Asian Studies

This course uses literary works to explore the art, culture, and society of Asia. Regional focuses may include East Asia, South Asia, or Southeast Asia. Genres under study may include fiction, poetry, drama, essays, and autobiography. Themes and assigned texts vary by instructor.

This course is a survey of the major artistic traditions of Asia, primarily of China, India, and Japan, from prehistoric times to the turn of the twentieth century. It examines important monuments and emphasizes the interaction of art and society, specifically, how different artistic styles are tied to different intellectual beliefs, geographical locations, and other historical contexts. The course includes a field trip to the Seattle Asian Art Museum.

This course explores the interactions of Asian peoples ’ the commodities, social practices, and ideas which they produce ’ across borders, both political and imagined. The course crosses disciplinary borders, as well, drawing upon divergent materials from the humanities and social sciences in an attempt to do justice to a contemporary context that could be called ’Asia in motion.’ An underlying thesis holds that, since nineteenth-century colonialism, nations in the ’West’ and ’Asia’ participate in a global, dialectical movement in which notions of identity (national, cultural, ethnic, religious, territorial, linguistic) share moments of fluidity and fixity.

Exploring the Chinese Economy analyzes the economic, political, and social facets of the Chinese economy and their relationships with globalization. First, we discuss China’s transition to a market economy and its rise as a global economic power. This includes the role of state and market actors, labor, and the rural-urban divide. Second, students think critically about the role of education and technology in the Chinese economy, including universities, the internet, and social media. Third, we investigate China’s place in the global economy, including international trade, foreign investment, the battles of global brands for the Chinese consumer market, and environmental issues. The field school portion of this course will take place between June and August. It will consist of a full time, 8-week internship in Beijing, and weekly cultural activities. Students will be immersed in the Chinese economy, experiencing it as interns, commuters, consumers, and foreigners exploring a new culture. Participation in the field school, including completion of an internship, field notes, and a final video project, is required to pass the course. The instructor will be present for the first three weeks of the field school to meet regularly with students and to ensure that students are settled into their internships.

This course explores lived culture in Southeast Asia with a focus on the themes of power and inequality, gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, humans and the environment, as well as religion and syncretism. Described as the crossroads of influences from East and South Asia to Europe and beyond, Southeast Asia is one of the most diverse and fascinating regions of the world. The course includes case studies from throughout the region, with a focus on Indonesia. Students begin by working through the prehistory and initial migration to the area, but focus on contemporary themes related to the peoples, cultures, political economies, and representational practices surrounding the region. In addition to providing a cultural overview of the region, this course critically examines sociocultural change that has occurred in Southeast Asia in recent decades. Spurred by new media and communications technologies, environmental challenges, globalized supply chains, volatile inter/national politics, shifting social norms, and new approaches to religious practice, Southeast Asia is experiencing a rapid transformation. Taking an anthropological approach to understanding these themes and foci, students will read and discuss ethnographic work as well as scholarship from a range of disciplines that explores both the background and contemporary manifestations of these cultural shifts.