civilization, and how did those forces adhere or grow apart, persist or perish, over time? How can literature from the past reveal details of the way people lived, of the values and ideas that captivated people's attention, and of the way important historical forces were played out in people's lives? Finally, when first encounter ring the West in modern times, China underwent economic, military, and cultural crises. How did their leaders and subjects respond to those challenges and how did their perceptions of modernity shape the way they treated their cultural heritage, engaged the present, and envisioned their future?

Our understanding of early Chinese Empires is primarily determined by the available sources and our methodologies. This seminar will provide advanced undergraduates with a critical introduction to the most important sources and major themes, both textual and archaeological, for the study of early imperial China. We will consider materials from the earliest historical period, circa 1300 B.C., down to the consolidation of the empire in the first century B.C. We will focus on outstanding problems and controversies pertaining to this period, such as the relationship between archaeology and classical historiography, the nature of the Chinese writing system, myth and history, the textual history of the transmitted texts, Chinese empires and its rivals, and gender issues in ancient China. Finally, we will consider the basic methodological tools presently used by historians, textual critics, paleographers, and archaeologists.

Why do we tell stories? Myths and legends can help us understand what the people who created them have valued at different places and times. These texts have been interpreted as vessels of national identity, points of access to divine truth, indices of level of civilizational development, and pedagogical tools. They have also inspired some of the most compelling works of art ever produced. Students in this course will learn more about some of the many cultures of Eurasia, the world’s largest continent, spanning West Asia (the Middle East), Central Asia, and Eastern Europe, from these cultures' perspectives. They will read about what role Raven played in the creation of the world, learn the secret of the legendary Simorgh, and watch the tragic love story between a forest spirit and a human. They will consider the links between ancient folklore and contemporary fantasy. They will also have the opportunity to think about the role these stories play in the cultures that produced them and in their own lives. This class is co-taught by two scholars with different backgrounds: a historian of West Asia and the United States and a specialist in the literature of Russia and the former Soviet Union. In this class, students will learn how scholars in different disciplines (including not just literature and history but also folklore and anthropology) might approach the same works very differently and learn how to articulate their own scholarly positions. Assignments include a folklore collection, an in-class presentation on one of the cultures studied, and a creative adaptation of a myth. Students will also be graded on class participation and given weekly online reading quizzes.

The Indian subcontinent has shaped global history for thousands of years. This course will survey the last three millennia—from the still mysterious Indus Valley civilization, to the ancient India that birthed great religions like Hinduism and Buddhism, to the influence of Islamic rule during the powerful Mughal Empire, to when India became the jewel in the British Empire’s crown, ending with the stormy politics of contemporary India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. These battles between gods, empires, and nations have produced the astonishing diversity that we see in the most populous part of the world. This course offers a guide through South Asia’s rich history, fractious politics, vibrant cultures, and globalized economies. As the countries of South Asia exert ever increasing influence on global politics and the world economy, understanding them is imperative. Their history offers us a way.

This course offers an opportunity for an exploration of arguably the most significant natural and man-made disaster in recent history, an event with critical implications for social and environmental justice. The 2011 Tohoku, Japan, earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent Fukushima nuclear tragedy presents a compelling case study of the challenges to recovery and resilience in the wake of major disruption. Around the world, communities are grappling with unprecedented health, economic, and social challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic - the topic of recovery and resilience is more salient than ever. Building on faculty research and site experiences in Japan, students will examine public reports, scholarly analyses, and community stakeholder testimonials to formulate informed perspectives on the elements of and challenges to community recovery and resilience in the wake of this disaster. Central activities will be determining and assessing specific indicators of resilience, to include socioeconomic indicators, which are often left out of existing analyses that typically focus on infrastructure, and considering the issues of economic and social justice inherent in community preparation for, vulnerability to, and response management of natural and man-made disasters.

This course examines the late 20th and early 21st century "economic miracles" of several East Asian countries and the political, social, and spatial factors underpinning them. We will explore similarities, differences, and interdependencies in the development trajectories of Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and mainland China, and will debate how accurate and useful concepts like "the developmental state" and "state capitalism" are in describing the political economy of the region. To what extent has China's economic rise followed the existing playbooks of its East Asian neighbors? What human costs and developmental distortions have accompanied booming industrial and urban growth? And what lessons does East Asia's experience offer for the contemporary developing world?

China has gone from international isolation to global superpower in record-breaking time. How has Beijing orchestrated its meteoric rise? How have US policies facilitated and hindered China's efforts to close the power gap? Does China's rise present a challenge to American hegemony and an attack on the U.S. constructed post-WWII order? Are the world's two most powerful states locked in a 'Thucydides Trap' destined for war? This course analyzes China's ascendance through international relations theories and practices.

How do people in immigrant-receiving countries shape their attitudes toward immigrants? What are the differences between refugees and other migrants? How is immigration related to urban "immigrant riots"? And what can anthropological studies of borders and national policies tell us about the transnational world in which we live? We will examine these and related questions, and more generally the causes, lived experiences, and consequences of migration. We will acquire a sound understanding of migration in its social, political, legal, and cultural facets. Fieldwork accounts from countries of origin and from the US, Europe, Australia, and Japan will enable us to appreciate both global and US distinctive trends. Rather than merely learning a collection of facts about immigrants, we will address how migration intersects with gender and class; the mass-media; border enforcement; racism; the economy; territory and identity formation, and religion.

How has the Internet changed the ways people voice their opinions, gather information, and organize social movements? Have marginalized groups become more empowered by mobilizing online? Why does increased social media activity often exacerbate political polarization and populism? How has social media affected national elections? This course will analyze these questions and more within the context of East Asia. In analyzing the impact of the Internet on state-society relations, students will analyze state attempts to control media consumption and surveil Internet-use in Communist regimes like North Korea and China. We will compare these trends with similar efforts made by state actors in advanced industrialized countries such as Japan and South Korea. While the Internet-usage is in many ways, still tightly regulated by the state, the Web has in many ways, also empowered people formerly detached from politics to become politically engaged. This has led to both political polarization (and the influx of political extremist groups), as well as large-scale grassroots movements for democratization. Along these lines, we will examine the growth of far-right "netizen" groups in Japan, South Korea, and China and the subsequent proliferation of hate crimes, populism, and ultra-nationalism. We will also read studies of how teenagers used their presence on social media and the blogosphere to eventually lead large-scaled national protests like the 2016 Candlelight Movement in Seoul and the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong. Finally, in studying the global diffusion of social protests in the digital age, we will analyze how the #MeToo movement reignited new waves of feminism in South Korea, Japan, and China. What implications does the Internet have for the future democracy?

What did it mean to be a man or a woman in Japan in the centuries before the modern era? How did conceptions of masculinity and femininity evolve under the influence of Buddhism and Confucianism, not to mention changes in the social order? Above all, how was gender performed when it came to matters of the heart? In this course, students will explore these issues, primarily through fiction and drama, but also through diaries, essays, and poetry. The course is divided into three units. Unit 1 surveys the literature of the Imperial court from the 8th through the 12th centuries. We will begin with selections of love poetry from the Man'yoshu, Tales of Ise, and Kokinshu as background for Murasaki Shikibu's epic of courtly love, The Tale of Genji (ca. 1000 A.D.). Unit 2 focuses on plays from the Noh theater, which typically dramatize the problem of desire from a Buddhist perspective. In Unit 3, we will explore the issues of gender and sexuality in Ihara Saikaku's Five Women Who Loved Love (1685) and plays by Chikamatsu Monzaemon, such as The Love-Suicides at Amijima (1721). All materials are in English and no special knowledge of Japan or Japanese is required. Students will also read essays by Western scholars to acquire a critical perspective on the issues of gender and sexuality in specific texts.

Modern Japanese history has seen a series of revolutions – in politics and government, but also in science and technology, media, gender roles, and lifestyle. The Japanese people tested, debated, encouraged, and denied the near-constant revolutions they were living through via literature that metamorphosed to resemble everything from millennium-old Japanese romantic poetry to contemporary French travelogues. In this course, students will traverse constantly-evolving territory of modern Japanese literature to see how revolutions affect literature, and how literature affects revolutions.

This course offers an in-depth examination of one of the world's most popular media: Japanese animation. Students will study the development of the anime industry and the artistic styles used in anime with an eye toward understanding how this supposedly unique form of art in fact responds to and affects global events and art forms. Students will learn to not only passively watch, but actively see how an anime fits into global currents.

This course examines how emotion and power are explored in modern Korean literature from the early 20 th century to our contemporary moment of the 2020s. We will read novels, short stories,autobiography, poetry, and critical essays by colonial period intellectuals, activists of the democratization movement, contemporary novelists, and artists of the Korean diaspora. How do Korean writers, past and present, represent emotion and power in literature? What does emotion reveal about power, and what does power feel like? Topics discussed in the course will include popular culture, social movements, colonialism, gender and sexuality, race, class, and diaspora.From our vantage point as readers witnessing the global popularization of Korean culture, we will examine how modern Korean literature navigates Korean identity, creates new communities,and imagines a more just world. All course materials are in English and no previous knowledge of Korean is required.

This course provides an introduction to Korean culture and history through contemporary Korean films. Exploring Korean culture and history through films is recognized as an effective method which helps students understand the past events and interpret embedded messages from the periods as well as explore cinematic representations of past events. This course will guide students to an extensive understanding of modern and contemporary Korean history and thematic issues, including colonization by Japan and Korean nationalism until 1945, the division of the Korean peninsula and Korean War in the 1950s, rapid industrialization in the 1960s to 1980s, democracy and human rights in the 1980s to 1990s, social issues in the 2000s such as Korean diaspora, multiculturalism, inter-Korean confrontation and reconciliation, feminism, familism, cultural hybridity, Korean capitalism and social class. No prior acquaintance with the Korean language and history is required.

In Apocalypse Now (1979), a single phrase marks an iconic enemy and creates a chain of associations that separate Western Selves from Eastern Others. The story behind the phrase, "Charlie don't surf," is one of many complex narratives characterizing the Southeast Asian region that call for further critical understanding. This course is an anthropological journey through Southeast Asia, a region rich in cultural diversity, linguistic complexity and archaeological significance. Including the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and Myanmar (Burma), students can explore the ecological, historical, and socio-cultural patterns of this ethnographic region through analyses of its societies and institutions. With a holistic approach to the cultural influences that characterize Southeast Asia, we will chart the region's indigenous, social, political, economic, artistic and religious formations over time. The course offers a broad overview of the historical factors affecting the region, including the impact of Indian, Islamic, Chinese, and European exchange, colonization, and violence. These transregional influences provide a window from which to view contemporary issues in the cultural politics and economics of Southeast Asia. The course provides an overview of the major cultural features of the region to enable students to gain a better understanding of the current developments within the region and the lives of Southeast Asians. Overall, we will contribute to the development of anthropological ideas about Asia while also providing a means to organize and analyze Asian ethnographic perspectives.

This course explores the major developments in Byzantium and the Eastern Mediterranean from the time of the crusades and the eastward expansion of the Italian naval powers until the rise of the Ottoman Empire to a new universal power unifying the Balkan Peninsula and Asia Minor under the rule of a Muslim sultanate. The encounter between Latin and Greek Orthodox Christians in the wake of the crusade led to political rivalries and religious discord, culminating in the Latin conquest of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade of 1204. While the eastward expansion of Italian naval powers had already begun in the late eleventh century, it was mainly as a result of 1204 that Venice and, later on, Genoa became predominant political and economic factors in the Eastern Mediterranean, controlling much of the long-distance seaborne trade between Italy and the Syrian coast. The Anatolian Seljuk Turks initiated the gradual Turkification and Islamization of Asia Minor. In the thirteenth century, the Eastern Mediterranean endured increasing pressure from the Mongols and the Mamluk sultanate. One of the results of this development was the rise of the Ottoman principality to a leading political power incorporating large parts of the Balkan Peninsula and, in 1453, the city of Constantinople. We will discuss both socio-economic and political aspects of these developments.

Policymaking for a Global Era provides students with the intellectual foundations necessary to understand the dilemmas and opportunities faced by decision-makers during the policymaking process. The course has three modules. The first investigates how policymakers' world views and choices are shaped by experimental, cultural, normative and decision making structures. It also examines how regime type and country size constrain policymakers' options. The second module examines the numerous domestic and international actors and factors that influence the foreign policymaking process in the U.S. - including the presidency, intelligence services, the Congress, media, NGOs, international institutions, and foreign governments. In the third module we study policymaking in three Asian countries - China, India, and Vietnam. This comparative approach illustrates how elements such as culture, country size, and regime type, which were introduced in the first module, affect these countries foreign policymakers' decisions. The course concludes with a policymaking crisis simulation that employs the lessons learned throughout the course. The course assignments are three 5-page policy memoranda and robust class participation.

This course surveys Chinese culture and civilization from the beginnings to the present time. Readings include traditional historical, philosophical, political, religious and literary texts as well as modern scholarship. Students are encouraged to bring in their experience, living or reading, of Western culture in order to form comparative and reflective perspectives.

This course introduces Chinese popular culture through the lens of contemporary Chinese cultural phenomena, including food culture, popular music, documentary films, martial arts movies, copycat culture, youth culture, and social media. It will be organized thematically. The lectures will introduce the major themes, including gender issues, social justice, government censorship, subcultures, family and state, localization and globalization, in a broad form and employ examples and case studies to provide students with a better understanding of actual Chinese society as it exists today. We will investigate the historical, sociopolitical, and aesthetical roots and impacts of the cultural phenomena. All readings are in English, no prior knowledge of Chinese language or culture is required.

"The Second World War is the largest single event in human history, fought across six of the world's seven continents and all its oceans. It killed fifty million human beings, left hundreds of millions of others wounded in mind or body and materially devastated much of the heartland of civilization." The above quote from historian John Keegan summarizes the significance of studying the Second World War. In this class, students will receive an introduction to the largest conflict in human history, from the origins of the war in Asia and Europe to the postwar settlements that continue to shape the modern world. Class content will focus on the military, diplomatic, and political narratives of the war, while exploring the lived experience of the war through primary source readings. This course satisfies the university history requirement and is open to all students; no previous knowledge of the topic is required.

This course examines the most important bilateral relationship in the world today. It begins with an overview of the major historic episodes in U.S.-China relations, then, adopting a theme-based approach, it examines the relationship among important topics in the contemporary bilateral relationship across the overlapping political, economic and security spheres. The course will stress the importance of perceptions in policymaking, and use student presentations and a crisis simulation to allow students to understand the problem from various perspectives.

This course provides an overview of the historical development of Japanese civilization and culture from the prehistoric era up through the 19th Century. Students will acquire a basic knowledge of Japanese geography, historical periods, changing class structure and political organization. The main emphasis, however, is on the development of the fine arts, such as painting, architecture, gardens, and sculpture. The course also introduces students to the important and continuous influence of Chinese art, literature, Buddhism and Confucianism. Through readings of selected literary works (prose fiction, poetry, essays on aesthetics), students will learn how shared aesthetic values changed over time in relation to their social and political context.

The Middle East is simultaneously one of the most strategically important regions in the world and one of the least understood. This course provides an introduction to the politics of the region from a thematic perspective. It addresses a variety of topics, including democracy, development, sectarianism, oil, and conflict. Students will be assigned readings from both historical scholarship and contemporary analysis of regional issues. When applicable, cases from across the region will be used to illustrate the themes of the course.

This course offers a general introduction to the politics of contemporary China. After background on the imperial and Republican periods and the development of the Communist revolution, we will focus on major political events in the People's Republic: land reform, Hundred Flowers Campaign, Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution, Democracy Wall, Opening and Reform, Tiananmen Uprisings, Beijing Olympics, etc. Then we proceed to a thematic discussion of popular participation and protest, state control, the emergence of civil society groups, and major challenges facing contemporary China. The basic objectives of this course are to provide a working knowledge of Chinese politics and to encourage a critical evaluation of the positive and negative aspects of China's socialist experiment.

"Colonialism is almost universally denounced. When, then, would Hong Kong activists wave the Union Jack in various demonstrations over the years? Why do they long for the British colonial era as the good old days? This course examines Hong Kong's struggle for democracy and autonomy in the intersection of colonial and Chinese history. It discusses what happened before and after the city's return to the Chinese government under the "one country, two systems" model in 1997. It studies how Hong Kong, once "a city of protest," has been turned into a city of fear today. Under the draconian National Security Law imposed in 2020, Hong Kong has effectively been recolonized. An estimated half a million Hong Kongers will have left by 2023. This class will supplement academic readings with memoirs and documentaries. It will also bring in Hong Kong activists to speak to the class about their dreams and despair."

Why do pro-democracy efforts in China repeatedly fail? If Chinese leaders aim to build a harmonious society, why are there routine contentious protests by workers, peasants, religious followers, middle-class property owners, lawyers, and minorities? How do the marginalized and disadvantaged fight against social injustices in China? Why is there no organized democracy movement despite the prevalence of sporadic protests? Is Confucianism preventing Chinese development towards a more democratic society? This course examines key contentious episodes in modern China, from the 1911 Revolution through the Cultural Revolution and the Tiananmen Movement to more scattered rightful resistance and minority protests in recent years.

In a religiously diverse and vastly troubled world, how do religious traditions motivate believers to work toward the common good? "Engaging World Religions," the course title, refers to three things we will examine. First, it describes how religions are intrinsically engaging: they draw in adherents by fulfilling their material, intellectual, and spiritual needs. Second, it specifies what various secular institutions like governments and development organizations must do in pursuing the common good across our planet -- most of whose inhabitants are religious. Finally, it characterizes our work in this class: exploring how various religious traditions conceptualize and work toward the common good in a global context. We will read historians, social scientists, philosophers, and critical theorists on how to analyze and interpret the role of religion in contemporary life, while examining case studies of how religious practices, beliefs, and identities intersect with issues in global affairs such as inequality, armed conflict, and climate change. In doing so, we will engage how religious traditions from the East and West -- from Asian and Abrahamic "world" religions, to a variety of indigenous "local" religions -- complicate or complement modern Catholicism's emphasis on Integral Human Development.

This course examines US engagement in hotspots across the Muslim world before and after 9/11. In particular focus are nations in South Asia and the Middle East: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq. We will also look at US relations with important Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt, as well as policies toward Israel-Palestine and the Bosnian War in Europe. US engagement abroad takes many forms, including public diplomacy, trade, sanctions, alliances, covert operations, financial and military aid, and direct military intervention. What are the drivers of American decision-making in the region? Why is there so much anti-American sentiment in Muslim societies? Does peace depend on a critical reassessment of US foreign policy or the reform of a radical Islamist theology? Do certain interpretations of religion make conflict inevitable, or is it possible to attain reasonable outcomes even when dealing with extremists? Through a blend of history, investigative journalism, case studies, opinion polls, literature, and film, this course broadens our perspectives on some of America's longest wars in the Muslim world.

To understand religion, we should go to Asia: Asia boasts the majority of the world's religions and religious people. In this class, we look at what Asian religious traditions are up to today, and how they inform everyday social and political life. How might religious traditions as diverse as Zen Buddhism and Zoroastrianism inform conflict, coexistence, and cooperation? What is it to be human within worldviews that seem to depart from our own with respect to gender, sexuality, ethnicity, dis/ability, and the natural world? How might society, culture, or economy develop in Sunni Muslim, humanistic Buddhist, or atheist Maoist terms? How might we learn to "scale up" spiritual practices such as shamanism, ancestor worship, radical nonviolence, and mindfulness meditation to solve global problems? We read historians, anthropologists, and other scholars of religion to explore Asian spiritual routes and roots, from Iraq to Japan and beyond.

This course takes a Great Books approach, placing the primary text and its interpretation at the center. Unlike some other works of political philosophy, the Hebrew Bible primarily makes its arguments through narrative, although other styles (law, oratory, poetry, etc.) are also integral to the biblical corpus. Thus in order to understand the ideas these texts hope to teach us, students must be familiarized with both the narrative itself and the tools that the narrative uses to convey ideas. The course therefore follows the principal biblical narrative-the history of Israel from Genesis to Kings-which spans the first half of the Hebrew Bible. Students will learn the story of the rise and fall of the ancient Israelite kingdom and analyze the political concepts that are deployed by the text as they arise in the narrative.

In 1600, China was the richest country in the world. In 1978, China’s economy accounted for just a trivial amount of world GDP. It was agricultural, backwards, and dirt-poor. Today, its economy is second only to the U.S. The major theme for the course is to develop an understanding of these transitions and prospects for the future. Since the 1950s, society and economy have operated under a central plan. Economic and social policies have allowed Chinese people to build the world’s second largest economy. The speed and the extent of this transition for a country of this size is an economic miracle and unprecedented in history. The economic impact on human welfare has been remarkable, raising millions out of extreme poverty. China’s economic system operates under the heavy hand of an authoritarian government, run by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Economic policy decisions often reflect political reasons. Implementation and focus vary by the CCP leadership. The heavy hand of the state in economic affairs sharply contrasts with the American system. Questions we will seek to answer include: (1) Why was China so poor in 1978? (2) How and why did the economy take off? (3) How does the China economic miracle fit within accepted economic theory? (4) Is China’s economic development and growth sustainable?

As an Integration course, students successfully completing the class will have fulfilled a University core curriculum requirement. Reflecting an integration of key considerations from the disciplines of Economics and Business Ethics, the course will allow students the opportunity to examine the complexities of climate change, public policy, environmental and social sustainability, and impacts on global economies and communities. Economics will provide the foundation of knowledge of labor market structure, market failures such as externalities, taxation, migration decisions, discrimination, and income inequality measures. The management approach will address business in practice, and organizational and societal dimensions of effective and ethical business. Topics will include climate change; resilience and its measures; climate change-driven migration around the world and its impacts on labor markets and the business environment; ethical frameworks for guiding business; stakeholder analysis; environmental justice and the disproportionate effects on communities by socio-economic status, race and gender; and regulation and international agreements. Students will participate in experiential activities in real-world contexts, examine indicators of societal resilience, present relevant data in a compelling way through individual and team projects, reflect understanding through assessments including quizzes and exams, and present a policy proposal, all reflective of an integrative approach.

This class aims to examine the issues surrounding media technology's relationship to society through the lens of science fiction, which takes these issues as one of its core concerns. We will structure our inquiry around three important moments in Japanese media history, beginning with the popularization of film in the early 20th century before jumping ahead to the Cold War-era flowering of cybernetic discourse in the 1960s, and concluding at the turn of the 21st century with the rapid spread of the internet. Guiding our discussions will be a few central questions: How does sci-fi both reflect issues of its day, and how does it comment upon those issues? What work is the genre of sci-fi performing for each text? How does science fiction contribute to ideas of individual and social identity? Students can expect to come away from the class with a more sophisticated understanding of modern and contemporary Japanese history, sharper skills of academically rigorous communication, and more nuanced ideas about the interplay of text, society, and identity.

A survey course introducing students to the major themes and genres of Chinese literature through selected readings of representative texts.

This course provides students with a unique introduction to Asia in all its diversity, ranging from its languages, cultures, and histories to its political and economic systems and its relations with the US. As the global balance of power is shifting towards Asia, it is more important than ever for Notre Dame students to have more than just basic knowledge about the continent. This course provides just that: an opportunity to take your understanding of Asia beyond the level of what you read in the newspapers, providing you with the knowledge and the tools to formulate your own critical understanding of the region and its global environment. Different types of writing about Asia – academic, journalistic, diplomatic, political, popular – will be examined alongside different ways in which Asia has been and continues to be represented in the western imagination. Asian perspectives will be accessed through English-language writings and English-language media published in Asia. Guest lecturers with specific expertise on individual Asian countries will join the class at regular intervals. Assessment methods will include both written work and classroom (group) presentations.

This course introduces the study of Japanese culture through the media of modern Japan. Japanese popular culture is traced from its roots in the early twentieth century to today. In the chaotic period that followed the bursting of postwar Japan’s economic bubble, Japanese popular culture has provided one of few bright spots in an ongoing economic malaise. Among the aims of the course is to examine how seemingly distinct media and subcultures combined to create an overarching cultural system, such that one medium’s success can spur another’s. To that end, the course is organized according to a roughly chronological model. The popular media of comics, animation, clothing, and music will recur throughout the course, though other media, such as live-action film and literature, will be treated as the occasion arises. Key objectives of the course are to introduce students to the critical languages of popular culture and to help students develop skill in analyzing everyday cultural products. There are no regular screenings for this course, but there will be occasional assigned viewings in addition to course readings.

Korean popular culture permeates transnational mediascapes as evidenced by the virality of K-pop groups such as BTS and films such as Parasite. We are witnessing the ongoing global popularization of Korean culture and its widespread circulation to the public in Korea and around the world. This course will examine Korean popular culture through film, literature, television, and streaming media with a focus on how popular culture shapes the human experience and flows of power, as well as how we may theorize Korean popular culture in creative ways that include a variety of forms and topics. We will explore scholarship from an array of fields such as cultural studies, cinema and media studies, performance studies, and gender and sexuality studies that contribute to recent conversations in Korean popular culture debating history, reception, soft power, gender and sexuality, class, race, and neoliberalism among others. All course materials will be in English and no knowledge of Korean is required.

How do we learn from and analyze popular culture texts and objects? This course challenges students to be what some scholars refer to as "aca-fans," or academic fans, meaning fans who take the objects of their fandom seriously as works of art and think critically about popular works and trends. How do works of popular culture illuminate their historical moment and the world around us? How does thinking critically about media lead us to new insights about power, identity, and gender? From crime fiction, to sci fi, to manga and anime, we will explore a diverse, exciting range of Japanese popular culture. Texts include the anime of Studio Ghibli, Ghost in the Shell, the historical drama Lady Snowblood, and much, much more! Students will even have the opportunity to study a Japanese popular culture text of their own choosing for their final project.

This course will explore the development and expansion of Japanese animation during a period between the late 1980s and the early 2010s. From cyberpunk dystopia to nostalgic rural fantasylands, we will examine the primary themes in the works of anime auteurs, including, Miyazaki Hayao, Takahata Isao, Otomo Katsuhiro, and Oshii Mamoru, among others. A core component of this course will be to engage in the theoretical approaches that have arisen around the study of anime in the United States--so students should be prepared to discuss race, technology, gender, ethics, and social history in the contexts of Japanese animation. No Japanese language is required.

The sword-wielding samurai warrior is perhaps the most familiar icon of pre-mod¬ern Japan, one that continues to influence how the Japanese think of themselves and how others think of Japan even in modern times. Who were the samurai? How did they see themselves? How did other members of Japanese society see them in the past? How did the role and the image of the samurai change over time? To answer these questions, we will explore the depiction of samurai in various kinds of texts: episodes from quasi-historical chronicles, 14th-century Noh plays, 17th-century short stories, and 18th-century Kabuki and puppet plays. While some of these texts emphasize themes of loyalty, honor, and military prowess, others focus on the problems faced by samurai in their domestic lives during times of peace. The last part of the course will be devoted to the most famous of all stories, The Revenge of the 47 Samurai. Students will read eyewitness accounts of this vendetta, which occurred in 1702, and then explore how the well-known Kabuki/puppet play Chushingura (A Treasury of Loyal Retainers 1748) dramatizes the conflicting opinions surrounding it. All readings will be in English translation and no previ¬ous knowledge of Japan is required.

This course is an introduction to the major authors and works of Japan's modern period, from the 18th century through the middle of the 20th century. We will examine writers, works and literary institutions in historical context to explore how Japanese writers engaged with the changing world in the modern era. This was the period when modern literature, more specifically the novel, was emerging internationally as a new technology of state-building. Early modern Japan was highly literate with a flourishing popular culture that included diverse literary forms (high and low) that would be refashioned, contested and sometimes abandoned as the institution of literature would come to be established by the turn of the 20th century, although not without ongoing contestation. The rise of the novel (shosetsu) as exemplar of literature corresponded with Japan's rise to imperialist power over the fifty-year build-up of the empire. Our themes will include: elite and popular literature; the West, Orientalism and Counter-Orientalism; protest literature by women, workers and ethnic minorities; empire and resistance; modernism and modernity. Authors will include: Higuchi Ichiyo, Natsume Soseki, Tamura Toshiko, Tanizaki Jun'ichiro, Kobayashi Takiji, Edogawa Rampo, and others.

This course examines the historical manifestations, literary representations, and contemporary re-imaginations in popular media of China's last imperial dynasty, the Qing (1644-1911). The Qing Dynasty was born as a Manchu empire that arose outside of China proper to become one of the largest land empires in human history, but was undone by foreign encroachment and internal unrest and eventually fell in 1911. The Qing's dramatic trajectory continues in the competing narratives circulated over a century after its fall. On the one hand, despite its domination by a non-Han people, it is regarded as the pinnacle of China's past, while on the other, it is frequently condemned for its decadency and arrogance precipitating a well-deserved downfall. We will explore the fundamental issues pertaining to the Qing as well as the lasting fascination with the dynasty regularly captured in contemporary film and television. Through reading, thinking, discussing, and debating, we will enter a different culture and a different time, and come to appreciate how the past continues to influence our world.

Vengeful spirits, foxes that turn into alluring women, green and red ogres, Godzilla, and Pokémon: these are some of the monsters that have spooked and beguiled Japanese people across time. This course explores how medieval legends and local histories of monsters and gods play an important role in identifying and resolving social anxieties throughout Japan's cultural history, from the 8th to the 21st century. The materials we will examine include literature, manga, film, and anime, in addition to scholarly essays and historical texts.

As an emergent field of ethnographic theory and methods, design anthropology involves talking to people, figuring out what they want, and creating ways to improve our shared lives. These practices are focused on developing ideas and forms based on people’s needs while anticipating conscious practice and considerate use. Design anthropologists create potentials for future selves, anticipating projected needs and transcending potential limitations. This seminar introduces the emerging phenomenon and ongoing merger of the anthropology of design. It integrates sources in design anthropology, ethnographic design, cultural marketing, and other applied methodologies. We will engage with theoretical discussions, analytical approaches, practicing exercises, and portfolio development to explore the holistic depths of this nascent field.

"The modern period of Japanese history has seen an extreme degree of flux in everything from the Japanese language to technology, government to social roles, individuals’ jobs to the nation’s global prominence. The many and varied changes Japanese people underwent effectively reconstituted reality itself on a regular basis. Living through an ever-changing chaos where the ground seems to be constantly shifting under one’s feet can be both terrifying and exhilarating – emotions that often spur people to think and then communicate their thoughts with others. This course examines how Japanese people negotiated the confusing changes facing them and continually re-defined what it meant to be a (modern) (Japanese?) (male/female) person through their writing. Topics discussed in the course will include conceptions of authority as reflected in evolving notions of imperial and sacred power; the role of fantasy and science in Japanese culture; changing constructions of gender, nationality, and class; the integration of new technologies into mass cultures; the form(s) of literature; and how language shapes literature."

Is sushi a "high" or "low" class food? What makes a cuisine a "national" dish? How does food tell us a story about the changes in a society? These questions and more will be answered in our course, where we will examine the history and cultural representation of food in Japan. The sources of our inquiry will range from classical cookbooks to short stories, comedic films to scholarly articles. As part of the coursework, students will learn how to cook a Japanese dish and how to order from a menu in a Japanese restaurant.

This course encourages students to read and discuss English translations of key modern Chinese literary texts, selected from among those that have delighted western audiences (such as the Nobel Prize winners Gao Xingjian and Mo Yan) as well as those that have been considered of huge significance by Chinese communities at different times. Most of the readings will be short stories and (parts of) novels, but due attention will be paid also to poetry and the prose essay, both incredibly important genres in the Chinese context. Students will be provided with a key vocabulary to discuss the texts, including both western and Chinese critical terminology, and with a range of interpretative methods. They will also be expected to carry out background reading, including academic studies of the literary works under scrutiny, and general works introducing the relevant historical contexts. At the end of the semester, students will have gained a good knowledge of the modern Chinese literary canon and will have gained critical ability in analyzing modern Chinese literary works from a range of perspectives.

Site of the delayed 2020 Olympics, Tokyo has recently been under scrutiny as a problematic international space. Tokyo's role as a complicated space of both exclusion and inclusion has a deeper history, however, extending back to a relatively recent founding in the late 16th century. This course looks at how the imaginative figuration of Tokyo has been a battleground for contesting different ethnic, social, and gendered identities in historical documents, literature, and popular culture.

Japan is renowned for its modern comic book genre "manga," but humorous and action-packed visual-verbal stories populate its literary history. This course examines a specific period where the urban culture of Edo (modern Tokyo) is colorfully expressed in playful literature and woodblock-prints. We will examine questions of status and class, sexuality, materialism, and the role of technology in shaping the book. As a hands-on project, we will learn Edo period woodblock carving techniques and, as a class, publish our own comic book!

This course focuses on major films representing milestones in Japanese film history, from the 1930s to the turn of the twenty-first century. We will examine masterpieces by great directors, including, Kurosawa Akira, Ozu Yasujirô, Mizoguchi Kenji, and Miyazaki Hayao, among others. We will explore genres from samurai and historical dramas to comedy, science fiction, and animated fantasy. In addition, we will consider the capacity of movies to provide and provoke cultural, social, and political commentary. On the way, we will take stock of significant contributions to film technique and film theory.

This course attempts to explore the power of law and the concept of justice via examination the legal thought and legal practices in early Chinese empires. Whereas the rule of law serves as the basic principle of modern political thought and the spirit of democracy, the mature legal empires in early China fostered a prominent and enduring intellectual tradition that viewed the law with disdain, a tradition that still has its legacy in Chinese society of modern day. By examining philosophical texts and recently discovered legal statutes and administrative documents from Qin-Han empires, this course will investigate the fundamental differences between Eastern and Western perspectives on law and governance. By digesting scholarly articles and analyzing primary sources, we will explore questions such as what justice meant in the Chinese context; how the relationship between sovereignty and the people defined the legal rights and responsibilities of commoners and nobilities; how the legal practices of early China can aid our understanding of the Confucian persistent criticism of law and its enforcers, namely, the technical bureaucrats; and how the history of early Chinese empires provides perspectives for observing its legacy in the modern politics of East Asia.

Requires "contractual agreement" with the professor prior to scheduling. For advanced students who wish to pursue an independent research project reading advanced materials

From martial arts blockbusters to extravagant expos to space-age cityscapes, countries in East and Southeast Asia have achieved worldwide renown both for their affinity for mega-events and as spectacular backdrops for filmed narratives, multinational gatherings, and global tourism. But what forces are at work in the creation and dissemination of such spectacle? To what ends and for whom are these spectacles designed? How do different spectators interact with and interpret them? And what resistance, if any, has there been to the seeming excess and superficiality of extravaganza and its attendant mass-mediated images? This course examines recent works of performance, visual art, and film from China, Taiwan, Japan, the Koreas, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines in relation to the politics of spectatorship and theories of spectacle. Covering a period roughly from the mid-20th century rise of the "society of the spectacle" to the present, we will ask how different forms of spectacle--still and moving, mediated and live--come to represent Asian nations and shape viewers' experiences of Asian cultures. Doing so will enable us to better understand the dynamics of seeing and being seen on a global scale, as well as to explore how alternative modes of performance, visual culture, and viewership engendered by Asian contexts challenge established power hierarchies and modes of audience engagement.

Politics has always been theatrical, but perhaps nowhere has this been taken to such an extreme as in modern China. From the celebrity-like "cult of personality" surrounding Chairman Mao Zedong to student protests to performances like the 2008 Beijing Olympics, China has been home to some of the most spectacular political displays of the last century. This course explores how and why political performance became such a prominent phenomenon in China, especially under the People's Republic (PRC), through two lines of inquiry. First, it examines how theatre and performance themselves have been used as political tools, both in support of and in protest against ruling regimes. Second, it looks at the ways in which political events such as mass rallies, show trials, and protests have taken on highly performative and theatrical qualities in the Chinese context. It considers cases that relate directly to state and Party politics, as well as to the politics of gender, sexuality, race, and ethnicity. Through this course, students gain a deeper understanding of modern China, as well as the critical and theoretical tools necessary to analyze political theatre and theatrical politics in China and beyond. All readings in English or English translation. No prior study of China or Chinese language required.

This undergraduate film seminar course will study East Asian cinema and its social and historical context mostly between the 1980s and early 2000s. We will focus primarily on three large topics/movements within East Asia: Slow Cinema, Neo-Noir, and contemporary short form film. Navigating the general arc of Trans-East Asian film history, we will learn to recognise the localized global through readings and films by prominent filmmakers such as Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Wong Kar Wai, and Park Chan Wook, that define genres of East Asian film.

Asian theatre- and film-makers have produced some of the most innovative and exciting versions of Shakespeare's work. His strong presence in Asia also speaks to the histories and legacies of colonization and cultural imperialism. This course explores several well-known Shakespearean plays through the lens of Asian adaptation, rooted in both close reading of the plays themselves and the historical-cultural contexts of their adaptations. How, when, and why have specific Shakespearean plays captured the imaginations of Asian theatre artists and filmmakers? How have they transformed Shakepearean texts through translation, the use of local performance forms, new geographic and historical settings, and other techniques? How do these reimaginings rethink what "Shakespeare" might mean? By exploring such questions, students will gain a deeper understanding of Shakespeare, Asian theatre, and the complexities of their conjoining.

What are Beijing's objectives towards the developing world and how have they have evolved and been pursued over time? In light of China's unprecedented Belt and Road Initiative and increasingly assertive military activities far from its shores, the answer to this question is perhaps more important than ever before. This course analyzes and explains China's strategies in Southeast Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, Africa, Middle East, and Latin America, and evaluates their effectiveness. It is informed by the functionally organized academic literature, but uses a regional approach that allows for comparisons among regions based on their economic, political, military, and social characteristics. Topics will cut across the overlapping political, economic and security spheres, with particular attention paid to how different developing countries have perceived and responded to China's rapidly growing engagement and influence. This structure allows us to consider not only the unique features of Chinese engagement in each region, but also place them in the larger context of Beijing's strategy towards other developing regions and the developing world as a whole. This course will be of great interest to students and scholars interested in international development, Chinese foreign policy, comparative political economy, and international relations.

At a moment when global challenges - from climate change to inclusive development to public health threats - loom large, many nation-states seem unable to come together to address them. In what ways are the world's cities and subnational governments working on their own and in concert to meet these challenges? This course examines the distinctive roles and capacities of cities, provinces, and states in managing global policy issues and explores different modes of trans-local cooperation and coordination. We start by considering the global governance shortcomings of nation-states and exploring the multilevel character of key policy challenges. We next use case studies from different issue-areas to assess how action by subnational governments is contributing to but also complicating solutions. We conclude by discussing the limitations of subnational approaches to global challenges and considering the most appropriate policy roles and portfolios for subnational actors in the 21st century.

This course is an introduction to the Chinese sound and writing system, morphology, and syntax of the modern standard forms from a historical and linguistic perspective. The purpose of this course is to lead students who have the limited or no knowledge of Chinese to explore some interesting language phenomena by comparing Chinese and English, and to familiarize students with fundamental and systematical knowledge of the modern Chinese word formation and sentence structures.

This interdisciplinary course will examine the conceptual logic of using a settler-colonial lens to interpret the history and politics of Palestine/Israel. We will explore the religious dimensions of settler colonial narratives and practices and their intersections with secular, religious, and apocalyptic nationalisms. We will ask what the deployment of a settler-colonial lens illuminates, what it obscures, and why. We will scrutinize the recent proliferation of scholarship that has taken a comparative settler colonial approach. We will triangulate it with the literature on Israel’s Jewish identity, its meaning, and how and why it shifted over the decades. We will likewise engage in another set of conversations on nationalism and political theologies and identify the relevance of global anti-racism social movements and their uses and abuses of Palestinian struggles and Israeli narratives.

Soon after modern printing technology was introduced by western missionaries in the 19 th century, China developed an exciting new culture characterized by tremendous creativity and productivity, enthusiastic experimentation with media technologies, high-speed interaction between creators and users, and countless unique ways of mixing textual and visual material. Ranging from the pictorial magazines of the early twentieth century to the Internet sites of the early twenty-first century, China’s modern culture has expressed and engaged with massive historical, social, and political changes, captured in writing and in images. This course takes students on a whirlwind tour of modern Chinese cultural expression in newspapers, magazines, posters, films, TV shows, websites, and social media, using original visual materials in addition to readings in English translation. The aim is to provide students with a comprehensive overview of the main developments in modern Chinese culture, while training their ability to analyse different types of cultural products. At the end of the course, students will have produced their own blog site, using visual and textual material to express their own critical opinions on the materials we studied.

This course introduces contemporary cinemas of mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan by focusing on a selection of internationally acclaimed Chinese films. In addition to examining cultural background, narrative themes and cinematic technique of the films, we will be exploring how these selected films response to fundamental issues such as history, gender, identity, memory, social justice, nationalism, and globalization. The goals of the course are to introduce students to major films and directors in contemporary China, to learn Chinese culture, value and history through films, and to refine students' abilities to analyze and write about film critically. All readings are in English, no prior knowledge of Chinese language or culture is required. All films selected for the course have English subtitles.

This course is an introductory course on Christian and Islamic theologies that are inspired by the lives of, constructed through the lens of, and informed by the intersectional struggles of Christian and Muslim women. The course is divided into three major units. The first unit will be dedicated to analyzing the connection between secular feminist epistemologies and theories with the rise of Christian and Islamic feminist theologies. The second unit will consist of an exploration of different themes in Christian feminist theologies (Christology(ies), Ecclesiology(ies), and interreligious dialogue). Finally, the third unit of the course will provide an inquiry into core topics in Islamic feminist theologies (Quranic hermeneutics, formation of tradition and authorities, and interreligious dialogue). The questions that the course aims to engage are: What are the major perspectives in Christian and Islamic feminist theologies? What makes a theology "feminist" and what make other theologies are not? How do women's lives inform the formation of a "feminist theology"? How do Christian and Islamic feminist theologies respond to the challenges of gendered, structural violence?The course aims to invite students to critically engage with the work of Christian and Muslim feminist theologians, especially those of colors. Furthermore, though some readings will seek to provide historical insight into the places of women in Early and Medieval Christian and Islamic traditions, this course significantly focuses on the work of contemporary Christian and Muslim feminist theologians with an eye towards intersectional forms of oppression (racial, gender, and class-based) suffered by Christian and Muslim women of colors.

In 1965, the Second Vatican Council issued a "Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions", which contains a statement that Muslims "submit wholeheartedly to even His inscrutable decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God." While the Declaration can be understood as recognizing the possible validity of Islam's claim to Abrahamic status, some scholars have introduced the notion of "Abrahamic religions" as a way of associating Judaism, Christianity and Islam as related faiths. This course will explore the defining features of the Abrahamic religions that tie them closely together as well as their particularities and differences. As the youngest of the three Abrahamic religions, Islam has a lot of things to say about Abraham which largely correspond to the Biblical story although the Qur'an also contains some novel features, including the claim that Abraham, together with Ishmael, built the Ka‘bah. This course will discuss how the scriptures of the three religions emerged within the same cultural milieu, and explore their intertwined histories and the ways in which Jews, Christians, and Muslims developed their own independent religious identities from their early encounters to the present. Students will also be introduced to some basic teachings of Islam. No prior knowledge of Islam is required.

This course looks at the totality of the China-Africa relationship historically, currently and into the future. The course will give special attention to the politics, economics and security interests of China in Africa's 54 countries. It will examine the methods and objectives China has employed in Africa, African countries' response to China, and the perceptions of both sides. At the end of the course, students should have a solid understanding of the development and current state of China-Africa relations, where China excels and where it faces major challenges. Students will also learn how China interacts with African regional and sub-regional organizations and other emerging non-African powers on the continent. Finally, they should have some understanding of the implications of China in Africa for the United States and the West generally. Topics in the overlapping political, economic and security spheres will be examined. Questions investigated include: How do Chinese policymakers see Africa and its place in China's foreign policy? What are Chinese objectives in Africa? What methods does China use to achieve its objectives in Africa? Why and how do China's foreign policies differ from country to country? How have African countries responded to China's expanded economic and political presence on the continent? How have domestic political and economic changes in China and in African countries helped shape its relations with African countries? How have African countries sought to achieve their objectives vis-a-vis China and how successful have they been? The deliverables for this class are two written policy briefs, an oral presentation, and class participation. In addition to improving students' knowledge of China-Africa relations, this course also seeks to help them improve their ability to convey information to an informed audience as well as their ability to obtain and process the information conveyed by others.

What is race? How do concepts of race change according to social, political, and historical context? Do Asian understandings of race differ from those in the West? How are concepts like "blackness" and "white privilege" interpreted in Asia? In this class, we will grapple with this set of questions by looking at how competing definitions of race and nationhood emerged in conjunction with the rise of the Japanese empire (1910-1945), and American military occupation in Asia during the Cold War. Students will investigate how this historical context has continued to affect the ways more contemporary flows of migrants from Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa are racialized in Asia, by analyzing sociological, anthropological, and historical texts of everyday life. No prior knowledge about Asian languages or topics is required.

A critical introduction to one or more strands of Chinese Philosophy, historical or contemporary. Content varies semester by semester. For information about the current semester, see philosophy.nd.edu/courses/majors-minors-courses/

Demography, the science of population, is concerned with virtually everything that influences, or can be influenced by, population size, distribution, processes, structure, or characteristics. This course pays particular attention to the causes and consequences of population change. Changes in fertility, mortality, migration, technology, lifestyle, and culture have dramatically affected the United States and the other nations of the world. These changes have implications for a number of areas: hunger, the spread of illness and disease, environmental degradation, health services, household formation, the labor force, marriage and divorce, care for the elderly, birth control, poverty, urbanization, business marketing strategies, and political power. An understanding of these is important as business, government, and individuals attempt to deal with the demands of the changing population.

Indigenous people often appear to be people without property. Whether it is outside observers who presume that they never had a "proper" economy of individual possessions, or whether it is indigenous representatives who define themselves as having lost their property—their land, their traditions, their languages—what and who is indigenous is defined by an absence. In contemporary contexts of globalization, however, indigenous traditional knowledge as intellectual property has become a lightning rod of political action. There has been a corresponding redefinition of the indigenous from the criterion of autochthony or priority to relations of dispossession or appropriation. Anthropology has continued comparative study of the variety of theories of, or knowledge about, property and its place in the construction of individuals and collectivities in indigenous societies. This course connects cultural categories of property with ethnographic scenes of its alienation to explore the emerging role of culture as emblem, itself a kind of property. We ask how indigenous appropriation of the culture concept and colonial appropriation of the environmental knowledge, art, language, and land of indigenous cultures furthers the cycle of symbolic and material exchange that defines indigeneity.

This course offers a comparative perspective on law and legal institutions. Looking comparatively helps shed light on our own system and question what is "normal" or "natural." From what it means to be a lawyer to notions of what is "just" or "fair," courts and dispute resolution outside the U.S. can be both very different and, at times, surprisingly familiar. After an overview of concepts and classic approaches to the study of law and society, the course will explore these differences and similarities in three Asian settings: China, Japan, and India. Topics include courts and the legal profession, crime, inequality, and environmental protection, to see how each country's history, political structure, values, and interests shape how legal issues are defined and play out.