This class will be an introduction to Asian philosophies, including Confucianism, Mohism, Daoism, Buddhism, and Neo-Confucianism. Many schools of thought in Asia offer competing views on how to live a good life. We will explore these views and trace how they responded to each other. Well also see how ancient and medieval Asian thoughts continue to influence culture and current affairs in Asia and beyond.

Asian American Studies is an interdisciplinary field that arose out of the shared concerns of students of Asian and Pacific Islander descent in the United States. Seeing that their universities had neglected Asian Pacific American (APA) perspectives, these students sought courses and research on the contribution of APAs to the United States. Accordingly, this course will introduce neglected and overlooked histories and perspectives of APAs. In the process, we will explore key issues in Asian American politics, racial formation, and culture. Themes includes identity, migration, class, gender, sexuality, panethnicity, youth culture, and social movements. Moreover, the process of unearthing hidden histories will provide practice for students of nearly any background to identify patterns of missing information and to formulate strategies to rediscover it.

What does it mean to imagine the Buddha? This course guides students in narrating the lives of Buddhist images by tracing their creation and movement in Asia as well as in cultural encounters within Europe and the U.S. Today art critics continue to discuss "Buddhist" elements in the work of iconic artists like Georgia O'Keefe and Mark Rothko, Tibetan mandala coloring books are being used for stress relief, and "Zen" aesthetics inform a broad range of fashion and design platforms. This course provides tools for critically reexamining the categories of "East" and "West" within this cultural moment. Through creative processes such as drawing, writing, and conversation, students interact with diverse imagery such as Chinese painted caves, Himalayan esoteric portraits of enlightened reality, and Japanese temple complexes. They interpret Buddhist texts describing the construction of buddha bodies in art, ritual, and in the mind. Students also engage with the work of contemporary performance artists inspired by Buddhist ideals of discipline and impermanence. Reflecting upon these experiences, students uncover how the categories of "East' and "West" have obscured the understanding of Buddhist art, artists, and communities. They document the ways in which power dynamics of colonialism and Orientalism have been integral to making these categories. In response to their findings, students work together to generate a virtual exhibition reimagining images of Buddhism and telling their stories.

This course is designed to introduce students to the history,teachings,and practice of Zen Buddhism in China,Japan, Korea and the United States. The course will discuss Zen from a variety of perspectives but will center around the question of the meaning of history. Zen is a tradition of Buddhism that claims to have inherited and to pass on, in an unbroken historical transmission from patriarch to patriarch, the living experience of the Buddha's enlightenment. The course will discuss how Zen's conception of its history is related to its identity as a special tradition within Buddhism, as well as its basic teachings on the primacy of enlightenment, the role of practice, the nature of the mind, and the limitations of language.

This course offers an interdisciplinary approach to East Asia in modern and contemporary times--its recent histories, evolving cultures, languages, and literatures. China, Japan, and the Korean Peninsula have undergone dramatic cultural, political, and social changes since the advent of modernity. How did these changes take place, and how did they help shape the global, multicultural East Asia we know today? This course explores these new approaches to modern life, sparked by transnational flows of people and ideas, and invites students to discover how historical East Asian practices and beliefs adapted and transformed to meet new challenges of modern life. We will approach these questions through a variety of interactive projects and activities, class discussions, lectures, films, and new media.

What would it be like to visit China, Japan, and the Korean Peninsula in premodern times? What is East Asian Studies? This course offers an introduction to the histories, cultures, languages and scripts, religions, and literatures of traditional East Asia. It also invites students to participate in the interdisciplinary knowledge production that is East Asian Studies. While we explore what has been historically shared among these East Asian societies, our emphasis is on how East Asia has always been diverse and heterogeneous. We encourage students to debunk the popular myths about East Asia--particularly premodern East Asia--as an exotic and homogeneous place. This will not only inform our understanding of today's East Asia in its historical context, it will also prompt us to actively address the historical legacy of orientalism.

Qualified students working on an individual basis with professors who have agreed to supervise such work.

This course provides an introductory overview of the field of Asian Pacific American Studies. Through lectures, film screenings, readings, group exercises, and discussions, the course will cover a wide range of issues and problems that APA communities encounter. Topics include Asian Pacific American history, literature, identity, and activism.

The practical application, on an individual basis, of previously studied theory and the collection of data for future theoretical interpretation.

Specialized work on an individual basis, consisting of instruction and practice in actual service in a department, program, or discipline. Teaching formats may include seminars, in-depth studies, laboratory work and patient study.