Course Description
A special issue or topic not otherwise offered in the history curriculum. Topics, methodology, and instructors will vary from semester to semester. Representative topics include "Japan and the Samurai," "Women, Gender and Family in Traditional Japan," and "Court and Countryside in Japan's Golden Age."
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Additional readings and one or more additional papers; specific assignments to vary with topic and instructor.
Athena Title
STUDIES ASIAN HIS
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
To provide students with advanced knowledge on a special issue or topic in Asian history not otherwise offered in the history curriculum. A principal objective of the course is to teach students to think critically for themselves about the relationships between the past and the present, to learn to ask questions of the past that enable them to understand the present and mold the future, and to become attuned to both the limitations and possibilities of change. The course seeks to acquaint students with the ways in which past societies and peoples have defined the relationships between community and individual needs and goals, and between ethical norms and decision-making. In general students will be expected to: 1. read a wide range of primary and secondary sources critically. 2. polish skills in critical thinking, including the ability to recognize the difference between opinion and evidence, and the ability to evaluate--and support or refute--arguments effectively. 3. write stylistically appropriate and mature papers and essays using processes that include discovering ideas and evidence, organizing that material, and revising, editing, and polishing the finished papers.
Topical Outline
Topics vary from semester to semester. A possible topical outline for a course on "ANCIENT CHINESE THOUGHT" would be: Finding Our Way: Introduction to the Course Into the Early Chinese Worldview How to Read a Text: the Book of Changes The Trouble with Kongzi When Mozi Argued with Kongzi Idealistically Authoritarian Utilitarianism Dancing with the Dao Varieties of Mystical Experience Thinking Through Daode jing The Absurd Comedy of Human Existence The Sorting Which Evens Things Out Varieties of Pedantic Experience Separating Signal from Noise Flirting with the Dark Side Cynical Realism, Realistic Cynicism Welcome, Dark Lord! The Showdown Concludes