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Looking for an interesting course in the Spring?
Check out these Asia-Related courses!
Registration for Spring 2020 opens on November 4th.

Find the course search tool for details about these or any other courses at .

ASIA 3300: Sex and Gender in Asian Film and Literature
Dr. Colleen Berry 
Meeting Times: TTh 9:30-10:45
This class looks at the wide variety of gendered practices, gender identities, sexual orientations, and other issues related to sex and gender across Asia.

INDO 1120:Beginning Indonesian 2
 Professor Irma Zavitri
TTh 3:30-4:45p
A continuation of Beginning Indonesian 1 (INDO 1110), this is an integrated course. Classes are offered in person or remotely using the Directed Independent Language Study method. Classes will employ "flipped" task-based learning approaches. Coursework includes reading, listening, grammar, answering questions, and speaking practice. Grades are based on demonstrated proficiency of written and spoken Indonesian through in-class performance and examinations.

HIND 3851: Devotional Literature in South Asia
Professor Rahul Parson
TTH  3:30 PM - 4:45 PM
CLAC Co-Seminar
Adv Language Co-Seminar AH
ASIA-4001-802  
W  2:00 PM - 4:00 PM 
This course will introduce students to the rich heritage of devotional literature in pre- and early modern South Asia, often referred to as Bhakti . Our focus will be the medieval and early-modern periods (1200-1800), and the devotional literature composed in the vernacular. The characteristic feature of Bhakti is an intense, passionate relationship with the divine, which enabled a disregard for social conventions, such as duty to family, rituals, caste, gender, and normative economic and political values. The students in the CLAC co-seminar would read the devotional poems and hagiographies in the original language. My goal for this course is to show students that if they have a decent grasp of modern Hindi/Urdu, then they can, with very little effort, read medieval texts, too. This also results in a deeper and richer understanding of where modern Hindi comes from and how it has taken its current form. The CLAC co-seminar would read from Rupert Snell’s wonderful text, The Hindi Classical Tradition: a Braj Bhāṣā Reader. This text is available online for free and is an excellent introduction to this literature. In the co-seminar, we will discuss aspects of the course that have to do with language, particularly the popular literary idiom of Braj Bhāṣā. Students will learn the basic grammatical differences this older language has from Hindi, but this is not a language class, so we will not focus too narrowly on the intricacies of grammar. The class will discuss prosody in the poetry, learning the various meters of the tradition, plus the textual conventions such as opening formulae and colophons, and manuscript reading. I will also provide the students with a copy of Winand Callewaert’s classic Dictionary of Bhakti: North-Indian Bhakti Texts into Khaṛī Bolī Hindī and English.

ARTH 3619: The Arts of China 
Professor Stephanie Su
MWF 1-1:50 pm
This course introduces the visual arts of China through a selection of objects and themes intended to develop the skills of close looking, critical thinking and writing about the visual arts. Core themes include:
1.The reconstruction of ritual practice in relation to objects and architecture.
2.The relationships among the medium, format, material and function of an object.
3.Cultural transmission, reception and appropriation across regional and national borders.

RLST 2650: Meditation: Ancient and Modern
Professor Holly Gayley
MW 11am-11:50am
Explores the roots of today's mindfulness movement in ancient forms of Buddhist meditation. Topics covered include the array of meditation techniques in Buddhism, colonial-period origins of lay meditation in Asia, Buddhism's transmission to North America and Europe in the 20th century, the emergence of secular forms of mindfulness, and scientific studies on mindfulness and compassion.

ARAB 3410/WGST 3410: Gender, Sexuality, and Culture in the Modern Middle East
Prof. Levi Thompson
T/Th 12:30PM-1:45PM
This course examines the categories of gender, sexuality, and culture in the modern Middle East. Through weekly readings in history, sociology, literature, and other disciplines, in-class discussion, film viewings, and written and oral assignments, students will learn about how gender has been constructed across the Near and Middle East and North Africa, in the Arab world and Iran. Course taught in English.

ARAB 1011: Introduction to Arab and Islamic Civilizations
Prof. Levi Thompson
T/Th 9:30AM-10:45AM
This course provides an interdisciplinary overview of the cultures of the Arabic-speaking peoples of Southwest Asia and North Africa from the rise of Islam in the seventh century to the present. Readings include historical, religious, literary, and cultural texts from both the premodern and modern eras. Course taught in English. 

ARTH 4829:  Japanese Woodblock Prints 
Professor Stephanie Su
TTH 11-12:15 pm
This course examines the local context of and the global significance of Japanese prints (ukiyo-e), from the birth of ukiyo-e in Edo Japan to the reception of Japanese prints in the West. We will discuss the social, economic and cultural factors contributing to the popularization of ukiyo-e, and the many incarnations leading to the designs of contemporary artists. We will also consider the changing roles of artists and issues of censorship, gender construction, theatricality, and the impact of ukiyo-e on modern European visual culture. This course will reflect on art historical methodologies by exploring the worldwide circulation and reinterpretation of ukiyo-e.

History 3628: Propaganda and Revolution in Modern China
Professor Tim Weston
Thursday 3:30 - 6:00
This seminar will focus on the rise and transformation of the “propaganda state" in China following the Chinese Communist Revolution of 1949.  We will study a wide range of propaganda mediums, including cartoons, poster art, journalism, parades and other mass choreographed events, music, theater and film, architecture, cemeteries, museums, advertising, and so forth. 

HIST 4548 Women in Modern India
Professor Mithi Mukherjee
This course will explore the status of women and the question of gender in modern India, examining women’s roles, images, historical experiences, and contributions. We will explore such themes as the status of women and the role of gender in religious narratives, social customs and practices including marriage, the legal status of women, women and work, women’s participation in the arts and politics, violence against women, and the representation of women in the media and the Indian film industry. 

RLST 2610 Religions of India
Professor Lorillai Biernacki
This course will focus what happiness is and how one becomes happy, based on what we find in a variety of religious traditions from India-- Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainsim, Sikhism. We address questions such as how do ideals of happiness match up to enlightenment? Is enlightenment (nirvāṇa) the same thing as happiness? Does the goal of happiness change over the centuries? Does the definition of what enlightenment stay the same or change across time and across religions? Is happiness different for the wealthy and those with high standing, brahmins and warriors in contrast to the poor and those of low caste?
We will look also at some of the ancient beliefs of Indian culture: karma, dharma and rebirth, for instance, and how these frame what it means to attain enlightenment, nirvana and how one achieves ultimate happiness and also ordinary happiness in the context of ancient and modern India. 

RLST 3040: Quran
Aun Hasan Ali
T/Th 2–3:15 
Introduces students to the diverse ways in which Muslims encounter the Quran.

RLST 4820/5820: Fundamentalisms
Aun Hasan Ali
M 3–5:30 HUMN 270
​​​​​​​Explores the emergence of fiercely antimodernist and antisecular movements in the 20th century.