ARTH 1040 Sacred Spaces in Asia (4 Credits)

This course explores a variety of natural and man-made "Sacred Spaces" as it introduces the civilizations and major artistic traditions of India, China and Japan. Illustrated lectures consider public and private environments, their philosophical contexts and religious functions as well as the changing nature of their use and perceived meanings over time. This course counts toward the Analytical Inquiry: Society and Culture requirement.

ARTH 2840 Survey of Asian Art (4 Credits)

An introduction to major monuments, traditions and civilizations of India, China and Japan. This class may be used to fulfill the non-Western requirement for majors in the School of Art and Art History. This course counts toward the Analytical Inquiry: Society and Culture requirement.

ARTH 3864 Buddhism(s) and Arts (4 Credits)

This survey examines the history, practices, ritual contexts, aesthetics and artistic traditions of Buddhism including architecture, calligraphy, sculpture and painting, in terms of its social and historical context, political and religious functions, as well as issues including artistic production, changing techniques and symbols, and the market/audience. The primary goal is to understand Buddhism as reflected in art and culture.

ASEM 2409 Performing India: Performance, Ritual, and the Indian Body Politic (4 Credits)

This course explores "performance" as an organizing principle of Indian cultural, political, and religious expression. We delve into the shared poetic and spiritual experience of the performer and spectator as a foundational aspect of performance that fundamentally shapes the Indian body politic. This interaction between spectator and performer functions as a guide trope as we examine the Pan-Indian oral performance tradition through the transmission, rewriting, recasting, regionalization, and politicization of canonical Indian epics, the "Mahabharata" and "Ramayana".

ASEM 2479 Environmental Culture in East Asia (4 Credits)

This course explores current environmental and ecological challenges in major East Asian countries such as Korea, Japan, China and Taiwan through the lens of ancient and contemporary cultural and philosophical traditions. The course examines 1)primary traditional Asian philosophic and religious concepts about Nature, such as Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, as well as traditional literatures and arts that reflect those concepts; 2)contemporary eco-literature and eco-cinema that function as responses to, and critical reflections of, the urgent environmental crises in those countries; 3)cultural practices that are officially, communally, or privately implemented for eco-preservation and environmental-protection. Prerequisite: Completion of all other Common Curriculum Requirements.

ASEM 2519 Music of Southeast Asia (4 Credits)

This course examines traditional, popular, and diasporic musical genres in Southeast Asia, using that lens to explore more broadly how music and culture interact on a critical global scale, drawing on histories of colonialism and power. From Javanese court gamelan, to Thai Luk Thung, and from karaoke among immigrant Vietnamese communities in the United States, to Malaysian shadow puppet theater, the course explores the varied and diverse region that is Southeast Asia. It examines both classical and popular musical traditions, approaching music not from a music theory perspective, but rather from an ethnomusicological standpoint – drawing on cultural studies, history, sound studies, critical theory, anthropology, sociology, and religious studies. Content includes music and performances, academic articles, first-hand accounts, and documentary films, focused on topics in music, dance, genocide, and social and political movements. Students will develop writing, listening, thinking, and oral skills. No formal music training or previous musical experience is required for this course. Prerequisite: Completion of all other Common Curriculum Requirements. However, students may enroll under special circumstances with prior permission of the instructor.

ASEM 2532 Death & Dying in Hindu Traditions (4 Credits)

This course explores the meanings of death and dying in Hindu perspectives. The inevitability of death has led cultures throughout the world to speculate on what happens to the individual during, at the moment of, and after death. Until the modern period, religions have typically been the first or only place where people turned for answers to basic questions of existence: What happens at death? Will I and the people I love disappear forever? Or will we continue on after death in some way? Is this the only life we have? What is the relationship between the life we lead now and what happens at and after death? These kinds of universal questions have led to culturally specific and conditioned answers and speculations, some of which we will examine in this course.

ASEM 2555 India and Historical Film (4 Credits)

This is a course that utilizes films, fiction and writings of professional historians to explore themes in Indian society and culture such as the colonizer 'self' and the colonized 'other', the mechanisms of difference whether based on race, gender or religion, the processes of identity formation through national movements or community ties, real or imagined, and the quest for modernity through economic development and societal reform.

ASEM 2606 Japanese Film (4 Credits)

This course examines some of the most iconic films in the Japanese cinematic tradition in order to identify and critically engage in narratives of Japanese aesthetics and cultural identity, especially ones that take culture as the site for locating tradition and/or modernity. No previous knowledge of Japanese or film required.

ASEM 2643 Comparative Democratization: East and West (4 Credits)

The purpose of this course is to examine the contested meanings of revolution and to clarify its paths and goals. To advance these purposes, this course highlights the experiences of a variety of revolutionary projects in different regions, eras and cultures. It also explores the weights that different actors (state, society, global orders, charismatic leaders, etc.) hold in shaping the processes of radical political changes. The course will conclude by exploring new thinking on the politics of revolution for the twenty-first century. We will ask how issues of ecology, gender, changing values, indigenous movements (to name just a few) can liberate our imagination about revolution in specific and political change in general in a post-modern world.

ASEM 2646 Dance in India (4 Credits)

As a discipline in which the body is trained to become "naturalized" in very specific ways, dance tells us much about the culture in which it is a part. Dance movements and meanings also become sites of conflict during periods of cultural transition, and yet because of dance's ephemeral nature, its relative adherence to tradition, or lack thereof, is difficult to ascertain, and thus often hotly contested. This course explores the tension between change (innovation) and continuity (tradition) in four different forms of dance from the Indian subcontinent: Bharata Natyam, a classical dance form from South India; Kathak, a classical dance form from North India; Bhangra, a folk dance form from Northwestern India; and the mass-mediated, syncretic form of dance predominant in the Bollywood film industry.

ASEM 2662 Testimony, Memory and Allegory: the Representations of the Chinese Cultural Revolution (4 Credits)

This course investigates how the Cultural Revolution serves as a critical link of the Revolutionary Era (1919-1980) and Reform Era (from 1980 on), via closely and critically examining various representations and surreal fiction, melodramatic and avant-garde cinema, lyric poems, music and visual arts. Although much of the material discussed is socio-politically oriented, the focus of the course is within the realm of literary and cultural criticism. This course explores complicated and often interwoven relationships between testimony, memory, signs, meanings of both writing and reading about traumatic events of the Cultural Revolution, ethical (personal and communal) commitment to memory and the engrossing historical, literary and artistic representations of the past expressed in different media. By doing so, the course reveals how each representative account copes with its producer's distinctive memories of the Cultural Revolution and, more importantly, responds to the cultural and political contingencies of the producer's time, as well as the artistic conventions of the producer. As such, it functions not only as a connection to the past but also a reconfiguration of the present.

ASEM 2682 Strange Beasts: Nuclear Japan (4 Credits)

This course is a critical examination of literary and popular culture from Japan's experience of the Atomic bomb, through the "economic miracle" years of the 1960s to the present, focusing on the paired themes of humanity and monstrosity in nuclear experience during the acceleration of technological change.

ASEM 2695 Religion and Politics in China (4 Credits)

This course explores the concept of "religion" in the political history of modern China. Students gain new insight into two concurrent and divergent historical processes--state-driven secularization and religious revival--in China and Taiwan. Completion of all Common Curriculum requirements is required prior to registering for this class.

ASIA 2701 Topics in Asian Studies (1-4 Credits)

ASIA 3701 Topics in Asian Studies (1-4 Credits)

Specialized topics in Asian Studies. Topic varies per offering. Check with the Asian Studies program director for more information. Open to majors and non-majors May be repeated for credit.

ASIA 3901 Asian Studies Directed Readings (4 Credits)

Students will read deeply in a specific field of scholarship directed by a core faculty member in the Asian Studies program and will write a methodological essay that discusses the scholarship in their chosen field of research. This is the first part of a required, two-quarter sequence that will culminate in the senior thesis. Enrollment is restricted to Asian Studies majors.

ASIA 3902 Asian Studies Senior Thesis (4 Credits)

Students will pursue a primary document research project under the supervision of their core faculty member in Asian Studies. The goal of this course is the writing and completion of the senior thesis in Asian Studies. Prerequisite: ASIA 3901.

ASIA 3980 Asian Studies Internship (1-4 Credits)

Provides academic credit for off-campus internships in areas related to the Asian Studies major. The purpose of the internship is the gain valuable work experience, explore various career options, develop job competencies and/or apply theoretical knowledge to practical concerns of the world. Must be an Asian Studies major and have cumulative GPA of 3.0 and have taken at least two Asian Studies content courses, not counting language training. Requires approval of Asian Studies director.

ASIA 3991 Independent Study (1-4 Credits)

CHIN 1516 Contemporary China in Literature and Films (4 Credits)

This course investigates, through critically examining the representative literary and filmic texts produced by Chinese as well as foreign writers and filmmakers, the many complicated aspects of some much-talked about issues. This includes the diminishing rural life and landscape, urbanization, migration/dislocation, the changing roles of women, social equality, as well as the balancing act of preserving tradition, the environment, and economic development. The in-depth examination and diverse approaches this course applies enables students to gain greater understanding of not only the challenges that contemporary China has raised, but also the complexities of the increasingly globalized world in which we are living. This course counts toward the Analytical Inquiry: Society and Culture requirement.

CHIN 1616 Asian Ecocinema and Ecoliterature (4 Credits)

Following decades of economic boom, continuing industrial development, and expansion of urbanization, many Asian countries, especially China and India, are now facing unprecedented environmental crises. The list of ecological woes in Asian countries include air, water, and soil pollution; flooding and drought, deforestation and desertification, epidemics of diseases, coal mine accidents, the loss of land to urban expansion, and mass migration. Asian ecoliterature and ecocinema, both in documentary and feature film form, have functioned as responses to, and critical reflection of, the urgent environmental crises, as well as broader cultural, historical, and social issues that caused environmental and ecological problems. Through critically examining the representative literary and filmic works, this course will 1) introduce students to ancient Asian concepts about Nature and critical events that have reshaped the historical course of development of the concerned countries; 2) demonstrate and explain primary themes presented in the ecocinema and literature, such as hydro-politics of air, water, forests and development; bio-ethics and green culture; eco-aesthetics and the representations of Nature; migration and urbanization. This course counts toward the Analytical Inquiry: Society and Culture requirement.

CHIN 2516 Literary Chinatown: Stories of Chinese in America (4 Credits)

As the oldest diasporic enclave of Chinese in the United States, Chinatown has been both a physical and historical site where Chinese immigrants have built a community and a continually contested symbolic space represented in Chinese American literature. Literary Chinatown explores the intersection of history, geography, and literature through the myriad ways of Chinatown stories by major authors in Chinese American literature across the period from the early 20th century until the contemporary moment. The focus lies on unraveling the intricate relationship between space, place, and identity, tracing the complexities of being Chinese in America at pivotal historical junctures that shed light on the U.S. nation-building process—its rejection, accommodation, and incorporation of Chinese lives. These literary works set the stage for examining the impact of war, imperialism, (neo)colonialism, and globalization on immigration, alongside domestic issues of race, class, gender, and ethnicity. We aim to unravel the Chinese American experience as portrayed in its literary recreations of Chinatown memory, fantasy, narrative, and myth within Chinese American literature. We also brought scholarly discourse on the intersectional and comparative approaches to the study of race, culture, politics, and place in Chinese American literature. The course will entail a class walking tour of the historical Chinatown area in Denver. This course counts toward the Analytical Inquiry: Society and Culture requirement.

CHIN 3650 Chinese-English Translation I (4 Credits)

This seminar is designed for students with advanced-level proficiency in Chinese and English to learn basic translation theories and to develop fundamental skills in translating, from Chinese to English and vice versa, texts which primarily deal with general social needs and everyday communications. Prerequisite: CHIN 3300 or above, equivalent, or permission of instructor.

ECON 2330 China and the Global Economy (4 Credits)

This course provides a comprehensive overview of the Chinese economy and China's role in the global economy. The course covers the economic interactions between China and the world economy over the past two centuries, evaluates ongoing social, economic and environmental challenges, and evaluates future development possibilities for China and the global economy as a whole. The topics addressed include: the Chinese economy before 1949; the socialist era, 1949-1978; economic reform and market transition; the role of state enterprises; foreign investment; foreign trade; China's role in the global imbalances; the impact of the recent global economic crisis. Prerequisite: ECON 1030.

ECON 2510 The Asian Economies (4 Credits)

This course is based on a comparative approach, examining several Asian economies' colonial background, their primary producing sectors, the developmental state in these countries, attempts at industrialization, trade policies, technological development, liberalization to attract foreign capital, currency and financial crises. Prerequisite: ECON 1030.

HIST 1250 Food in East Asian History (4 Credits)

This class examines the relationship between food and health in East Asian history. We focus on how that relationship, and the way people understood it, changed over the past century and a half. In other words, we focus not only on how (and what) people in East Asia have eaten, but also on how they have thought about eating. This course asks how western dietary ideas and practices have interacted with traditional East Asian ideas and practices over the past century and a half. This course counts toward the Analytical Inquiry: Society and Culture requirement.

HIST 1260 Modern South Asian History (4 Credits)

This course will explore the modern history of the subcontinent, through the colonial experience to the postcolonial construction and division of nations, with a particular focus on India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh (although students are also welcome to take on optional readings on Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and Nepal, among others). The course will consider the legacy of colonialism in India, and debates over whether postcoloniality is really “post.” We will explore the history of nationalisms – state, ethnic, religious, and linguistic – and the ramifications of Partition and the wars over Bangladesh and Kashmir. This course will also explore the history of South Asia in the rest of the world, through the migration of its diaspora and its role in the Bandung moments of Afro-Asian solidarity in the global struggle against oppression. We will take into account discourses regarding tradition and modernity, democracy and secularity, and the terms “freedom” and “terror” – and what this means for the lived experiences of South Asians in today’s world. Readings will include historical accounts, theoretical texts, films and literature, as well as primary sources. This course counts toward the Analytical Inquiry: Society and Culture requirement.

HIST 2335 Early Islamic Empires in Comparative Perspective, 632 CE - 1300 CE (4 Credits)

This course looks at the social, economic, political, and environmental histories of Islamic empires from the 7th through the 13th centuries CE. In doing so, this course also examines how early Islamic empires ruled over both Muslim and non-Muslim, especially Christian and Jewish, populations. Additionally, this course aims to compare these Islamic empires with non-Islamic Afro-Eurasian empires from the same general time periods. Students should be aware that this course will not cover every early Islamic empire but will adopt a case-study approach, meaning the professor will select key empires to examine.

HIST 2870 Modern China (4 Credits)

In this class we focus on China from the nineteenth century to the present. We examine historical change and continuity, including the revolutions that created the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China, the transformation of traditional values, economic liberalization in the post-Mao Zedong era, and the challenges that China has faced in recent years.

HIST 3875 Chinese Science and Global History (4 Credits)

This class introduces students to the ideas and contexts of pre-modern Chinese science and critically examines ways in which modern historians have incorporated science and technology into their global narratives about China and the West. Intended for students familiar with the methods of historical inquiry. No prior knowledge of Chinese history is expected.

JAPN 1216 Popular Culture of Japan (4 Credits)

In this course we examine and analyze the emergence of particular forms of mass-produced culture, or culture for mass consumption, in Japan from the early modern period to the present. Using a variety of cultural materials enjoyed from the early modern period (1600-1868,) during which Japanese society underwent extensive urbanization, secularization, and cultural commodification, through to the present, the course focuses on overarching themes: media and information technology (woodblock printing, newspapers, and the internet); entertainment and gender (the all-male kabuki theatre and all-female Takarazuka revue); commodified romance; fiction (illustrated fiction, manga, and novels); anime and television fandom; healer-bots and cyborgs. No knowledge of Japanese required. This course counts toward the Analytical Inquiry: Society and Culture requirement.

JAPN 1416 Postwar Japan: Changing Perspectives in Literature and Culture (4 Credits)

This course explores a range of Japanese cultural perspectives from the end of the Second World War to the present. The main focus is on the analysis and interpretation of Japanese literary texts, but during the course students also examine film, visual art, and other cultural products within a historical framework, to lead to a deeper understanding of the influences and events that have shaped both contemporary Japan and the wider world. Prerequisites: JAPN 1001.

JAPN 1616 Samurai and Merchants: Cultures of Tokugawa Japan (4 Credits)

Introduction to the cultures of Tokugawa, Japan, focusing on the tension between the samurai and merchant classes, the images they construct of self and other, and the morals and mores of their respective worlds. As well as examining Tokugawa fiction, drama, and other cultural artifacts, this course also considers later representation of the period and of its people in twenty- and twenty-first-century text, cinema, and television to understand the importance of contemporary influences on historical representation. This course counts toward the Analytical Inquiry: Society and Culture requirement.

JAPN 2400 Hey, Girl, Hey: Japanese Girlhood from the Moga to Shôjo (4 Credits)

This course explores the figure of Japanese girlhood from the Moga "modern girl" of the early twentieth century to the contemporary figure of the shôjo . Japanese cultural production has had a significant impact on East Asian girl's media in the pre-war period and again in the post-war to contemporary period. The course will explore the "modern girl" in all her iterations, from European modernism to East Asia, Africa, and the Americas, especially in the contexts of colonialism and nationalism. The course also considers the roles of girls and women in the formation of the modern state(s) and contemporary societies across East Asia, and juxtapose those roles to how girls and women are depicted in fiction and media. Students will trace the transition from the comparative modernisms legible in the figure of the moga to the transnationally circulated figure of the shôjo.

JAPN 2500 Cultures of the Floating World (4 Credits)

During the Edo period (1600-1868), the literature and visual culture of Japan flourished after centuries of devastating warfare. The floating world of kabuki theaters, woodblock print culture, and the pleasure quarters arrested the imagination of the populace and attracted the unwanted attention of governmental authorities. Over the course of the Edo period, the shogunal government expelled Christians from Japan, the city of Edo became the largest in the world, and woodblock print culture spread throughout the Japanese archipelago. Through reading various genres of literary and cultural production, students will explore how society shapes culture and culture shapes societies. Topics include: premodern literary representations of love and eros, the emergence of the “floating world print” (ukiyo-e), Christians as Others, representing landscapes and the past in haikai poetry and prose, early modern comic books, and vendetta stories. This course counts toward the Analytical Inquiry: Society and Culture requirement.

JAPN 2700 Classical Japanese Women Writers: The Poets, Priestesses & Princesses in their Literary Golden Age (4 Credits)

The course explores the extraordinary female-centered belles-lettres of classical Japanese literature, including a myth-history detailing the origins of Japan, the development of the rich poetic tradition, female diaries, zuihitsu and personal essays, the classic Tale of Genji, and literature of religious hermetic and travel diaries. The course will critically consider how women writers were able to flourish in this period and interpret their literary output through a consideration of the cultural and historical context for the texts. This course will also deploy principles of literary analysis and interpretation.

JAPN 3701 Topics in Japanese Culture (4 Credits)

Selected topics in Japanese culture. Texts and films in both Japanese and English, with a focus on modern and contemporary Japanese culture. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: JAPN 3100 or equivalent.

JAPN 3800 Robots and Posthumanism in Japanese Visual Culture (4 Credits)

Automata and robots lumber, glide, rampage and ambulate their way through Japanese visual culture. Robots, cyborgs and other posthuman bodies and subjectivities have offered visions of new future worlds and have critiqued past and present social conditions. In this course, students will investigate representations of robots and posthumans in Japanese visual culture of the 20th and 21st centuries. Completion of JAPN 2003 or equivalent required.

JAPN 3810 Sexuality and Gender in Japanese Culture (4 Credits)

Sexuality and Gender in Japanese Culture is designed for students who have completed JAPN 2001-2003 or the equivalent. In this class, we will focus on developing reading, discussion, speaking, and critical thinking skills centered around representations of gender and sexuality in Japanese culture. Students will read texts by poets, critics, manga artists, and bloggers. In doing so, students will not only expand their critical vocabulary in Japanese, but also critically contend with representations of gender and sexuality in the Japanese context. Prerequisite: JAPN 2003 or equivalent.

JAPN 3820 Frogs in a Pond: Japanese Translation Theory and Practice (4 Credits)

This course takes a multi-pronged approach to literature and translation, considering aspects of translation theory, methodology, and practice; literature in translation; and the function of translation in global dynamics of canon, colonization, power, and literary stylistics. With a language like Japanese, which shares no linguistic roots with European languages, questions of translation are magnified and problematized by linguistic difference, histories of Orientalism and colonization, and fundamentally different literary aesthetics, especially in literatures of premodern Japan and early modern Europe. Questions this course considers include: with what modes of translation practice might we approach Japanese literature? How has the translation of European literature into Japanese impacted Japanese literary aesthetics and vice versa? How might we more equitably represent Japanese literature to a global Anglo audience? By what processes does the business of translation occur and how do those processes impact the actual production of literary canon and study? This class requires Japanese language ability of intermediate and higher. Prerequisites: JAPN 1416 and JAPN 2003 or equivalent required.

MUEN 3041 North Indian Classical Ensemble (0-1 Credits)

The arts of India are distinguished by their close interrelationship; rhythm, melody and movement are all encompassed by the term "sangeet." In keeping, DU's North Indian Classical Ensemble is dedicated to the practice of all three of these arts, through singing, rhythmic recitation and dance. Participation in this ensemble involves studying the ornate and highly refined systems of Hindustani music and Kathak dance. No prior experience is necessary; all that is required is a positive attitude and a desire to learn!.

PLSC 1110 Comparing Politics around the World (4 Credits)

This course introduces students to the study of comparative politics, a sub-field within political science that uses a “comparative method” to compare and contrast countries to understand questions such as Where do ‘states’ come from? Why are only some democratic? How do states promote economic development? Why are some states increasingly rich while others remain poor? Why do people mobilize peacefully to influence politics in some places while they violently attack the established order in others? How do distinct identities rooted in ethnicity, gender, race, and religion influence politics differently around the world? How does globalization affect various countries, and why do some seem to cope with contemporary challenges more effectively than others? This course counts toward the "Scientific inquiry: Society and culture" requirement.

PLSC 2200 Politics of China (4 Credits)

Napoleon Bonaparte allegedly said, "let China sleep, for when she wakes up, she will shake the world." Two hundred years later, China is indeed waking up, and the world is feeling the dragon’s hot breath. In this class we will examine the fall and rise of the Chinese state, with a focus on its political and economic trajectories after the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. Some of the key issues to be examined are: China’s "economic miracle," when, if ever, will China democratize, its potentially explosive relations with Taiwan, its challenges to America’s global hegemony, etc.

PLSC 2220 Comparative Democratization: East and West (4 Credits)

This course brings the contested notion of democratization into the East Asian context and tests its relevance for countries at various stages of political and economic development in the region. After introducing the general debates over what democratization is and tracing its emergence in Western Europe and North America, class explores the rise of democratization movements in East Asia and examines the various forms of democratization in different political and economic settings. Satisfies the department distribution requirement in comparative/International politics. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing.

PLSC 2260 Politics of Japan (4 Credits)

How did Japan rapidly catch up with more advanced industrial powers? Can other developing countries copy the Japanese model? What was the "darker side" behind Japan's economic miracle? How do we come to terms with the sudden burst of Japan's "Bubble Economy?" Will Japan’s current economic recovery process, which started in 2002, be sustainable? Is a genuine international reconciliation between Japan and its neighbors possible? These are just some of the questions we will examine in this class. Prerequisite: sophomore standing.

RLGS 2103 Religions of China & Japan (4 Credits)

This is an introduction of some of the major East Asian religious and ethical traditions, focusing on Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism, and Shinto. By examining both translations of sacred texts as well as scholarly analyses, we explore the basic ideas, practices, and historical development of these varied and interconnected traditions. Special attention is paid to how people incorporate East Asian religious and ethical ideas and beliefs into contemporary life and how gender shapes the experience of religion. This course counts toward the Analytical Inquiry: Society and Culture requirement.

RLGS 2109 Religions of Tibet (4 Credits)

This course explores the religious terrain of Tibet by looking at the historical and cultural development of the four main Tibetan Buddhist traditions: Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyu and Geluk, as well as the indigenous religion called Bon. Topics include the sacred landscape of Tibet; key doctrinal features; cultural artifacts like sacred biographies, art, and poetry; the 20th-century spread of Tibetan Buddhism from the Himalayas to North American communities; the future of Tibetan Buddhism in exile; and China and the West. This course counts toward the Analytical Inquiry: Society and Culture requirement.

RLGS 2118 "Women as the Gateway to Hell": Gender and Identity in South Asia (4 Credits)

This course explores the role of women in public and private spaces in South Asia through the lens of religious praxis and belief. We will explore the ways in which Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, Sikh, Muslim, Christian, and Adivasi (indigenous) traditions have portrayed the role of women in scripture and consider these textual proscriptions and descriptions in the context of the lived experience of these belief systems. The primary aim of the course is to expose students to the complex relationship between the deified “feminine” and the construction of gender within modern South Asia. This course counts toward the Analytical Inquiry: Society and Culture requirement.

RLGS 3814 Modern Hinduism (4 Credits)

Doctrines, practices and history of South Asian Hinduism; conceptions of Gods and gods; image worship and temples; and the influences of caste and gender on the experience of Hinduism.

RLGS 3820 Buddhism (4 Credits)

Buddhist life and thought from origins to present in India, Tibet, Japan and China.

RLGS 3832 Religious Lives: The Dalai Lamas (4 Credits)

This course explores the many lives of the Dalai Lamas and the transformation of a reincarnated religious teacher into the political leader of Tibet and, eventually, a worldwide religious personality. In order to understand that transformation, the course investigates the institution of the Dalai Lamas from historical, doctrinal, and ritual perspectives. We will look at the role of the Dalai Lama as an embodiment of the bodhisattva of compassion at the center of a tapestry of religious ceremony and ritual performances. The course will also consider the religious, ethical, and political thought of several of the most prominent Dalai Lamas, with significant attention given to the writings and work of the current, fourteenth, Dalai Lama.

RLGS 3893 Buddhism and Social Justice (4 Credits)

This course examines Buddhist theories and practices of social justice, with a focus on the contemporary global movements known as "Humanistic Buddhism" and "Socially Engaged Buddhism." The course covers topics such as: the roots of engaged Buddhism in social and political movements of 19th and 20-century Asia, the role of meditation and other Buddhist practices as both a support for and a means of social engagement, and Buddhist approaches to contemporary issues of racial justice, equality, economic development, and the environment. In the final analysis, the course asks whether the concept of justice makes sense within a Buddhist worldview, or if Buddhist concerns for social welfare hinge on an entirely different paradigm. This course is a community-engaged service learning course. As part of the course, students work with a local community partner to further their own community engagement work.

RLGS 3898 Dharamsala: Myth, Land, and Traditions (4 Credits)

This course explores the myths and stories that root cultural, religious, social and political traditions in the material landscape of India. It will explore the sacred spaces, images, rituals, and belief-traditions of the Himalayan region surrounding Dharamsala, India. As a study-abroad course, the materials, site visits, and community-engaged learning projects interrogate how myths operate as both cultural “glue” and demarcations of difference. Students participate in community-engaged learning placements to learn how myth creates and fosters cultural communities. Through site visits and readings we will learn how the "lived experience" of cultural belief-traditions, social and political practices, and sacred images and spaces are products of a unique marriage of land, story, and community. We will also have lectures and a Canvas site with pre-travel readings that will prepare you for the cultural and social belief-traditions we will encounter within Dharamsala. While in India, we will continue to read about ritual, devotion, stories of the land, social and political identities rooted in the land, and more. This course will be cross-listed with INTS for undergraduate and graduate elective credit.

SOWK 3820 Frogs in a Pond: Japanese Translation Theory and Practice (4 Credits)

This course takes a multi-pronged approach to literature and translation, considering aspects of translation theory, methodology, and practice; literature in translation; and the function of translation in global dynamics of canon, colonization, power, and literary stylistics. With a language like Japanese, which shares no linguistic roots with European languages, questions of translation are magnified and problematized by linguistic difference, histories of Orientalism and colonization, and fundamentally different literary aesthetics, especially in literatures of premodern Japan and early modern Europe. Questions this course considers include: with what modes of translation practice might we approach Japanese literature? How has the translation of European literature into Japanese impacted Japanese literary aesthetics and vice versa? How might we more equitably represent Japanese literature to a global Anglo audience? By what processes does the business of translation occur and how do those processes impact the actual production of literary canon and study? This class requires Japanese language ability of intermediate and higher. Prerequisites: JAPN 1416 and JAPN 2003 or equivalent required.