UGA Bulletin

Course Description

An examination of the interactions of literature, social practice, and law in Chinese and other East Asian writings, images, and film.

Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will complete additional readings, and a substantive research paper. Graduate students choose a topic for research in consultation with the instructor. For graduate credit, students are required to produce a substantive research paper of publishable quality based on appropriate primary and secondary source materials. Additional reading for graduate students (reading not assigned to the undergraduates in the course) will vary depending on the student project and will be selected in consultation with the instructor. Typically, reading runs to several hundred pages and completed research papers are about 20-30 pages in length. In addition, graduate students do a formal oral presentation of the results of their research to the class as a whole.

Athena Title

Law and Culture in East Asia

Undergraduate Prerequisite

Experience engaging critically with literary or other texts and experience developing and expressing ideas in written and oral form.

Graduate Prerequisite

Experience engaging critically with literary or other texts and experience developing and expressing ideas in written and oral form.

Grading System

A - F (Traditional)

Student Learning Outcomes

Students will be able to develop, support, and express ideas in written and oral form using language with clarity and precision in coherent, cohesive short written summaries and critique, essays, collaborative small and large group class discussions, and oral presentations.

Topical Outline

1) The literature, history, and lore surrounding model legal practitioners such as Judge Bao, an 11th-century judge whose influence persists in popular fiction, drama, and film to the present day
2) Changing notions of identity and sexuality as reflected in philosophical texts, magistrates manuals, court cases, and novels
3) The interplay between the human legal system and presumed other world courts as depicted in religious, historical, and literary texts
4) Modern changes in the legal system and representations of court proceedings in television dramas, stories, and art

Institutional Competencies

Communication

The ability to effectively develop, express, and exchange ideas in written, oral, or visual form.

Syllabus

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