Fall 2015

What is Sanskrit literature?

It has something to do with religion—the Vedas and all that, right? And then there is the Ramayan, the Mahabharat and that Kalidasa guy…

Even the 8^th century Sanskrit poet, Dharmakīrti, had trouble getting out from under the shadow of the Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata:

Vālmīki dammed the sea with rocks
put into place by monkeys,
and Vyāsa filled it with the arrows shot by Pārtha;
yet neither is suspected of hyperbole.
On the other hand, I weigh both word and sense
And yet the public sneers and scorns my work
O Reputation, I salute thee![1]

This course will expose you to a wide range of styles and genres from classical Sanskrit literature at the height of its prominence as a literary medium (1^st to 12^th century CE). We will read stories of love, works for the stage, political thrillers, historical chronicles, and vulgar satire. You will find some of the works thrilling and others tedious. The primary goals for this course are 1) to move beyond our personal tastes and probe the texts with an open mind 2) To learn how to ground analysis and interpretation in cultural and historical context so that we can start asking questions like: Why does this literature matter? For whom did it matter? Why would someone write this text; where does it fit within the larger tradition of Sanskrit literature?

Required Readings

1. ISBN 978-0-8147-0729-6
Śūdraka. The Little Clay Cart. Translated by Diwakar Acharya. 1st ed. The Clay Sanskrit Library 44. New York, NY: New York University Press : JJC Foundation, 2009.

2. ISBN 978-0143-42407-9
Kalidasa. Kumarasambhavam: The Origin of the Young God. Translated by Hank Heifetz. Penguin, 2015.

3. ISBN 978-0-8147-4110-8
Dikshita, Appayya, Nilakantha Dikshita, and Vedanta Dikshita. “Self-Surrender”, “Peace”, “Compassion” and “The Mission of the Goose”: Poems and Prayers from South India. Translated by David Shulman and Yigal Bronner. 1st edition. New York: NYU Press, 2009.

4. ISBN 978-0143-42147-4
Kṣemendra. The Courtesan’s Keeper: Samaya Matrika. Translated by A. N. D. Haksar. New Delhi: Penguin, 2014.

5. ISBN 0-81471661-X
Viśākhadatta. Rākshasa’s Ring. Translated by Michael Coulson. 1st ed. The Clay Sanskrit Library. New York: New York University Press : JJC Foundation, 2005.

6. COURSE READER from University Copy (2425 Channing Way)

Required Textbooks:

Classical Hindu Mythology: A Reader in the Sanskrit Puranas by C. Dimmit, Temple University Press, ISBN: 9780877221227

Hindu Myths edited/translated by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty, Penguin Books, ISBN: 9780140449907

The Rig Veda: an Anthology edited/translated by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty, Penguin Books, ISBN: 9780140449891

This course requires an enrollment in a discussion section - See schedule.berkeley.edu for section information.

Required Textbooks:

Sacred Narrative, Alan Dundes, University of California Press, ISBN: 0520051920

Breaking the Magic Spell, Jack Zipes, University Press of Kentucky, ISBN: 0813190304

Required Textbooks:

Domination and the Arts of Resistance, James Scott, Yale, ISBN: 0300056699

Textures of Time, Rao, Shulman, et al., Other Press, ISBN: 1590510445

Along the Archival Grain (2nd ed.), Ann Stoler, Princeton, ISBN: 0691146365

Imagined Communities, Benedict Anderson, Verso, ISBN: 1844670864

Graves of Tarim, Engseng Ho, California, ISBN: 978052024454

Islam Translated, Ronit Ricci, Chicago, ISBN: 0226710882

History, Culture & Region, Oliver Wolters, Cornell SEAP, ISBN: 0877277257

The Language of the Gods, Sheldon Pollock, California, ISBN: 0520260031

Objects of Translation, Finbarr Flood, Princeton, ISBN: 0691125945

The Taming of the Demons, Jacob Dalton, Yale, ISBN: 0300187963

Pasyon and Revolution, Reynaldo Ileto, Ateneo de Manila, ISBN: 9715502326

Required Textbook:

Tagalog for Beginners, Joi Barrios, Tuttle Publishing, ISBN: 9780804841269

Required Textbook:

Tagalog for Beginners, Joi Barrios, Tuttle Publishing, ISBN: 9780804841269

Required Textbook:

Intermediate Tagalog, Joi Barrios, Tuttle Publishing, ISBN: 9780804842624

This course is designed for students who have already achieved an intermediate level of proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing Hindi. Its objective is to move students toward a greater level of fluency in each of these key areas. It introduces students to a variety of contemporary literary genres. Weekly readings and discussions will be on short stories, poems, and dramatic sketches from representative authors. These readings focus on various social, cultural, political, and historical aspects of Indian society. Students are encouraged to explore these issues in their written assignments as well as in their class discussions. Written assignments on themes suggested by the reading will be required. Students will also work on advanced grammar and special emphasis will be on vocabulary building, idioms, and problems of syntax.

There will be advanced exercises in composition. The class will be conducted entirely in Hindi and students will acquire language skills sufficient to approach literary texts on their own.

Note: This course can be repeated for credit.

Indonesian introduces students to elementary Indonesian conversation and develops reading and writing commensurate with the students abilities.

This level provides students the skills needed to use a limited range of Indonesian language, adequate for basic communication. By the end of this semester students are expected to be able to satisfy most travel and accommodation needs and a limited range of social demands beyond exchange of skeletal biographic information.

Indonesian 1A and 1B are prerequisite, or with the instructor's consent.

This course provides readings in Indonesian text books, newspapers, journals, and literature.

This class provides students with the skills needed to use Indonesian adequately in familiar situations and to communicate general messages. Students will be expected to be more skilled to speak Indonesian with sufficient structural accuracy and vocabulary to participate in most formal and informal conversations on practical, social, and professional topics.

Required Textbooks:

Higher Sanskrit Grammar, Moreshwar Ramchandra Kale, Motilal Banarsidass Publishing, ISBN: 8120801776

Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary, V. S. Apte, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN: 8120805674

Sanskrit-English Dictionary, M. Monier-Williams, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN: 8120800656

This introductory level course focuses on progressive acquisition of language skills to communicate effectively in both written and spoken Tamil. It facilitates development of Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing competence along with basic grammar.

Required Textbook:

Thai Language and Culture for Beginners, Yuphaphann Hoonchamlong, Self Publishing, ISBN: 9789747512250

In Fall,  it is 3^rd semester Urdu course which is intended for students who have completed two semesters of Urdu or who have equivalent proficiency in Urdu. All four skills, speaking, listening, reading and writing, will be taught. Sentence structure and grammar construction will be presented through example/models, however, necessary/brief explanation will also be given.

An introduction to modern spoken and written Vietnamese, including intensive drill on basic phonology and grammar. By the end of the second semester the student should be able to function successfully in ordinary Vietnamese conversation and read simple texts of moderate difficulty.

Fulfills the L&S breadth requirements in International Studies.

Prerequisites: 1A-1B, or consent of instructor; 100A or consent of instructor is a prerequisite for 100B.

A second-year course in Vietnamese vocabulary and syntax with intensive drills on short colloquial expressions and auditory recognition of speech patterns. First semester course stresses phraseology, sentence building, rules of composition and development of students' communicative skills. By the end of the second semester students will learn to speak and write simple compositions and will have a cursory introduction to Vietnamese literature and sample readings from contemporary Vietnamese writers.

Required Textbook(s):

Chung Ta Noi - Conversational Vietnamese, Le Pham Thuy Kim & Nguyen Kim Oanh, University of Washington Press, ISBN: 0295980893

This new, interdisciplinary seminar invites you to explore African American voices and visions of the Vietnam war through oral history, music, fiction, poetry, cinema and other primary sources.  For historical and contemporary context, we begin with reflections on and depictions of African American veterans of the American Civil War, Korea, and Iraq, via Natasha Trethewey's Pulitzer prize-winning Native Guard (2007), Toni Morrison's Home (2012), and David Oyelowo's Nightingale (2015). Novelist Judy Juanita then takes us to the Vietnam war era with Virgin Soul (2013), which traces Berkeley born freshman Geniece’s journey from Oakland City College through her involvement with the Black Panthers to her graduation from San Francisco State. War correspondent and writer Wallace Terry’s path-breaking Bloods (1984) brings us memories and life-stories of African Americans deployed to Vietnam. Pulitzer poet Yusuf Komunyakaa’s Dien Cai Dau (1988) offers us a powerful and lyrical lens on both the war and the Washington memorial. We examine songs of protest and other forms of musical expression ranging from Jimmy Cliff’s Letter from Vietnam to Sammy Davis Jr.’s 1972 tour of South Vietnam.  We consider the roles and representations of African American forces and peace activists in Apocalypse Now, Dead Presidents,Tropic Thunder, Butler and Selma. Our other sources include the speeches and writings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Muhammad Ali, Stokely Carmichael; the voice of “Hanoi Hannah,” whose radio broadcasts targeted African American troops in Vietnam, and war era cartoons, comics and photography. Thanks to the generosity of the author and a grant from the Freshman Seminar Program, all students on this course will receive a complementary copy of Virgin Soul.   The seminar will include class visits by Judy Juanita and by theatre & performance studies graduate student, Paige Johnson.

Grading is weighted at 50% for active and prepared participation in class discussion; 10% for one fifteen-minute oral presentation on a class topic; and 40% for a written, audio, visual or audio-visual assignment of your own design (such as an oral history, a photographic essay, a short story, or a short film), to be determined in consultation with the instructor.