Course Descriptions

Term:

Locating Asias: (Nation, Culture and Diaspora)

Fall Quarter (F18)

Dept/Description Course No., Title  Instructor
HISTORY (F18)21A  WORLD:INNOVATIONSDARYAEE, T.
Emphasis/Category: Hispanic, US Latino/a and Luso-Brazilian Cultures, Locating Europes and European Colonies, Pacific Rim, Inter-Area Studies, Locating Asias (Nation, Culture, and Diaspora), Atlantic Rim, Locating Africas, Global Middle East

How does the legacy of human evolution affect our world today?  How have technological innovations shaped human societies?  How have human societies explained the natural world and their place in it?  Given the abundance of religious beliefs in the world, how have three evangelical faiths spread far beyond their original homelands?
This class follows the major themes of world historical development through the sixteenth century to consider how developments in technology, social organization, and religion—from the origins of farming to the rise of Christianity—shaped the world we live in today.
(Satisfies Pre-1800 Requirement)
(IV, VIII)
Days: TU TH  11:00-12:20 PM

E ASIAN (F18)190  TRNS JST &PRECARIUSCHOI, C.
Emphasis/Category: Locating Asias (Nation, Culture, and Diaspora)

As modern Koreans have experienced series of historical trauma as they had undergone colonialism, war, national division, and military dictatorship, numerous state-initiated human rights violations have taken place.  This course examines the ways in which Koreans are trying to grapple with the issues of justice, forgiveness, healing the historical trauma, and rebuilding community.  In order to do so, we will consider representative works of the truth and reconciliation commissions both in Korea and elsewhere as well as exploring the ways in which literature and films may contribute to healing the trauma victims and restore broken communities.  Films such as I Can Speak and Jiseul as well as Choe Yun’s novella, There Silently a Petal Falls will be some of the texts we will examine.
Days: WE  02:00-04:50 PM

ASIANAM (F18)151F  SOUTH ASAM STUDIESSHROFF, B.
Emphasis/Category: Locating Asias (Nation, Culture, and Diaspora)

The class brings together diverse perspectives on the experiences of South Asians in America. South Asian countries include India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh among others. From the historical presence of South Asians in America in the 1920s, to the experience of pop culture like bhangra remix, and the lives of working class taxi drivers in New York City, after 9/11. We examine the experience of South Asians in America as one of multiple belongings, and hybrid identities that are complicated connections between the culture of the U.S. and the homeland. Selected materials include stories by Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri, sociological readings on domestic violence, and citizenship dilemmas after 9/11 and selected films like Turbans, Junky Punky Girlz and Knowing Her Place.
Days: MO WE  12:30-01:50 PM

HISTORY (F18)172G  MOD JAPAN THRU FILMRAGSDALE, K.
Emphasis/Category: Locating Asias (Nation, Culture, and Diaspora)

The course traces the history of Japanese film from its beginnings to recent years and examines how particular films expressed the social, economic and political issues of their times.
Days: TU TH  11:00-12:20 PM

E ASIAN (F18)150  MASTERPC OF CH FICHUANG, M.
Emphasis/Category: Locating Asias (Nation, Culture, and Diaspora)

In this course we will read selected chapters from the masterpieces of traditional Chinese fiction such as The Journey to the West (centering on the story of the Monkey King), The Plum in the Golden Vase (also known as The Golden Lotus, an erotic novel about the intrigues and conflicts within a polygamous family) and The Travels of Lao Tsan (about a man's crusade against social injustice). The hope is that the students will have an opportunity to appreciate some of the most representative works of the unique Chinese novelistic tradition in terms of its characterization and narrative strategies as well as the historical and cultural factors shaping this narrative tradition. The focus will be on close reading. Mid-term and final exams plus pop quizzes.
Days: TU TH  03:30-04:50 PM

ART HIS (F18)151B  LATR IMPERIAL CHINAWUE, R.
Emphasis/Category: Locating Asias (Nation, Culture, and Diaspora)

This course is a history of painting and pictures in later imperial China from the Song through the Qing dynasties (1000-1900 CE). Focusing on art works and images as historical, cultural, and social documents, we will examine art as an instrument of power, a tool for social and religious rituals, an expression of social status, a medium for political protest, and as a product for the marketplace.
Days: MO WE  09:30-10:50 AM

ASIANAM (F18)164  KOREA-US TRANSNATLCHO, J.
Emphasis/Category: Locating Asias (Nation, Culture, and Diaspora)

Using the Korean Wave (South Korean popular culture) as a major case study, this class asks how and why a society that experienced highly compressed political and economic changes, has made such transnational activities possible. In particular, a study of Korean popular culture allows us to consider historically specific responses to globalization in a state that is divided and diasporic. By looking at films, pop songs, television serials, sports, cosmetic, and culinary industries, along with independent performance projects, we examine nation-building and branding, diasporic identity formation, and transnational capital and labor. We also consider how Korean American and Asian American engagements with Korean popular culture illuminate meanings of race and gender. Our course seeks to bring a critical eye to everyday sources of information, understand academic arguments of scholars in a range of disciplines, and to support students to be producers of knowledge who contribute to existing scholarship on popular culture.
Days: MO WE  03:30-04:50 PM

E ASIAN (F18)110  GNDR & MODRN CH LITHUANG, M.
Emphasis/Category: Locating Asias (Nation, Culture, and Diaspora)

This course focuses on several fictional texts produced during the twentieth century (plus screening a movie based on of these works). We will examine how gender and gender relationships were being reconstructed and renegotiated as China was pursuing her “modernity.” The reading will proceed in a roughly chronological order (in terms of the historical period each work covers). Emphasis will be on close reading and critical thinking. Mid-term, final examinations and pop quizzes
Days: TU TH  12:30-01:50 PM

JAPANSE (F18)100A  CLASSICAL JAPANESEKLEIN, S.
Emphasis/Category: Locating Asias (Nation, Culture, and Diaspora)

Japanese 100a-b is a two-quarter sequence designed to introduce classical Japanese grammar to intermediate and advanced students of modern Japanese (Japanese 3c or the equivalent is a prerequisite). Emphasis throughout will be on the systematic study of classical verbs, adjectives, suffixes and particles, with the goal of developing basic reading ability. Selected readings from important classical texts will be assigned with the intent of giving students some practical experience in reading and analysis. Students will be expected to commit classical Japanese verb and adjective conjugations to memory, along with the meanings and usage of certain particles and suffixes.
Days: MO WE  01:00-01:50 PM

CHINESE (F18)100A  CLASSICAL CHINESEFULLER, M.
Emphasis/Category: Locating Asias (Nation, Culture, and Diaspora)

This course is an introduction to classical Chinese. In this first term we stress the basic syntactic patterns of wenyanwen through the reading of very short, simple texts. To help familiarize students with these patterns, the textbook also provides questions to prepare as well as exercises based on the patterns for each lesson. There will be quizzes to take and translations to hand in on alternating Fridays, but no midterm. The course stresses day-to-day preparation of the material and centers on the syntactic analysis of the texts we read rather than on simply translating the passages. Therefore translations and class participation each contribute 20%; the quizzes and the final exam each are worth 30%. Students taking this course are expected to have completed at least the equivalent of a third-year level course in modern Chinese, Japanese or Korean.
Days: MO WE  10:00-10:50 AM

HISTORY (F18)131B  ANCIENT PERSIADARYAEE, T.
Emphasis/Category: Locating Asias (Nation, Culture, and Diaspora)

How does the legacy of human evolution affect our world today?  How have technological innovations shaped human societies?  How have human societies explained the natural world and their place in it?  Given the abundance of religious beliefs in the world, how have three evangelical faiths spread far beyond their original homelands?
This class follows the major themes of world historical development through the sixteenth century to consider how developments in technology, social organization, and religion—from the origins of farming to the rise of Christianity—shaped the world we live in today.
(Satisfies Pre-1800 Requirement)
(IV, VIII)
Days: TU TH  02:00-03:20 PM

Courses Offered by Global Cultures or other Schools at UCI

Locating Asias: (Nation, Culture and Diaspora)

Fall Quarter (F18)

Dept Course No., Title   Instructor
GLBLCLT (F18)103A  CULTR,MONY&GLOBLZTNLE VINE, M.

Emphasis/Category: Hispanic, US Latino/a and Luso-Brazilian Cultures, Locating Europes and European Colonies, Pacific Rim, Inter-Area Studies, Locating Asias (Nation, Culture, and Diaspora), Atlantic Rim, Locating Africas, Global Middle East
This course examines the fundamental dynamics of cultural production and consumption under conditions of globalization. Rather than focus on jargony post-modern scholarly analyses of culture (although we'll read some of that too), we will attempt whenever possible to examine the sources ourselves--particularly music, film, literature and architecture--and develop our own hypotheses about how crucial issues, such as identity (race, gender, ethnicity, religion) power, politics and economics are inflected by and impact the production and consumption of culture during the last two decades.
Days: TU TH  12:30-01:50 PM