Femininities: Asia studies the politics and aesthetics of representing femininity in Asia across a variety of Asian screen cultures, literatures, and political-economic contexts. We will study foundational scholarly writing on the topic as well as consider fiction writing and feature and documentary films about femininity. What has embodying, rejecting, representing, or refusing to represent femininity come to mean in the globalized, neoliberal economies and mobile societies of South, Southeast, and East Asia?

Full details for ASIAN 1103 - FWS: Femininities: Asia

The great Sanskrit epic, the Mahabharata, is one of the principal monuments of world literature. This vast, enthralling, and powerful tale of intra-familial war and world historical decline (of which the famous Bhagavad Gita forms but a small part) transformed the religious and literary consciousness of India, and exercised a broad impact throughout South and Southeast Asia. This course will introduce students to this remarkable text and the literary tradition it inaugurated, through selected readings from the epic itself, along with samples of later renditions of its narrative (including contemporary theatrical, TV, and comic book versions).

Full details for ASIAN 1106 - FWS: The Great Epic of India

Long before the steamship, the airplane, the iPad and Snapchat, Buddhist monks, merchants, pilgrims and adventurers created a Buddhist network across the space of the Indian Ocean, including much of what we now refer to as southern China, India, Sri Lanka, and Southeast Asia. Why did Buddhist travelers leave their homes for other corners of the Buddhist word? What texts, religious rituals, and magical talismans did they carry? How did mobile persons and things create Buddhism? In this seminar we move between brief primary sources composed by these travelers and their patrons, literary and art historical evidence related to Buddhist networks, and scholarship on trade and networks in order to see the hopes and fears, aims and motivations of premodern Buddhists on the move.

Full details for ASIAN 1110 - FWS: Piety, Politics, and Protection: Indian Ocean Buddhism

This First-Year Writing Seminar is about Asian Literature, Religion, and Culture and provides the opportunity to write extensively about these issues.  Topics vary by section.

Full details for ASIAN 1111 - FWS: Literature, Culture, Religion

This course explores the history of imperial China between the 3rd century b.c.e. and the 16th century c.e. with a focus on the following questions:  How did imperial Chinese states go about politically unifying diverse peoples over vast spaces?  How did imperial Chinese approaches to governance and to relations with the outer world compare with strategies employed by other historical empires?  How did those approaches change over time?  How did major socio-cultural formations — including literary canons; religious and familial lineages; marketing networks; and popular book and theatrical cultures — grow and take root, and what were the broader ramifications of those developments?  How did such basic configurations of human difference as Chinese (civilized)-barbarian identity, high-low status, and male-female gender operate and change over time?

Catalog Distribution: (HA-AS)

Full details for ASIAN 1174 - Imperial China

This introductory course follows the history of Asia-Pacific from the nineteenth century to the present, focusing on the relations of China, India, Japan, South, and Southeast Asia.  This course is intended for students wanting a broad historical overview of what makes Asia distinctive and important in the global economy and in world politics.

Catalog Distribution: (HA-AS)

Full details for ASIAN 1191 - Introduction to Modern Asian History

By posing seemingly simple questions such as what is love and who has the right to love, this introductory-level lecture course surveys how love has been experienced and expressed from the pre-modern period to the present. Through case studies of familial and conjugal love in Africa, Asia, the US, Europe, and South and Latin America, the course will examine the debates about and enactment's of what constitutes the appropriate way to show love and affection in different cultures and historical contexts. Among the themes we will explore are questions of sexuality, marriage, kinship, and gender rights. A final unit will examine these themes through modern technologies such as the Internet, scientific advances in medicine, and a growing awareness that who and how we love is anything but simple or universal.

Catalog Distribution: (HA-AS)

Full details for ASIAN 1193 - A Global History of Love

What is Southeast Asia? How does this faraway, "exotic," region intersect with our realities? This course introduces key questions in the study of Southeast Asia (which includes Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) and its diasporas using cinematic, literary, historical and scholarly materials. This introduction to Southeast Asia's historical, religious, literary, visual, and political traditions -- and the ways in which scholars have thought about them -- addresses a variety of themes  including notions of kinship, gender, political conflict, colonialism, media and the arts, sexuality, textual and visual genres, and forms of belief and belonging. Students will have an opportunity to investigate topics of interest to them, in the form of research essays as well as small-scale fieldwork, curatorial, or media projects.

Catalog Distribution: (CA-AS)

Full details for ASIAN 2208 - Introduction to Southeast Asia

This course serves as a general introduction to the study of Japan in the humanities and social sciences. We focus on different themes that have dominated debates and conversations (primarily within Japan but also from outside, influencing internal understandings) about what constitutes Japaneseness. Our discussions examine how these themes are addressed in different academic disciplines. We will explore ways different groups of Japanese people (intellectuals, bureaucrats, business people, religious figures, etc.) have imagined themselves as members of a collectivity or nation, and how these ways of framing identity have been picked up, celebrated, contested and projected back onto Japan by people outside of Japan. We are particularly interested in the following frames of Japaneseness:  1) Japan the divine nation; 2) Japan the aesthetic country; 3) Japan the warrior nation; 4) Japan the industrious economic miracle; and 5) Japan the vanishing and/or hypermodern.  For each section of the course, we will explore how a particular frame is presented as "truth," how the frame gets produced,  consumed and understood, and some of the implications of the frame as a mode of cultural self-knowledge.

Catalog Distribution: (CA-AS)

Full details for ASIAN 2211 - Introduction to Japan

This course combines hands-on instruction in gamelan, Indonesia's most prominent form of traditional music, and the academic study of the broader range of music found in contemporary Indonesia, including Western-oriented and hybrid popular forms. Students thus engage with music directly, and use it as a lens to examine the myriad social and cultural forces that shape it, and that are shaped by it.

Catalog Distribution: (LA-AS)

Full details for ASIAN 2245 - Gamelan in Indonesian History and Cultures

This course offers a broad understanding of the active and dynamic cultural, economic, and social, and political roles played by Chinese women. By challenging the dominant stereotype of the passive and victimized Chinese woman, this course aims to examine women's struggles, negotiations, and challenges of the normative discourse of femininity and domesticity in terms of various disciplines, including philosophy, anthropology, history, and literature. Through a combination of reading original texts with secondary scholarship, this course will discuss the issues of Confucianism and patriarchal family, the female body and sexuality, education and self-expression, women's work and religious activities, gender and the state, the modernization of women, etc.

Catalog Distribution: (CA-AS)

Full details for ASIAN 2267 - Women and Society in China

What does "death" mean in the East Asian context and how is it imagined? This course aims at examining the ways in which East Asia have imaginatively, metaphorically, ritually, and visually conceived of death and the afterlife. The first part of the course deals with the popular beliefs and practices associated with the imagination of death and the afterlife; the second half focuses on the major themes of mortality, memory, and trauma in the literary, visual, and material representations. By examining the repository of images, ideas, objects, and stories from various disciplines, this course approaches the notion of death and the afterlife as cultural reflection and provide an opportunity to situate it in a comparative perspective beyond a specific genre or a specific culture.

Catalog Distribution: (CA-AS)

Full details for ASIAN 2270 - East Asian Imagination of Death

This course serves as both an introduction to the academic study of religion and a survey of major topics in the intersections of religious communities and environmentally sustainable practices. Using real cases of environmentally sustainable, religiously oriented communities, we explore how myth, ritual, symbols, doctrines, and ideologies of time and space are activated in practical living decisions. This class involves readings of both primary sources, poetry and literature, secondary sources, films and site visits.

Catalog Distribution: (KCM-AS)

Full details for ASIAN 2273 - Introduction to Religious Studies: Religion and Environmental Studies

Starting with the appearance of European trading companies and the establishment of the Mughal empire around 1500 and ending with the establishment of British dominance by 1800, the readings focus on recent debates over India's place in a global economy in the early modern period. The three major themes emphasize 1) state-formation on the Indian subcontinent; 2) encounters with peoples from beyond the subcontinent through commercial, diplomatic, military and maritime activities; and 3) exchanges of consumer goods and aesthetic practices. 

Catalog Distribution: (HA-AS)

Full details for ASIAN 2274 - Mughal India and the Early Modern World, c. 1500-1800

Trade in and to Asia proved to be a key force in creating our modern "globalized" world.  The Indian Ocean and the China Seas converged on Southeast Asia, where a cosmopolitan array of ships from every shore plied their trade, set sail, and returned with the monsoon winds.  People, goods, and ideas also traveled on camelback across the undulating contours of the Gobi Desert, connecting India, the Near East and Central Asia with China, Korea, and Japan. This course introduces students to the raw ingredients of things in motion, poised interactively in time and space, as material worlds collide. Wood, bamboo, bronze, clay, earthenware, ink, spices, textiles and tea - students will navigate sites of encounter at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum from pre modern to the present.

Catalog Distribution: (CA-AS)

Full details for ASIAN 2285 - Introduction to Material Worlds: Trade and the Arts of Asia

In this course we will examine the modes of philosophical and spiritual inquiry, varieties of spiritual/bodily cultivation and practice, and religious organizations and movements in China that we know as Daoist (or "Taoist"). We will examine the ways in which Daoism was used variously to contest or legitimate imperial political power, and how the procedures and ideologies of the imperial state in turn informed Daoist theory and practice.  Throughout, we will examine the ways in which standard modern western dichotomies, such as sacred/secular, spiritual/physical, and mind/body, break down when we try to apply them to the study of Daoism.  Course will focus on the period from the fourth century B.C.E. to the thirteenth century C.E. 

Catalog Distribution: (HA-AS)

Full details for ASIAN 2289 - Daoist Traditions

The Great Qing (1644-1911), a multi-ethnic empire that conquered China proper from the northeastern borderlands, expanded into central Asia, Mongolia, and Tibet, and consolidated the China-based empire's control over its southwestern frontiers. An heir to both Chinese and Inner Asian traditions, the Qing empire laid the foundation for the modern Chinese nation-state. In this course, students will focus on the political, legal, social, cultural, and intellectual aspects of China's last empire. Students will also locate the early modern Chinese empire in a regional and global context, examining its power influence in Korea and Southeast Asia, and its encounters and interactions with Western and Japanese imperialist powers. These encounters and interactions contributed to the domestic turmoil and foreign invasions that would eventually led to the decline and demise of the Chinese empire, but they also gave rise to new forces that would shape the fate of modern China in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Catalog Distribution: (HA-AS)

Full details for ASIAN 2293 - China's Early Modern Empire

This course will explore the Buddhist tradition from its origins in ancient India to its migrations throughout Asia and eventually to the West. The first part of the course will deal with Indian Buddhism: the Buddha, the principal teachings and practices of his early followers, and new developments in spiritual orientation. We will then turn to the transmission of Buddhism to Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, where at least one of the early schools has been preserved. Next we will look at Mahayana Buddhism as it moves north and east, encompassing China, Japan, and Tibet. While much of the course will be devoted to developments in traditional times, we will also look at some of the ways Buddhist cultures have responded to modernity.

Catalog Distribution: (CA-AS)

Full details for ASIAN 2299 - Buddhism

This course provides students with an analytical framework to understand China's ongoing economic transformation. The courses goals include: 1) to familiarize students with different perspectives on China's economic development and future prospects; 2) to provide a close working knowledge of the evolving current situation, with a focus on internal variation within China—telling different Chinese stories, not one "China story"—and particularly emphasizing urbanization and the goal of shifting from manufacturing and export-led to services and domestic-led economy; and 3) to give students hands-on experience using Chinese economic data in the context of a brief research note. Each week will connect to current events and debates, with students writing three blog posts over the course of the semester to bring academic research and social scientific analysis to bear upon policy-relevant questions and developments.

Catalog Distribution: (SBA-AS)

Full details for ASIAN 3304 - China's Next Economy

The Philippines was the first country in Asia to foster a nationalistic insurrection, the only official colony of the United States (1898-1946), and is today Southeast Asia's only predominantly Catholic nation. Understanding the contemporary Philippines requires analysis of national development under Spanish, American and Japanese colonial regimes. Exploration of early globalization across the archipelago is important, but this must be juxtaposed against deeply ingrained indigenous cultural influences that continue to shape Philippine economic, political, and social life.

Catalog Distribution: (HA-AS)

Full details for ASIAN 3306 - The Philippines: History, Culture, and Politics

The course is attached to the Cornell Contemporary China Initiative lecture series, which brings high profile speakers on various aspects of contemporary China to Cornell most Mondays throughout the semester.  Students will attend one or two foundation-setting lectures by the instructor, then attend weekly guest lectures & write short assignments.

Full details for ASIAN 3307 - Issues in Contemporary China I

What role does Islam take in the politics, history, arts and rituals of Southeast Asia? Structured as a seminar, this course takes you on a journey through Southeast Asia, home to almost a quarter of the global Muslim population, to explore how centuries of cultural mixing and layering have shaped the regions' religious outlook. How are local traditions and universal Islamic precepts reconciled? How is this manifested in the performative arts and rituals? How does Islam play out in governance and the law? How is Islam deployed in the transnational sphere? Previous knowledge of Islam is an advantage, but not a requisite to succeed in this course. Students will be introduced to the fundamentals of Islam as a religious system as well as a historical phenomenon throughout the course.

Catalog Distribution: (CA-AS)

Full details for ASIAN 3311 - Performing Islam in Southeast Asia

If you have ever wondered what the Vietnam War was all about, how did it begin, how was it fought, why was it so controversial, why did the American people turn against it, why was it important, why were generations of American students taught the North Vietnamese version of the war, why the South Vietnamese allies of the United States were abandoned, and what happened to the Vietnamese and the Americans as a result of the war—then this class is for you! With fresh eyes and surprising insights, it will take you beyond the fashionable fictions and clichés to look at the twenty-five years during which the United States, through six presidential administrations, was involved in Vietnamese affairs (1950-1975). For decades, Americans have been meditating on "the lessons of the Vietnam War," but it turns out that neither was any lesson ever learned nor were the so-called "lessons" even plausibly related to actual events. Today, Americans continue to be taught myths about the Vietnam War. This course shows why these myths obstruct a realistic understanding of American history during the past half-century.

Catalog Distribution: (HA-AS)

Full details for ASIAN 3312 - What was the Vietnam War?

People outside China often talk about "China's rise," the changes in world economics and politics that come from the increase of the power of the People's Republic. From a domestic perspective, though, China's rise represents a promise to regular people that they will lead richer lives, both literally and figuratively. This course will examine the nature and history of that promise as it is experienced through literature, film, and other cultural texts. Why and how do PRC citizens want to get rich, and what happens when they don't? How does economic class shape identity in contemporary China? Can parts of the population be happy outside of the pursuit of material wealth? All texts in the course will be available in English, and most primary texts will be available in Chinese; writing assignments will be submitted in English.

Catalog Distribution: (LA-AS)

Full details for ASIAN 3352 - Getting Rich in Modern China

Examines the development of the Chinese economy and the evolution of China's economic system between the early 1950s and late 1990s.

Catalog Distribution: (SBA-AS)

Full details for ASIAN 3393 - China's Economy Under Mao and Deng

Supervised reading and research on the problem selected for honors work.

Full details for ASIAN 4401 - Asian Studies Honors Course

The student, under faculty direction, prepares an honors essay.

Full details for ASIAN 4402 - Asian Studies Honors: Senior Essay

Intensive reading under the direction of a member of the staff.

Full details for ASIAN 4403 - Supervised Reading

Images of tattooed, inscribed, and marked bodies abound in popular media, from television series to blogs, from performance art to popular literature. When the body becomes a canvas or text, this raises crucial questions about the interactions between individual bodies, culture/s, and society/ies. In this course we will pay particular attention to the shifting meanings of body modification in different cultural, theoretical, and historical contexts. Course material will include texts, films, and artwork by Michel de Certeau, Jacques Derrida, Georges Didi-Huberman, Lalla Essaydi, Zhang Huan, Franz Kafka, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Mirta Kupferminc, Christopher Nolan, Renata Salecl, Stelarc, Jun'ichiro Tanizaki, Qiu Zhijie, and others, as well as television series, internet forums, and other popular culture formats.

Catalog Distribution: (LA-AS)

Full details for ASIAN 4407 - Written on the Body

This course will provide both a historical introduction to and critical analysis of the constitution of Japanese Studies as a "field" of postwar academic inquiry. While reading texts particularly influential in the early and contemporary formation of the field, we will consider such questions as the domestic and international contexts in which Japanese studies has been institutionalized and maintained, and the relationship between "Japan" as an object of area studies discourse and "Japan" as represented in American journalism, popular culture, and politics. The course will examine the historical origins of area studies and various critiques conducted about area studies as a model of academic discipline. Possibilities for cross-disciplinary research (along lines recently undertaken in fields such as feminist criticism and cultural studies) will also be explored.

Catalog Distribution: (HA-AS)

Full details for ASIAN 4428 - The Formation of the Field: Japan as Area

The course will treat various aspects of Indian film, with focal topics to vary from year to year.  These topics will include religion in Indian film, Indian art films, and the golden age of Indian film.  All topics will be discussed in relation to the conventions of mainstream Bollywood cinema and their social and cultural significance.  Each week a film must be viewed to prepare for class discussion; screenings will be arranged as appropriate. No knowledge of an Indian language is needed.

Catalog Distribution: (LA-AS)

Full details for ASIAN 4436 - Topics in Indian Film

This seminar will explore the development of and variety in the academic discipline of Religious Studies. We will consider the emergence of secular approaches to the study of religion arising out of the European Enlightenment, and more particularly, the methods in the academic study of religion based upon different theoretical approaches. We will be particularly concerned to reflect upon the category of religious experience in modern discourses from historical, social, hermeneutical, neurobiological points of view. 

Catalog Distribution: (KCM-AS)

Full details for ASIAN 4449 - History, Theory, and Methods in the Academic Study of Religion

Examines the new cinemas of Southeast Asia and their engagement with contemporary discourses of gender and sexuality. It pays special attention to the ways in which sexuality and gendered embodiment are at present linked to citizenship and other forms of belonging and to how the films draw on Buddhist and Islamic traditions of representation and belief. Focusing on globally circulating Southeast Asian films of the past 15 years, the course draws on current writings from feminism, Buddhist studies, affect theory, queer studies, postcolonial theory, and film studies to ask what new understandings of subjectivity might emerge from these cinemas and their political contexts. Films will be drawn from both mainstream and independent cinema and will include the work of directors such as Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Danny and Oxide Pang, Yau Ching, Thunska Pansittivorakul, Garin Nugroho, and Jean-Jacques Annaud.

Catalog Distribution: (LA-AS)

Full details for ASIAN 4451 - Gender and Sexuality in Southeast Asian Cinema

Taught as a seminar, the course engages recent theoretical literature on the relations between religion, colonialism and nation formation.  This theoretical literature is read in conjunction with historical and ethnographic materials from South and Southeast Asian contexts, which allow us to explore the intellectual promise and limitations of the theoretical work in question.

Catalog Distribution: (CA-AS)

Full details for ASIAN 4462 - Religion, Colonialism, and Nationalism in South and Southeast Asia

China, a cultural giant of East Asia, made a passive entrance into modernity. With the advent of Western and American colonialism and imperialism, coupled with recent successes in westernization by the Japanese, Chinese artists had to redefine their roles as well as their visions. This turmoil bore witness to a vibrant beginning in modern Chinese art. Interactions between the Chinese themselves, and Chinese interactions with foreigners in the major cities of Shanghai and Beijing, fostered new directions in Chinese art and helped shape western visions of Chinese art history. Issues covered include: Chinese debates on western influence--their theoretical foundations and rationales; New visions for the future of Chinese art in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; Pluralistic approaches and arguments on "Chinese identity" in the modern era; Collecting art and the vision of history; The identity of traditional literati painters in the modern era-their roles, artworks, and deeds; Foreigners in China-the formation of major European collections of Chinese art, and the formation of "Chinese art history" in the West.

Catalog Distribution: (HA-AS)

Full details for ASIAN 4473 - Modern Chinese Art

As China, with its "China Dream," rises in power on the global stage, what "China" means to its inhabitants and outsiders has become an issue increasingly relevant to business, international relations, and cultural exchange, and a topic that draws intensive attention from historians and social scientists. This course brings together undergraduate and graduate students who are interested in shifting meanings embedded in the concept of "China," either as part of their research agenda, or as a useful lens for comparative analysis. Focus will be on how China as an Empire/ a Nation was conceptualized by different people in different periods and in different contexts, and on the reality and representation of China as political, cultural, racial, and geographical entities.

Full details for ASIAN 4478 - China Imagined: The Historical and Global Origins of the Chinese Nation

Problems concerning translation are explored. Although there are many different models of translation, we tend to be confined to the unilateral regime of translation, that is, the very narrow and historically specific mode of translation as a transnational transfer of significance between two national or ethnic languages. This course will survey theories of translation with special emphasis on relationships between trans-national translation and transnational transference. Translation establishes a division of two spheres and thereby marks the limit of what can be expressed in one medium. Broadly understood, translation can take place not only between two national languages but also at a variety of boundaries within a single society. We will investigate different economies of translation by which different social and cultural identities are constructed, emphasizing the disappearance of multi-lingualism in the modern nation-state and the mutation of translation tropics which has given rise to new ways of imagining the organicist unity of the society. Historical transformation of translation accompanying the genesis of linguistic and cultural identity will be examined in reference to historical materials. Furthermore, the course will explore the broader conception of translation in terms of which to critically understand communication as the ideology of Capital.

Catalog Distribution: (KCM-AS)

Full details for ASIAN 4481 - Translation and Cultural Difference

This seminar will focus on the significance of water –economic, religious, political, social –and its role in the art and architecture of Mainland and Island Southeast Asia, with particular focus on Cambodia and Indonesia. While India and China can be seen to provide aquatic themes and patterns for transformation, the emphasis in this course will focus on local ingenuity, how technologies of water use and control at ancient sites in Southeast Asia can be seen to shape vivid symbologies, performing past and present. The course will be taught at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum with guest lectures presented by Visiting Scholar, Dr. Ea Darith.

Catalog Distribution: (CA-AS)

Full details for ASIAN 4499 - Water: Art & Politics in Southeast Asia

A topics course related to Southeast Asian Studies. 

Full details for ASIAN 6604 - Southeast Asia Topical Seminar

What role does Islam take in the politics, history, arts and rituals of Southeast Asia? Structured as a seminar, this course takes you on a journey through Southeast Asia, home to almost a quarter of the global Muslim population, to explore how centuries of cultural mixing and layering have shaped the regions' religious outlook. How are local traditions and universal Islamic precepts reconciled? How is this manifested in the performative arts and rituals? How does Islam play out in governance and the law? How is Islam deployed in the transnational sphere? Previous knowledge of Islam is an advantage, but not a requisite to succeed in this course. Students will be introduced to the fundamentals of Islam as a religious system as well as a historical phenomenon throughout the course.

Full details for ASIAN 6611 - Performing Islam in Southeast Asia

This course argues that modern literary strictures – such as market forces, censorship, and new media forms – are contiguous with and interpretable in the same way as more traditional literary strictures like meter, rhyme, and tonal regulation. It asks how we can come to a more thorough understanding of contemporary art by treating its sociological and political context as a source of generative restraint. Theoretical texts will range from Foucault to Vaclav Havel; primary texts will be drawn from contemporary Chinese fiction, poetry and film. All texts will be made available in English for non-Chinese speakers.

Full details for ASIAN 6621 - Literary Stricture

Expanded Practice Seminars bring students and faculty in the humanities and the design disciplines together around a common and pressing urban issue such as the cultural and material practices induced by national or ethnic divisions; the increasingly leaky taxonomy of the terra firma in areas where land/water boundaries are rapidly changing; and the inadequacy of static zoning models that fail to capture dynamic, urban economics and performance. The intent of the Expanded Practice Seminar is to study complex urban conditions using theoretical and analytic tools derived in equal part from the design disciplines and humanist studies. The Expanded Practice Seminar includes a site visit to experience the conditions under study and meet with local experts, designers, and authorities.  Expanded Practice Seminars are offered under the auspices of Cornell University's Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Collaborative Studies in Architecture, Urbanism, and the Humanities grant. For current special topic seminar description and application instructions, visit: urbanismeseminars.cornell.edu/courses/.

Full details for ASIAN 6630 - Expanded Practice Seminar

Examines the new cinemas of Southeast Asia and their engagement with contemporary discourses of gender and sexuality. It pays special attention to the ways in which sexuality and gendered embodiment are at present linked to citizenship and other forms of belonging and to how the films draw on Buddhist and Islamic traditions of representation and belief. Focusing on globally circulating Southeast Asian films of the past 15 years, the course draws on current writings from feminism, Buddhist studies, affect theory, queer studies, postcolonial theory, and film studies to ask what new understandings of subjectivity might emerge from these cinemas and their political contexts. Films will be drawn from both mainstream and independent cinema and will include the work of directors such as Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Danny and Oxide Pang, Yau Ching, Thunska Pansittivorakul, Garin Nugroho, and Jean-Jacques Annaud.

Full details for ASIAN 6631 - Gender and Sexuality in Southeast Asian Cinema

Taught as a seminar, the course engages recent theoretical literature on the relations between religion, colonialism and nation formation. This theoretical literature is read in conjunction with historical and ethnographic materials from South and Southeast Asian contexts, which allow us to explore the intellectual promise and limitations of the theoretical work in question.

Full details for ASIAN 6662 - Religion, Colonialism, and Nationalism in South and Southeast Asia

This course offers graduate students an opportunity to consider ways for analyzing texts from Asia, both modern and pre-modern, both literary and historiographical. The emphasis will be on how narratives are constructed, how the form and content of narratives are related, and how narratives express unstated or hidden authorial intentions. Students will read books and essays on theories of narrative, translation, and ideological analysis. Students will discuss these readings and write essays about them. And students will write a research term paper based on study of a selected Asian text in its original Asian language.

Full details for ASIAN 6671 - Seminar in Asian Literature and History

China, a cultural giant of East Asia, made a passive entrance into modernity. With the advent of Western and American colonialism and imperialism, coupled with recent successes in westernization by the Japanese, Chinese artists had to redefine their roles as well as their visions. This turmoil bore witness to a vibrant beginning in modern Chinese art. Interactions between the Chinese themselves, and Chinese interactions with foreigners in the major cities of Shanghai and Beijing, fostered new directions in Chinese art and helped shape western visions of Chinese art history. Issues covered include: Chinese debates on western influence--their theoretical foundations and rationales; New visions for the future of Chinese art in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; Pluralistic approaches and arguments on "Chinese identity" in the modern era; Collecting art and the vision of history; The identity of traditional literati painters in the modern era-their roles, artworks, and deeds; Foreigners in China-the formation of major European collections of Chinese art, and the formation of "Chinese art history" in the West.

Full details for ASIAN 6673 - Modern Chinese Art

As China, with its "China Dream," rises in power on the global stage, what "China" means to its inhabitants and outsiders has become an issue increasingly relevant to business, international relations, and cultural exchange, and a topic that draws intensive attention from historians and social scientists. This course brings together undergraduate and graduate students who are interested in shifting meanings embedded in the concept of "China," either as part of their research agenda, or as a useful lens for comparative analysis. Focus will be on how China as an Empire/ a Nation was conceptualized by different people in different periods and in different contexts, and on the reality and representation of China as political, cultural, racial, and geographical entities.

Full details for ASIAN 6679 - China Imagined: The Historical and Global Origins of the Chinese Nation

This seminar will focus on the significance of water –economic, religious, political, social –and its role in the art and architecture of Mainland and Island Southeast Asia, with particular focus on Cambodia and Indonesia. While India and China can be seen to provide aquatic themes and patterns for transformation, the emphasis in this course will focus on local ingenuity, how technologies of water use and control at ancient sites in Southeast Asia can be seen to shape vivid symbologies, performing past and present. The course will be taught at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum with guest lectures presented by Visiting Scholar, Dr. Ea Darith.

Full details for ASIAN 6699 - Water: Art & Politics in Southeast Asia

Guided independent study for graduate students.

Full details for ASIAN 7703 - Directed Research

Intended for beginners or students placed by examination. The emphasis is on basic grammar, speaking, and comprehension skills; Bengali script will also be introduced.

Full details for BENGL 1121 - Elementary Bengali I

Continuing focus on reading, writing, and conversational skills, this course is designed to advance students' oral competence and enhance comprehension skills through reading, conversations, and listening.

Full details for BENGL 2201 - Intermediate Bengali I

Continuing instruction in Bengali at the advanced level focusing on conversation, interview, and discussion skills.

Full details for BENGL 3301 - Advanced Bengali I

This course is designed to equip the beginning learners with the reading and writing skills that are the essential first step in learning the language. Burmese script is beautiful and not very complicated, but it is based on principles that are unlike any European language. In this first semester, you will develop competency in reading and writing it. You will also learn some basic spoken Burmese and essential grammatical concepts.

Full details for BURM 1121 - Elementary Burmese (Myanmar) I

This course is for you if you have taken first-year Burmese at Cornell or learned some Burmese elsewhere and know how to read and write Burmese script. You will continue learning all major aspects of the language at the intermediate level, including the reading and understanding of formal-style texts. In spoken Burmese, you will practice communicating at the increasingly complicated and practically useful level. Some of the assignments are completed online using interactive video and audio materials.

Full details for BURM 2201 - Intermediate Burmese (Myanmar) I

This course is taught at the advanced level with focus on further development of all four skills. All materials used in the course are authentic Burmese stories, current event reports, radio plays, etc. The particular materials used in any given year may vary depending on the proficiency level of the students. For students who are involved in Burma/Myanmar related research, their projects may also become part of the course.

Full details for BURM 3301 - Advanced Burmese (Myanmar) I

For complete beginners only, providing a thorough grounding in conversational and reading skills. Students with some facility in the spoken language (because Chinese is spoken at home) but who do not read characters should take CHIN 1109.

Full details for CHIN 1101 - Beginning Mandarin I

Intended primarily for students whose family language is Mandarin but have had little or no formal training. The focus is on characters, reading comprehension, composition, grammar, standard pronunciation, cultural aspects, and current events in the Chinese speaking community.

Full details for CHIN 1109 - Beginning Chinese Reading and Writing for Students of Chinese Heritage I

This course helps students develop basic skills in Mandarin Chinese, at a moderate pace. For complete beginners only.

Full details for CHIN 1121 - Beginning Mandarin for Professional Students I

A continuation of CHIN 1122 .  This course helps students develop basic skills in Mandarin Chinese, at a moderate pace. For non-heritage learners only. 

Full details for CHIN 1123 - Beginning Mandarin for Professional Students III

Continuing instruction in written and spoken Chinese with particular emphasis on consolidating basic conversational skills and improving reading confidence and ability.

Full details for CHIN 2201 - Intermediate Mandarin I

This course focuses on reading and writing Chinese at the intermediate level for Chinese heritage students who can speak Mandarin fluently. It provides ample opportunities to read authentic texts written by some of the most iconic Chinese figures such as Hu Shih ( a Cornell alumnus, class of 1914) and Lin Yutang (author of The Importance of Living and Moment in Peking) and to practice narrative writing and argumentative writing while exploring various aspects of traditional Chinese culture. This course helps students further solidify the foundation for their Chinese study for their next level as well as enhance their awareness and overall competence for cross-cultural communications.

Full details for CHIN 2209 - Intermediate Chinese Reading and Writing for Students of Chinese Heritage I

Continuing instruction in spoken and written Chinese Mandarin via authentic multimedia materials. 

Full details for CHIN 3301 - High Intermediate Mandarin I

First part of a two-semester sequence for those who studied Mandarin to advanced level. Will cover first five chapters of the textbook, developed surrounding five real cases. These are multinational companies, successfully operated in China by adapting their strategies to special needs of the Chinese market. By reading, discussing, and performing communicative tasks related to those cases, students will learn how to use Chinese as a "carrier of culture," acquiring a better understanding of China in economic and cultural terms. To expand students' knowledge on various business-related issues, in addition to business case analysis, relevant finance, consulting, and accounting knowledge will also be introduced. Highlights are: 1) finance and accounting terms and concepts selected from companies' annual reports, 2) exploration of the Chinese banking system and its unique features, 3) Western capital markets and its impact on the Chinese financial market, 4) the professional power point design and presentation skills frequently used by investment banks and consulting companies. Class will be in Chinese.

Full details for CHIN 3309 - Business Chinese in Cultural Context I

This course is designed for those who have studied Mandarin to the advanced level (or equivalent). The course aims to continuously improve students' Chinese proficiency while, at the same time, preparing them for studying or working in a Chinese native environment. Along with the growth of Chinese economy, issues on Chinese business and economy become a hot topic. Following this trend, authentic Chinese materials selected from a variety of sources will be introduced in class to enhance students' Chinese professional skills and promote their understanding of the macro and micro business environment as well as the economic history, present, and future of China and its partners in the global economy.

Full details for CHIN 4406 - Readings in Chinese History and Business Culture

Reading, discussion, and composition at advanced levels.

Full details for CHIN 4411 - Advanced Mandarin I

This advanced course aims to further develop four communication skills in Chinese: speaking, listening, reading, and writing, through learning materials on various topics related to China Studies, including reading authentic Chinese materials, watching TV programs, class discussions on various issues and compositions.  Students can also expect to enlarge their knowledge of Chinese culture and society after taking this course.  Classical Chinese will be introduced in this class to help students further understand written/formal Chinese as well as Chinese culture.

Full details for CHIN 4427 - High Advanced Mandarin I

First part of a two-semester sequence for those who studied Mandarin to advanced level. Will cover first five chapters of the textbook, developed surrounding five real cases. These are multinational companies, successfully operated in China by adapting their strategies to special needs of the Chinese market. By reading, discussing, and performing communicative tasks related to those cases, students will learn how to use Chinese as a "carrier of culture," acquiring a better understanding of China in economic and cultural terms. To expand students' knowledge on various business-related issues, in addition to business case analysis, relevant finance, consulting, and accounting knowledge will also be introduced. Highlights are: 1) finance and accounting terms and concepts selected from companies' annual reports, 2) exploration of the Chinese banking system and its unique features, 3) Western capital markets and its impact on the Chinese financial market, 4) the professional power point design and presentation skills frequently used by investment banks and consulting companies. Class will be in Chinese.

Full details for CHIN 5509 - Business Chinese in Cultural Context I

This course is designed for those who have studied Mandarin to the advanced level (or equivalent). The course aims to continuously improve students' Chinese proficiency while, at the same time, preparing them for studying or working in a Chinese native environment. Along with the growth of Chinese economy, issues on Chinese business and economy become a hot topic. Following this trend, authentic Chinese materials selected from a variety of sources will be introduced in class to enhance students' Chinese professional skills and promote their understanding of the macro and micro business environment as well as the economic history, present, and future of China and its partners in the global economy.

Full details for CHIN 6606 - Readings in Chinese History and Business Culture

Students learn the fundamental grammar and vocabulary of Classical Chinese by analyzing and translating short passages from early sources.

Catalog Distribution: (LA-AS)

Full details for CHLIT 2213 - Introduction to Classical Chinese I

Through guided readings in Chinese of selected poems of the Tang dynasty (618-907) on various themes and in different styles, students develop the essential analytical skills for reading Tang poetry while gaining an understanding of its social, cultural, and historical contexts.

Catalog Distribution: (LA-AS)

Full details for CHLIT 4420 - Tang Poetry: Themes and Contexts

Students choose a faculty member to oversee this independent study. The student and the faculty member work together to develop course content.

Full details for CHLIT 4421 - Directed Study

Through guided readings in Chinese of selected poems of the Tang dynasty (618-907) on various themes and in different styles, students develop the essential analytical skills for reading Tang poetry while gaining an understanding of its social, cultural, and historical contexts. Students will also be introduced to essential bibliographical materials and critical literature for advanced study of Tang poetry. A final research paper on an approved topic is required.

Full details for CHLIT 6620 - Tang Poetry: Themes and Contexts

Students choose a faculty member to oversee this independent study. The student and the faculty member work together to develop class readings.

Full details for CHLIT 6621 - Advanced Directed Reading

Designed for students who are complete beginners in the Hindi language. Students  enter this course with no or very little prior knowledge in Hindi. The course aims to help students acquire competence in the four skills (Listening, Speaking, Reading & Writing)  of the Hindi language by utilizing tools of basic grammar, vocabulary, cultural points and other oral and written activities. By the end of this course, students are able to communicate in basic everyday Hindi, and perform all the hands-on tasks and functions necessary to survive in India and/or similar context.

Full details for HINDI 1101 - Elementary Hindi I

This is an intermediate-level course in Hindi. Students' competence in all four language areas will become very strong and solid. This course will work on building up their confidence in describing complicated situations and ideas in the target language, improve their ability to read and write with better flow and accuracy, and increase their listening comprehension to more detailed and complicated materials.

Full details for HINDI 2201 - Intermediate Hindi I

Throughout this course sequence all aspects of language learning are practiced; listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Video materials are used and the emphasis is on the conversational aspect of the language.

Full details for HINDI 2203 - Intermediate Hindi Reading and Writing for Heritage Students I

Selected readings in modern Hindi literature. Continued work on fluency in speaking Hindi on an advanced level. There will be a combination of different reading materials from literature, journals, newspapers, and many social, entertainment, and political magazines in Hindi. Discussions will be based on those readings and articles, hence giving opportunities to express views and opinions in a fluent and effective manner.

Full details for HINDI 3301 - Advanced Hindi I

This course is designed for students with no previous knowledge of Indonesian language who expect to participate in university programs in Indonesian-speaking areas of the world.  Students will learn enough phrases to be able to handle very simple interactions and express very simple needs and to behave appropriately in Indonesian settings.  The class will be run mostly in Indonesian language.  Through assigned recordings in Blackboard and independent learning, students will also gain a better understanding of Indonesian sounds, ways of life, natural environments, as well as the history and current place of Indonesian in Southeast Asia.

Full details for INDO 1100 - Elements of Indonesian Language and Culture

Gives a thorough grounding in basic speaking, listening, reading and writing skills.

Full details for INDO 1121 - Elementary Indonesian I

Develops all four skills: reading, writing, speaking, and listening comprehension.

Full details for INDO 2201 - Intermediate Indonesian I

Practical language course on an advanced level in which students read and discuss selected materials on issues of their academic interests, write essays, and make oral presentations. Course includes students from Columbia University via video-conference.

Full details for INDO 3301 - Advanced Indonesian I

Gives a thorough grounding in all four language skills-speaking, listening, reading, and writing-at the beginning level. The lecture provides explanation, analysis, and cultural background. Sections are conducted entirely in Japanese.

Full details for JAPAN 1101 - Elementary Japanese I

This course provides widely applicable language proficiency as an integrated Japanese course, which develops all four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, and writing) at the post-elementary level.

Full details for JAPAN 2201 - Intermediate Japanese I

For students who have learned basic Japanese skills and would like to develop higher skills in reading, writing, speaking, and listening.

Full details for JAPAN 3301 - Continuing Intermediate Japanese I

Develops reading, writing and oral communication skills at the advanced level.

Full details for JAPAN 4401 - Advanced Japanese I

This is a Japanese course to develop both oral and written communication skills focusing on a variety of current events and social phenomena in Japan.

Full details for JAPAN 4421 - Special Topics

Students choose a faculty member to oversee this independent study. The student and the faculty member work together to develop class readings.

Full details for JPLIT 6625 - Directed Readings

Guided independent study for graduate students.

Full details for JPLIT 6627 - Advanced Directed Readings

The course will introduce basic Khmer /Cambodian language and culture to anyone with interest in the subject matter, those planning to travel to Cambodia, heritage students, etc.

Full details for KHMER 1100 - Elements of Khmer Language and Culture

Gives a thorough grounding in speaking and reading.

Full details for KHMER 1121 - Elementary Khmer I

Gives a thorough grounding in speaking and reading.

Full details for KHMER 1122 - Elementary Khmer II

Continuing instruction in spoken and written Khmer. Intermediate level of reading Khmer.

Full details for KHMER 2201 - Intermediate Khmer I

Continuing instruction in spoken and written Khmer. Intermediate level of reading Khmer.

Full details for KHMER 2202 - Intermediate Khmer II

Continuing instruction in spoken and written Khmer; emphasis on enlarging vocabulary, increasing reading speed, and reading various genres and styles of prose.

Full details for KHMER 3301 - Advanced Khmer I

Continuing instruction in spoken and written Khmer; emphasis on enlarging vocabulary, increasing reading speed, and reading various genres and styles of prose.

Full details for KHMER 3302 - Advanced Khmer II

This course is designed for students with no or very little knowledge of Korean in order to acquire the 4 skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) of the Korean language and to become familiar with its culture. Students will learn the Korean writing system and basic survival language skills. Basic knowledge of Korean grammar, vocabulary, expressions and cultural points will be given during the lecture. Students will then have an opportunity to practice the learned knowledge in sections. By the end of the semester, students will be able to exchange in simple conversations with native Koreans about the subjects that are familiar to them: introducing oneself, describing events or objects, asking and giving directions to and from a certain place, talking about plans in the near future, etc.

Full details for KOREA 1101 - Elementary Korean I

Designed for Korean heritage students who already have some level of speaking and listening competence in Korean, but have limited linguistic proficiency of reading and writing. The course first introduces basic conversational and grammatical structures and idiomatic expressions. It will then focus on speaking, reading and writing skills through short stories, essays and Korean folktales. Students will be able to create a dialogue regarding topics such as greetings, leave-taking, campus life, Korean language class, daily life, and life in Seoul.

Full details for KOREA 1109 - Elementary Korean Reading and Writing I

Designed for intermediate learners of Korean. Students will achieve a higher level of communicative competence through practicing the target language in a wide range of speech events. Specifically, students will compare and contrast cultural differences, describe their own experiences and events, discuss opinions on various topics and participate in speech events. Students will command a lengthy discourse regarding various topics such as weather, fashion, travel, public transportation, shopping and life in Korea.

Full details for KOREA 2201 - Intermediate Korean I

This course is designed for the Korean heritage students who can understand and speak Korean, but specially need to refine their reading and writing skills. Students will acquire concrete knowledge of grammar to use in everyday conversation, will be able to read passages faster, and will minimize their spelling errors in writing, through frequent discussion and composition about Korean culture, society and history. They will become confident in reading multi-paragraph-length readings in Korean, be able to write their reflections on the passages that they have read, and speak with ease when participating in the classroom discussions.

Full details for KOREA 2209 - Intermediate Korean Reading and Writing I

Designed for high intermediate learners of Korean. It aims to help students achieve high levels of language proficiency by introducing a wide range of authentic reading materials. The course provides students with reading materials from writings in various genres and styles such as newspaper editorials, columns, essays, short stories, and other literary writings. Students will discuss various aspects of Korean culture and society and begin to write an essay and reaction papers.

Full details for KOREA 3301 - High Intermediate Korean I

Designed for students who have completed the intermediate level of Korean, to acquire advanced language skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing) on Content-Based Instruction and Individualized Language Teaching. Students will gain profound knowledge in various fields on Korea through discussion and composition: Current issues in Korean society, Korean people's thoughts and mind, tradition, history and culture. In the first half of the semester, students will learn professional vocabulary and expressions from the textbook to be able to discuss on various topics in Korean society. In the second half of the semester, students will watch various Korean TV documentary programs and a series of Korean medical drama outside the classroom and discuss on the topics in depth in class.

Full details for KOREA 4401 - Advanced Korean I

Intended for beginners. The emphasis is on basic grammar, speaking, and comprehension skills, using culturally appropriate materials and texts. Devanagari script for reading and writing is also introduced.

Full details for NEPAL 1101 - Elementary Nepali I

Intermediate instruction in spoken grammar and verbal comprehension skills, with special attention to developing technical vocabularies and other verbal skills appropriate to students' professional fields.

Full details for NEPAL 2201 - Intermediate Nepali Conversation I

Systematic review of written grammar and reading comprehension, with special attention to the technical vocabularies, necessary writing skills, and published materials typical of advanced students' professional fields.

Full details for NEPAL 2203 - Intermediate Nepali Composition I

Reading of advanced texts, together with advanced drill on the spoken language.

Full details for NEPAL 3301 - Advanced Nepali I

An accelerated one-semester introduction to Pali.  Prior background in Sanskrit is encouraged but not required.

Full details for PALI 1151 - Accelerated Elementary Pali

Readings in Pali selected in relation to student and instructor interests. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics and readings.

Full details for PALI 4450 - Readings in Pali

Elementary Punjabi introduces the student to basic Punjabi Language skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening.

Full details for PUNJB 1121 - Elementary Punjabi I

Further develops a student's writing, reading, and oral skills in Punjabi, a major language of northern India and Pakistan.

Full details for PUNJB 2201 - Intermediate Punjabi I

An introduction to the essentials of Sanskrit grammar. Designed to enable the student to read classical and epic Sanskrit as soon as possible.

Full details for SANSK 1131 - Elementary Sanskrit I

Review of grammar and reading of selections from Sanskrit epic poetry and narrative prose.

Full details for SANSK 2251 - Intermediate Sanskrit I

Selected readings in Sanskrit literary and philosophical texts.

Full details for SANSK 3301 - Advanced Sanskrit I

This course will introduce the basic Sinhala language elements and elements of Sri Lankan culture for those who are interested in the field of language and culture. Also for those planning to travel to Sri Lanka, heritage students, etc.

Full details for SINHA 1100 - Elements of Sinhala Language and Culture

Semi-intensive introduction to colloquial Sinhala, intended for beginners. A thorough grounding is given in all the language skills; listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

Full details for SINHA 1121 - Elementary Sinhala I

This course further develops student competence in colloquial Sinhala, attending to all the language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. In addition, this course prepares students for the transition to literary Sinhala.

Full details for SINHA 2201 - Intermediate Sinhala I

This one-semester course provides an introduction to the distinctive grammatical forms and vocabulary used in Literary Sinhala. While focused particularly on the development of reading skills, the course also introduces students to Literary Sinhala composition, and builds students' listening comprehension of semi-literary Sinhala forms (such as those used in radio and TV news).

Full details for SINHA 3301 - Literary Sinhala I

This one-semester course further develops students' comprehension of written Literary Sinhala, using sample materials from a variety of genres prepared by the instructor, as well as excerpts from texts relevant to graduate student research (when appropriate).

Full details for SINHA 4400 - Literary Sinhala II

The course will introduce very basic functional uses of Tagalog/Filipino language and elements of Filipino culture to interested students like heritage learners and those who are planning to travel briefly to the Philippines to participate in a short project or study abroad program in the country.

Full details for TAG 1100 - Elements of Tagalog/Filipino Language and Culture

Gives a thorough grounding in basic speaking and listening skills with an introduction to reading and writing.

Full details for TAG 1121 - Elementary Tagalog/Filipino I

Develops all four skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

Full details for TAG 2201 - Intermediate Tagalog/Filipino I

Continuing instruction on conversational skills but with emphasis on reading and writing. Selected core readings in contemporary Tagalog literature are used, but students, in consultation with the instructor, may select some of the reading materials.

Full details for TAG 3301 - Advanced Tagalog/Filipino I

This course is designed for students with no previous knowledge of Tamil language who expect to participate in university programs in Tamil-speaking areas of the world.  Students will learn enough phrases to be able to handle very simple interactions and express very simple needs.  The class will be run mostly in the Tamil language.  Emphasis will be on behaving appropriately in Tamil settings, with regard to language use and other behavior.  Through out-of-class readings, students will also gain an understanding of the history and current place of Tamil in South Asia.

Full details for TAMIL 1100 - Elements of Tamil Language and Culture

Introduces students to the basic grammatical and syntactical skills required to function adequately in a Tamil-speaking environment. Of particular interest to students planning to conduct scholarly research or fieldwork in that region of the world. Introduces students to the rich culture of the Indian subcontinent where Tamil is spoken.

Full details for TAMIL 1121 - Elementary Tamil I

THAI 1100 introduces basic spoken Thai and various aspects of Thai culture for short-term visitors.  Through active, participatory learning this course cultivates a working knowledge of the Thai language and develops a cultural "intuition" that is meaningful and functional for achieving a smooth transition and successful experience in Thailand.  This course is for students who are personally interested in Thai culture as well as those participating in university projects in Thailand.

Full details for THAI 1100 - Elements of Thai Language and Culture

This beginning level course provides a solid grounding in all four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) with an emphasis on speaking and listening comprehension.  The aim is to enable learners to think in Thai and learn to converse and "get around" in certain basic situations in daily life.

Full details for THAI 1121 - Elementary Thai I

Continues to develop and comprehensively extends the four language skills acquired at the Elementary level (listening, speaking, reading, and writing).

Full details for THAI 2201 - Intermediate Thai I

Develops conversational skill along with reading and writing skills at a High Intermediate level.

Full details for THAI 2203 - Intermediate Thai Composition and Conversation I

Develops advanced speaking skill with emphasis on selected readings in Thai from various fields, for example, History, Anthropology, Government, Economics, Agriculture, as well as other professional schools.  The readings are supplemented with visual materials such as video clips and films.

Full details for THAI 3301 - Advanced Thai I

Reading of significant novels, short stories, and poetry written since 1850 and other classical works.

Catalog Distribution: (CA-AS)

Full details for THAI 3303 - Thai Literature I

This course is designed for students who have some previous knowledge of Tibetan and the main focus will be on using the language to communicate.

Full details for TIBET 1111 - Elementary Modern Tibetan I

Introduces students to the grammar of Classical Literary Tibetan as found in Indian treatises translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan, as well as indigenous Tibetan philosophical works. The course progresses through a sequence of the basic rudiments of the language, including an introduction to the script and its romanization, pronunciation (central Lhasan dialect), normative dictionary order, and the basic categories of grammar. Following these preliminaries, students proceed to guided readings in Tibetan literature designed to introduce them to the formal approach of Tibetan lexical semantics with an emphasis on the role of verbs in determining argument realization options. Over the duration of the course, students encounter new vocabulary (and associated Buddhist concept hierarchies) and increasingly complex sentence structures. This course thus provides a solid foundation for the later exploration of other genres of literature and styles of composition.

Full details for TIBET 1121 - Elementary Classical Tibetan I

This two-semester class is designed to assist students who already have the equivalent of at least two-years of Tibetan language study. The course is intended to build on this foundation so that students gain greater proficiency in reading a variety of classical Tibetan writing styles and genres, including (especially in the second semester) texts relevant to their research.

Full details for TIBET 2201 - Intermediate Classical Tibetan I

The course develops students' reading comprehension skills through reading selected modern Tibetan literature. Tibetan is used as the medium of instruction and interaction to develop oral fluency and proficiency.

Full details for TIBET 3311 - Advanced Modern Tibetan I

This course is designed to develop competence in Urdu reading and writing for students with a first-year knowledge of Hindi and knowledge of Urdu script. The goal of this course is to improve listening, speaking, reading and writing abilities in Urdu. By the end of the course, students will have the ability to read articles, write short stories and translate Urdu writings. May be taken concurrently with Intermediate Hindi.

Full details for URDU 2225 - Intermediate Urdu Reading and Writing I

Designed for those students who have either taken Intermediate Urdu or are at the same level of competency in reading and writing skills. The goals of this class are to improve Urdu literary reading and writing abilities, primarily through reading various forms of Urdu prose. In addition, students learn about various genres of Urdu poetry and watch video clips and lectures that enhance listening and speaking abilities as well as the understanding and appreciation of Urdu culture.

Full details for URDU 3325 - Literary Reading and Writing in Advanced Urdu

This course gives a thorough grounding in all Vietnamese language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

Full details for VIET 1121 - Elementary Vietnamese I

Continuing instruction in spoken and written Vietnamese.

Full details for VIET 2201 - Intermediate Vietnamese I

Continuing instruction in spoken and written Vietnamese. Introduction to reading newspapers; the course emphasizes on enlarging vocabulary and increasing reading speed by reading various genres and styles of prose.

Full details for VIET 3301 - Advanced Vietnamese I