First-Year Courses in Asian Studies (Division 323)

Fall Term, 1999 (September 8 - December 22, 1999)

Note: The Department Waitlist policy for all courses is 2 – Go to the department office to get on a waitlist, and then attend the first class meeting. Policies and procedures for handling the waitlist will be explained there.

Section 001.

Instructor(s): Sumathi Ramaswamy (sumathi@umich.edu)

Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

See History 151.001.

Section 001.

Instructor(s): Victor Lieberman (eurasia@umich.edu)

Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

See History 152.001.

Instructor(s): Holcombe

Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

See History 121.001.

Section 001.

Instructor(s): Robert Sharf

Credits: (4).

Course Homepage: https://coursetools.ummu.umich.edu/1999/fall/lsa/asis/220/001.nsf

See Buddhist Studies 220.001.

Section 001 – Looking at Traditional China Through its Most Famous Novel: The Story of the Stone.

Instructor(s): David Rolston (drolston@umich.edu)

First-Year Seminar,

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

This course will present an introduction to late imperial China through the acclaimed translation by David Hawkes and John Minford of its most famous and complex novel, The Story of the Stone (5 volumes, Penguin, 1977-1986). The Story of the Stone is simultaneously a tragic love story and the chronicle of the decline of an enormous aristocratic household. With its reputation as a "veritable encyclopedia of traditional Chinese life", it provides and excellent window on a vanished society. This fictional portrait of eighteenth-century China will be supplemented by readings in Naquin and Rawski, Chinese Society in the Eighteenth Century (1987) and a variety of visual materials shown in class. Requirements will include two short papers, a midterm take-home, a final exam, and active class participation.

Section 001 – Reiterations: Filming Fiction in Japan.

Instructor(s): Ken Ito (kenkito@umich.edu)

First-Year Seminar,

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

Well before Merchant Ivory came on the scene, Japanese film directors made a living turning well-loved novels into movies. Name a classic Japanese film, and you are likely to be dealing with an adaptation. This course examines the dynamics of reiteration in a culture known for its repeated adaptations of cultural materials. What are we saying when we designate one version as “original” and another as “adaptation”? What does “originality” mean in a culture that seems to be constantly rehashing old material? How does the change in medium affect the nature of what is told? In what ways do versions of a story reflect the ideologies of the times in which they are produced? These are the questions we will be asking in reference to the prior texts appropriated by such well-known directors as Kurosawa and Mizoguchi, and the films that resulted.

Section 001 – The Korean War.

Instructor(s): Henry Em

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

The Korean War has been called the forgotten war. Over three million Koreans died in this war, as did nearly 35,000 American soldiers. The war ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, and the continued hostility between North and South Korea has sown more than four decades of distrust and fear. What were the origins of this war? How did the Korean War affect Korean society and culture? This seminar will begin with an overview of modern Korean history - on the impact of Japanese colonialism, Korean nationalist and revolutionary movements, and Soviet and American intervention in Korea. In addition to historiography on the origins of the Korean War, we will look at how the war has been represented in Korean literature and film. There will be periodic quizzes on the readings, a take home midterm, but no final exam. In addition there will be a research paper approximately 15 pages in length, due at the end of the term.

Section 001.

Instructor(s): Philip Ivanhoe (ivanhoe@umich.edu)

Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term).

Course Homepage: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~ivanhoe/phil263.htm

See Philosophy 263.001.