Why do humans write poems in times of love and war? What is the connection between song, pleasure, and pain? This course focuses on lyric poetry from South Asia in multiple languages and composed from the classical to the contemporary historical periods. Course materials, all in English translation, include the short poems of ancient Tamil and Sanskrit, the devotional poems of medieval poet-saints, the songs of nationalist poets such as Rabindranath Tagore and Subramania Bharati, and testimonial poetry of contemporary conflicts. Texts will be supplemented by contemporary performances in film and popular culture and by secondary sources. Students will develop skills in description, analysis, and arguments through a combination of drafting and scaffolded writing assignments. Written assignments will include expressive writing, peer responses, and argumentative prose.

Full details for ASIAN 1104 - FWS: Songs of Love and War: South Asian Lyrics

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

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 and instructor.

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

Buddhist texts and teachers often refer to "liberation," and "enlightenment." But what do Buddhists mean by "freedom"? How do Buddhist thought and practice address the human need for comfort and ways of inhabiting social and personal adversity? Looking at historical and modern-contemporary materials - including Buddhist writings, podcasts, and visual materials - we explore these and related questions. At the same time, working with different textual forms, we explore approaches to writing. What makes writing accessible and engaging? How can we describe richly and make our analyses and arguments clear? For academic writing and in our wider personal and professional lives, writing skills are a source of power, as well as an expression of creativity. Our assignments build writerly skills, and confidence, exploring summary, description, analysis and argument. We will write in a range of genres including more academic and journalistic pieces. Writing work takes place in and outside of class, through both independent and peer-work, and several assignments are workshopped through multiple drafts with the professor.

Full details for ASIAN 1118 - FWS: Power, Protection, and Liberation: Buddhist Paths to Flourishing

This course serves as a general introduction to the study of Japan in the humanities. Through literature, film, art, and pop culture, we will explore how ?Japaneseness? and ?Japanese culture? have historically been constructed, debated, and rethought from early history to the present from a variety of perspectives and academic disciplines. All texts will be available in English; no prior knowledge of Japanese language, history, or culture required. (ASIAN-GE)

Full details for ASIAN 2211 - Introduction to Japan

People outside China often talk about China's rise, the changes in world economics and politics that come from the increase of the economic 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? This class is one of several topical courses in the Department of Asian Studies that serve as introductory courses to important aspects or themes of Chinese civilization. The course assumes little or no background in the study of China. (ASIAN-GE)

Full details for ASIAN 2232 - Introduction to China: Getting Rich in Modern China

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. No previous knowledge of musical notation or performance experience necessary. (ASIAN-SC, MUSIC-HC)

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

This course offers an anthropological approach to the study of religious traditions and practices in South Asia: India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. The course begins with a short survey of the major religious traditions of South Asia: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, and Islam. We look to the development of these traditions through historical and cultural perspectives. The course then turns to the modern period, considering the impact of colonialism, nationalism, and globalization upon religious ideologies and practices. The primary focus of the course will be the ethnographic study of contemporary religious practices in the region. We examine phenomena such as ritual, pilgrimage, possession, devotionalism, monasticism, asceticism, and revivalism through a series of ethnographic case studies. In so doing, we also seek to understand the impact of politics, modernity, diasporic movement, social inequality, changing gender roles, and mass mediation upon these traditions and practices. (ASIAN-RL)

Full details for ASIAN 2254 - South Asian Religions in Practice: The Healing Traditions

An exploration of processes of change in health care practices in China. Focuses on key transitions, such as the emergence of canonical medicine, of Daoist approaches to healing and longevity, of scholar physicians, and of traditional Chinese medicine in modern China. Inquries into the development of healing practices in relation to both popular and specialist views of the body and disease; health care as organized by individuals, families, communities, and states; the transmission of medical knowledge; and healer-patient relations. Course readings include primary texts in translation as well as secondary materials. (ASIAN-SC, HIST-HAN, HIST-HPE)

Full details for ASIAN 2262 - Medicine and Healing in China

The largest of the three great Islamic empires of the early modern era, the Mughal empire at its height ruled over most of the Indian subcontinent, and more than 100 million subjects. This course offers a survey of the Mughal empire between c. 1500 and 1800, exploring how Mughal imperial culture reflected the cultural and religious diversity of India. We will consider how the rise and fall of the Mughals was connected to broader global transformations in early modern world, and how the rise of British power in India was shaped by the legacies of Mughal rule. Primary sources include court chronicles, biographies of emperors, as well as Mughal painting and architecture. (ASIAN-SC, HIST-HPE, HIST-HTR)

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

China was and still is regarded in the Western world as a country without the rule of law. In this course, students examine recent scholarship that challenges this simplified understanding of the role of law in Chinese politics and society. It approaches law in early modern and modern China both as a state institution of governance and control, and as a platform that facilitates interactions and negotiations between state and society, between different social forces, and between different cultures. At the same time, this course guides students to develop projects of their own choice, either addressing legal issues or using legal sources, from tentative proposals to research papers based on their examination of original or translated primary sources. (ASIAN-SC, HIST-HAN)

Full details for ASIAN 2280 - Law and Society in Early Modern and Modern China

In contemporary China, as in many other places of the world, the ideology and social reality of gender relations is highly paradoxical. Women are flattered for their power as consumers and commitment to the family while they are also expected to engage in wage-earning employment. Men, on the other hand, face constant pressure of being tough and social problems such as costly betrothal gifts as unintended consequences of a gender regime that is supposedly male-oriented. Are these paradoxes a betrayal of the socialist experiment of erasing gender differences? Are they remnants of China's long imperial tradition? This course explores the power dynamics of gender relations in China from ancient times to the present. It leads students to examine scholarship that challenges the popularly accepted myth of lineal progression of China toward gender equality, and to understand women's and men's life choices in various historical settings. At the same time, this course guides students to adopt gender as a useful analytical category, treating China as a case study through which students are trained to engender any society past and present. (ASIAN-SC, HIST-HAN)

Full details for ASIAN 2291 - Engendering China

From the poet-kings of medieval Persia to the trading networks of the famed ?Silk Road? to the wandering mystics of Herat to the constitutional revolution of Iran to the colonial and post-colonial occupations of contemporary Afghanistan, this course offers a broad cultural and political history of Iranian and Turkic Central Asia. In addition, we will explore the highly complex intellectual, artistic, and architectural trends and ?cross-cultural? exchanges that formed the backbone of many disparate Iranian-Turkic cultures. (ASIAN-SC)

Full details for ASIAN 2294 - Of Saints, Poets, and Revolutionaries: Medieval and Modern Iran and Central Asia

This course reexamines Korea?s place in East Asia by studying transnational cultural and intellectual interactions that Korea has had with China and Japan. The course is divided into three parts. First, it examines Korea?s centuries-long participation in the China-centered East Asian world order and its exit from that world order around the turn of the twentieth century. Second, it turns to Japan?s emergence as an expansionist power in East Asia, replacing China?s long-term hegemony in the region, and the diverse ways Koreans and other East Asians, including the Japanese, coped with the Japan-centered new formation of the East Asian world order in the first half of the twentieth century. Third, the course moves to contemporary Korea and investigates the impact of the so-called Korean Wave (the global popularity of Korean popular culture) on Japanese society and Korea-Japan relations, giving students a chance to think deeply about the effects of Japanese colonialism on contemporary Korea-Japan relations and the possible role of culture in smoothing over ongoing political and diplomatic tensions between the two neighboring countries. (ASIAN-SC, HIST-HAN)

Full details for ASIAN 2296 - Korea and East Asia

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. (ASIAN-RL)

Full details for ASIAN 2299 - Buddhism

This course examines the long, complicated history of Korea?s relationship with China, focusing on the period from the fourteenth century to the present. Rather than having a nation-bound interpretation of history, the course explores how Korea?s national identity?from the Choson dynasty, through the colonial period, to the contemporary era of the two Koreas?has been shaped and negotiated in close relation to its interactions with China. By addressing various issues in Korean history that reflect Korea?s strong ties and conflicts with China, the course not only offers a comprehensive understanding of Korean history from a broader comparative perspective but also contributes to the transnational history of East Asia. No prior knowledge of Korean or Chinese is required. (ASIAN-SC, HIST-HAN)

Full details for ASIAN 3021 - History of Korea-China Relations

This course 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 scientific, hermeneutical, and psychological points of view. (ASIAN-RL)

Full details for ASIAN 3049 - History, Theory, and Methods in the Academic Study of Religion

This course explores the intentional removal of oneself from society as expressed in East Asian Buddhist literature, through the acts of hermits and pilgrims. We read the diaries, essays, autobiographies, and poetry of recluse monks and nuns from China, Korea and Japan, and the musings of pilgrims through the ages in these countries, with special attention to Japan. Last, we examine how the actions of many of these writers influenced the American counter-culture movement in the 1960?s and into the present. We inquire what light these writings can shed on ?the great resignation? of recent years, and ?quiet quitting? as a response to late capitalism, ecosystem collapse and climate change and social upheaval in our current times. Many of the figures we read were directly critiquing social excess and materialism, and these writings offer surprising assessments of our current age. (ASIAN-RL)

Full details for ASIAN 3331 - Opt Out, Tune In: Hermits, Pilgrims and Dharma Bums, from East Asia to Ithaca

The arts of Southeast Asia are studied in their social context, since in traditional societies creative processes are often mapped on the sequence of events that compose human lives. We will be looking particularly at the gendered ways in which bodies are mapped on the land, and how these various framings are often reflected in the unique relationships that emerge between works of art and textual sources. The South Asian epics of the Ramayana (Story of Rama) and the Mahabharata will be explored during the semester as infinitely renewable sources of inspiration. Special emphasis will be devoted to localized encounters in Indonesia, Cambodia, Burma/Myanmar, Vietnam, and Thailand. (ASIAN-SC)

Full details for ASIAN 3350 - The Arts of Southeast Asia

In this course, we will study Asia's kingdoms, states, and empires, and how this past is formulated as national heritage in present-day modern Asian states. We examine how Asian states and their royal traditions first came to be, including Hindu, Buddhist, and East Asian kings and emperors, and how the legacy of these glorious pasts is reinterpreted and staged as national heritage. Our examples will include Cambodia's Angkor empire modeled on Indian traditions, as well as Burma, Thailand, Japan, China, and more. We will use readings, films, lectures and in-class student presentations on many topics. The course also serves as a prerequisite to the separate in-country Winter semester course Heritage, History, and Identity in Cambodia (ANTHR 3590/6590). (ASIAN-SC)

Full details for ASIAN 3362 - Kingship, Nation, and Heritage in Asia

The course will be thoroughly comparative in order to highlight both the specificity of each country as well as more generalizable dynamics of 21st century development. It will be divided into a number of inter-related modules. After a framing lecture, we will briefly cover the two countries' distinct experiences with colonialism and centralized planning. Then we will move on to dynamics of growth, which will seek to explain the relative success of China in the era of market reforms. In analyzing political consequences, we will assess how new forms of cooperation and conflict have emerged. This will involve attention to both internal dynamics as well as how rapid development has seen an increasing accumulation of political power in the East. It goes without saying that accelerating growth has led to huge social change, resulting in profound reorganizations of Chinese and Indian society. Finally, the course will conclude by returning to our original question - is this indeed The Asian Century? What does the rise of China and India mean for the rest of the world, and how are these two giant nations likely to develop in the future? (ASIAN-SC)

Full details for ASIAN 3380 - The Asian Century: The Rise of China and India

China is often thought of as being isolated from the outside world. It is imagined as existing in historic seclusion, and, following the establishment of the People's Republic, as pursuing a path of autarky. Such separation has then only been somewhat modified by the set of economic reforms that Deng Xiaoping first instituted in the late 1970s. In this lecture we will seek to turn such conventional wisdom on its head through examining what China is via a consideration of transnational currents within the country's development. However, the course's primary focus will not be upon the past, but rather the present and attempting to determine just where the point of intersection between China and the rest of the world is. Coming to terms with such an issue will provide those who enroll in the class with a deeper, more nuanced, understanding of China's rise and this trend's implications for the rest of the world. We will accomplish this task through a combination of surveying the existing literature on China and transnational politics, and considering new theoretical perspectives on both. (ASIAN-SC, GOVT-IR)

Full details for ASIAN 3395 - What is China?

This course examines Southeast Asia's history from earliest times up until the mid-eighteenth century. The genesis of traditional kingdoms, the role of monumental architecture (such as Angkor in Cambodia and Borobodur in Indonesia), and the forging of maritime trade links across the region are all covered. Religion - both indigenous to Southeast Asia and the great imports of Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam - are also surveyed in the various premodern polities that dotted Southeast Asia. This course questions the region's early connections with China, India, and Arabia, and asks what is indigenous about Southeast Asian history, and what has been borrowed over the centuries. Open to undergraduates, both majors and non-majors in History, and to graduate students, though with separate requirements. (ASIAN-SC, HIST-HAN, HIST-HPE)

Full details for ASIAN 3397 - Monsoon Kingdoms: Pre-Modern Southeast Asian History

This course explores the Buddhist tradition of Zen through a focus on the major figures in its Japanese context who have contributed to its foundational practices and promulgation and its revitalization after periods of decline. We begin with the introduction of Buddhism into Japan in the 6th century and the issues surrounding the establishment of the ?six schools? of Buddhism in the 8th century and the prestige and dominance of the Tendai School on Mt. Hiei. This allows us to see the uniquely Japanese context of religious debates. We then turn to an exploration of the Zen thinkers Eisai, D?, Keizan, and Hakuin and see how these thinkers all introduced ideas to Japanese Zen practice that led the tradition into new directions from its Chinese origins: tea cultivation, work practice, and monastic reform. Last, we study how Zen came to be regarded as the ?way of the warrior? and a symbol of Japanese uniqueness and militarism. The course ends with an exploration of Zen expansion in the US in the 20th century and the ?D? boom? in American literary theory. (ASIAN-RL)

Full details for ASIAN 4021 - Zen Buddhism and its Japanese Context: Major Thinkers

Buddhist ideas, practices, and institutions play many roles in the political life of South and Southeast Asia, in the present day and throughout the long history of these regions. This course approaches ?politics? broadly. Thus, the course explores how persons invoke Buddhist concepts and understandings of Buddhist traditions when acting for and against state and sovereign powers, but also how Buddhist ideas and institutions are drawn into other social projects that shape the flow and accumulation of social capital, economic benefit, and authority. Case studies and theoretical works address historical, modern, and contemporary materials. Assignments include the opportunity for students to focus on a contemporary regional location of their choice. (ASIAN-RL)

Full details for ASIAN 4023 - Buddhism and Politics in South and Southeast Asia

This is an events-based course. Students will attend ten seminars in the South Asia Program seminar series. The work of scholars, filmmakers, and artists presenting research in the series spans the region and its diasporas (e.g., India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bhutan, and Indian Ocean worlds). Topics considered will cross the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Students will attend these events and engage with the material presented in short response papers and supplemental readings. The objective of this course is to offer students, whether they are familiar with the region or not, new perspectives on the lived experiences of South Asia. Students will also become familiar with interdisciplinary area studies as an intellectual project. (ASIAN-SC)

Full details for ASIAN 4377 - Issues in South Asian Studies

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

Seminar intended to examine the increasingly complex relationship that has evolved between China and the rest of the international system, with particular focus on the rise of Chinese nationalism and the extent to which those in Tibet, Xinjiang, and, to a lesser extent, Taiwan, are contesting such a trend. In so doing, the course emphasizes the interrelated, yet often contradictory, challenges facing Beijing in regards to the task of furthering the cause of national unity while promoting policies of integration with international society and interdependence with the global economy. (ASIAN-SC, GOVT-IR)

Full details for ASIAN 4448 - China, Tibet and Xinjiang

This course focuses on three major and interrelated themes within Filipino/Filipino American history: war/empire, labor/migration, and culture/imaginaries. How do we account for the overwhelming number of Filipinos in nursing, domestic work, and the U.S. military? How do filmmakers, visual/theatre artists, and writers continue to remember the oft-forgotten history of U.S.-Philippine relations? In what ways have diasporic and immigrant Filipinos as well as Filipino Americans created their own culture as well as engaged with their counterparts in the Philippines? By reading historical and sociological texts alongside popular cultural texts and artistic examples, this course considers the politics of history, memory, and cultural citizenship in Filipino America. (ASIAN-SC)

Full details for ASIAN 4452 - Critical Filipino and Filipino American Studies

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. (ASIAN-SC)

Full details for ASIAN 4473 - Modern Chinese Art

This is an advanced seminar on the political economy of East and Southeast Asia. Our central task is to uncover the political underpinnings of economic performance across countries and over time. Along the way, we will address issues such as corruption and rent-seeking, the developmental state, class conflict, ethnic politics, reform and stagnation, and democracy.

Full details for ASIAN 4498 - Asian Political Economy

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

Since the mid-twentieth century, artists based in and across East Asia have turned to performance art, using bodily actions to blur the boundaries between art and everyday social life. This course analyzes performance art’s sociocultural underpinnings by treating it as an artistic medium and a critical practice shaped by interrelated histories of geopolitical conflict, colonialism, modernization, authoritarianism, and globalization in the East Asian context. Students will examine a range of approaches including happenings, body art, durational pieces, site-specific practices, and socially engaged performances to consider broader theoretical issues such as performance’s paradoxical dependence on visual documentation, censorship and the politics of visibility, gender and sexuality, temporality, and spectatorship. Attention will be given to local contexts while also tracing transnational networks and art festivals that influence how East Asian performance art circulates and is interpreted.

Full details for ASIAN 4845 - Contemporary Performance Art in East Asia, 20th -21st Century

Buddhist ideas, practices, and institutions play many roles in the political life of South and Southeast Asia, in the present day and throughout the long history of these regions. This course approaches ?politics? broadly. Thus, the course explores how persons invoke Buddhist concepts and understandings of Buddhist traditions when acting for and against state and sovereign powers, but also how Buddhist ideas and institutions are drawn into other social projects that shape the flow and accumulation of social capital, economic benefit, and authority. Case studies and theoretical works address historical, modern, and contemporary materials. Assignments include the opportunity for students to focus on a contemporary regional location of their choice. (ASIAN-RL)

Full details for ASIAN 6023 - Buddhism and Politics in South and Southeast Asia

This upper-level seminar explores how East Asian literary, religious, and cultural traditions have imagined worlds shared by humans and nonhuman beings. Focusing on the ways in which the boundary between the human and the nonhuman is defined, contested, and reconfigured, the course engages in close readings of theoretical and primary texts featuring ghosts, animals, insects, objects, disability, and the figures of the barbarian other. Students will analyze how nonhuman agents unsettle anthropocentric assumptions and articulate alternative ontologies of life, agency, and relationality. Drawing on contemporary theoretical frameworks such as posthumanism, multispecies studies, and ecocriticism, the course invites students to reconsider what it meant?and what it might mean?to inhabit a world that is fundamentally more-than-human. (ASIAN-LL)

Full details for ASIAN 6025 - More-than-Human Worlds: Ghosts, Animals, and Insects in East Asian Tradition

This course 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 scientific, hermeneutical, and psychological points of view.

Full details for ASIAN 6049 - History, Theory, and Methods in the Academic Study of Religion

This is an events-based course. Students will attend ten seminars in the South Asia Program seminar series. The work of scholars, filmmakers, and artists presenting research in the series spans the region and its diasporas (e.g., India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bhutan, and Indian Ocean worlds). Topics considered will cross the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Students will attend these events and engage with the material presented in short response papers and supplemental readings. The objective of this course is to offer students, whether they are familiar with the region or not, new perspectives on the lived experiences of South Asia. Students will also become familiar with interdisciplinary area studies as an intellectual project. (ASIAN-SC)

Full details for ASIAN 6377 - Issues in South Asian Studies

This required seminar for the new graduate minor in media studies considers media from a wide number of perspectives, ranging from the methods of cinema and television studies to those of music, information science, communication, science and technology studies, and beyond. Historical and theoretical approaches to media are intertwined with meta-critical reflections on media studies as an interdisciplinary field of inquiry. Close attention will be paid to media's role in shaping and being shaped by race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, and other politically constructed categories of identity and sociality.

Full details for ASIAN 6400 - Thinking Media Studies

This is a survey of English-language literary criticism about literature in Chinese, including drama and film, from the late Qing to the present. Students read in a roundtable format, bringing diverse monographs into one conversation about the shape and content of Chinese literary studies in Western languages. The course is designed to prepare graduate students for potential field exams in Chinese literature, modern China, or one of their many subfields. (ASIAN-LL)

Full details for ASIAN 6603 - Modern Chinese Literature Field Survey

An introduction to the key reference and research works available for Japanese studies (both print and digital). Uses of databases and reference works on a given theme will be modelled in the class hour. Students will then practice with these resources for homework, according to their selected research projects, and report back on issues. The course will also touch on book history. (ASIAN-LL)

Full details for ASIAN 6612 - Japanese Bibliography and Research Methods

In this course, we will study Asia's kingdoms, states, and empires, and how this past is formulated as national heritage in present-day modern Asian states. We examine how Asian states and their royal traditions first came to be, including Hindu, Buddhist, and East Asian kings and emperors, and how the legacy of these glorious pasts is reinterpreted and staged as national heritage. Our examples will include Cambodia's Angkor empire modeled on Indian traditions, as well as Burma, Thailand, Japan, China, and more. We will use readings, films, lectures and in-class student presentations on many topics. The course also serves as a prerequisite to the separate in-country Winter semester course Heritage, History, and Identity in Cambodia (ANTHR 3590/6590). (ASIAN-SC)

Full details for ASIAN 6652 - Kingship, Nation, and Heritage in 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. (ASIAN-SC)

Full details for ASIAN 6673 - Modern Chinese Art

The course will be thoroughly comparative in order to highlight both the specificity of each country as well as more generalizable dynamics of 21st century development. It will be divided into a number of inter-related modules. After a framing lecture, we will briefly cover the two countries' distinct experiences with colonialism and centralized planning. Then we will move on to dynamics of growth, which will seek to explain the relative success of China in the era of market reforms. In analyzing political consequences, we will assess how new forms of cooperation and conflict have emerged. This will involve attention to both internal dynamics as well as how rapid development has seen an increasing accumulation of political power in the East. It goes without saying that accelerating growth has led to huge social change, resulting in profound reorganizations of Chinese and Indian society. Finally, the course will conclude by returning to our original question-is this indeed The Asian Century? What does the rise of China and India mean for the rest of the world, and how are these two giant nations likely to develop in the future? (ASIAN-SC)

Full details for ASIAN 6680 - The Asian Century: The Rise of China and India

This course examines Southeast Asia's history from earliest times up until the mid-eighteenth century. The genesis of traditional kingdoms, the role of monumental architecture (such as Angkor in Cambodia and Borobodur in Indonesia), and the forging of maritime trade links across the region are all covered. Religion - both indigenous to Southeast Asia and the great imports of Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam - are also surveyed in the various premodern polities that dotted Southeast Asia. This course questions the region's early connections with China, India, and Arabia, and asks what is indigenous about Southeast Asian history, and what has been borrowed over the centuries. Open to undergraduates, both majors and non-majors in History, and to graduate students, though with separate requirements. (ASIAN-SC)

Full details for ASIAN 6697 - Monsoon Kingdoms: Pre-Modern Southeast Asian History

Since the mid-twentieth century, artists based in and across East Asia have turned to performance art, using bodily actions to blur the boundaries between art and everyday social life. This course analyzes performance art’s sociocultural underpinnings by treating it as an artistic medium and a critical practice shaped by interrelated histories of geopolitical conflict, colonialism, modernization, authoritarianism, and globalization in the East Asian context. Students will examine a range of approaches including happenings, body art, durational pieces, site-specific practices, and socially engaged performances to consider broader theoretical issues such as performance’s paradoxical dependence on visual documentation, censorship and the politics of visibility, gender and sexuality, temporality, and spectatorship. Attention will be given to local contexts while also tracing transnational networks and art festivals that influence how East Asian performance art circulates and is interpreted.

Full details for ASIAN 6845 - Contemporary Performance Art in East Asia, 20th -21st Century

Guided independent study for graduate students.

Full details for ASIAN 7703 - Directed Research

Introduces students to the Bangla language and script, building foundational skills in speaking, listening, reading, and writing while preparing learners to reach ACTFL Novice High proficiency outcomes such as producing simple sentences on familiar topics, exchanging basic information, recognizing key details in short texts, and participating in everyday interactions using practiced language. Students begin speaking from day one and engage in communicative tasks like introducing themselves, talking about family, expressing likes and dislikes, asking for directions, ordering food, describing weather and routines, and navigating common real life scenarios through role plays and guided practice. Reading proficiency develops through work with the Bangla script, shop signs, short informational texts, and authentic materials, while writing proficiency grows through script practice, completing personal information forms, composing simple sentences, and writing short notes and descriptions. The course also supports a heritage learner pathway: students who speak or understand Bangla at home but have little or no literacy in the script often begin in BENGL 1121, where they can strengthen their oral skills while building systematic reading, writing, and grammar foundations. Designed for true beginners and heritage learners without prior literacy experience.

Full details for BENGL 1121 - Elementary Bangla-Bengali I

Strengthens students’ linguistic range and cultural literacy as they progress toward ACTFL Intermediate Mid proficiency outcomes, including understanding main ideas in short informational and fictional texts, exchanging information on familiar and researched topics, and creating connected sentences to narrate events or express viewpoints. Students engage in communicative tasks such as giving advice, discussing social experiences, conducting interviews, presenting researched topics, and telling stories across time frames. Reading proficiency grows through work with authentic texts that require identifying key information and cultural nuance, while writing proficiency expands through connected-sentence narratives, explanations, and basic argumentative responses. The course also supports a heritage learner pathway, allowing students with home language exposure to deepen literacy, expand vocabulary, and develop sustained, grammatically accurate discourse. Designed for learners who have completed BENGL 1122 or demonstrate equivalent proficiency.

Full details for BENGL 2201 - Intermediate Bangla-Bengali I

Develops higher-level linguistic accuracy and cultural fluency as students work toward ACTFL Advanced Low proficiency outcomes, including identifying underlying messages in informational and fictional texts, sustaining discussions across major time frames, negotiating complications, and presenting viewpoints with supporting evidence. Students engage with sophisticated materials such as modern Bangla short fiction, global news, film, and media texts, completing tasks like interpreting narrative layers, comparing cultural perspectives, analyzing social issues, and delivering multi-paragraph presentations. Reading proficiency expands through extensive exposure to authentic literary, journalistic, and audiovisual materials, while writing proficiency strengthens through paragraph-level narratives, argumentation, and analytical compositions. The course also supports a heritage-learner pathway, enabling learners with oral/aural proficiency to deepen literacy, critical reading skills, and mastery of advanced register distinctions across standard, colloquial, and regional Bangla. Designed for students who have completed BENGL 2202 or demonstrate equivalent proficiency.

Full details for BENGL 3301 - Advanced Bangla-Bengali I

This course is designed to give beginning learners a solid foundation in reading and writing Burmese. Reading and writing skills are essential first steps to learning the language, and this is the only course where you will learn the script. You will also learn some basic spoken Burmese and important grammatical concepts. Some of the assignments are completed online using interactive video and audio materials.

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

This course is for you if you have taken elementary Burmese at Cornell or learned some Burmese elsewhere and know how to read and write Burmese script. You will continue developing proficiency in learning all major aspects of the language with a focus on reading authentic texts, engaging with audio-video clips and at the intermediate level, including reading and understanding formal-style texts. Some of the assignments are completed online using interactive video and audio materials.

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

This course develops your Burmese language skills further, targeting growth in all four core areas: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. All materials used in the course are authentic Burmese short stories, current event reports, various digital media such as blogs and YouTube videos. 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

This course will further develop the student's reading proficiency in Burmese. Challenging authentic texts will be read, analyzed, and translated to English. A certain amount of discussion in Burmese is also part of the course, but the primary objective is to learn to read and understand the typical texts that appear on websites about current events, cultural trends, as well as short literary works by contemporary authors. Heritage speakers of Burmese as well as students who are learning Burmese as a foreign language are welcome. Reading materials are selected depending on the needs and interests of the students and differ from year to year.

Full details for BURM 3309 - Advanced Readings in Burmese (Myanmar) I

Designed for complete beginners, providing a thorough grounding in conversational and reading skills. Students with any previous background or training in the language will need to take the Mandarin Placement Test to determine which Chinese course will best suit their needs. For non-heritage learners only.

Full details for CHIN 1101 - Beginning Mandarin I

Intended primarily for students whose family language is Mandarin , but who have had little or no formal training. If you have basic conversational skills in Mandarin Chinese but can read and write very little, this is the course for you. The focus is on reading, writing, and speaking, as well as culture, and current events in the Chinese speaking community.

Full details for CHIN 1109 - Beginning Chinese Reading and Writing for Students of Chinese Heritage 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 grew up speaking Chinese with family members. Students will read authentic texts written by iconic Chinese figures such as Xu Dishan and Hu Shih (a Cornell alumnus, class of 1914), and practice writing while exploring various aspects of Chinese culture embedded in the texts. Students will exit the course with a book of their own in Chinese as an option. This course helps students further solidify their foundation for Chinese study at the next level as well as enhance their awareness of and overall competence in cross-cultural communication. If you grew up hearing and speaking Chinese and have very limited reading and writing proficiency, but have a goal of becoming a true bilingual of English and Chinese, this course is designed with you in mind.

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

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

Full details for CHIN 3301 - High Intermediate Mandarin I

Continuing instruction in spoken Chinese and in various genres and styles of written Chinese.

Full details for CHIN 3351 - High Intermediate Mandarin I: CAPS in Beijing

Reading, discussion, and composition at advanced levels.

Full details for CHIN 4411 - Advanced Mandarin I

This advanced course aims to further develop the four communication skills in Chinese: speaking, listening, reading, and writing, through learning materials and activities on various topics related to China Studies. These include authentic Chinese texts and TV programs, class discussions on contemporary issues, and written compositions. Students can also expect to broaden their knowledge of Chinese culture and society through this course. Classical Chinese will be introduced to help students further develop their understanding of written and formal Chinese, as well as deepen their appreciation of Chinese culture.

Full details for CHIN 4427 - High Advanced Mandarin I

Reading, discussion, and composition at advanced levels.

Full details for CHIN 4451 - Advanced Mandarin I: CAPS in Beijing

This course is designed for students who have satisfactorily finished CHIN 2210 or CHIN 4412, or the equivalent. The focus of the course is on formal Chinese, and the main aim of this course is to help students achieve an advanced level of Chinese performance, so that they may combine Chinese with their work in their majors. The course material will be formal Chinese writings by native speakers, mostly for native speakers, related to students' majors and fields of interest. In addition, classical Chinese will also be introduced through readings as a means to enhance student's understanding of the language.

Full details for CHIN 4453 - High Advanced Mandarin I: CAPS in Beijing

Students learn the fundamental grammar and vocabulary of Classical Chinese by analyzing and translating short passages from early sources. (ASIAN-LL)

Full details for CHLIT 2213 - Introduction to Classical Chinese I

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

Full details for CHLIT 4421 - Directed Study

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

Full details for CHLIT 6621 - Advanced Directed Reading

Designed for students who have no prior background in Hindi and wish to develop some basic speaking and written skills. This course offers a balanced treatment of speaking, listening comprehension, reading, and writing skills. By the end of the Elementary Hindi sequence, students will be able to (1) converse and comprehend conversations on topics such as personal needs and social activities; (2) listen and communicate main ideas of simple stories and conversations in Hindi; (3) read aloud/pronounce and write in Hindi-Urdu scripts at satisfactory speed; (4) familiarize themselves with the language through the meaning cultural contexts and background.

Full details for HINDI 1121 - Elementary Hindi I

This is an intermediate-level course in Hindi. Students' competence in all four language areas will become extraordinarily 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 for students with no previous knowledge of Indonesian or Malay language. Students will acquire sufficient vocabulary to comprehend and articulate Indonesian phrases with pronunciation understood by native speakers. This will enable them to engage in simple interactions, express basic needs, and behave appropriately in Indonesian environments. Cultural information will be taught in English. Indonesianists of Cornell share fun information about their fields of expertise regarding Indonesia. 80% of the course, the Bahasa Indonesia language component, will be practiced.

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 at a high intermediate and low advanced level in which students read and discuss selected materials on issues of their academic interests, write essays, and make oral presentations.

Full details for INDO 3301 - High Intermediate Indonesian I

A critical academic language course at a higher advanced level that sharpens students' proficiency of integrated language skills from an advanced high or above level, based on the ACTFL proficiency benchmarks. Students read, discuss, debate and explore hypotheses on issues from specialized disciplines to broader abstract ideas.

Full details for INDO 4401 - Advanced Indonesian for Research I

Gives a thorough grounding in all four language skills-speaking, listening, reading, and writing-at the beginning level. The laboratory provides explanation, analysis, and cultural background. Daily lectures 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

In this course, students select their own Japanese reading materials and read independently at their own pace using the Extensive Reading (Tadoku) method. Tadoku means reading for enjoyment at a level where students can read smoothly and quickly without relying on dictionaries or translation. Students will meet in the class to read books at or slightly below their fluent reading level. Through this process, over the semester they will gradually build vocabulary and kanji knowledge, improve prediction skills, and develop the ability to read more complex sentences with ease. The primary focus of the class is individual reading and one-on-one consultations with the instructor. Additional activities—such as group discussions, journal writing, and presentations—will also be incorporated.

Full details for JAPAN 2221 - Extensive Reading in Japanese - Tadoku

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 - High 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

This course introduces students to the fundamental grammatical forms of Classical Japanese (kobun), also known as Literary Japanese (bungo). Prior to the standardization of modern Japanese, bungo served as the official written form of the language from the Heian period through the mid-twentieth century and continues to influence contemporary Japanese poetry, as well as legal and business language. Students will gain an understanding of the historical development of Japanese across different periods while learning to distinguish the nuances of particles and to conjugate verbs. We will systematically study the core components of Classical Japanese using textbooks, excerpts from canonical texts, and supplementary materials. Grammar is taught through contextualized examples drawn from Japanese literary classics, while also reinforcing knowledge of modern Japanese. Students will practice translating short passages into English. (ASIAN-LL)

Full details for JPLIT 4406 - Classical Japanese I: Grammar

This course introduces students to the fundamental grammatical forms of Classical Japanese (kobun), also known as Literary Japanese (bungo). Prior to the standardization of modern Japanese, bungo served as the official written form of the language from the Heian period through the mid-twentieth century and continues to influence contemporary Japanese poetry, as well as legal and business language. Students will gain an understanding of the historical development of Japanese across different periods while learning to distinguish the nuances of particles and to conjugate verbs. We will systematically study the core components of Classical Japanese using textbooks, excerpts from canonical texts, and supplementary materials. Grammar is taught through contextualized examples drawn from Japanese literary classics, while also reinforcing knowledge of modern Japanese. Students will practice translating short passages into English. (ASIAN-LL)

Full details for JPLIT 6606 - Classical Japanese I: Grammar

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

Full details for JPLIT 6625 - Directed Readings

Guided independent study for graduate students. (ASIAN-LL)

Full details for JPLIT 6627 - Advanced Directed Readings

This 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

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; emphasis on enlarging vocabulary, increasing reading speed, and reading various genres and styles of prose.

Full details for KHMER 3301 - Advanced Khmer I

The course develops students’ comprehension of written Literary Khmer using samples materials from a variety of genres including excerpts from texts/novels, news articles, and poetry as well as texts relevant to graduate student research (when appropriate). This course is applied to persons who want to continue to learn Khmer and want to pursue the language study in the future.

Full details for KHMER 4401 - Readings in Khmer Literature I

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 lab. Students will then have an opportunity to practice the learned knowledge in lectures. By the end of the semester, students will be able to engage in simple conversations with native Koreans on subjects familiar to them such as, introducing oneself and family members, likes and dislikes, hobbies, and describing events or objects in the present and past, etc.

Full details for KOREA 1101 - Elementary Korean I

Designed for heritage learners who possess pre-existing oral proficiency but require intensive development in formal literacy. This course bridges the gap between home-spoken Korean and academic standards by devoting significant instructional time to mastering foundational grammatical structures and orthography. In a supportive learning environment with personalized pedagogical support, students engage in systematic linguistic training to align their speaking and listening skills with formal reading and writing. The curriculum encourages students to connect their personal heritage with academic language standards through meaningful interaction and instructor-led mentorship.

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

Designed for intermediate learners to achieve higher communicative fluency through active engagement in diverse speech events. The course emphasizes a student-centered communicative framework in which the instructor facilitates dynamic discussions on topics aligned with learner interests, such as Korean fashion, travel, and public culture. By fostering an engaging, interactive classroom atmosphere, students are encouraged to move beyond survival skills to express personal opinions. Authentic media materials bridge the gap between classroom learning and real-world application.

Full details for KOREA 2201 - Intermediate Korean I

Designed for the Korean heritage students who can understand and speak Korean, but especially 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 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. Various projects will enhance students' overall linguistic and intercultural competence. Korean typing skill is required.

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

Designed for high-intermediate learners, this course fosters a collaborative environment where heritage and non-heritage students build linguistic synergy. The course prioritizes student agency, inviting learners to engage in deep discussions on a wide range of topics, including contemporary social values, interpersonal dynamics, and the "Korean Wave," as well as traditional customs and regional products. Based on their specific cultural inquiries, students use Content-Based Instruction (CBI) to transition into independent language users, learning to articulate complex ideas and engage in sophisticated academic debates within a supportive intellectual community.

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) through Content-Based Instruction and Project-Based Language Learning. 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. With frequent discussions and compositions on various contemporary news articles, medical drama series, and documentaries, students are encouraged to become Intercultural Communicative Citizens and learn the contents through the language. The expected student outcome is to gain confidence in the academic level of discussions and compositions by critical thinking and analyzing. Korean typing skill is required.

Full details for KOREA 4401 - Advanced Korean I

This course is designed for beginners with no prior knowledge of the Nepali language. It focuses on developing essential language skills—speaking, listening, reading, and writing—through the use of culturally relevant materials and texts. Emphasis is placed on foundational grammar structures and practical communication. Students will also be introduced to the Devanagari script for reading and writing in Nepali.

Full details for NEPAL 1121 - Elementary Nepali I

This course focuses on reading, writing, and conversational skills, aiming to strengthen oral proficiency and improve comprehension through reading, conversations, and listening activities.

Full details for NEPAL 2201 - Intermediate Nepali I

This course offers advanced-level Nepali instruction, emphasizing conversation, interviews, and discussion skills.

Full details for NEPAL 3301 - High Intermediate Nepali I

This course introduces students to Punjabi, a major language of northern India and Pakistan. Beginning with the study of the Gurmukhi script, the course offers an intensive study of the speaking, reading, and writing of the language. This is approached through the theme-based syllabus, a discussion in small groups and paired activities on the cultural background of Punjab and Punjabi culture.

Full details for PUNJB 1121 - Elementary Punjabi I

Further develops students' skills in Punjabi, a major language of northern India and Pakistan. Continuing with the study of the Gurmukhi script, the course offers an intensive study of the speaking, reading, and writing of the language. This is approached through the theme-based syllabus, a discussion in small groups and paired activities on the cultural background of Punjab and Punjabi culture.

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

Readings from simple Sanskrit poetry: the Mahabharata and the Ramayana.

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

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 class materials.

Full details for TAG 3301 - Advanced Tagalog-Filipino I

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

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 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.

Full details for THAI 3303 - Thai Literature I

This is an introductory course and no previous knowledge is required. It focuses on developing basic abilities to speak as well as to read and write in modern Tibetan, Lhasa dialect. Students are also introduced to modern Tibetan studies through selected readings and guest lectures.

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 one year 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.The syllabus is largely structured around readings in A Classical Tibetan Reader, supported by relevant instruction and exercises on key grammatical points using selections from the Clear Mirror. Students will learn to identify commonly found vocabulary, grammatical constructions and other conventions appearing in Classical Tibetan texts, including religious, historical and literary genres. At the end of the semester, students will also be introduced to texts in the dbu-med script and the abbreviated words (skung yig) often employed in these.

Full details for TIBET 2201 - Intermediate Classical Tibetan I

For those whose knowledge is equivalent to a student who has completed the first-year course. The course focuses on the further development of their skills in using the language to engage with practical topics and situations, such as seeing a doctor, reading news, writing letters, and listening to music.

Full details for TIBET 2211 - Intermediate Modern Tibetan I

This class is designed to assist students who already have the equivalent of at least two years of Classical 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 texts relevant to their research.

Full details for TIBET 3301 - Advanced Classical Tibetan I

For those whose knowledge is equivalent to a student who has completed the second-year course. 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

Topics vary by semester in relation to student needs.

Full details for URDU 5509 - Graduate Studies in Urdu

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

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