INDO 1120: Beginning Indonesian 2
Professor Irma Zavitri
TTh 9:30-10:45
A continuation of Beginning Indonesian 1 (INDO 1110), this is an integrated course. Classes are offered in person using the Directed Independent Language Study method. Classes will employ "flipped" task-based learning approaches. Coursework includes reading, listening, grammar, answering questions, and speaking practice. Grades are based on demonstrated proficiency of written and spoken Indonesian through in-class performance and examinations.
HIND 3851: Devotional Literature in South Asia
Professor Rahul Parson
TTH 3:30 PM - 4:45 PM
CLAC Co-Seminar
Adv Language Co-Seminar AH
ASIA-4001-802
W 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
rahul.parson@colorado.edu
This course will introduce students to the rich heritage of devotional literature in pre- and early modern South Asia, often referred to as Bhakti. Our focus will be the medieval and early-modern periods (1200-1800), and the devotional literature composed in the vernacular. The characteristic feature of Bhakti is an intense, passionate relationship with the divine, which enabled a disregard for social conventions, such as duty to family, rituals, caste, gender, and normative economic and political values. The students in the CLAC co-seminar would read the devotional poems and hagiographies in the original language. My goal for this course is to show students that if they have a decent grasp of modern Hindi/Urdu, then they can, with very little effort, read medieval texts, too. This also results in a deeper and richer understanding of where modern Hindi comes from and how it has taken its current form. The CLAC co-seminar would read from Rupert Snell’s wonderful text, The Hindi Classical Tradition: a Braj Bhāṣā Reader. This text is available online for free and is an excellent introduction to this literature. In the co-seminar, we will discuss aspects of the course that have to do with language, particularly the popular literary idiom of Braj Bhāṣā. Students will learn the basic grammatical differences this older language has from Hindi, but this is not a language class, so we will not focus too narrowly on the intricacies of grammar. The class will discuss prosody in the poetry, learning the various meters of the tradition, plus the textual conventions such as opening formulae and colophons, and manuscript reading. I will also provide the students with a copy of Winand Callewaert’s classic Dictionary of Bhakti: North-Indian Bhakti Texts into Khaṛī Bolī Hindī and English.
HIST 3628: Propaganda and Revolution in Modern China
Professor Tim Weston
TH 3:30 - 6:00
This seminar will focus on the rise and transformation of the “propaganda state" in China following the Chinese Communist Revolution of 1949. We will study a wide range of propaganda mediums, including cartoons, poster art, journalism, parades and other mass choreographed events, music, theater and film, architecture, cemeteries, museums, advertising, and so forth.
RLST 4200/5200 Gandhi: Social Transformation, Spiritual Practice
Professor Lorillai Biernacki
W 3pm –5:30
In the 20th century Gandhi overthrew the greatest, most expansive empire the world had ever seen with a “bloodless revolution.” His method has inspired countless others, including Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, the student activists protesting the Parkland shooting, and recently, climate activists like Greta Thunberg.We will look at how Gandhi connected his belief system to his social activism and spiritual goals.
ARAB 3410/WGST 3410: Gender, Sexuality, and Culture in the Modern Middle East
Prof. Levi Thompson
T/Th 12:30PM-1:45PM
This course examines the categories of gender, sexuality, and culture in the modern Middle East. Through weekly readings in history, sociology, literature, and other disciplines, in-class discussion, film viewings, and written and oral assignments, students will learn about how gender has been constructed across the Near and Middle East and North Africa, in the Arab world and Iran. Course taught in English.
ARAB 1011: Introduction to Arab and Islamic Civilizations
Prof. Levi Thompson
T/TH 9:30AM-10:45AM
This course provides an interdisciplinary overview of the cultures of the Arabic-speaking peoples of Southwest Asia and North Africa from the rise of Islam in the seventh century to the present. Readings include historical, religious, literary, and cultural texts from both the premodern and modern eras. Course taught in English.
HIND 1011 Intro South Asian Civilization
Professor Rahul Parson
T/Th 8-9:15am
Survey of traditional and modern world views and experiences of people on the Indian subcontinent through literature and film, beginning with the Ramayana and including medieval tales, modern novels, and feature films. Taught in English.
RLST 2610 Happiness and Nirvana
Professor Lorillai Biernacki
MWF 1pm-1:50pm
This course focuses on what happiness is and how one becomes happy, based on what we find in a variety of religious traditions from India-- Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainsim, Sikhism, which look at ideals of happiness and enlightenment. We address questions such as how do ideals of happiness match up to enlightenment and whether these ancient methods for happiness and enlightenment makes sense today.
RLST 3040: Quran
Aun Hasan Ali
T/TH 2–3:15
Introduces students to the diverse ways in which Muslims encounter the Quran.
RLST 4820/5820: Fundamentalisms
Aun Hasan Ali
M 3–5:30
Explores the emergence of fiercely antimodernist and antisecular movements in the 20th century.