18 courses with the subject EALC H, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
An introduction to stories of the weird and supernatural in Japan and a reflection on genre and the scholarly enterprise of taxonomy-making. Readings from Buddhist miracle plays, early modern puppet drama, etc., supplemented by scholarly secondary sources.
A broad chronological survey of Japanese culture and society from the earliest times to the present, with special reference to such topics as belief, family, language, the arts, and sociopolitical organization. Readings include primary sources in English translation and secondary studies.
Focusing on the East Asian Buddhist tradition, the course examines Buddhist philosophy, doctrine and practice as textual traditions and as lived religion. Crosslisted: East Asian Languages & Cultures, Religion
In this course, we investigate texts central to the traditions of classical Japanese poetry before the nineteenth-century. While most of the time we will engage directly with poetry anthologies and treatises, we will also analyze narrative fiction that feature poems, looking at social and performative contexts. Through assignments and hands-on activities, students will gain familiarity with key critical and aesthetic concepts, using these analytical tools to more fully experience art and literature. Lottery Preference: EALC, Majors, Minors, Senior, Junior in that order
In this course, we investigate the history and practice of traditional puppetry forms in East Asia and bring them into conversation with contemporary performance genres. While puppets are often considered as subject to total control by their manipulators, we will question this perceived assumption. In each unit, critical discussion of a text or performance is paired with a practical component that invites students to think about puppets by performing with them. Lottery Preference: EALC Major, EALC Minor, VIST Junior, VIST Senior
A long-famous saying in Japan has it that people are, “born Shinto and die Buddhist.” Religion in Japan is from the very start hybrid and combinatory. This course is an introduction and assumes no prior knowledge of Japan, East Asia, or of the topic of religion. The course takes a thematic approach to examine such topics as deities, pilgrimage, ritual, literature, and doctrine across historical periods, offering a sense of the complexity of lived religion. Pre-requisite(s): One previous Humanities or History course. Lottery Preference: First to EALC majors, minors, and students of Japanese language. Then to Juniors and Seniors.
Founded in 1206, the Mongol Empire remains the largest contiguous empire in history. This course examines this remarkable empire from its founding to its division into four successor states in the fourteenth century. Students will read The Secret History of the Mongols, an indigenous chronicle of the empire’s rise and the crowning achievement of Mongolian literature. Along the way, the course introduces the early histories of East and Central Asia. No prior knowledge is necessary. Crosslisted: HIST,EALC. Lottery Preference: History and EALC majors
This is a course introducing classical and medieval Japanese literature, and also related performance traditions. No background in either East Asian culture or in the study of literature is required; all works will be read in English translation. (Advanced Japanese language students are invited to speak with the instructor about arranging to read some of the works in the original or in translation into modern Japanese.) The course is a chronological survey of Japanese literature from the tenth century to the fifteenth. It will focus on well-known texts like the Tale of Genji and the Pillow Book, both written by women, and the ballad-form Tale of the Heike.
This course aims to deepen understandings of Asian struggles for justice and representation through independent films by Asian (including diaspora) directors. We will analyze films that offer a window into legal and social movement struggles for gender justice, self-determination, and environmental justice. Crosslisted: Visual Studies; Anthropology; East Asian Languages & Cultures; Peace, Justice and Human Rights
Pastoral nomadism – a form of animal husbandry involving season movements – has been seen as contrary to modern statehood. In this course, we will question these assumptions as we examine forms of pastoral nomadism through case studies of China, Tibet, Mongolia, Islamic Central Asia, and Siberia and how these states have regulated these practices. We will conclude by thinking about the present and future of pastoral nomadism in Asia. No prior knowledge is required. Crosslisted: EALC. Lottery Preference: History and EALC majprs
This course engages the rich textual and visual traditions of China, Korea, and Japan to illuminate funerary and memorial practices and explore the terrain of the next world. Students will learn about the culturally constructed nature of religious belief and come to see the complexity and diversity of the influences on understandings of life and death. The course is not a chronological survey, but rather alternates between modern and ancient narratives and practices to draw a picture of the relationship between the living and the dead as conceived in East Asian religions.
Democracy arrived in most of the world as an imaginary before its institutional or governmental form was established. In recent decades, state policies have engendered diverse modes of resistance across Asia, and popular uprisings today continue to challenge assumptions about passivity not only in authoritarian states, but under electoral rule as well. This co-taught interdisciplinary course reads the contemporary politics and histories of China, India, and other societies through the lens of democracy and resistance. Crosslisted: HIST,EALC,POLS.
China's economic and cultural presence in Africa has expanded dramatically since 2000, especially after the launch of the “Belt and Road Initiative." But to understand the contemporary China-Africa relationship, it is essential to examine historical precedents. This course draws from scholarship, journalism, and culture to explore modes and implications of foreign aid, diverse experiences of travel and resettlement between China and Africa, and the role of race in past and present constructions of China-Africa relations. Crosslisted: EALC. Pre-requisite(s): N/A
We will focus on Japanese book art from early illustrated scrolls to contemporary artists' books and explore a range of printmaking processes. Each unit is paired with a hands-on exercise that introduces a printmaking or bookmaking technique. Through readings, discussions, and hands-on activities, students will gain vocabulary to describe the materiality of printed books and contemplate their social and conceptual implications, discovering how books and printing can challenge perceived assumptions about art and reading. Lottery Preference: EALC and VIST students
This seminar uncovers possibilities, solidarities, and conflicts that defined the “Third World," which was, at its core, a constellation of visions for a more just postcolonial international society. We will probe its conceptual rise and pragmatic limits, and in so doing, grapple with some of the most important political currents of modern history: Pan-Asianism, Pan-Africanism, anti-imperialism, Marxism, and the globalization of the U.S. civil rights movement. The capstone project is an original research paper. Crosslisted: AFST,EALC.
This course approaches contacts, conflicts, and exchanges between East Asia and Russia/the Soviet Union as a mutually constitutive history and reconsiders Europe and the West’s influence on Asia. The course is not a survey of East Asian or Russian history, but each session will contextualize a particular East Asia-Russia encounter. We will analyze key processes and events: colonialism, orientalism, reform movements, the rise of communism, the Cold War, and others. No prior knowledge is required. Crosslisted: HIST, EALC Lottery Preference: History and EALC majors
This curatorial seminar examines the technological shifts and cultural transformations that have shaped Japanese artistic production and practice from the early 20th-century through the present day. Readings from pre-modern through contemporary sources, film screenings, and museum field trips, will be included. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing or higher. Enrollment limited to 15 students.
Advanced course on a topic chosen annually by instructor. The purpose of this course is to give students with a basic background in Buddhist Studies deeper conversancy with a particular textual, thematic, or practice tradition in the history of Buddhism. Prerequisite(s): Junior class standing, enrollment in advanced Japanese or with a similar level of reading proficiency. Also one course in Buddhism or permission of the instructor where the student has basic knowledge about Buddhist thought in East Asia.
Source: Haverford College's catalog, linked per course · table learning_unit · CourseShelf publish 59
