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Boston College Asian Studies Courses at a Glance*

Fall 2015 (Updated March 31, 2015)

*Note: This list includes only essential information such as course number, title and, class time and location, name of professor and an abbreviated course description. For full course descriptions, syllabi, and course sections, see BC online course listing through Agora) ARTH 4214: Arts of the Silk Road Th 3-5:30 P.M. Devlin 218 Sheila Blair and Aurelia Campbell This research seminar investigates the material culture of the “Silk Road,” a vast network of trade routes that stretched overland from China across Central Asia to the Mediterranean. By considering a diverse range of visual objects—including textiles, porcelains, grave goods, Buddhist cave paintings, mosques, and ruined cities—we will think critically about the term “Silk Road”. ARTH 2241: Chinese Art and Architecture, 1911- Present TTH 10:30-11:45 A.M. O'Neill Library 247 Campbell Aurelia Campbell After the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911 Chinese artists were confronted with the great challenge of expressing radically new concepts of modernity, national identity, and selfhood in visual terms. By the mid twentieth century their attention had shifted to the problem of how best to represent the ideologies of the Communist party. By covering a wide range of topics, including advertisements of the modern Shanghai woman, Socialist realist sculpture, Mao-era propaganda posters, the politically-charged works of Ai Weiwei, This course introduces students to this extremely dynamic period in Chinese art history. EALC 1121 Elementary Chinese I TTH 9-10:15 (co-requisite EALC 1123 Lyons Hall 207 Fang Lu EALC 1221 Elementary Japanese I Sullivan and Kamikura EALC 1311 Introduction to Korean I TTH 12-1:15 P.M. Devlin Hall 112 Choong Yoon EALC 2121 Intermediate Chinese I TTH 9-10:15 (co-requisite EALC 2123) S L Chiang EALC 2221 Intermediate Japanese I Cheung and Sullivan EALC 3221 Third-Year Japanese I MWF 2-2:50 Cheung EALC 4121Advanced Chinese I MWF 9-10 A.M. & 10-10:50 A.M. Fang Lu EALC 4221 Advanced Japanese I MWF 2-2;50 Kamimura EALC 4151 Reading in Chinese Literature and Philosophy TTH 12-1:15 pm Sing-chen Lydia Chiang ENGL 4495/FILM 4495 Contemporary Asian Cinema TTH 9-10:15 A.M. Devlin 010 Christina Klein This class explores recent films from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, and India. These films will be approached through a variety of critical perspectives, including formalism, auteurism, and historicism. We will watch art films, commercial films, and films that fall between these two categories. We will ask how Asian film industries have been affected by globalization and how national cinemas are becoming increasing transnational. This course satisfies the Cultural Diversity Core Requirement. There is a required weekly film screening Wednesdays 7 – 9 PM.

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ENGL2255 01 Introduction to Postcolonial Literature TTH 12-1:15 P.M. Kalpana R. Seshadri What was the impact of the British "civilizing mission" on the peoples of Africa, South Asia, and the Caribbean? This course offers the "native" point of view through a combination of some of the major novels written in English from Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe, India and the Caribbean alongside cultural and theoretical material that deal with aspects of colonial rule. HIST1005 Asian in the World I TTh 10-10:50 A.M. McGuinn Hall 121 Yajun Mo This introductory course surveys major historical events and processes in the early modern world with a focus on East Asia, from the rise of the Eurasian empire under the Mongols in the thirteenth century to the great political, cultural, and intellectual transformations of the eighteenth century and the emergence of the “Pacific World.” Global in outlook, the course focuses on East Asia's place in world history with China as the dominant engine of change in the early modern world. Social and cultural developments are treated comparatively with other world regions. HIST 2020 Japanese Cultural Icons Through Modern Times TTh 9-10:15 A.M. Franziska Seraphim This course is an introductory survey of Japanese history from 1600 to the present through the lens of contemporary writings, both fiction and nonfiction. Each week is focused around a historical actor of the time under discussion who became “iconic” in Japanese culture, such as the samurai, the 19th-century educator Fukuzawa Yukichi (on today’s currency), the Emperor, or the shōjō, the prepubescent heroine of manga and anime films that grace some bank cards in use today. HIST 204101 China from Antiquity to the Middle Ages MWF 2-2:50 P.M. Ling Zhang This survey offers a basic understanding of the historical transitions of Chinese society, politics, and culture. Among the topics covered are: the historical discourse of the emergence of early China; archaeological representations of early kingdoms and their path toward the formation of empire; territorial expansion versus the growth of a Chinese identity vis-à-vis non-Chinese ethnic groups; Confucianism as political and ethical philosophy; the Medieval Economic Revolution; and maritime China and its early encounters with the West. HIST 204401 Chinese Environmental History MWF 11-11:50 A.M. Ling Zhang Environmental degradation in contemporary China has attracted widespread attention. To understand China's environmental dilemmas, this course investigates key topics in Chinese environmental history over the last two millennia. The course begins with a broad survey of environmental problems in contemporary China. It then explores Chinese ideas and thoughts about the relationship between nature and human beings. It finally journeys back to pre-modern China to look at the historical roots of many environmental problems. HIST 4007 Global Japan since the 1970s TTh 1:30-2:45 P.M. Franziska Seraphim This discussion-based course challenges students to engage with cutting-edge ethnographic and historical writings on social conflict and change in Japan since the 1970s. Beginning with an understanding of the dynamics of civil society, we explore issues of gender, class, ethnicity, and youth in urban, rural, and transnational settings to complicate “Japan” as a national entity. TMCE711001, THEO 3548, PHIL 4448 Buddhist Thought & Practice T 2-4:25 P.M. John Makransky A study of early, Southeast Asian, and East Asian traditions of Buddhism, focusing on ways that Buddhist philosophy informs and is informed by practices of meditation, phenomenological investigation, and ethical training. Students will be instructed in mindfulness exercises (awareness of mind and body) to inform our studies. Relevance of Buddhist philosophy today will be considered throughout. Prerequisite: for undergrads, at least one prior course in philosophy or theology and a B+ or higher average in prior humanities (non-science) courses.