Spring 2016

Required Textbooks:

Darsan: Seeing the Divine Image in India, Diana Eck, Columbia University Press, ISBN: 9780231112659

An Introduction to Hinduism, Gavin Flood, Cambridge University Press, ISBN: 0521438780

The Bhagavad-Gita: a new translation, George Thompson, North Point Press, ISBN: 9780865477445

India: Brief History of a Civilization, Thomas Trautmann, Oxford University Press, ISBN: 9780199736324

In both the Philippines and Indonesia, the short story is an important vehicle for artistic, emotional and socio-political expression and experimentation. This seminar will introduce students to some of the major contemporary themes, including romance, resistance, gender, and the challenges of modernization and the new global order. The comparative perspective will enrich our understanding of the strong narrative traditions of these two important countries of island Southeast Asia.

Using a multi-disciplinary approach, the course focuses on Filipino American History through narratives, literature, and performance.  Among the topics that the course explores are:  Philippine colonial history and the making of the “good colonial” subject; metaphors of the American dream; performing the “Filipino”; caregivers and the trope of servitude;  US bases in the Philippines and biracial children; gender, exoticism and self-exoticism;  “Filipinizing” and appropriating spaces in the United States; and the US Visiting Forces Agreement and diaspora nationalisms.

Roomshared with Asian American Studies 124

This course, jointly taught by professors Sylvia Tiwon and Penny Edwards, introduces students to the literature of Southeast Asia by exploring how fiction, poetry and drama engage their social and cultural contexts.  We will discuss how works of modern literature emerge from oral and court traditions, the impact of early global trade, the colonial encounter and nationalist movements.

Literature has played a critical role in Southeast Asian cultural, social and political life both as a source of aesthetic pleasure and entertainment, and for its persuasive powers.   Thinking of literature as cultural action enables us to see Southeast Asian writers and poets as change agents whose work cannot be quarantined as “culture” but has deeper implications for struggles to improve the human condition in multiple social and political contexts.  Our focus on “trans” embraces both the polyphonic world of Southeast Asian literary production, and the literature of estrangement penned by Southeast Asians overseas and Europeans in Southeast Asia.

Almost by definition, the imaginary is unreal. The realm of children, dreamers, poets, artists, religious visionaries, the superstitious, and lunatics, it is often discussed as an epiphenomenal curiosity—a creative byproduct of the mind, but a misleading one. In this seminar, we will take imagination more seriously. Through a series of readings, in combination with several invited guests and lectures, we propose to explore how imagination is in fact fundamental to a wide range of academic disciplines, and even to human existence itself.  Readings will therefore be drawn from a broad range of communities, from Indian and Chinese literature to Jewish mysticism and Psychoanalytic theory.  In February, the course will join with a stand-alone four-week seminar on “Models of the Mind” being taught by David Shulman of Jerusalem University, Spring 2016 Avenali Chair at the Townsend Center for the Humanities.  These weeks will culminate in a series of Townsend Center events on dreaming and the imagination that students will be expected to attend.  Note that students may enroll in Shulman’s four-week seminar separately through the Townsend Center.  No prerequsites. 

This is the continuation of Filipino 1A Beginners’ class with emphasis on 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 greetings and situations such as visiting a friend’s house, shopping, telling the time, making an appointment, asking and giving directions.  They should also be able to use Filipino in: describing people, objects, and places; narrating an event or simple story; expressing feelings; and expressing agreement or disagreement.  

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.

This is the continuation of Filipino 1A Beginners’ class with emphasis on 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 greetings and situations such as visiting a friend’s house, shopping, telling the time, making an appointment, asking and giving directions.  They should also be able to use Filipino in: describing people, objects, and places; narrating an event or simple story; expressing feelings; and expressing agreement or disagreement.  

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.

This is an intermediate class with emphasis on the four basic skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The course uses the functional-situational approach in learning a language.

The students shall learn four necessary skills in the effective use of Filipino: paglalahad (defining and explaining); paglalarawan (describing a person, place, or feelings); pagsasalaysay (narrating a story); and pangangatwiran (arguing). The vocabulary of the student is expanded through sample dialogues and short essays. Each lesson shall have several components: reading a text to increase vocabulary and study grammatical structures; doing a role-play; listening, and writing a short dialogue (eight lines) or a short paragraph (four to five sentences). Other classroom techniques are games, songs, and pair work.

At the end of the course, the students should be able to talk about themselves, their families and their communities, articulate their problems, needs and desires, narrate events, explain about their customs and traditions in the Filipino-American communities in the United States, and debate about issues relevant to them.

This course is continuation of the fall 2015 semester Hindi/Urdu 1A course and emphasizes the development of full range of Hindi language skills: reading, listening comprehension, use of grammatical structures, oral and written communication through a variety of learning themes and interactive activities.

Note:

This course strictly enforces a fall semester Hindi/Urdu 1A prerequisite, or admission with the permission of the instructor. Students are expected to come to this semester already knowing the basic Hindi conversation along with reading, and writing skills using Devanagari script. Admission priority will be given to the students who have completed Hindi/Urdu 1A course in fall 2015, followed by the students who have taken the Hindi/Urdu 1A in fall 2014 or before. Other students will not be allowed.

Intermediate language course will focus on expanding all language skills (reading, writing, speaking), mastering grammar patterns and new vocabulary through authentic readings. This course acquaints students with representative readings from Hindi texts on pivotal cultural issues from a wide variety of sources, to enable them to acquire cultural competence in the language. Systematic training in advanced grammar and syntax, reinforced by exercises in composition, both oral and written will be integral part of the course.

This course is continuation of the fall semester Hindi/Urdu 100A course and strictly enforces a fall semester Hindi/Urdu 1A prerequisite, or admission with the permission of the instructor.

Prerequisites: 1A or equivalent.

Students complete their study of everyday standard Khmer to a "survival" level.

While the memorization of vocabulary and common personal exchanges practiced in Khmer 1A will make up the majority of material studied, students will have some opportunity to learn to improvise and talk about personal work and research interests in Khmer. Topics include transportation and directions, the world of work, religion, health, and conducting daily life in Cambodia. Students learn to read simple authentic texts such as folk tales, personal letters, forms and roadside signs. Students continue their study of culturally appropriate behavior in the context of Khmer culture, including notions of "saving face" and maintaining social harmony, and how these are expressed in both spoken language and in one's actions.

Students will read advanced texts dealing with the topics of politics and history. They will also gain exposure to traditional, verse texts, and read, discuss, and undertake group projects based on a variety of modern Khmer short stories. As is the case with Intermediate Khmer, students will also undertake substantial independent study, culminating in a final oral presentation. However, the standard by which both written and oral material will be judged will be much higher for Advanced students. Special attention will be paid to formal speaking style and advanced grammatical structures in Khmer for all students, and colloquial spoken expression for non-native speakers.

Excerpts from contemporary short stories, novels, prose and other forms of Tamil literature authored by popular Tamil writers will be used as reading material. Films will be used as supplementary material for discussions.

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

Intermediate Thai 100B is an upper intermediate level course, a continuation of Intermediate Thai 100A.  Students will learn to read longer and more abstract writing, advertisements from newspapers, and articles from magazines and webpage. The class will cover expressions, figures of speech, higher level grammar, and hierarchical pronouns. Writing will move from descriptive to expository. To increase verbal skills and cultural education, students will watch karaoke, TV advertisements, and films. Students will also have regular intensive conversation practice and in-class presentation. The language of instruction will be in Thai approximately 50% to 70% of the time. By the end of the semester, the average student should have acquired a level of literacy equivalent to 5th to 6th grade in Thai schools.

Prerequisite:  Thai 100B (Lower Intermediate Thai) or equivalent, by consent of instructor. Ability to read descriptive articles, and write short composition equivalent to 3rd - 4th grade students in Thai school. Capable of carrying informal conversation on a general subject with medium fluency.