Courses

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 surveys modern Chinese history from 1644 to 1949. Time will be devoted to each of the three major periods: China's last empire, the Great Qing (1644-1911); the early Republic (1912-1927); and the Nationalist period (1928-1949). It guides students through pivotal events in modern Chinese history, and uncovers the origins and trajectory of China's painful transition from a powerful early modern empire to a country torn by civil unrest and imperialist invasion, and then from a newly-recognized "Great Power" in the post-World War II international order to a vanguard of the global communist revolution.

Full details for ASIAN 1192 - Modern China

Interdisciplinary introduction to Chinese culture especially designed for students not majoring in Asian Studies. Explores literature, history, religion, and art, and other aspects of China's rich and diverse heritage, from earliest times to the present.

Full details for ASIAN 2212 - Introduction to China

In 1868, samurai revolutionaries and their allies seized the reins of power and established a new capital they called Tokyo.  Against all odds, this fragile regime survived and made Tokyo a center of power that would transform both Japan and the world.  This survey of Japanese history explores the rise and fall of Japan as a modern imperial power; its foreign relations; its economic and scientific development from "feudalism" to futuristic technologies; and Japan's many modern revolutions, from the rule of the samurai to Westernization and democracy, from democratic collapse to fascism and World War II, and from Japan's postwar rebirth to the present.  We will examine not only big events but also everyday life, including gender and sexuality, family and schools, and art and popular culture.

Full details for ASIAN 2222 - The World of Modern Japan

Whether it is politics, society, the law, sexuality, popular culture or minorities' rights, the media are saturated with news on Islam. This course introduces topical issues in Islam as a religious, historical, cultural and political phenomenon. We will discuss this religion's manifold interpretations and investigate its multiple manifestations across the globe, giving special attention to Asia (from Iran to China, Indonesia, Afghanistan, India, Thailand, etc.). Key themes include religious devotion, the arts, Islamic law, gender, statehood, jihad, and sectarianism. No previous knowledge of Islam is required as the course covers the fundamentals of Islam as a religious system as well as a historical phenomenon.

Full details for ASIAN 2247 - Controversy and Debate in Islam

This course explores the breadth of music found in present day China, Japan, and Korea--from indigenous musical traditions, through adaptations of Western art music, up to the latest popular styles--as well as the presence of traditional East Asian musics outside East Asia, including right here at Cornell. In both cases, music offers a lens for examining the myriad social and cultural forces that shape it, and that are shaped by it. The course's academic focus on critical reading and listening, written assignments, and discussion is complemented by hands-on workshops and demonstrations with student-led ensembles.

Full details for ASIAN 2259 - Music in and of East Asia

This introductory course is a broad survey of the history of the Indian subcontinent from remnants of the Mughal empire through the end of the British empire into the postcolonial present. Prominent themes include the emergence of nonviolent protest, religious and regional identities, ethnic rivalries, social reform and the "woman question," deindustrialization, nationalism and the place of democracy and militarism in a region that includes two nuclear powers, India and Pakistan. 

Full details for ASIAN 2275 - History of Modern India

This course probes the truths behind traditional claims of the priority of internal practice in Indian traditions. We will examine both practices themselves - techniques of meditation and contemplation - religious ways of using intellect, forms of chant and ritual, and the dynamics through which these have left a wider mark on South Asian civilization. These dynamics include not only the evident reverberations of practice in philosophical reflection and socioreligious institutions, but also wide-ranging processes of stylization, elaboration, and popularization found throughout South Asian culture. In order to get a sense of the experiences treated in classical religious texts, students will be expected to experiment with some basic meditation practices. At least as important for the work of the course (and much more important for the grade) will be the ways in which students situate these practices within larger South Asian world views as suggested by doctrines, rituals, iconic forms, and literary texts. To keep the interaction between internal practice and broader world views central, we will examine both Hindu and Buddhist sources, consistently examining the ways in which similar practices are given distinct shapes by the two religious traditions.

Full details for ASIAN 2277 - Meditation in Indian Culture

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.

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

The twentieth century was a time of unprecedented change in China as the country's ancient imperial system collapsed and a new modern order began to emerge. This course will explore the myriad transformations that occurred during this remarkable century of revolution and renewal. Among the major changes that we will focus on are the fall of the Qing dynasty, the intellectual awakening of May Fourth, the rise of the Nationalist party-state, and key events of the Communist era, such as the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution under Mao Zedong and the capitalist reforms of Deng Xiaoping. The class will encourage historical reflection on China's engagement with the modern world in order to better understand the complex reality of China today.

Full details for ASIAN 2286 - Transformations in Twentieth Century China

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 3308 - Issues in Contemporary China II

How do Buddhists live out their philosophies and ethics? What are the spaces of ritual, devotion, meditation, education, and politics? How do Buddhist practices and affiliations satisfy aesthetic and emotional needs and build social networks? This course explores the unfolding of Buddhist life in contemporary South and Southeast Asia, in locations such as Burma/Myanmar, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Cambodia. 

Full details for ASIAN 3309 - Temple in the World: Buddhism in Contemporary South and Southeast Asia

This course explores the Zen's central religious, historical and aesthetic developments. We read primary sources in translation and secondary sources. We examine the rise of the Ch'an tradition in China and the development of Northern and Southern Schools. In Japan, we examine the establishment of Zen in the Kamakura period, through the development of both Rinzai and Soto Zen, and early transmissions of Chinese texts and practices to Japan through Japanese emissaries. We study the lives and writings of Eisai and Dôgen, and explore how their works influenced later developments in Zen. Next we read works by Hakuin. Last, we study how Zen is implicated in Japanese fascism and later, postwar identity discourses. Finally, we look at Zen in an American context. This course is being taught both as an integrated arts in the curriculum course in collaboration with the Johnson Art Museum and is also part of a "Internationalizing the Cornell Curriculum."  An optional 10-day trip to Japan to spend time in Zen temples and a monastery will be offered to students.  Furthermore, students studying Japanese  language can sign up for an optional 1-credit language course exploring Zen practice and arts vocabulary (JAPAN 2216).

Full details for ASIAN 3316 - Zen Buddhism: Ecology, Sustainability and Daily Life

Ancient Gandhara, modern northwestern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan, has long captivated the imagination of scholars with its great cultural diversity and haunting Hellenistic Buddhist art. This course explores the history, religion, and culture of Gandhara from the 4th century BCE to the 4th century CE, with a focus on the region's unique expression of Buddhism, especially as it is demonstrated in recently discovered Buddhist manuscripts. We take up the themes of syncretism and hybridity to better understand the encounter between Indian, Iranian, Greek, and Central Asian cultural forms. Students will read Buddhist texts in translation, interpret sculptures, coins, and other visual and material culture, and study trends in secondary scholarship on the region.

Full details for ASIAN 3328 - Buddhism in Ancient Gandhara

Ever since the creation of the concept of a culturally and geographically stable center in China, people have been intentionally excluded from that center. Disgraced officials are sent to far-flung provinces, loyalists to past regimes hide out across China's borders, and dissidents have their entry visas revoked, making it impossible for them to return home. The experiences of these people, and the poems and stories they write, tell us a great deal about what it means and how it feels to be included and excluded. What is the difference between the way China looks from the inside and the way it looks from the outside? Who has the power to decide who gets to live in China, and how and why do they use it? What is the relationship between our identities and our homes? Texts studied will range from 300 BCE to the present; all will be read and discussed in English. 

Full details for ASIAN 3329 - Literature of Leaving China

The idea of the barbarians is as old as civilization itself. But what is a barbarian, and what is the role that barbarians play, as the savage enemies of civilization? In this course we will address such questions by looking at how different civilizations have imagined their barbarians, ranging from their key role in Greek drama, and as infidels in religious conceptions, to Chinese walls, and American savagery. We will examine both historical examples, and the barbarians of today -- the terrorists and insurgents so often framed as dark and primitive, in contrast with ourselves. Through readings and visual materials, we will seek to discover what these barbarians have in common. We will look comparatively for the underlying patterns of history that the barbarians are drafted from, to draw a new picture of the barbarians. At the same time, we will arrive at a new understanding of civilization as such, as well as of the general nature of human inequality, and how it is justified.   

Full details for ASIAN 3332 - The Barbarians

This course will give students the historical background and theoretical tools to understand the politics of Southeast Asia, one of the world's most diverse and fascinating regions. The first part of the course traces Southeast Asia's political development from the colonial period to the present day, examining common themes such as decolonization, state building, war and insurgency, ethnic relations, democratization, economic development, and nationalism. The second part of the course focuses on key issues in contemporary Southeast Asian politics, including political culture, representation and mass politics, globalization, regional politics, and civil violence. Our course will concentrate primarily but not exclusively on the six largest countries in the region-Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam-using the comparative method to understand variation across time, across countries, and within countries.

Full details for ASIAN 3334 - Southeast Asian Politics

This course will survey the rich and sophisticated tradition of Indian philosophical thought from its beginnings in the speculations of Upanishads, surveying debates between Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and materialistic philosophers about the existence and nature of God and of the human soul, the nature of knowledge, and the theory of language.

Full details for ASIAN 3344 - Introduction to Indian Philosophy

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.

Full details for ASIAN 3350 - The Arts of Southeast Asia

Full details for ASIAN 3356 - Performing Angkor: Dance, Silk and Stone

New media remain central to ongoing struggles over the constitution of the public sphere in Asia. In high measure, censorship affects the Internet and visual media (including digital, independent cinema), and government agencies are particularly wary of the viral qualities of new media. Extensive state investment into Internet control is offset by the fact that the Internet remains a primary site of political dissent and organizing. New media and communications technologies further continue to engender novel forms of political expression and notions of collectivity. In the past few years activists and artists as well as mass publics have thus forged distinct modes of expression in and around new media that, while frequently evading state prohibition, nevertheless present incisive political critique. The course will examine features unique to digital media—such as the viral, mimetic, archival, and amplificatory properties of the Internet—and ask how politicized media make use of these features to intervene into contexts of censorship and occlusion. We will draw on Asian media contexts also to interrogate assumptions about progressive politics. Investigating the logics of contemporary digital media in relation to the field of political expression, the course complicates received notions of non-Western political public spheres as illiberal, or lagging behind a stage of political development posited as normative.

Full details for ASIAN 3376 - Digital Asia

Surveys the modern history of Southeast Asia with special attention to colonialism, the Chinese diaspora, and socio-cultural institutions.  Considers global transformations that brought "the West" into people's lives in Southeast Asia.  Focuses on the development of the modern nation-state, but also questions the narrative by incorporating groups that are typically excluded.  Assigns primary texts in translation. 

Full details for ASIAN 3396 - Transnational Local: Southeast Asian History from the Eighteenth Century

This course is an exploration of the development of the Vajrayana tradition through a focus on the myths and stories about, and writings by central figures in what is known in the west as Tibetan Buddhism. A fundamental premise of this course is that any study of Tibetan Buddhism must take into consideration the implications of the dramatic events which have shaped the last sixty years of Tibetan history, and the fracture of meaning caused by the near destruction of this religious world after the communist invasion and subsequent full occupation of Tibet.  Understanding how the lens of exile and a nostalgia for a pre-Chinese invasion history shape current studies of Tibetan Buddhism will be a continuing theme throughout this course.  At the end of this course, it is hoped that students will have a grounded and nuanced understanding of the complexities of this great religious tradition, the implications of its appropriations in the western imagination as an idyllic Shangri-la, and the challenges Tibetan Buddhism faces as a diverse religious tradition as it attempts to rebuild its religious institutions in exile.

Full details for ASIAN 4400 - Tibetan Buddhism

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 4404 - Supervised Reading

This course uses the lens of temporality to track transformations in notions of urban personhood and collective life engendered by recent trans-Asia economic shifts. We will develop tools that help unpack the spatial and cultural forms of density and the layered histories that define the contemporary urban fabric of cities such as Hanoi, Bangkok, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. The course combines the investigation of the cinemas and literatures of the region with the study of recent writing on cities from Asian studies, film studies, queer theory, urban studies, political theory, religious studies, cultural geography, literary theory, and anthropology.

Full details for ASIAN 4423 - The City: Asia

Chinese discourses have long linked the circulation of cosmic energies, political power, and bodily vitalities. In these models political order, spiritual cultivation, and health are achieved and enhanced through harmonizing these flows across the levels of Heaven-and-Earth, state, and humankind. It is when these movements are blocked or out of synchrony that we find disordered climates, societies, and illness. In this course, we will examine the historical emergence and development of these models of politically resonant persons and bodily centered polities, reading across primary texts in translation from these otherwise often separated fields. For alternate frameworks of analysis as well as for comparative perspectives, we will also examine theories of power and embodiment from other cultures, including recent scholarship in anthropology and critical theory.

Full details for ASIAN 4429 - Vitality and Power in China

With sectarian conflicts and discussions on orthodoxy and heresy dominating the headlines, it becomes important to better understand the relationship between Muslim majorities and minorities. This seminar focuses on Shi'a Muslims, a minority group that has existed alongside the Sunni majority since the first century of Islam. Focussing on the Asian region (e.g. Pakistan, Central Asia, Indonesia) and its transnational connections to the Middle East and Iran, the course will examine the emergence of Shi'a Islam as well as its ongoing transformation in the realm of politics, ritual, literature, the arts and more.

Full details for ASIAN 4434 - Muslim Resistance: Shi'a Islam in Asia

Topics will change in relation to curricular needs in the South Asia Program and the Department of Asian Studies.

Full details for ASIAN 4437 - Topics in Tamil Studies

This course provides an overview of the various features of work and labor in contemporary China. After a brief section on historical background, we will analyze how market reforms have impacted work for Chinese employees, and how unions, employers, the state, NGOs, and workers themselves have responded to these changes. Additionally, this course will situate China's changing labor relations within the broader global context.

Full details for ASIAN 4443 - Work and Labor in China

Full details for ASIAN 4459 - History of Book in China

In popular discourses, Buddhism and Islam are now often conceptualized as sharply contrasting religious traditions. Moreover, tensions between Buddhists and Muslims now feature strongly in some contemporary Asian social and political arenas. However, historically, interaction between Buddhism and Islam, and between Muslims and Buddhists, reveals many striking instances of co-presence, and interdependence in Asian contexts. For instance, Buddhists and Muslims shared pilgrimage sites and trade routes, sometimes facilitating the growth of one another's religious communities.  Moreover, the expansion of these religious traditions often involved comparable patterns of patronage and localization. We explore the co-presence of Buddhists and Muslims in Asia thematically, using case studies from diverse Asian locations, from late 1st millennium A.D. to the present day. In doing so, we will come to understand the distinctive post-colonial and later capitalist dynamics that contribute to Buddhist-Muslim political violence in Asia.

Full details for ASIAN 4466 - Buddhists and Muslims: Asian Interactions

This seminar explores how patterned cloths serve as a symbolic medium, functioning on multiple levels of understanding and communication. As spun, dyed, and woven threads of consequence, textiles can be seen to enter into all phases of social, economic, political, religious, and performance processes, often assuming unusual properties and attributes. As bearers of talismanic messages, signifiers of rank, and as the recipients of influences from maritime trade and touristic demand, textiles are read between the folds of complex exchange mechanisms in South and Southeast Asia.

Full details for ASIAN 4487 - Threads of Consequence: Textiles in South and Southeast Asia

This course presents theories of language teaching and learning, and shows how they apply to Asian language course structure, classroom instruction, and assessment techniques.  Students will observe classes taught by experienced teachers, discuss language learning theory and practice, and design and implement their own class activities. 

Full details for ASIAN 5505 - Methodology of Asian Language Learning and Teaching

This course is intended to make students aware of and give them direct experience with the key reference works available for Japanese studies (both print and digital), as well as to expose them to academic standards and practices of research and writing within a given discipline.

Full details for ASIAN 6612 - Japanese Bibliography and Research Methods

Covers practical bibliographical skills and research methods necessary to accomplish quality research in the field of Southeast Asian Studies.  During the semester we will explore resources available at the Cornell University Libraries, those provided through Library subscription, and resources available elsewhere.

Full details for ASIAN 6613 - Southeast Asian Bibliography and Research Methods

This course explores the Zen's central religious, historical and aesthetic developments. We read primary sources in translation and secondary sources. We examine the rise of the Ch'an tradition in China and the development of Northern and Southern Schools. In Japan, we examine the establishment of Zen in the Kamakura period, through the development of both Rinzai and Soto Zen, and early transmissions of Chinese texts and practices to Japan through Japanese emissaries. We study the lives and writings of Eisai and Dôgen, and explore how their works influenced later developments in Zen. Next we read works by Hakuin. Last, we study how Zen is implicated in Japanese fascism and later, postwar identity discourses. Finally, we look at Zen in an American context. This course is being taught both as an integrated arts in the curriculum course in collaboration with the Johnson Art Museum and is also part of a "Internationalizing the Cornell Curriculum."  An optional 10-day trip to Japan to spend time in Zen temples and a monastery will be offered to students.  Furthermore, students studying Japanese  language can sign up for an optional 1-credit language course exploring Zen practice and arts vocabulary (JAPAN 2216).

Full details for ASIAN 6616 - Zen Buddhism: Ecology, Sustainability and Daily Life

This course uses the lens of temporality to track transformations in notions of urban personhood and collective life engendered by recent trans-Asia economic shifts. We will develop tools that help unpack the spatial and cultural forms of density and the layered histories that define the contemporary urban fabric of cities such as Hanoi, Bangkok, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. The course combines the investigation of the cinemas and literatures of the region with the study of recent writing on cities from Asian studies, film studies, queer theory, urban studies, political theory, religious studies, cultural geography, literary theory, and anthropology.

Full details for ASIAN 6623 - The City: Asia

Ancient Gandhara, modern northwestern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan, has long captivated the imagination of scholars with its great cultural diversity and haunting Hellenistic Buddhist art. This course explores the history, religion, and culture of Gandhara from the 4th century BCE to the 4th century CE, with a focus on the region's unique expression of Buddhism, especially as it is demonstrated in recently discovered Buddhist manuscripts. We take up the themes of syncretism and hybridity to better understand the encounter between Indian, Iranian, Greek, and Central Asian cultural forms. Students will read Buddhist texts in translation, interpret sculptures, coins, and other visual and material culture, and study trends in secondary scholarship on the region.

Full details for ASIAN 6628 - Buddhism in Ancient Gandhara

The idea of the barbarians is as old as civilization itself. But what is a barbarian, and what is the role that barbarians play, as the savage enemies of civilization? In this course we will address such questions by looking at how different civilizations have imagined their barbarians, ranging from their key role in Greek drama, and as infidels in religious conceptions, to Chinese walls, and American savagery. We will examine both historical examples, and the barbarians of today -- the terrorists and insurgents so often framed as dark and primitive, in contrast with ourselves. Through readings and visual materials, we will seek to discover what these barbarians have in common. We will look comparatively for the underlying patterns of history that the barbarians are drafted from, to draw a new picture of the barbarians. At the same time, we will arrive at a new understanding of civilization as such, as well as of the general nature of human inequality, and how it is justified.   

Full details for ASIAN 6632 - The Barbarians

With sectarian conflicts and discussions on orthodoxy and heresy dominating the headlines, it becomes important to better understand the relationship between Muslim majorities and minorities. This seminar focuses on Shi'a Muslims, a minority group that has existed alongside the Sunni majority since the first century of Islam. Focussing on the Asian region (e.g. Pakistan, Central Asia, Indonesia) and its transnational connections to the Middle East and Iran, the course will examine the emergence of Shi'a Islam as well as its ongoing transformation in the realm of politics, ritual, literature, the arts and more.

Full details for ASIAN 6634 - Muslim Resistance: Shi'a Islam in Asia

This seminar explores how patterned cloths serve as a symbolic medium, functioning on multiple levels of understanding and communication. As spun, dyed, and woven threads of consequence, textiles can be seen to enter into all phases of social, economic, political, religious, and performance processes, often assuming unusual properties and attributes. As bearers of talismanic messages, signifiers of rank, and as the recipients of influences from maritime trade and touristic demand, textiles are read between the folds of complex exchange mechanisms in South and Southeast Asia.

Full details for ASIAN 6644 - Threads of Consequence: Textiles in South and Southeast Asia

Full details for ASIAN 6660 - History of Book in China

In popular discourses, Buddhism and Islam are now often conceptualized as sharply contrasting religious traditions.  Moreover, tensions between Buddhists and Muslims now feature strongly in some contemporary Asian social and political arenas.  However, historically, interaction between Buddhism and Islam, and between Muslims and Buddhists, reveals many striking instances of co-presence, and interdependence in Asian contexts. For instance, Buddhists and Muslims shared pilgrimage sites and trade routes, sometimes facilitating the growth of one another's religious communities.  Moreover, the expansion of these religious traditions often involved comparable patterns of patronage and localization.  We explore the co-presence of Buddhists and Muslims in Asia thematically, using case studies from diverse Asian locations, from late 1st millennium A.D. to the present day. In doing so, we will come to understand the distinctive post-colonial and later capitalist dynamics that contribute to Buddhist-Muslim political violence in Asia.

Full details for ASIAN 6666 - Buddhists and Muslims: Asian Interactions

New media remain central to ongoing struggles over the constitution of the public sphere in Asia. In high measure, censorship affects the Internet and visual media (including digital, independent cinema), and government agencies are particularly wary of the viral qualities of new media. Extensive state investment into Internet control is offset by the fact that the Internet remains a primary site of political dissent and organizing. New media and communications technologies further continue to engender novel forms of political expression and notions of collectivity. In the past few years activists and artists as well as mass publics have thus forged distinct modes of expression in and around new media that, while frequently evading state prohibition, nevertheless present incisive political critique. The course will examine features unique to digital media—such as the viral, mimetic, archival, and amplificatory properties of the Internet—and ask how politicized media make use of these features to intervene into contexts of censorship and occlusion. We will draw on Asian media contexts also to interrogate assumptions about progressive politics. Investigating the logics of contemporary digital media in relation to the field of political expression, the course complicates received notions of non-Western political public spheres as illiberal, or lagging behind a stage of political development posited as normative.

Full details for ASIAN 6676 - Digital Asia

Surveys the modern history of Southeast Asia with special attentions to colonialism, the Chinese diaspora, and socio-cultural institutions. Considers global transformations that brought "the West" into people's lives in Southeast Asia. Focuses on the development of the modern nation-state, but also questions the narrative by incorporating groups that are typically excluded. Assigns primary texts in translation.

Full details for ASIAN 6696 - Transnational Local: Southeast Asian History from the Eighteenth Century

Guided independent study for graduate students.

Full details for ASIAN 7704 - Directed Research

Enables students to read and comprehend basic Bengali texts as well as speak and write in the language.

Full details for BENGL 1122 - Elementary Bengali II

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 2202 - Intermediate Bengali II

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

Full details for BENGL 3302 - Advanced Bengali II

The skills learned in the first semester are reinforced and expanded in this course. The focus is on building up confidence in speaking and understanding spoken Burmese that you will need if you visit the country. Significant practical skills are learned along with essential information on some customs and traditions of Burmese culture. Knowledge and understanding of grammar is also an important part of the course.

Full details for BURM 1122 - Elementary Burmese (Myanmar) II

Continuing instruction in Burmese at the higher intermediate level with a focus on improving oral expression, reading and interpretation of written texts, and further development of listening skills using language learning materials based on authentic audio-video clips.

Full details for BURM 2202 - Intermediate Burmese (Myanmar) II

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 3302 - Advanced Burmese (Myanmar) II

For 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 1102 - Beginning Mandarin II

Continuation of CHIN 1109. 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 1110 - Beginning Chinese Reading and Writing for Students of Chinese Heritage II

A continuation of  CHIN 1121. This course helps students develop basic skills in Mandarin Chinese, at a moderate pace. For complete beginners only.

Full details for CHIN 1122 - Beginning Mandarin for Professional Students II

A continuation of  CHIN 1123 . This course helps students develop basic skills in Mandarin Chinese, at a moderate pace. For non-heritage learners only. 

Full details for CHIN 1124 - Beginning Mandarin for Professional Students IV

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 2202 - Intermediate Mandarin II

If your long-time goal is to become a true bilingual of English and Chinese, this course will be the next great step you take.  This course uses authentic articles from the Chinese version of New York Times and focuses on how to read effectively, write clearly and coherently through 1) learning both semi-formal and formal vocabulary, modern idiomatic expressions, advanced sentence structures and the major features that define the advanced Chinese; 2) practicing persuasive writing about the different aspects of Chinese culture or events that interest you; 3) and completing a book of your own in Chinese as your project that documents the learning that takes place during the semester.  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 2210 - Intermediate Chinese Reading and Writing for Students of Chinese Heritage II

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

Full details for CHIN 3302 - High Intermediate Mandarin II

Full details for CHIN 3352 - High Intermediate Mandarin II: CAPS in Beijing

Reading, discussion, and composition at advanced levels.

Full details for CHIN 4412 - Advanced Mandarin II

This course aims to help students achieve an advanced level of performance both in speaking and writing through readings, discussions and writing exercises on social and cultural topics on contemporary China.  Classical Chinese will be introduced in this class as part of  the course supplementary readings.

Full details for CHIN 4428 - High Advanced Mandarin II

Full details for CHIN 4452 - Advanced Mandarin II: CAPS in Beijing

Full details for CHIN 4454 - High Advanced Mandarin II-CAPS/Beijing

Students read from early Classical Chinese texts and learn to use advanced sources for solving textual problems.

Full details for CHLIT 2214 - Introduction to Classical Chinese II

Through guided reading in Chinese, students in this course explore topics, themes and techniques that define the body of works known as chuanqi (stories of the marvelous) and zhiguai (stories of the strange). The aim of the course is to help students achieve an appreciation for the early development of Chinese narrative tradition in the context of Chinese literary and popular culture of Tang dynasty China.

Full details for CHLIT 4418 - Stories of the Strange and the Marvelous from the Tang Dynasty

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 4422 - Directed Study

Through guided reading in Chinese, students in this course explore topics, themes and techniques that define the body of works known as chuanqi (stories of the marvelous) and zhiguai (stories of the strange). The aim of the course is to help students achieve an appreciation for the early development of Chinese narrative tradition in the context of Chinese literary and popular culture of Tang dynasty China. Students will also be introduced to essential bibliographical materials and critical literature for advanced study of Tang narrative literature.

Full details for CHLIT 6618 - Stories of the Strange and the Marvelous from the Tang Dynasty

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 6622 - Advanced Directed Reading

Designed for students who have either completed one semester of Hindi at Cornell or demonstrate same level of competency in Hindi. The main focus of this course is to reinforce and build students language acquisition 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 1102 - Elementary Hindi II

HINDI 2202 is the continuation of HINDI 2201. The main emphasis in this course is to reinforce  the linguistic functions learned in HINDI 2201, and to build comparatively more complex functions suitable for intermediate level in Hindi. Students' competence in all four language skills will be improved in order to perform higher level tasks and function.

Full details for HINDI 2202 - Intermediate Hindi II

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 2204 - Intermediate Hindi Reading and Writing for Heritage Students II

This is a continuation of HINDI 3301. 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 3302 - Advanced Hindi II

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 1122 - Elementary Indonesian II

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

Full details for INDO 2202 - Intermediate Indonesian II

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 3302 - Advanced Indonesian II

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 1102 - Elementary Japanese II

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 2202 - Intermediate Japanese II

This FLAC section is designed for students interested in developing functional communication skills relevant to Buddhism.  Students will learn the vocabulary, terminology, and concepts used in Zen studies and the arts in Japanese.

Full details for JAPAN 2216 - Zen no Kokoro - Heart of Zen

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 3302 - Continuing Intermediate Japanese II

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

Full details for JAPAN 4402 - Advanced Japanese II

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 4422 - 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

Full details for JPLIT 6628 - Advanced Directed Readings

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

Continuation of KOREA 1101, this course is designed to help students acquire the 4 skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) of the Korean language and to become familiar with its culture. Basic knowledge of Korean grammar, vocabulary, expressions and cultural points will be given during the lecture. The students will then have an opportunity to practice the learned knowledge in sections. The goal of this course is to refine their survival skills in Korean. 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: school life, family and friends, traffic and transportation, vacation plans, food and restaurant, hobbies, etc.

Full details for KOREA 1102 - Elementary Korean II

Continuation of KOREA 1109. Focuses on communicative skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing by introducing a wide range of linguistic resources. Students will command daily conversation in different cultural contexts and develop an ability to summarize and reflect on literacy texts and films both in oral and written modes. Course members will be able to create a discourse regarding topics such as birthday, campus life, family, shopping and hobbies. Also, students will write and revise their own work regularly to improve linguistic accuracy and reduce error production.

Full details for KOREA 1110 - Elementary Korean Reading and Writing II

Continuation of KOREA 2201 . The course helps students develop further communicative competence by understanding and producing complex linguistic structures and pragmatically appropriate expressions in cultural contexts. Students will use linguistic tools to describe and express their stance, justification, attitudes, evaluation and complex clausal relations. Students will command a lengthy discourse regarding various topics such as holidays, marriage, birthday, doctor-patient talk and job interview.

Full details for KOREA 2202 - Intermediate Korean II

Continuation of KOREA 2209. Designed for 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 the 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 classroom discussions.

Full details for KOREA 2210 - Intermediate Korean Reading and Writing II

Continuation of KOREA 3301. Students will continue to refine their high-intermediate language skills. Authentic published materials and documentary video-clips will be introduced in order for students to be exposed to an advanced level of Korean. Students will discuss and write an essay on topics regarding information age, health, the origin of Valentine's Day, culture of advertisement and Korean folktales. Students are given the opportunity to do research on Korean culture and society following an academic research format and give an oral presentation in class.

Full details for KOREA 3302 - High Intermediate Korean II

Continuation of KOREA 4401.  Designed to acquire profound knowledge in various fields of Korea: Current issues in Korean society, Korean people's thoughts and mind, tradition, history and culture. This course follows the Learner-Centered methodology encouraging students to be active participants in their language learning process. The Learner-Centered methodology is applied by asking students to lead a discussion on the topic of their assigned TV documentary and the contemporary novel. Through discussion and analysis, students will understand the different styles of texts and genres.

Full details for KOREA 4402 - Advanced Korean II

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 1102 - Elementary Nepali II

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 2202 - Intermediate Nepali Conversation II

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 2204 - Intermediate Nepali Composition II

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

Full details for NEPAL 3302 - Advanced Nepali II

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 1122 - Elementary Punjabi II

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

Full details for PUNJB 2202 - Intermediate Punjabi II

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 1132 - Elementary Sanskrit II

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

Full details for SANSK 2252 - Intermediate Sanskrit II

Selected readings in Sanskrit literary and philosophical texts.

Full details for SANSK 3302 - Advanced Sanskrit II

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 1122 - Elementary Sinhala II

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 2202 - Intermediate Sinhala II

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 1122 - Elementary Tagalog/Filipino II

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

Full details for TAG 2202 - Intermediate Tagalog/Filipino II

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 3302 - Advanced Tagalog/Filipino II

Full details for TAMIL 1122 - Elementary Tamil II

Full details for TAMIL 2202 - Intermediate Tamil II

Full details for TAMIL 3302 - Advanced Tamil II

This beginning level course provides a solid grounding in all four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) with an emphasis on reading and writing. The aim is to enable learners to continue the process of thinking in Thai and learning to converse and "get around" in certain basic situations in daily life with an additional of basic literacy skill.

Full details for THAI 1122 - Elementary Thai II

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

Full details for THAI 2202 - Intermediate Thai II

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

Full details for THAI 2204 - Intermediate Thai Composition and Conversation II

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 3302 - Advanced Thai II

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

Full details for THAI 3304 - Thai Literature II

This course continues to develop necessary skills to communicate in the Tibetan language.

Full details for TIBET 1112 - Elementary Modern Tibetan II

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 1122 - Elementary Classical Tibetan II

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 2202 - Intermediate Classical Tibetan II

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 3312 - Advanced Modern Tibetan II

This class is an introductory class for beginners. This course will teach students how to listen, speak, read and write Urdu through vocabulary, grammar, oral and written activities, with an emphasis on reading and writing basic Urdu. The course begins by introducing the alphabet and their combinations. In addition to learning the script we will also introduce the basic knowledge and background on Urdu culture.

Full details for URDU 1125 - Introduction to Urdu Script

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. This course may be taken concurrently with Intermediate Hindi.

Full details for URDU 2226 - Intermediate Urdu Reading and Writing II

This course is designed for anyone wishing to gain some basic Vietnamese language skills and learn various elements of Vietnamese culture.

Full details for VIET 1100 - Elements of Vietnamese Language and Culture

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

Full details for VIET 1122 - Elementary Vietnamese II

Continuing instruction in spoken  and written Vietnamese with special emphasis on expanding vocabulary and  reading ability.

Full details for VIET 2202 - Intermediate Vietnamese II

Continuing instruction in spoken and written Vietnamese. The course emphasizes on enlarging vocabulary and increasing reading speed by reading various genres and styles of prose. 

Full details for VIET 3302 - Advanced Vietnamese II