Catalog

Asian Studies

  • Director: Charles McKhann, Anthropology
  • Brian Dott, History; Chair, Division I
  • Donghui He, Chinese (on Sabbatical, Spring 2013)
  • Jocelyn Hendrickson, Religion
  • Quilei Hu, Chinese
  • Bokyung Kim, Art History and Visual Culture Studies (on Sabbatical, Fall 2012)
  • Yukiko Shigeto, Japanese (on Sabbatical, Fall 2012)
  • Akira R. Takemoto, Japanese
  • Jonathan S. Walters, Religion

Affiliated Faculty:

  • Shampa Biswas, Politics
  • Philip D. Brick, Politics
  • Gaurav Majumdar, English (on Sabbatical, Fall 2012)
  • Elyse Semerdjian, History (on Sabbatical, Spring 2013)

The Asian studies program aims to create a better understanding of Asian cultures and their place in the world through an integrated course of interdisciplinary study. The structure of requirements and electives (see below) is designed to ensure a comprehensive education, while still allowing participating students latitude to develop their own interests. Additional guidance will be provided by an adviser chosen from among the faculty who regularly offer Asia-related courses.

Major Requirements: The Asian studies major consists of 53 credits divided into three main areas: language courses, required courses, and courses which fulfill area and subject distribution.

Language Courses: Asian studies majors must complete two years of an Asian language at Whitman (currently Chinese or Japanese), or the equivalent (16 credits). Language classes above 206 can be used to meet distribution credit requirements (see below). Students opting to take at least a full year (eight credits) of a second Asian language also may apply those credits to the distribution requirements. Students placing into second-year language classes will be exempted from eight credits from the language requirement. Students placing into third-year language classes or higher will be exempted from all 16 credits from this area.

Required Courses: All Asian studies majors must take Asian Studies 160, 490, and 492 or 498 (nine credits). In the final year students majoring in Asian studies must pass a senior assessment consisting of an oral defense of their thesis.

Distribution Courses: Asian studies majors must complete at least 28 credits, of which 16 must be above the 100 level, from the following list. In addition, selections must meet the following area and subject Distribution Requirements:

Subject Clusters (two classes, six to eight credits, in at least two of the following):

a.  Language (if second language or at 300-level or above)
b.  Art and Literature
c.  History and Religion
d.  Social Science

Area Clusters (two classes, six to eight credits, in at least two of the following areas and one class, three to four credits, in a third area):

1.  Japan
2.  China
3.  South/Southeast Asia
4.  Central/Northeast Asia

Note: Any course may be used to cover both an area and a subject requirement, but may not be used to cover more than one area and one subject. For example, History 109 may fulfill the history subject requirement and the Japanese or the Chinese area requirement, but not both of the latter.

  • Anthropology 219 Chinese Religion (2, d)
  • Anthropology 233 Archaeology of East Asia (1, 2, d)
  • Anthropology 257 Chinese Society and Culture (2, d)
  • Anthropology 258 Peoples of the Tibeto-Burman Highlands (2, 4, d)
  • Art History 243 Buddhist Art in Asia (2, 3, b)
  • Art History 245 Chinese Art and Visual Culture (1, 2, 4, b)
  • Art History 246 The Art of India (3, b)
  • Art History 247 Monuments in Asia (1 2, 3, b)
  • Art History 248 Ways of Seeing: Japanese Art and Aesthetics (1, b)
  • Art 301, 302 Special Projects in Asian Art (b)
  • Asian Studies 200 Summer Seminar in Chinese Studies (2)
  • Chinese 210 Conversational Chinese II (summer) (2, a)
  • Chinese 250 Chinese Poetry (2, b)
  • Chinese 305, 306 Third-Year Chinese (2, a)
  • Chinese 310 Conversational Chinese III (summer) (2, a)
  • Chinese 405, 406 Fourth-Year Chinese (2, a)
  • Chinese 491, 492 Independent Study in Chinese Language (2, a)
  • History 109 East Asian History to 1600 (1, 2, c)
  • History 110 East Asian History 1600 to the Present (1, 2, c)
  • History 127 Islamic Civilization I: The Early and Medieval Islamic World (4, c)
  • History 128 Islamic Civilization II: The Modern Islamic World: The Ottomans to Arafat (4, c)
  • History 241 Early Japanese History (1, c)
  • History 247 Early Chinese History (2, c)
  • History 248 Topics in Asian History (4, c)
  • History 300 Gender in Chinese History (2, c, d)
  • History 325 Women and Gender in Islamic Societies (4, c)
  • History 344 China in Revolution (2, c)
  • History 346 Modern Japanese History (1, c)
  • History 348 Horseriders and Samurai: Comparisons in Early Modern East Asia (1,2,c)
  • History 349 Topics in Asian History (c)
  • History 490 Seminar in Asian History (1, 2, c)
  • Japanese 305, 306 Third-Year Japanese (1, a)
  • Japanese 405, 406 Fourth-Year Japanese (1, a)
  • Japanese 491, 492 Independent Study in Japanese Language (1, a)
  • Japanese 491, 492 Independent Study in Japanese Calligraphy (1, b)
  • Japanese 491, 492 Independent Study in Japanese Tea Ceremony (1, b)
  • Politics 236 Concepts of the Political in Southeast Asia: An Introduction (3, d)
  • Politics 337 Globalizing Southeast Asia (3, d)
  • Politics 359 Gender and International Hierarchy (2, 3, 4, d)
  • Religion 207 Introduction to Islam (4, c)
  • Religion 217 Qur’an (4, c)
  • Religion 221 South Asian Religions I: The Formative Period (3, b, c)
  • Religion 222 South Asian Religions II: The Classical Period (3, b, c)
  • Religion 250 Buddhist Civilizations in Asia I: South and Southeast Asia (3, b, c)
  • Religion 251 Buddhist Civilizations in Asia II: Central and East Asia (1, 2, 4, b, c)
  • Religion 347 The Buddha (2, 3, b, c)
  • World Literature 222 Introduction to Modern Japanese Literature and Culture (1, b)
  • World Literature 325 Imagining Community Through Contemporary Japanese Fiction and Film (1, b)
  • World Literature 326 The Femme Fatale: Question of “Woman” in Modern Japanese Fiction (1, b)
  • World Literature 327 Masterworks of Classical Japanese Literature (1, b)
  • World Literature 328 Haiku and Nature in Japan (1, b)
  • World Literature 338 Undoing the Japanese National Narrative through Literature and Film (1, b)
  • World Literature 343 Women Writers in Imperial China: In Search of the “Real” Female Voice (2, b)
  • World Literature 349 China through the Cinematic Eye (2, b)

160 Introduction to Asian Studies
x, 4 B. Kim

Taught by an Asian studies faculty member, this course is designed to introduce the study of Asia to students with little or no background in the area. Reflecting the geographical and theoretical diversity of the Asian studies field itself, the course is not limited to a particular part of Asia nor to a particular disciplinary approach. Rather, the course introduces students to selected exemplary Asian primary materials and scholarly perspectives on them in order to open up discussion of the larger ideas and issues which concern scholars working in the Asian studies field today.

200 Special Topics: Summer Seminar in Chinese Studies
2; offered summer 2013

Course offered at the Whitman Summer Studies in China program. Taught in China over a period of six weeks by the Whitman faculty member who is resident director. The course explores selected topics in Chinese studies and incorporates classroom and field studies. Prerequisite: admission to the Whitman Summer Studies in China program.

201-204 Special Topics: Intermediate Level
4

The course explores selected topics in Asian studies at the intermediate level.

221 History and Ethnobiology of the Silk Roads Field Course
2; not offered 2012-13

This course looks in depth at selected sites along the silk roads of Asia, both in the classroom and during a field trip. One hour per week throughout the semester, and a field trip to Asia over the spring break. Students will explore the past and current situations of specific sites to be visited during the field trip through pre-trip readings and research presentations, keep a detailed journal during the field trip, and give a multimedia or poster-style presentation of a researched aspect of the trip to the college community near the end of the semester. Students must apply for the course, and pay a course fee to be announced. Corequisites: Biology 121 and History 121.

236 Concepts of the Political in Southeast Asia: An Introduction
4, x Casumbal

This course examines how the political, economic, and cultural are entangled in Southeast Asian societies. Themes include the politics of history and translation, modes of engagement with the foreign, and the concepts of power, gender, race, and indigeneity. How has the concept of “Southeast Asia” emerged? What similarities and differences can be traced in the way the political is understood and practiced in the region? We will explore Southeast Asia’s experiences of imperialism, decolonization, revolution, and nationalism, and consider the postcolonial modernities and forms of globalization evident across the region today. Texts include literature, film, and music in addition to research from the fields of political studies, history, anthropology, race and gender studies, indigenous politics, cultural studies, and area studies. May be elected as Politics 236.

301 Special Topics: Advanced Level
4

The course explores selected topics in Asian studies at the advanced level.

301A ST: City, State, and Social Ideology in Early South Asia
4, x Seneviratne

This course charts the history of urbanization, state formation and related social formations from 6th Century BC to 8th Century AC South Asia. It takes up for study the social ideology of Buddhism coinciding with specific institutional formations that provided the material and social base for the evolution of its ideological content spread in time and space. Central to the discussion is the role of Buddhist ideology as a mechanism of social legitimacy, acculturation, upward social mobility, imaging the female, economic enterprise, state-monastery power dynamics, and expressive traditions of literature, art, and architecture and material culture. Not recommended for first-year students. Distribu-tion area: humanities or cultural pluralism.

301B ST: Who Owns the Past? Contested Spaces and Identities in Colonial & Post-Colonial Societies
x, 4 Seneviratne

This course examines the ideological basis and modalities of ordering the past in Colonial and post-Colonial societies. It explores how ancient material culture, written as well as oral traditions, including various other symbols of cultural pasts, were and are being used in the construction or destruction of histories, memory and past cultures. The course also looks at issues on repatriation, looting and communities disfranchised of their past, heritage ethics and socio-political ideology of museum presentation. Another component of the course introduces heritage, shared cultures and non-parochial knowledge dissemination as sources of conflict resolution and peace education. The course will spread its study area over different time lines, geographical zones and cultures in a global context. Not recommended for first-year students. Distribution area: social sciences or cultural pluralism.

337 Globalizing Southeast Asia
x, 4 Casumbal

This course examines Southeast Asia’s relation to “globality” and the economic, political, and cultural processes associated with “globalization,” “alter-globalization,” and “globalisms.” We historicize Southeast Asia’s contemporary transnational relations by exploring classical and early modern political formations, and maritime commercial and cultural exchange. We consider the myriad experiences of imperialism, colonialism, decolonization, and postcolonial nationalism of selected countries in the region. How did these experiences transform concepts of the local, global, and regional, and the relation to each other? How has Southeast Asia’s entry into, and exclusion from, circuits of transnational capital impacted the region? How has neoliberalism’s ascendance been facilitated and contested? Our examination of the political, cultural, gendered, and sexual dimensions of globalization’s effects in Southeast Asia will focus on trade agreements, trafficking, militarism, and social movements. May be elected as Politics 337.

411, 412 Individual Projects
1-4, 1-4 Staff

Directed individual study and research. Prerequisites: appropriate prior coursework in Asian studies and consent of the supervising instructor.

490 Senior Seminar in Asian Studies
3, x McKhann

Taught by an Asian studies faculty member with guest participation by others. This class expands on themes and ideas about the study of Asia first examined in Asian Studies 160. Like Asian Studies 160 the course is not limited to a particular part of Asia nor to a particular disciplinary approach. The class also will provide seniors a structured program for helping them to formulate a thesis topic based on a firm foundation of methodological and theoretical discussions in the discipline of Asian studies. Students will conduct research related to their thesis topic resulting in a detailed research proposal. Prerequisites: open only to Asian studies seniors.

492 Thesis
x, 2 Staff

Senior majors will work with an adviser to record in a thesis a substantial original research project based on the research proposal completed in Asian Studies 490. Prerequisites: open only to Asian studies seniors.

498 Honors Thesis
x, 2 Staff

Designed to further independent research leading to the preparation of an undergraduate honors thesis in Asian studies. Required of and limited to senior honors candidates in Asian studies. Prerequisite: admission to honors candidacy.