Instructor: H. Hori

By introducing important films and directors, this course examines issues both in the field of Japanese cinema and in popular cultural discourse from the 1980s to the present. Directors’ oeuvres, social and cultural backgrounds, film theories, and analysis of the works are introduced. Reading assignments include writings drawn from perspectives of auteurism, formal analysis, feminist critique, national cinema, cultural studies, and theories of globalization. These various readings will assist students in critically examining filmic texts, and developing their own views of the works and issues that films raise. Moreover, the course is designed to enhance students’ further understanding of Japanese society both in the domestic and global contexts by studying popular media. Mandatory film screening each week.

Instructor: C. Shedd

This seminar examines African American responses to, involvements in, and experiences of international events beyond the nation-state setting of the United States from the 19th century to the present. We will discuss African Americans as returnees to Africa, missionaries, military servicemen and women, travelers, expatriates, diplomats, activists, and others. The aim of the courses is to place their thought and actions in proper world-historical contexts in order to think critically about governing interpretations of African American and US history. Main readings will be supplemented by those of Afro-Caribbean and African writers for the purpose of comparison.

Instructor: M. Matsumoto

This seminar examines African American responses to, involvements in, and experiences of international events beyond the nation-state setting of the United States from the 19th century to the present. We will discuss African Americans as returnees to Africa, missionaries, military servicemen and women, travelers, expatriates, diplomats, activists, and others. The aim of the courses is to place their thought and actions in proper world-historical contexts in order to think critically about governing interpretations of African American and US history. Main readings will be supplemented by those of Afro-Caribbean and African writers for the purpose of comparison.

Graduate, Junior Senior Undergraduates only.

This seminar will investigate the cultural contributions of Africans in the formation of the contemporary Americas. There will be a particular focus on the African religious traditions that have continued and developed in spite of hostile social and political pressures. Because of their important roles in the continuations of African aesthetics, the areas of visual art, music and dance will be emphasized in the exploration of the topic. This seminar will also discuss two important African ethnic groups: the Yoruba of Southwestern Nigeria, and the Bakongo of Central Africa. It will highlight the American religious traditions of these cultures, e.g., Candomblé Nago/Ketu, Santeria/Lucumi, Shango, Xangô, etc., for the Yoruba, and Palo Mayombe, Umbanda, Macumba, Kumina, African-American Christianity, etc., for the Bakongo and other Central Africans. In the course discussions, the Americas are to include Brazil, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, the United States and numerous other appropriate locations. There will also be a focus on visual artists like Charles Abramson, Jose Bedia, Juan Boza, Lourdes Lopez, Manuel Mendive, etc., whose works are grounded in African based religions. In addition, we will explore how African religious philosophy has impacted on every-day life in the Americas, for example in the areas of international athletics, procedures of greeting and degreeting, culinary practices, etc. *This course has been designated that it can be used as a Majors Cultures required course*

Instructor: C. Dawson

Graduate, Junior Senior Undergraduates only

This seminar will investigate the cultural contributions of Africans in the formation of the contemporary Americas. There will be a particular focus on the African religious traditions that have continued and developed in spite of hostile social and political pressures. Because of their important roles in the continuations of African aesthetics, the areas of visual art, music and dance will be emphasized in the exploration of the topic. This seminar will also discuss two important African ethnic groups: the Yoruba of Southwestern Nigeria, and the Bakongo of Central Africa. It will highlight the American religious traditions of these cultures, e.g., Candombl Nago/Ketu, Santeria/Lucumi, Shango, Xang, etc., for the Yoruba, and Palo Mayombe, Umbanda, Macumba, Kumina, African-American Christianity, etc., for the Bakongo and other Central Africans. In the course discussions, the Americas are to include Brazil, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, the United States and numerous other appropriate locations. There will also be a focus on visual artists like Charles Abramson, Jose Bedia, Juan Boza, Lourdes Lopez, Manuel Mendive, etc., whose works are grounded in African based religions. In addition, we will explore how African religious philosophy has impacted on every-day life in the Americas, for example in the areas of international athletics, procedures of greeting and degreeting, culinary practices, etc.  *This course has been designated that it can be used as a Majors Cultures required course*

Instructor: W. Jin

Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. (Seminar). This course offers an introduction to “postnational” writing, i.e. literary works (mostly narratives in this case) that challenge common conceptions of national identity, bear witness to the global circulation of people, things, ideas and images, or create new mythologies as a way of staging processes of globalization. The three words that constitute the course title are overlapping terms most often used to name different varieties of postnational writing. Our readings are drawn from 20th-century literature of the Americas. They include Nabokov’s Lolita, Pynchon’s Vineland, William Burroughs’ The Western Lands, Alejo Carpentier’s The Lost Steps, Borges’s selected stories, Du Bois’s Dark Princess, Erick Setiawan’s Of Bees and Mist, and Ishmael Reed’s Mumbo Jumbo. The syllabus also includes theoretical and critical essays explaining the significance of reading outside of a national framework. The key critics are Tim Brennan, Rey Chow, David Damrosch, Paul Giles, Gayatri Spivak, and Homi Bhabha.

Enrollment limited to 20 students and Instructor’s permission Investing trauma from interdisciplinary perspectives, explores connections between the interpersonal, social, and political events that precipitate traumatic reactions and their individual and collective ramifications. After examining the consequences of political repression and violence, the spread of trauma within and across communities, the making of memories and flashbacks, and the role of public testimony and psychotherapy in alleviating traumatic reactions.

This course aims to familiarize graduate students with the different methods and approaches that U.S. and European scholars have used to study gender and sexuality in other societies generally, and the way they study them in the context of the Arab world specifically.

Instructor: P. Valesio

This course continues the analysis of Venice as the locus of myth, anti-myth, and the degradation of myth, and it also continues the discussion of the dialectic between the public and private dimensions. However, this course is autonomous and independent from ITAL G4490 “A Stray Branch of Laurel: Venice and Literary Modernity.” This course’s perspective is concerned with the development from Late Romanticism to Symbolism, to Modernism, and on the contemporary scene. Among other elements, Venice will be considered as a case study for revisiting the widely used notion of the “floating signifier.” Authors read in the course include John Ruskin, the brothers Boito, Henry James, Ezra Pound, Gabriele d’Annuzio, F.T. Marinetti, Thomas Mann, Daphne du Maurier, Giuseppe Berto, and Pier Maria Pasinetti. The readings are integrated with film screenings. Additional elements of the course include: a concise bibliography, critical essays, and guest speakers.

Instructor: L. Abu-Lughod

Enrollment limit 65. Practices like veiling that are central to Western images of women and Islam are also contested issues throughout the Muslim world. Examines debates about Islam and gender and explores the interplay of cultural, political, and economic factors in shaping women’s lives in the Muslim world, from the Middle East to Southeast Asia. Major Cultures Requirement: Middle Eastern Civilization List B. Global Core.