This fall, the Center for Asian Studies is offering several classes. Among them are:
ASIA 4300: Open Topics in Asian Literature and Culture
The Politics of Memory in Asia
Dr. Lauren Yapp
Fall 2020, days/time TBA
Taught in person
How are narratives of the past constructed – and contested – in light of present day politics?
How do countries and communities remember and represent their history, particularly when those memories cause pain and spark controversy?
What happens when official versions of the past are challenged by grassroots perspectives, including those of artists, activists, and ordinary people?
This course explores these questions in the context of East and Southeast Asia. Topics include: collective memory and “counter- memory,” nostalgia, representations of historical events in art and media, and the role of museums and monuments in shaping public perceptions of the past within Asia and beyond. Particular attention will be given to the memory of colonialism and conflict in the region, with discussion of how diverse kinds of “memory work” might facilitate justice and reconciliation in the wake of historical trauma. Questions? Email lauren.yapp@colorado.edu
ASIA 4500:
Urban Asia: Tradition, Modernity, Challenges
Dr. Lauren Yapp
Fall 2020, Tu/Th 2:20-3:25
Taught in person
This course explores change and continuity in urban Asia. Using a transdisciplinary lens and a broad range of scholarship, film, art, and literature, it delves into both the rich history of Asian cities and the complexities of urban life in the region today. Topics include: the role of tradition and heritage, legacies of war and colonialism, concepts of modernity, rural to urban migration, poverty and gentrification, political activism, the impact of tourism, and environmental challenges. Questions? Email lauren.yapp@colorado.edu
INDO 1110:
Beginning Indonesian I
Dian Sawitri, Instructor
MWF 1:50-2:40, Hellems 104
Instruction Mode: Hybrid In-Person/Remote
cas@colorado.edu for questions
The Center for Asian Studies is pleased to announce that we will be hosting a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant from Indonesia during the 2020-21 academic year. Dian Sawitri will be joining us from Bali to share her native culture and language with CU students. Dian holds a Master of Education in English Education and has been a Lecturer in the English Education Department at Universitas Mahasaraswati Denpasar since 2013. She hopes to be able to share Balinese culture as well, and can demonstrate and perform Balinese dance as well as teaching her students about Indonesian food, music, and even gender equality through traditional folklore.
Don’t miss this opportunity to learn about this vital and increasingly influential region of the world!
ASIA 2000:
Gateway to Modern Asia: Exploring Regional Connections
Dr. Lauren Yapp
TTh 9:35am-10:50am
Meets REMOTELY
This course introduces the main themes and intellectual approaches of Asian Studies from a transdisciplinary perspective. Emphasis is on the interactions and links between geographic sub-regions and across national boundaries in the past and present. Through lectures, readings, and films, Asia is presented as both a powerful imaginary geography and a diverse, dynamic region that has shaped and been shaped by global patterns of colonialism, war, nation building, economic development, cultural exchange, and aspirations for better lives.
“Gateway to Asian Studies” will not attempt to offer a comprehensive survey treatment of the entire continent of Asia in all its historical complexity and human diversity.Such a course would not only be intellectually impossible, but pedagogically unsound! Instead, our aim will be to use a range of materials and disciplines to open a variety of “windows” on the region and to draw connections between seemingly disparate issues – for instance, putting contemporary environmental challenges into conversation with the colonial past, or considering current debates over gender roles in light of histories of nationalism. Ultimately, students will gain a unique and nuanced understanding of Asia, past and present.
ASIA 4001:
Advanced Language Co-Seminar Arts and Humanities: Co-Seminar HIND 344: Screening India: A History of Bollywood Cinema
Zeltzyn Sanchez Lozoya
W 1:50pm-3:50pm
Meets REMOTELY
Acts as a Co-Seminar for advanced Asian Studies students.
Other Asia-Related Courses
GEOG 3822: Geography of China
Xiaoling Chen
meets online
This class offers an introduction to China’s diverse human geographies through a focus on a selection of key themes and topics of geographical inquiry. These themes and topics include the history of socialism and its aftermath, economic reform and urbanization, agriculture and food safety, population policies, environmental issues, health system, and at last a pluralistic understanding of China which examine ethnicity and geographical heterogeneity.
RLST 3300: Foundations of Buddhism
Holly Gayley
TTh 11:10am-12:25pm in Meets REMOTELY
Introduction to Buddhist thought and practice in the variety of its historical and cultural contexts. The course begins with an exploration of narrative, cosmology, doctrine and ritual in early Buddhism and the Theravada of South and Southeast Asia. Through case studies, we then trace diverse conceptions of the Buddhist path in Tibet and East Asia where the Mahayana spread.