Travel in
Ando Hiroshige 53 Views of the Toikaido
- Kanaya
The purpose of this class is to introduce you
to the
varieties of Asian societies and some of the different methodologies
that are used to study Asia. We will do this by looking at case studies
of different aspects of Asian society. The theme of the course is
travel, meaning that each of our topics has something to do with the
theme of travel and movement. This is a fairly broad theme and we will
use it to examine many Asian societies and different disciplinary
traditions. While I will do my best to make the course as
coherent as possible, a lot of the work will fall to you. There really
is no single "Asia" and the boundries between disciplines are
equally artifical. If you approach this as a class where you have to
memorize and regurgiate a certain amount of information you will
struggle and you will probably not enjoy it very much. Instead it
is probably better to look at the class as a chance to think
about things in a number of different ways.
Professor Alan Baumler 222 Keith Hall; Office phone 357-4066 Office Hours MWF 10:30-11:30, 1:00-2:00 and by appointment. e-mail baumler@.iup.edu
http://www.chss.iup.edu/baumler/index.html
Books
-Susan Whitfield Life Along the Silk Road Berkeley: University of Califonia Press, 1999
-Judith Zeitlin Historian of the Strange: Pu Songling and the Chinese Classical Tale Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1993
-Marjane Satrapi Persepolis : The Story of a Childhood, New York: Pantheon 2003
-Walter Edwards Modern Japan Through Its Weddings: Gender, Person and Society in Ritual Portrayal, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1989
Professor Alan Baumler 222 Keith Hall; Office phone 357-4066 Office Hours MWF 10:30-11:30, 1:00-2:00 and by appointment. e-mail baumler@.iup.edu
http://www.chss.iup.edu/baumler/index.html
Books
-Susan Whitfield Life Along the Silk Road Berkeley: University of Califonia Press, 1999
-Judith Zeitlin Historian of the Strange: Pu Songling and the Chinese Classical Tale Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1993
-Marjane Satrapi Persepolis : The Story of a Childhood, New York: Pantheon 2003
-Walter Edwards Modern Japan Through Its Weddings: Gender, Person and Society in Ritual Portrayal, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1989
1. Silk Road History/Art History/Central Asia
The silk road was the trade route that ran from Chang-an to Rome and connected all the civilizations of Asia for over 1000 years. In this section we will look at how the Silk Road functioned as a place of economic and cultural exchange.
Texts: Susan Whitfield Life Along the Silk Road Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999
International Dunhuang Project
-Paper on one of the biographies in Whitfield
Silk Road sites
When going on a strange trip you need a strange guidebook, and Liaozhai is it. In this section we will look at what boundries were and how you crossed them in Late Imperial China.
Texts: Judith Zeitlin Historian of the Strange: Pu Songling and the Chinese Classical Tale Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1993
Stories from Liaozhai
-Possible paper on a story from Liaozhai
3. Moving between cultures History/Film Studies/China
Asians and foreigners have been fascinated with people who live on the margins between two cultures and spend their lives moving between them. In this section we will look at two movies, one from Hollywood and one from Hong Kong, that examine what it means to be between cultures.
Texts: Sand Pebbles, Once Upon a Time in China II
-Possible paper
4. Moving between worlds Religious Studies/Women’s Studies/S.W. Asia
The 20th has been a century of revolution in Asia. Countless revolutionaries have spoken of the need to drag the nation and its people into a new world. In this section we will look at some narratives of change and displacement that come out of the Iranian Revolution.
Texts: Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis : The Story of a Childhood, New York Pantheon 2003;
“The Dead Flame” from Ryszard Kapuscinski, Shah of Shahs, New York: Vintage 1992.
-Possible paper
5. Indigenous people Political Science Anthropology, S.E. Asia, S. Asia
Throughout Asia modernizing states have struggled to contain and control people who refused to settle down and become productive taxpayers. To be modern is to stay in one place and not move around. In this section we will look at both how governments have tried to control these people and how they have fought back. Each of you will do a short presentation on one group of people.
Texts: James Scott “The State and People Who Move Around: How the valleys make the hills in Southeast Asia” IIAS Annual Lecture, 1998; Stuart Corbridge “The Ideology of Tribal Economy and Society: Politics in the Jharkhand, 1950-1980” Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 22, No. 1. (1988), pp. 1-42.
-Presentation on indigenous people
6. Moving between families Sociology/Anthropology/ Japan
For women marriage, moving between one family and one set of customs and another, was the most important journey they would make. In this section we will look at the modern transformation of marriage in Japan.
Texts: Walter Edwards Modern Japan Through Its Weddings: Gender, Person and Society in Ritual Portrayal Stanford, 1989; “Haruko and Sho-ichi,” “Sex and Drinking” from Gail Bernstein Haruko’s World: A Japanese Farm Woman and Her Community, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1983.
-Possible paper
Grades
Silk Road paper 20%
Other pape 20
Oral Presentation 20
Bibliography for presentation 10
Final Exam 20
Class Participation 10
Each of you will write a short paper on the Silk Road book and another short paper on one of the other units. As there are four other units you can write on whichever one you wish and you may write more than one and drop the lowest grades.
-Each of you will do a presentation to the class on one group of indigenous people. You may pick whatever group you like, and may discuss whatever aspect of their society interests you, but it should be a well-researched presentation.
-Class participation is an important part of your grade. In order to do well on this you need to not only show up
for class but actively contribute to our discussions. There may be other written assignments that will be part of the class participation grade.
-Our final exam will involve writing an essay that compares and contrasts two or more of the themes we have talked about in class.
-Attendance policy-- You are expected to come to class every day, but the point is not just to come to class, but to come having done your reading and being ready to talk about it.
-Academic dishonesty-- All students are required to abide by the University's policies on Academic Integrity, as found in the catalogue.