6 courses with the subject ASIA, 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.
ASIA 015Introduction to East Asian Humanities1
(Cross-listed as CHIN 015 , LITR 015CH ) This course is an introduction to the humanistic traditions of China, Japan, and Korea from antiquity to around 1600. We explore some of the foundational ideas, texts, and issues that reflect the East Asian experiences with the self and the world. Through close engagement with a wide variety of source materials selected from all three cultures, we will investigate both the deep connections shared among them and the unique trajectories of each as they approached modernity. To that end, this course focuses on the written artifacts broadly conceivable as literature, historiography, and philosophy, although we will also read some of the canonical works of East Asian religions. Our goal is not to survey everything there is, but to develop a critical ability in both understanding the East Asian traditions and in reflecting upon their relevance to the present day. No prior knowledge or experience with East Asia is required. Open to freshmen and seniors alike. Humanities. 1 credit. Eligible for ASIA, GLBL-paired.
(Cross-listed with JPNS 027 , LING 027 ) This course introduces the writing systems of East Asia, focusing specifically on those of Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. The course covers such topics as historical background and developments, adaptation of the Chinese script in regional varieties of Chinese and in the Korean and Japanese languages, popular and scholarly myths about the scripts, issues of literacy, and non-Sinitic script use in East Asia. The course is taught in English and prior knowledge of an East Asian language is not required. 1 credit.
ASIA 038The Promise and Peril of Dialogues: Theory, Practice, Comparison1
(Cross-listed with CHIN 038 , LITR 038CH ) Dialogue often connotes inclusiveness, openness, conflict resolution, and truth-seeking. It is both a civic process and a literary form most famously associated with the philosophical writings of Plato. Nonetheless, even in the Platonic dialogues not every voice or perspective is always equally represented, thereby exposing the hidden dangers of a seemingly democratic form. This course looks into the promise and peril of the dialogic form through a diverse selection of premodern Chinese writings we now separate into different genres: poetry, history, philosophy, as well as more technically-oriented works like medicine, civil engineering, and military strategies. It highlights a vibrant tradition of dialogic compositions that are not always recognized as such but has tremendous implications for our understanding of the form. In addition, students also read foundational works from both other literary traditions and from modern theories for context and comparison. All readings in English, with Chinese originals available to the more advanced students. 1 credit
