Fall 2018

Reading and composition based on 10 classic works of Indian literature ranging from the ancient Sanskrit epics to modern novels by Indian and western authors. Weekly composition on texts and topics read and discussed in class. Satisfies the first half of the Reading and Composition requirement.

Reading and composition based on 10 classic works of Indian literature ranging from the ancient Sanskrit epics to modern novels by Indian and western authors. Weekly composition on texts and topics read and discussed in class. Satisfies the first half of the Reading and Composition requirement.

This course considers the co-option, reinterpretation and dissemination of sacred texts and religious practices in various political and cultural projects in India during the colonial and post-colonial periods. Students will be introduced to religious “reform” movements, cross-cultural debates during the colonial period, and how the concept of a secular state in post-Independence India has shaped and continues to shape religious practice and public policy. Important themes include transformations in the role of women, debates around caste and “untouchability”, and religious conversions. Although the emphasis is on Hindu traditions, attention will also be given to other Indian traditions such as Islam, Christianity and Buddhism.

General Description:  This course provides a place for graduate-level seminars in Tibetan Buddhism that rely primarily on secondary sources and Tibetan texts in translation.  Content will vary between semesters but will typically focus on a particular theme.  Themes will be chosen according to student interests, with an eye toward introducing students to the breadth of available western scholarship on Tibet, from classics in the field to the latest publications.

Fall 2018:   This year's seminar will examine the formation of Buddhist traditions in Tibet from the tenth through twentieth centuries. After a preliminary review of the kinds of sources that are available to the Tibetan religious historian, class discussions will focus on a range of mechanisms for establishing authority, from polemical writings to lineage formation, visionary encounters and biography, to temple construction, sacred geography, and warfare. The readings will procede chronologically, and each student will be expected to pick, in consultation with the instructor, a week (or two, depending on enrollment) in which s/he will present on that week’s readings. Prerequisites: C114 ("Tibetan Buddhism"); or consent of instructor.

Readings, lectures, and discussion of the culture and civilization of Southeast Asia. Mainland Southeast Asia: Covers the modern-day nations of Burma, Cambodia, Thailand, etc., with special emphasis on the impact of Hinduism and Buddhism.

Discussion Sections

This course is devoted to a study of selected literary texts set in various regions of Southeast Asia. The readings will include works by foreign authors who lived and traveled in Southeast Asia and translations of works by Southeast Asian writers. These texts will be used to make comparisons and observations with which to characterize coloniality, nationalism, and postcoloniality.

The Freshman Seminar Program has been designed to provide new students with the opportunity to explore an intellectual topic with a faculty member in a small seminar setting. Freshman seminars are offered in all campus departments and topics vary from department to department and semester to semester.

What kind of films do you like?  How do you think can we study a country through its films? In this seminar,  we will examine contemporary Southeast Asian society and culture through the lens of contemporary Southeast Asian films, from Vietnam and the Philippines.  In discussions about the films in class we will seek to understand how these films mirror modern and traditional aspects of the societies in which they were produced.  We will also consider the films as examples of current world cinema and vehicles of storytelling.  In their three to four page papers for each section of the course, students will address the above broad issues (referencing class discussions when appropriate) in relation to their own experiences and opinions, focusing either on one film or comparing two or three from the same country.

This seminar explores cultural intermediaries  in 17th to early 20th century Southeast Asia, l’Inde française and Sri Lanka. Such actors included Armenian merchants, Chettiar moneylenders, Sino-Burmese civil servants, Irish Buddhists, Tamil catechists and Vietnamese Catholic campaigners. Active across linguistic and political boundaries but often hidden in/from history, such figures complicate the binary of colonized and colonizer, and resist confinement in conventional disciplinary grids. 

Our course texts will transect biography, memoir, micro-history – genres suited to the fluid roles of such individuals. Anchoring our discussions in quotidian histories, we will consider the possibilities of different archives, and reference wider questions of mobility, migration, religion and translation. Assessment is via discussion, brief reflection papers, a research journal, and the design, presentation and completion of a research project on a historical actor of the student’s choice. Students enrolling in the 2-unit option must attend all classes but may pro-rate their assignments in consultation with Prof. Edwards.   

Graduate students researching all regions and periods of colonial history are welcome to join this course.

Note: Transformers is a prequel to Prof. Edwards’ Spring 2018 SSEAS 250 Seminar, which will focus in depth on Chinese in Southeast Asia from 1500s to 2000s.  

Questions? Email pennyedwards [at] berkeley [dot] edu

Intermediate Burmese 100A introduces students to progressively difficult authentic text and multimedia, comprising excerpts from contemporary short stories and poetry, news reports, song lyrics, and TV adverts. 

The course develops writing and speaking skills, reading comprehension, and cultural literacy through a number of in-class projects, including solo presentations, a simulated weather report,  and an interview with a guest speaker.

The Filipino 1A Beginners’ class emphasizes the four basic skills:  listening, speaking, reading, and writing.  The course uses the functional approach in learning a language.

The students focus on basic conversational skills in Filipino.  At the end of the course, they should be able to use Filipino in introduction, greetings and situations such as shopping, telling the time, counting, going to the market; and asking and giving directions.  They should also be able to use Filipino in: describing people, objects, and places.

The teacher shall use Filipino and English with the aid of pictures and other teaching materials.  However, English may be used in explaining grammar rules and discussing Philippine culture.  Classroom techniques shall include games, songs, pair- work, role- plays and writing exercises.

Do you know the words nanay (mother), tatay (father), sinigang (sour soup), masarap (delicious), and kawawa (poor you)? Would you like to better communicate with your grandparents who speak Filipino and only have a limited knowledge of English? You may be a heritage learner, or a person who has a proficiency in or a cultural connection to the language he/she is studying. Filipino 1X WBL is an elementary Filipino class designed for heritage learners. It is the first course in the elementary Filipino for Heritage Learners sequence (Filipino 1X and Filipino 1Y). This course builds on the students’ passive vocabulary to harness four basic skills:  listening, speaking, reading, and writing.  The functional-situational approach in learning a language is used in this class.

The goal of this course is to enable students to increase their proficiency in Filipino to at least the intermediate-high level of the national ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines. While speaking and listening comprehension will be stressed, training in reading and writing Filipino will be an integral part of instruction. Films and video/audio materials will supplement written texts.

Students read and discuss essays on language, literature, and Phillippine society, and literary texts. Topics include language and the nation; poetry and discourse; language and ideology; and "pananalinghaga" (tropes/metaphors) in understanding society. The students choose whether they would like to go on a creative (poetry, fiction) or a research track (essay).

This course emphasizes development of the full range of Hindi language skills: reading, listening, comprehension, the use of grammatical structures, and oral and written communication—through a variety of learning themes. Individual and small group activities, interactive work and multimedia-based activities reinforce language skills and provide the platform for adapting the curriculum to specific student learning goals. Use of graded exercises and readings drawn from Hindi literature, leads to the mastery of grammatical structures, essential vocabulary and achievement of basic reading and writing competence.

CANCELED

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.

Survey of grammar, graded exercises, and readings drawn from Indonesian texts, leading to a mastery of basic language patterns, essential vocabulary, and to achievement of basic reading, writing, and conversational competence. Emphasis on developing communicative skills.

Readings in Indonesian texts, including newspapers, journals, and literature exploring a variety of styles. Systematic study of grammatical and lexical problems arising from these readings. Advanced exercises in composition, oral and written communicative skills, and cultural competence.

Non-native speakers who have completed Beginning Khmer will build spoken proficiency with emphasis on everyday "storytelling" and the expression of emotions, feelings, and opinions. Students will gain experience reading progressively difficult authentic Khmer texts, including folk tales and newspaper articles. Heritage speakers with family exposure to Khmer will be introduced to the writing system. They will quickly "catch up" with non-native classmates who have studied the writing system before. All students will study important patterns and structures in Khmer grammar and morphology, and gain a foundation in formal spoken Khmer, express opinions and positions, form arguments, and learn to discuss a variety of topics with educated Khmer speakers. These include Khmer religion, village culture, news, and advertising.

Political and Cultural interpretation of Indonesian/Malay texts

Language instruction is generally conducted on the notion of legibility and a semblance of transparency.  Yet, ambiguity, concealment, imitative malfunction, and even outright dissemblance are all ingredients involved in the discursive act and contribute to the richness of a language.  Irony, parody and humor often present some of the greatest obstacles to comprehension:  is there a "grammar" of irony (or parody, sarcasm, even humor) that would help us overcome this obstacle?

This semester focuses on reading Indonesian texts.  We will develop a set of methods and tools to help us read, analyze and interpret a variety of texts in Indonesian and/or Malay.  We will approach the text as a link between author and audience against the broader social, cultural and political environment.  

Readings: we will begin with a selection of essays in contemporary Indonesian including material from journals like Tempo, and the newsmedia (print, online).  We will look at how arguments are formed, what assumptions are made, and discuss local techniques of persuasion and what happens when persuasion begins to break down.

Focus on reading, writing and speaking Punjabi more fluently in formal and informal contexts. Selected readings vary every semester. These form the starting point to stimulate students' own writings which include a long interview with a Punjabi elder from the wider community. These may be recorded in the students' own voices and form a contribution to the ongoing "Punjabi Voices" project. Review of grammar provided as needed in addition to the introduction of more complex grammatical structures. Grading based on performance in class and final presentation, weekly quizzes, two midterms, and a final.

Sanskrit 100B is a continuation of Sanskrit 100A, further developing the skills necessary to read, write, and speak basic Sanskrit. All written and reading material is in Devanagari. Students memorize traditional verses for recitation in class, where emphasis is placed on correct prosody and pronunciation. Homework is assigned weekly. Attendance is required. There are two mid-term exams, a final exam, and a translation project. Prerequisite: Sanskrit 100A or equivalent.

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.

This is an introductory course designed for students who have little or no knowledge of Thai language, either spoken or written. The emphasis of this course is on verbal skills and conversation. Students will be introduced to the language through conversation practice on common themes that they will likely encounter in everyday life, along with vocabulary and  grammar  around such themes. Phonetic transcription system will be relied on while students are being  introduced to the Thai alphabets and syllable construction rules. The class is enhanced with audio visual accompaniment, songs,  video, role play, occasional field trips. The material and class discussion is designed to expose students to the world of the Thais.

Heritage students who speak Thai well and are familiar with Thai alphabet must meet with instructor  for  evaluation for possible placement in Thai 1B, a beginner course, in the spring semester.

The course concentrates on developing skills in reading, writing, speaking, and aural comprehension. Evaluation is based on attendance, written homework assignments, quizzes, dictations, and examinations. Conventional teaching materials may be supplemented by popular songs and clips from contemporary Indian cinema.

Reading of Urdu prose and poetry in a variety of literary and scholarly styles; composition. Topics in advanced grammar; designed to improve proficiency in speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Students will be expected to converse in a clearly participatory fashion, initiate, sustain, and bring to closure a wide variety of communicative tasks using diverse language strategies.

An introduction to modern spoken and written Vietnamese, including intensive drill on basic phonology and grammar. The first semester emphasizes phonetic concepts, syllable formations and tonal distinctions along with simple sentence structures in everyday topics. By the end of the second semester, students should be able to function successfully in ordinary Vietnamese conversation and read simple texts of moderate difficulty.

This course is designed for students who have already achieved an intermediate degree of proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing modern Vietnamese. Objective: to move students toward a greater level of fluency in each of these key areas and provide an introduction to the literature and culture of Vietnam by reading Vietnamese language texts. Readings will vary from semester to semester and will include novels, short stories, poetry, and essays from the classical, colonial, post-colonial, and contemporary periods. Topics to be addressed in class are the nature of the Sino-Vietnamese classical tradition; cultural legacies of French colonialism; the regional character of literary and cultural production; the emergence of a distinctive Vietnamese modernity, and the history of Vietnamese gender norms and relations. Regular attendance and participation in classroom activities is mandatory and no English will be spoken in class.

This new freshman seminar considers the epic gangster series, Peaky Blinders, as an exemplar of convention breaking and history making. Set in Birmingham, England, from 1919, Peaky Blinders demonstrates the power of story in its vivid depiction of the smoldering aftermath of a war that lingers long after Armistice day. Key topics include shell-shock (PTSD), Anglo Irish conflict, moralities, loyalties, vernaculars, Romany Gypsy, Chinese, Jewish, Italian, style/fashion, magic and beliefs, urban sub-cultures, oral history and organized crime.  

Class Prep includes Season One of Peaky Blinders, and additional set historical texts and multimedia materials. Weekly discussions will consider thematic threads, character development, plot lines, settings and script alongside history. Assessment/assignments will include  one oral presentation, one facilitation of a class discussion, one final in-class performance,  and short weekly posts.

Filipino Spirituality:  Influences of Catholicism, Islam, and Indigenous Beliefs in Philippine Art and Literature

Have you ever wondered why the homes of Filipino families in the United States display religious statues or celebrate Christmas and Lent in a different way from other Christians? Have you read Filipino poems, stories, songs, and festivals that focus or mention Babaylan spritual leaders, the Virgin Mary, the Black Nazarene, the infant Jesus or the Muslim faith? This class looks into literature and art as influenced by precolonial belief systems, the Catholic religion and Islam. Among the topics that will be discussed are: gods and goddesses in creation myths; self-mutilation in Lenten rituals as depicted in films; healing songs, rituals and theater; the cult of the Virgin Mary and the short story; modernism in the short stories of Ibrahim Jubaira; amulets, power and peasant uprisings as depicted in fiction, and the mystical mountains of Banahaw and Makiling in myth making.