Check out these Asia-Related Courses being offered in the Spring!
ASIA 1000 Origins of Contemporary Southeast Asia
T/Th 3:30pm-4:45pm
Lauren Collins lauren.collins@colorado.edu
This course introduces the shared historical experiences that have shaped diverse Southeast Asian societies, with a focus on the continuing effects of colonialism, nationalism, and globalization in the region. Examines key issues facing contemporary Southeast Asian communities, including current debates around gender, faith, human rights, democracy, and development.
TBTN 1110/1210 Colloquial Tibetan 1 & 2
MWF 10:10am - 11:00am
Tenzin Tsepak tenzin.tsepak@colorado.edu
Provides a thorough introduction to the colloquial Tibetan language, emphasizing speaking and listening in the Lhasa dialect. Trains students in basic conversations and the idiomatic and syntactical features of Tibetan through drills and dialogues.
INDO 1120 Beginning Indonesian 2 - DILS
MWF 10:10am - 11:00am
Akhmad Taufik Akhmad.Taufik@colorado.edu
A continuation of Beginning Indonesian 1, 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.
ASIA 4300 Tibetan Literature and Culture
T/Th 12:30pm - 1:45pm
Tenzin Tsepak tenzin.tsepak@colorado.edu
This course focusses on Tibetan literary writings, mostly secular, from the 12th to the 20th century. Students will read English translations of primary Tibetan texts (and secondary works) selected from a wide variety of genres such as history, literary, poetry, biography, guidebooks, maxims, and fiction. The course will familiarize students with the cultural, intellectual, and historical movements that contributed to the development of Tibetan literary tradition.
ASIA 1700 Introduction to Tibetan Civilization
M/W 4:40pm - 5:55pm
Tenzin Tsepak tenzin.tsepak@colorado.edu
Explores the dynamic history of Tibet from its early empire to the present. Offers interdisciplinary perspectives on Tibetan civilization, including arts and literature, religion and politics, society and culture. Topics include the role of Buddhism in Tibetan society from its early establishment up through the rule of Dalai Lamas, forms of myths and rituals to create a Tibetan past and sense of shared identity, the adaptation of Indic literary models, sectarian tensions and ecumenical projects, and modern identity, art and literature.
TBTN1120/1220 Modern Literary Tibetan 1 & 2
MWF 9:05am - 9:55am
Tenzin Tsepak tenzin.tsepak@colorado.edu
Provides a thorough introduction to the modern literary Tibetan, emphasizing reading and writing. Trains students in the Tibetan script, elementary grammar, and reading authentic materials, including Tibetan maxims, pop song lyrics, and children鈥檚 stories.
INDO 2110 Intermediate Indonesian 1
MWF 12:20pm - 1:10pm
Akhmad Taufik
Akhmad.Taufik@colorado.edu
Building on Beginning Indonesian, students are exposed to active communication in Bahasa Indonesia. Offered in person or remotely using the Directed Independent Language Study (DILS) method, employing "flipped" task-based learning approaches. Assignments develop the four language skills, with vocabulary, grammar and cultural instruction. Students demonstrate progress during class sessions through reading summaries, answering questions and practicing speaking. Grades are based on demonstrated proficiency of written and spoken Indonesian, through in-class performance and midterm and final examinations.
ARTH 4919 Capstone Seminar: Contemporary Art in Southeast Asia
TTh 10-11:15, Visual Arts Complex 303
Prof. Brianne Cohen
What kind of art is being made in Southeast Asia in the 21st century? This seminar explores contemporary art and visual culture in Southeast Asia particularly since the 1990s. We鈥檒l look at documentary and activist art addressing issues such as environmental destruction, political violence, cultural identity, human rights, and immigration.
ANTH 1155: Explorations in Global Cultural Diversity-Introduction to the Anthropology of Japan
MWF 12:20-1:10pm
Dr. Kathryn Goldfarb
This course offers you a broad sample of cutting-edge contemporary social science explorations of Japan, featuring Friday guest lectures. You will meet many of the scholars whose work we will read, giving you the opportunity to ask questions about their research process.
HIST 4619 Women in East Asian History
MWF 12:20pm - 1:10pm
Marcia Yonemoto
Considers major issues in the history of women in East Asia (China, Korea, Japan) in the 17th through 20th centuries. Focuses on gender roles in Asian family, state, and cultural systems. Topic varies in any given semester.
CHIN 3321 Political Thought in Ancient China
T/TH 12:30pm - 1:45pm
Matthias Richter
This course, taught in English, introduces the foundational period of Chinese Civilization, i.e., the first historical dynasties and the early empire (14th鈥1st c. BCE). We will study the developments that led to the formation of the Chinese empire and read and discuss the literature of that time with a particular emphasis on political thought. Readings include some of the most famous philosophical texts of the Chinese tradition, e.g., the Daoist classic Daodejing (Laozi) and Lunyu, a collection of sayings of Confucius and his students. Texts like these and others form the core of Chinese cultural identity to the present day.
RLST 3040 Quran
T/Th 2鈥3:15
Aun Hasan Ali
Examines how Christian constructions of religion and scripture have shaped Muslim understandings of the Quran and marginalized other views with a much longer history. Helps students appreciate how this process of marginalization is negotiated and explores the Quran from other perspectives including sound, performance, embodiment, and occultism. By highlighting marginalized approaches to the Quran, it promotes a better understanding of how social and religious differences are shaped by different political legacies. Previously offered as a special topics course.
RLST 3070 Islamic Mysticism: Sufi Tradition
T/Th 12:30鈥1:45
Aun Hasan Ali
Introduces students to the philosophical, literary, and musical traditions of Islamic Mysticism or Sufism. Figures covered include: Rumi, Hallaj, Ibn Arabi, Mulla Sadra, Ghazali, Hafez, Ibn al-Farid, Ghalib, and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Students will learn how Islamic Mysticism differs across cultural contexts and how it compares to other mystical traditions.
ARTH 3619 The Arts of China
MWF 9-9:50am
Stephanie Su
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.
ARTH 6939 Sites of Modernity: 20th Century East Asian Art
Tuesdays 10am-12:30pm
Stephanie Su
This graduate seminar takes an interdisciplinary approach to explore issues in modern East Asian art from global, regional, and local perspectives. Partnered with the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures in England, this seminar offers an exciting opportunity for students to learn and collaborate with peers in UK. Course conducted in hybrid mode: meet remotely for international sessions, and in person for other sessions.
Please contact Lauren Collins at lauren.collins@colorado.edu to determine whether the following classes can count toward an Asian Studies degree.
New Course: HUMN/RLST3801: Muslims, Christians, Jews & the Mediterranean Origins of the West
Whose Western Civ?
Through contemporary documents and artifacts trace the evolution of western society and culture from the emergence of Islam to the 鈥淎ge of Discovery,鈥 revealing a world shaped by the contact, conflict and collaboration of Muslim, Christian and Jewish men and women from Africa, West Asia and Europe in the Mediterrean world over the course of a thousand years.
This course provides a historical foundation for the study of western Modernity, including the Anglo-European and Islamic worlds. It focuses on the Mediterranean region in the long Middle Ages (650-1650), emphasizing the role of Christian, Muslim and Jewish peoples and cultures, in Europe, Africa and West Asia in both conflict and collaboration. The approach is interdisciplinary incorporating social, economic, cultural, literary and art history, combining lectures with discussions based around readings of contemporary documents and the analysis of contemporary artifacts.
The goals are to provide students with foundational knowledge of history of the broader West and the history of the Pre-Modern Mediterranean region, focusing on the role of ethnic and religious diversity in the formation of Western societies and cultures. Topics will include: political, economic and social history, religion and culture, ethnicity and community, gender, intellectual and cultural history, slavery, and others.
Instructor Brian A. Catlos - brianacatlos.com
New Course: RLST4820/5820: Intersections of Identity: Race, Ethnicity, Religion
Who are we?
And how do we see each other?
Race, religion, and ethnicity are some of the principle ways in which we identify ourselves and others and imagine our place in the world. This seminar seeks to disentangle modes of self- and group-identification, in an effort to understand how these and other modes of identity over-lap and interact, and under what circumstances specific forms of group identity are brought to the fore. The course builds on Prof. Catlos鈥檚 model of 鈥渃onvergence,鈥 which seeks to account for the interplay of identities among Christians, Muslims and Jews in the pre-Modern Mediterranean, inviting students to develop analogous approaches to their own fields of research from any time period or region from Antiquity to the present and across the globe. Suitable for graduate students and very advanced under-graduates.
Undergraduates are encouraged to contact the professor before enrolling.