Course Schedule and Catalog

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN RELIGIONS ***** This course will survey the four major religions which originated in India, namely Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. Emphasis will be placed on the study of the scriptures of these religions. ***** Also offered as RELI 139.

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: INTRODUCTION TO CHINESE RELIGIONS ***** Surveys major Chinese religious traditions of Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism. Readings will include both philosophical texts, historical and anthropological studies, as well as popular literature. **** Also offered as RELI 140. ***** Course not offered 2004-2005

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: THE ARTS OF CHINA ***** History of the visual arts of China from Bronze Age to present. Special attention to the artworks' physical and social contexts. Included: funerary art and the imagination of the afterlife, art and imperial cosmology, rise of literati aesthetic, relationship between painting and calligraphy, and the emergences of propaganda avant-garde art in Modern China. ***** Also offered as HART 170.

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: INTRODUCTION TO ASIAN CIVILIZATIONS ***** Introduction to the great cultural traditions of Asia, past and present, with emphasis on evolving religious and philosophical traditions, artistic and literary achievements, and patterns of political, social, and economic change. ***** Also offered as HIST 206. ***** Enrollment limited to 70.

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: LIFE OF THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD ***** This course will examine the life of the Prophet Muhammad, focusing on its significance for Muslims and for non-Muslims. Readings in The Qur'an, Ibn Hisham, and Haykal. ***** Also offered as RELI 221. ***** Course not offered 2004-2005

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: THE ENLIGHTENMENT OF THE BODY ***** Beginning with a historical survey of the American metaphysical tradition, this course turns to a close study of the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, as a unique window into some of the different ways the tradition has appropriated Asian religions, psychological models of the unconscious, and contemporary scientific paradigms. ***** Also offered as RELI 231. ***** Course not offered as 2004-2005

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: RELIGIONS FROM INDIA ***** This course will survey the four major religions which originate in India, namely Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. Emphasis will be placed on the study of scriptures of these traditions and their continuing global relevance, particularly in American history and culture. ***** Also offered as RELI 232/500. ***** Course not offered 2004-2005

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN PHILOSOPHY ***** This course will survey the major schools of Indian philosophy, beginning with the ancient period of Vedic speculation, the formation of the distinct schools during the classical period, and their medieval developments. While the focus will be primarily on Hindu and Buddhist schools, Jain philosophy will also be covered. Also offered as RELI 234/504.

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: INTRODUCTION TO TAOISM ***** Beginning with a survey of religious trends in ancient China, we will explore the development of the Taoist philosophy. We will then focus on religious Taoism, particularly the mystical and alchemical traditions. We will conclude by examing the fate of Taoism in post-Mao China and its international legacy. ***** Course also offered as: RELI 235 ***** Instructor(s): David Gray

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: GENDER AND POLITICIZED RELIGION ***** This course examines the emergence of religion-based politics in various Asian countries-particularly Hindu and Muslim-focusing on the women participants in these movements as well as the movements' concern with gender roles in society. We will investigate, for instance, the extent to which women participants have been willing or able to reshape the central ideas of such movements. ***** Also offered as WGST 240.

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: MEDITATION, MYSTICISM, AND MAGIC ***** The course moves between Buddhist religious and Western psychological literature, analyzing these as models of human development, as guides to a meditative life or critiques of it, and above all as expressions of deeply rooted cultural proclivities. Reading Freud, Khakar, Milarepa, Norbu, Obeyesekere, Sutric and Tantric literature, Taylor and Wangyal. ***** Also offered as RELI 250. ***** Course not offered 2004-2005

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: THE ASIAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE ***** We shall explore the history of Asian immigration into the United States, as well as contemporary issues such as ethnic identity, racism, model minority stereotyping, interracial conflict, family structure, gender roles and relationships, and generational differences. We will analyze and discuss historical, social and literary texts, as well as documentary and feature films. Students will gain an appreciation of the cultural complexity of the Asian American community. ***** Course not offered 2004-2005

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: TAIWANESE LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: THE KNOWING BODY: BUDDHISM, GENDER, AND THE SOCIAL WORLD ***** Western thought tends to regard mind and body dualistically, a view with significant impact on religious cultural, gendered and social processes. This course juxtaposes received Western assumptions with Buddhist perspectives (especially Tibetan Buddhist), mapping Western and Buddhist categories onto each other to better understand the implications of each. ***** Also offered as RELI 323/577, WGST 323, and SOCI 323. ***** Course not offered 2004-2005

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: INTRODUCTION TO TRADITIONAL CHINESE POETRY ***** This course seeks to decode enchanting features of traditional Chinese poetry through examining the transformation of poetic genres, the interaction between poetic creation and political, social and culture changes, and the close association of poetry with art. Thus, this course also serves to understand Chinese culture and history through poetic perspectives. All readings in English translation. ***** Also offered as CHIN 330.

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: CHINESE FILMS AND MODERN CHINESE LITERATURE ***** Exploration of modern Chinese literature through the visual imagery of Chinese films. Includes an analysis using literary history and narrative structure to link film adaptations to their original texts, with emphasis on narratology and movie theory. Films, subtitled in English, shown outside of class. All reading in English translation. ***** Also offered as CHIN 332.

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: TRADITIONAL CHINESE TALES AND SHORT STORIES ***** Learning Chinese literature and culture through reading vernacular stories, fantastic tales, biographies, and philosophical parables. Discussion topics: literature and Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism; literature and history; self and other; fantastic world and reality; women as domestic aliens and aliens portrayed as women, etc. Readings are in English translation. ***** Also offered as CHIN 334 ***** Instructor(s): Qian

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: INTRODUCTION TO CLASSICAL CHINESE LITERATURE ***** Examination of the basic characteristics of classical Chinese novels, primarily through six important works from the 16th to 18th centuries: Water Margin, Monkey, Golden Lotus, Scholars, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and Dream of the Red Chamber. ***** Also offered as CHIN 335.

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: GENDER AND POLITICIZED RELIGION (ENRICHED VERSION) ***** This course examine the emergence of religion-based politics in various Asian countries-particularly Hindu and Muslim-focusing on the women participants in these movements as well as the movements' concern with gender roles in society. We will investigate, for instance, the extent to which women participants have been willing or able to reshape the central ideas of such movements. ***** Also offered as WGST 340.

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: KOREAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE ***** Exploration of selections from modern Korean literature and watching Korean films. Includes background survey of Korean history, philosophy and religion. All texts and films in English translation. No previous knowledge of Korean required. ***** Also offered as KORE 344 and HUMA 344. ***** Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor ***** Instructor(s): Lee

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: LINGUISTIC STRUCTURE OF KOREAN ***** This course focuses on the origin of Korean and related languages. It explores the way the Korean language evolved and interacted with other East Asian languages, including Chinese and Japanese. The socio-linguistic aspect of these languages will be studied, including the difference in male and female language usage and the honorific systems. ***** Also offered as KORE 345 and LING 345. ***** Course not offered 2004-2005

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: KOREAN CULTURE AND HISTORY ***** This course will introduce students to the important elements of Korean history and culture through a reading of modern Korean literature. The class will concentrate on the period from the early 20th century to the present. Special attention will be given to topics such as Korean religion, family life, and literature. Films will be used. All readings in English translation. ***** Also offered as KORE 346. ***** Course not offered 2004-2005.

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: APOCALYPTIC AND MILLENARIAN MOVEMENTS IN PRE-MODERN ASIA ***** This course will focus upon the rich and neglected apocalyptic and millennarian tradition of Asia, discussing Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoroasterianism, Manichaeism and Eastern Christianity as each of these faiths interact with and react to each other. Readings will be from scriptures and translations covering approximately the period between the first and nineteenth centuries. ***** Also offered as RELI 354. ***** Course not offered 2004-2005

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: TRANSNATIONAL CHINA: CHINA AND THE CHINESE DIASPORA ***** Exploration of the political, economic, and social forces changing the lives of nearly a quarter of humanity, the 1.4 billion people of Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and the diasporic Chinese communities of East and Southeast Asia. Topics include political and economic liberalization, nationalism and urban identity, privatization and consumerism, environmentalism and public goods, and the globalization of communication technologies and Chinese cultural media.

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: THE ORIENTAL RENAISSANCE ***** This course will explore the European and American encounters with India from seventeeth-century France to twentieth-century America. Particular attention will be given to the translation of Sanskrit texts, the English and German Roman traditions, the depth psychology of C.G. Jung, and the American New Age. ***** Also offered as RELI 361/501 ***** Course not offered 2004-2005

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: THE MARRIAGE OF HEAVEN AND HELL ***** The history of mysticism is marked by symbolic systems and ritual practices suffused with erotic and ethical paradoxes. This course examines such themes in a wide variety of historical contexts, from Plato's dialogues and Blake's poetry to Christian mysticism, Hindu, and Buddhist Tantric traditions, and the modern study of religion. ***** Also offered as RELI 363.

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: CHINESE MYSTICISM AND MEDITATION ***** The course will investigate the major mystical and meditative traditions in Taoism, Buddhism and Neo-Confucianism. Focus will be placed upon the inner and outer traditions of Taoist alchemy, Buddhist meditation traditions (primarily Chan/Zen and Pure Land techniques), and the influence of these traditions upon Chinese intellectual discourse and the creative arts. ***** Also offered as RELI 365. ***** Course not offered 2004-2005

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group II

Credit Hours: 3

Description: FILM, LITERATURE, AND THE JAPANESE PAST ***** Every day, we retell our past to find meaning in our present. Authors and film directors in Japan have shaped national identities, created moral ideas, made sense of the horrors of war, and articulated new visions of the future-- all through artistic reinterpretations of historical themes. In this class, we will examine both these allusions to the past and the uses to which they have been put in Japanese film and literature over the years. ***** Also offered as HIST 369. ***** Enrollment limited to 20.

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: TRADITIONAL CHINESE PAINTING ***** This course examines the significance of the brushwork in traditional Chinese painting as performance, as expression of artistic personality, and as a system of gestures borrowed from the art of calligraphy. We will consider how historically shifting understanding of the brushwork served to express diverse aesthetic, social, and cultural concerns. ***** Also offered as HART 371

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: SURVEY OF ASIAN AMERICAN LITERATURE ***** Offered from time to time. Material covered will vary depending on instructor. Consult http:\\www.english.rice.edu for added course information. ***** Also offered as ENGL 372.

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: THE ASIAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE ***** We shall explore the history of Asian immigration into the United States, as well as contemporary issues such as ethnic identity, racism, model minority stereotyping, interracial conflict, family structure, gender roles, and relationships, and generational differences. We will analyze and discuss historical, social, and literary texts, as well as documentary and feature films. Students will gain an appreciation of the cultural complexity of the Asian American community. ***** Course not offered 2004-2005

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: WOMEN IN CHINESE LITERATURE ***** This course examines women's roles in Chinese literature as writers, readers, and characters, focusing particularly on the tension between women's lived bodily experiences and the cultural experiences inscribed on the female body and how, in the process, women have contrarily gendered patriarchal culture into their own. It will also touch on Chinese women's incorporation of the Western Tradition. ***** Also offered as WGST 399.

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Independent Study

Credit Hours: 3

Description: INDEPENDENT STUDY ***** Reading or research project to be determined by discussions between student(s) and faculty member(s).

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Independent Study

Credit Hours: 1 TO 15

Description: INDEPENDENT STUDY ***** Reading or research project to be determined by discussions between student(s) and faculty member(s). Repeatable for Credit.

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Independent Study

Credit Hours: 1 TO 6

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: THE ORIGINAL BEAUTY OF CHINESE LITERATURE ***** The course will expose students to the best literary works created in the Chinese tradition, both classical and modern, and give them a general introduction to different genres, including poetry, fiction, drama, and philosophical essays. It will improve ther language proficiency through reading original texts of Chinese literature. ***** Also offered as CHIN 422.

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: ISLAM IN SOUTH ASIA ***** Topics will include emergence of Indian Muslim society; Muslim reponses to colonialism and the movement for Pakistan; and the role of of Islam in politics in contemporary India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Requires no prior knowledge of Islam or South Asia. ***** Also offered as HIST 432 and WGST 432. ***** Enrollment limited.

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: POPULAR RELIGION IN THE MIDDLE EAST ***** This course will examine the popular religion in the Middle East from Late Antiquity until the 19th century, focusing on healing practices, astrology, protection, amulets, seasoned/life-cycle rituals, and other popular beliefs common to Islam, Judaism and Christianity. ***** Also offered as RELI 441.

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: VISUAL CULTURE IN REVOLUTIONARY & POSTREVOLUTIONARY CHINA (ca. 1949-PRESENT) ***** Exploration of propaganda and avant-garde art in modern Chinese visual culture. Issues include: art as social movement, notions of political and artistic avant-garde, structure of authoritarian art, and paradox of counter- discourse. The course will draw on scholarship on Soviet and Third Reich German visual cultures, Euro-American mass culture and avant-garde art. ***** Also offered as HART 470.

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: JAPANESE ANIMATION: NARRATIVE, HISTORY, AND SOCIETY ***** Since the 1980s, animation has become a major force in Japanese popular culture, serving as a medium to address the diverse concerns of a high-tech media-focused society. This seminar explores the social, historical, and aesthetic significance of Japanese animation. Topics include gender and sexuality, ecological consciousness and religious imagination, folklore and history, viewership and fandom, the centrality of the fantastic and the grotesque, visions of a media-and technology-saturated society, and the prevalence of apocalyptic motifs and conspiracy theory. ***** Limited enrollment. ***** Also offered as HIST 472 and HART 472. ***** Not offered 2004-2005

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: TOPICS IN ASIAN AMERICAN LITERATURE ***** Topics will vary from year to year. ***** Also offered as ENGL 473. ***** Course not offered 2004-2005.

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: MIGRATIONS & DIASPORAS IN THE INDIAN OCEAN ***** 'Migrations and Diasporas in The Indian Ocean World.' presents an enormously varied arena of cultural exchange and interaction spanning coastal regions of Africa, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia and Australia. This seminar introduces students to this fascinating region by examining societies and empires shaped by voyages of exploration, religious pilgrimages, trading diasporas and forced migration. ***** Also offered as HIST 489. ***** Limited enrollment.