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East Asian Studies Current Courses

Fall 2025

Course Code Title/Instructor Meets
CHIN 101-01 Elementary Chinese
Instructor: CHIN STAFF, Christopher Peacock
Course Description:
A study of the fundamentals of Mandarin Chinese, including grammar, reading, and writing using both traditional and simplified characters, pinyin romanization, pronunciation, and conversational skills.
09:30 AM-10:20 AM, MTWRF
STERN 12
CHIN 101-02 Elementary Chinese
Instructor: CHIN STAFF, Christopher Peacock
Course Description:
A study of the fundamentals of Mandarin Chinese, including grammar, reading, and writing using both traditional and simplified characters, pinyin romanization, pronunciation, and conversational skills.
10:30 AM-11:20 AM, MTWRF
STERN 12
CHIN 201-01 Intermediate Chinese
Instructor: CHIN STAFF, Christopher Peacock
Course Description:
An enhancement of the oral and written skills of elementary language study. In addition, students will learn to use dictionaries to translate original literary works. Extra conversational work will be included, geared to understanding and participating in Chinese culture. Prerequisite: 102 or the equivalent.
09:30 AM-10:20 AM, MTWRF
LIBRY ALDEN
CHIN 201-02 Intermediate Chinese
Instructor: CHIN STAFF, Christopher Peacock
Course Description:
An enhancement of the oral and written skills of elementary language study. In addition, students will learn to use dictionaries to translate original literary works. Extra conversational work will be included, geared to understanding and participating in Chinese culture. Prerequisite: 102 or the equivalent.
10:30 AM-11:20 AM, MTWRF
LIBRY ALDEN
CHIN 231-01 Advanced Chinese
Instructor: Christopher Peacock, CHIN STAFF
Course Description:
Advanced reading, writing, speaking, and understanding of the Chinese language for students who have completed Chinese 202. This course aims to enhance the students' understanding of Chinese culture and introduce them to issues in contemporary China through reading and discussion. Prerequisite: 202 or the equivalent
11:30 AM-12:20 PM, MWF
STERN 103
CHIN 360-01 Topics in Advanced Chinese
Instructor: Christopher Peacock, CHIN STAFF
Course Description:
This course focuses on continuing to develop students' Chinese proficiency to an "advanced low" level on the ACTFL proficiency scale. Potential topics may include current events and/or prominent literary and historical texts of the 20th and 21st centuries from Mainland China and Taiwan. Class sessions will be based on written and oral discussion of the texts in Chinese, along with in-class reading and translation in order to facilitate comprehension. Throughout the semester, students will also complete a range of related writing, presentation, and translation assignments to further enhance their Chinese language skills. Prerequisite: 232 or equivalent.
12:30 PM-01:20 PM, MWF
LIBRY E. ASIAN
Courses Offered in EASN
Course Code Title/Instructor Meets
EASN 120-01 History of East Asia from Ancient Times to the Present
Instructor: Evan Young
Course Description:
Cross-listed with HIST 120-01. This course explores the diverse and interrelated histories of the region currently composed of China, Korea, and Japan, over the past two thousand years. We begin by studying the technologies and systems of thought that came to be shared across East Asia, including written languages, philosophies of rule, and religions. Next, we examine periods of major upheaval and change, such as the rise of warrior governments, the Mongol conquests, and engagement with the West. The course concludes by tracing the rise and fall of the Japanese empire and the development of the modern nation states that we see today.This course is cross-listed as HIST 120.
01:30 PM-02:45 PM, TF
DENNY 311
EASN 203-01 How Literature Changed China
Instructor: Christopher Peacock
Course Description:
When China's last dynasty collapsed in 1911, it gave way to a fragmented, war-torn country still plagued by foreign imperialism and governed by Confucianism, a deeply conservative ideology that prized filial piety, patriarchal authority, and reverence for the past. To a new generation of pioneering thinkers, China was a sick patient in need of surgery, and literature was the medicine for China's ailing "national character." They set about dismantling centuries of cherished tradition with astounding vehemence, replacing the ancient classical form with a contemporary vernacular and launching a "New Culture Movement" that culminated in the momentous May Fourth protests of 1919. This class will examine this pivotal era in modern China, when writers saw the fate of the nation as their responsibility and used literature as a vehicle to radically reshape society. We will read the work of Lu Xun, who famously conceived of traditional China as a suffocating "iron house" populated by "cannibals," as well as other greats of the Chinese canon including Hu Shih, Lao She, and Zhang Ailing (Eileen Chang). We will track the growth of feminist, anarchist, and leftwing thinking in literature, ideas that eventually led to the founding of the People's Republic in 1949 and that continue to shape China today. Throughout, we will appreciate the literary accomplishments of these works, while focusing on literature as a medium for revolutionary social change. Classes will be discussion-based, all texts will be in English translation, and no prior study of China or East Asia-related topics is required.
01:30 PM-02:45 PM, MR
LIBRY E. ASIAN
EASN 205-01 Buddhist Art & Architecture: The Three Jewels
Instructor: Elizabeth Lee, Bryce Heatherly
Course Description:
Cross-listed with ARTH 205-01. Conventionally, Buddhism has been studied in terms of its beliefs and practices of renunciation and austerity, but it was also shaped and strengthened by very material concerns about property, patronage, and wealth. From the construction of the earliest Buddhist monasteries to the contemporary collection and display of Buddhist artworks, this course offers a broad introduction to Buddhisms material concerns through its art and architecture. Over the course of the semester, we will conduct close readings of primary sources and visual analysis of art and architecture to examine how these concerns have been understood by monks, artists, and donors throughout history. Well place special emphasis on the earliest developments in South Asia, and then explore the diverse forms and functions of Buddhism as it spread to China, Korea, and Japan.
03:00 PM-04:15 PM, TF
ALTHSE 106
EASN 306-01 Health, Care, and Culture in Contemporary Asia
Instructor: Shawn Bender
Course Description:
New understandings of health and care have accompanied the economic rise of countries in the Asian region. This course explores how ideologies of health and care connect to shifting social and political norms, changing conditions of work and family, and inherited cultural and religious beliefs in contemporary Asia. Students will examine inherited understandings of health in the region, intersections of trauma, anxiety, and treatment of mental health, the demands of paid and unpaid care work, and the ritualization of care at end of life.
03:00 PM-04:15 PM, MR
EASTC 112
EASN 480-01 Critical Dialogues in East Asian Studies
Instructor: Shawn Bender
Course Description:
To help prepare students for completing their senior research project, this course introduces current dialogues and research strategies in East Asian Studies. Students will study influential scholarly texts on and from the region and apply insights gleaned from them toward analysis of primary source data. Students will also learn to better identify and evaluate competing views presented by secondary sources. By the end of the course, students will have chosen a research topic, identified suitable sources, and developed a proposal for their senior project. The content and direction of the course will reflect the research interests of students and the instructor.Prerequisite: EASN, CHIN or JPNS major and 200-level EASN course.
01:30 PM-04:30 PM, T
EASTC 410
Courses Offered in JPNS
Course Code Title/Instructor Meets
JPNS 101-01 Elementary Japanese
Instructor: Akiko Meguro, JPNS STAFF
Course Description:
These courses establish the basic language skills including listening, speaking, reading and writing. These courses also provide students with a brief overview of Japanese culture.
09:30 AM-10:20 AM, MTWRF
STERN 7
JPNS 101-02 Elementary Japanese
Instructor: JPNS STAFF, Akiko Meguro
Course Description:
These courses establish the basic language skills including listening, speaking, reading and writing. These courses also provide students with a brief overview of Japanese culture.
10:30 AM-11:20 AM, MTWRF
STERN 7
JPNS 201-01 Intermediate Japanese
Instructor: JPNS STAFF, Alex Bates
Course Description:
The aim of this course is the mastery of the basic structure of Japanese language and communicative skills. The student will have an opportunity to get to know more of Japanese culture. Prerequisite: 102 or permission of the instructor.
09:30 AM-10:20 AM, MTWRF
EASTC 112
JPNS 201-02 Intermediate Japanese
Instructor: JPNS STAFF, Alex Bates
Course Description:
The aim of this course is the mastery of the basic structure of Japanese language and communicative skills. The student will have an opportunity to get to know more of Japanese culture. Prerequisite: 102 or permission of the instructor.
10:30 AM-11:20 AM, MTWRF
EASTC 112
JPNS 231-01 Advanced Japanese
Instructor: Akiko Meguro
Course Description:
The emphasis in this course is placed on enhancing the students' fluency and acquiring increasingly creative skills through composition, oral presentation and discussion. Prerequisite: 202 or permission of the instructor.
12:30 PM-01:20 PM, MWF
STERN 103
JPNS 360-01 Literature and Translation
Instructor: Alex Bates
Course Description:
This course focuses on continuing to develop students' Japanese proficiency to an "advanced low" level on the ACTFL proficiency scale. Potential topics may include current events and/or prominent literary and historical texts of the 20th and 21st centuries. Class sessions will be based on written and oral discussion of the texts in Japanese, along with in-class reading and translation in order to facilitate comprehension. Throughout the semester, students will also complete a range of related writing, presentation, and translation assignments to further enhance their Japanese language skills. Prerequisite: 232 or permission of the instructor.
01:30 PM-02:45 PM, MR
STERN 7