A selection of our Fall 2020 courses. Depending on the evolution of the health crisis and university policy, some courses scheduled as in-person may be taught on line. For a complete listing, go to Courses.
200 Level:
EALC/CWL 275 Masterpieces of East Asian Literature
What do holy monks, thieving scoundrels, star-crossed lovers, and shapeshifting monsters have in common? In this course, we will read some of the great classics of Chinese, Korean, and Japanese literature and explore the rich socio-cultural contexts behind these works. You will gain a finer appreciation of these cultures and hone your critical skills. Works covered include the Tale of the Genji, the Journey to the West, Dream of the Red Chamber, and Story of the Faithful Wife, Chunhyang, and some most famous poems from the area.
Instructor: Prof. J. Chen (jingling@illinois.edu)
Time and Location: Online course with lectures: M 12:00-12:50, plus asynchronous parts on the course website, and Session: F at 9, 12 or 1. Check the compass course website or email the instructor for Zoom link.
No knowledge of East Asian languages required - Fulfills the Gen Ed Non-Western Cultures and Literature and the Arts
EALC/CWL 230 Popular Cultures of Contemporary East Asia
The course provides a wide-ranging introduction to the popular cultures and subcultures of China, Korea, and Japan through exposure to popular films, music, anime, games, and everyday practices. Already hugely popular in its home countries, East Asian popular culture has become familiar to American audiences through films, videogames, food, toys, and comic books. The course explores the historical, social, cultural, and economic roots of this global appeal, while gauging popular culture’s impact on national identity, gender, and lifestyle. The course fulfills the Non-Western Cultures and Literature and the Arts General Education requirements. No knowledge of East Asian languages or previous coursework in East Asian studies is required.
Instructor: G. Persiani (gp2029@illinois.edu) Time and Location: TBA
300 Level:
EALC 398 Yellow Peril Redux: From Coolies to Communism, Trade Wars and Coronavirus (1900s-2010s)
6:00-7:20pm, MW; Instructor: Dan Shao (danshao@illinois.edu)
This undergraduate seminar bridges the disciplinary gap between cultural, economic and political studies of U.S.-East Asian interactions. It aims to introduce to students an interdisciplinary study of the historical roots and cultural idioms beneath the contemporary economic and political debates concerning the “Trade Wars” and the coronavirus pandemic, beneath the broader popular rhetoric and political policies that deeply impacts people’s daily life and contributes to the divisive acrimony in U.S.-East Asian relations.
Students will be trained to examine primary sources from a variety of genres, including legal cases, news reports, films, political cartoons and governmental documents, during the past one century or so. Topics to be covered include Origins of Yellow Peril, Vincent Chin and Japanese Cars, Industrial/Corporate Espionage and Law, Politicians on Trade War, Science without Borders and National Interests, The Japan / China that Can Say No, Coronavirus and Yellow Peril Redux.
Our interdisciplinary approach and transnational topics will help to translate academic research to classroom teaching and to address real-life concerns faced by people from various walks of life in this era of community reconstruction via cross-border cultural and economic confrontations, controversies, communications and conversations.
For further information, please contact the instructor directly (danshao@illinois.edu).
EALC 398 CIC Kingdoms Queendoms and Collectives
Tuesdays and Thursdays 12:00-1:20 PM (CT), G 96 FLB
Gender is an essential component of social organization in most human societies; however, archaeologists often apply modern constructions of gender to the past without appropriate reflection and consideration. The Korean peninsula’s earliest state-level societies provide an ideal case study for the interrogation of gender in the deep past, with evidence of complex gender roles that varied widely among cultures, including whether the authority to rule was carried by queens or kings. This course examines the archaeological record of major social and cultural changes leading to the establishment of kingdoms and queendoms (focusing on the period between 200—600 CE) in Korea, as well as the trajectories of societies that rejected the trend toward centralizing into states. Taking a critical approach to gender as our guide, we will challenge existing assumptions about social order, leadership, economic organization, inequalities, and identities in the formation of Korean civilization.
This course is offered via BTAA Korean e-school from University of Michigan (taught by Dr. Rory Walsh) and will meet as a video-conferencing class.
EALC 398 Hanguk Hip Hop: Global Rap in South Korea
This course looks at the birth, growth, and rise of Hanguk hip hop—Korean hip hop—by locating the local, national, and global flows of cultural and musical exchange between America and South Korea. By doing so, it outlines the sociocultural, economic, and historical conditions that underlie the production, circulation, and consumption of Korean hip hop. How did hip hop travel from America to root itself in Korean society? How did Korean hip hop develop over the last three decades as a cultural and artistic entity? How is hip hop represented in Korean media and popular culture? In considering these questions, we will pay close attention to how Korean hip hop artists— particularly rappers—(re)imagine their identities through music in various sociocultural, economic, and political contexts that oftentimes flow outside of Korea and extend to not just East Asia but across America and other parts of the world. With the help of scholarly readings, our study will question several intersections including cultural appropriation and appreciation; authenticity and identity; and youth subcultures, community, and technology.
Time Tuesdays & Thursdays 8:00-9:20 pm
For more information about the course, please contact Prof. Myoung-Sun Song at hiphophada@gmail.com.
EALC 398: The Visual Culture of Japanese Buddhism
This course explores the rich visual culture of Japanese Buddhism. We will examine Buddhist sculpted images and illustrated hand-scrolls, portraits and picture books, mandalas and manga, as well as anime and feature films. In addition to examining Japanese Buddhist art and film, we will be analyzing the role that images play in Buddhism, the practices of production, and the ritualized ways of looking and interacting with these visual media.
Instructor: Chris Callahan ; TR 2-3:20 206 David Kinley Hall
400 Level:
EALC/REL 495: Death, Dying and the Dead in Japanese Buddhism
From its inception, the Buddhist tradition has shown an abiding concern for death, the dying and the dead. This upper level seminar will examine the doctrinal and symbolic meanings of death, the ritual and meditative practices of the dying, as well as the treatment of the dead in the context of Japanese Buddhism. Drawing on recent secondary scholarship, we will examine the interface between doctrine and social practice in deathbed rituals, funerary practices and memorial services, the material, visual and literary culture of the dying and the dead, and the ethical and societal issues concerning death, dying and the dead in Japan.
Instructor: Chris Callahan Fridays 11—1:50pm; Room: TBA
***
For the complete listing of courses, go to Courses.
FA 2020 Course Proctor for EALC 398 CIC: Kingdoms, Queendoms, and Collectives
https://courses.illinois.edu/schedule/2020/fall/EALC/398
This course is offered via the BTAA Korean e-school from University of Michigan and will meet as a video-conferencing class on Tuesdays and Thursdays 12:-1:20 PM (CT) in G 96 FLB. The course proctor will be paid $18 per hour, 3 hours per week. In case of online instructions, this class will move to Zoom class meetings as in Spring 2020.
Applicants should be registered as a graduate student in University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and have a strong sense of responsibility with excellent communication skills.
Duties and responsibilities of the course proctor are as follows:
1. [In case of on-campus instruction] Attend a dry tech run (lasting about 30 min. to an hour) before the course starts (i.e., checking the equipment in G 96 FLB with a tech support to see everything works well with the other two campuses)
2. [In case of on-campus instruction] Turn on and off the equipment for each class, check the attendance, and moderate any issues during the classes in G 96
3. Work as a liaison between students and the faculty teaching the class (e.g., making copies for the course evaluation)
4. [In case of on-campus instruction] Assist with a campus visit by the teaching faculty once during the semester
To ensure full consideration, please email a short self-introduction in English and CV to Jeeyoung Ahn Ha (j-ahn3@illinois.edu), Director of the Korean language program, by Friday, May 31. Please include “Application for EALC 398 CIC Proctor” as the subject of the email.
Review process will begin after May 31 and an appointment is expected to be conveyed to the successful candidate before the end of June.