Do you have an interest in Asian Studies? Are you looking for a class that will fulfill either the International Studies or Social and Behavioral breadth requirements? You will find the perfect class for your needs with Asian Studies 10: Introduction to Asia.
Three hours of lecture and one hour of discussion per week. This course is designed to interest students in Asian cultures early in their undergraduate studies. Topics such as trade, social and political formations, religions, food, and expressive culture that have been important in history as well as in contemporary times in East, South, and Southeast Asia will serve as unifying themes. Comparative thinking across regions of Asia and the perspectives of multiple disciplines will be brought to bear on the themes. Fulfills International Studies or the Social and Behavioral breadth requirements.
Keiko Yamanaka
Keiko Yamanaka is a gifted lecturer who has taught at UC Berkeley for over 10 years with the Ethnic Studies Department and with the Group in Asian Studies. She is a specialist in the areas of social change and migration.
Yamanaka earned a Ph.D. in Sociology at Cornell University and has taught at UC Berkeley, Grinnell College (Iowa), Ithaca College, and Harvard University. Dr. Yamanaka has published widely in respected academic journals and currently has a manuscript in progress. Her interests lie in the areas of international labor migration, Asian American studies, ethnic and racial relations, gender studies, and Japanese studies, and she travels frequently to Asia to supplement her course materials and to conduct additional research for her publications. Fluent in Japanese, her research has carried her to other areas of Asia, such as China and Korea, to research issues concerning migrant workers and intercultural contact in Asia.
We are delighted that she will be teaching our introductory core course this fall.
Course Proposal for Asian Studies 10, Fall 2007
CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN ASIA: UNITY AND DIVERSITY
Keiko Yamanaka, Ph.D.
yamanaka@berkeley.edu
August 1, 2007
1. Integrating Theme: "Unity and Diversity"
During recent decades, Asia has risen to the status of a regional power that challenges the West's centuries' old domination of the world. Its rapid economic development and growing middle-class populations epitomize its success in transforming largely agrarian nations into technologically innovative economies. The region's immense diversity of culture, history and geography has contributed to speedy integration of capital, technology and the market.
The fast pace of material changes, however, has posed many challenges to Asian states and nations. The globalized economy has intensified an uneven distribution of wealth and development between rich and poor countries. Rapid industrialization has generated an unprecedented level of environmental and ecological degradation. In some countries democracy has replaced authoritarian regimes, but in many other countries political freedom is yet to be achieved. Among old adversaries, civil wars, ethnic conflicts and class oppression have remained unresolved, continuing to do damage to one another.
Despite these new and old challenges, Asian states and nations have benefited from the fact of their similar historical experiences and cultural continuity across national boundaries. The vast region's unity is conspicuously evident in the cross-fertilization of both new and traditional arts and popular culture, facilitated by electronic communication. The integration of regional economies and societies has allowed Asia's urban, middle-class populations to enjoy lavish consumption of shared innovative cultural productions that have given rise to their new collective identity as "Asian."
2. Goals and Methods of Instruction"
This course focuses on the dialectic between unity and diversity that characterizes Asian society and culture in its major sub-regions - East, Southeast and South Asia.
First, we will examine the regions's unity and diversity in comparison with that of other regions, especially the West (the U.S., Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand). This will allow us to examine Asia's shared experience as a regional force, while incorporating attention to its immense diversity.
Second, we will concentrate on four topics of contemporary issues in Asia: "globalization," "environment," "gender" and "culture and media." Each topic offers us an opportunity to analyze and understand complex social issues in their historical, economic and political contexts. In this process, we will pay special attention to grassroots responses of people to rapid changes that threaten their ways of life.
Third, while Professor Yamanaka will remain as the instructor for the course, each week we will draw upon the specific expertise of a Berkeley guest lecturer. This will permit us to not only broaden our intellectual horizons but also deepen our understanding of the topic from comparative and inter-disciplinary perspectives.
Fourth, each student will be required to participate in a weekly discussion section. Graduate Student Instructors will coordinate discussions on the topic of each week. In order to achieve lively and meaningful discussions, each student will be required to read the class assignments prior to their section meetings.
3. Required Readings
There will be no textbook for this course. Required readings will be found in a photocopied course reader (available at Copy Central, 2560 Bancroft Way).
4. Bases for Evaluation
| Exam Schedule | |
|---|---|
| Midterm exam 1 | Given on Sep 27, submitted on Oct 2 |
| Midterm exam 2 | Given on Nov 1, submitted on Nov 6 |
| Midterm exam 3 | Given on Nov 29, submitted on Dec 4 |
| Final exam | Given on Dec 15, 5-8 PM |
Each student must complete all of the above course requirements in order to complete the course.
5. Optional and Supplementary Books on Reserve at Moffit Library
Single copies of the following optional and supplementary books will be on 2-hour reserve in Moffit Library.
Richard Maidment and Colin Mackerras (eds.)
Culture and Society in the Asia-Pacific, London: Routledge, 1998.
Grahame Thompson (ed.)
Economic Dynamism in the Asia-Pacific: The Growth of Integration and Competitiveness, London: Routledge, 1998.
Maidment, Richard, David Goldblatt and Jeremy Mitchell (eds.)
Governance in the Asia-Pacific, London: Routledge, 1998
6. Course Outline and Schedule
PART I: UNITY AND DIVERSITY IN ASIA
Week 1: 08/28, 08/30 - Politics, Economy and Culture
08/28 Tu "Introduction to the course"
08/30 Th "Unity and diversity in culture"
Week 2: 09/04, 09/6 - Politics, Economy and Culture, continued
09/04 Tu "Unity and diversity in politics"
09/06 Th "Unity and diversity in Southeast Asia"
PART II: GLOBALIZATION AND TRANSNATIONALISM
Week 3: 09/11, 09/13 - Economic Globalization and Uneven Development
09/11 Tu "Regional division of labor and growing gaps"
09/13 Th "China's economic reform and urban-rural gaps"
Week 4: 09/18, 09/20 - Migration and Transformation
09/18 Tu "Migration, citizenship, and the nation-state"
09/20 Th "Migration and differentiation/transformation"
Week 5: 09/25, 09/27 - Struggles for Immigrant Rights
09/25 Tu "Responses of civil society and changes"
09/27 Th "Human rights and Asian values"
PART III: ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY
Week 6: 10/2, 10/04 - Development and Environment
10/02 Tu "Politics of development and environment"
10/04 Th "Forest development and ecology of the Himalayas"
Week 7: 10/09-10/11 - Industrialization and Tourism
10/09 Tu "The overlaps of ecology and culture in the tourism industry, Rajasthan, India"
10/11 Th "Lessons from Japan: Industrial pollution and people power"
Week 8: 10/16, 10/18 - Environmentalism and Actions
10/16 Tu "Buddhism and environmentalism"
10/18 Th "Dams and the Mekong River Basin"
PART IV: GENDER, FAMILY AND CHANGE
Week 9: 10/23, 10/25 - Gender, Family and Culture
10/23 Tu "The state, ideology and practice"
10/25 Th "Women in modern Vietnamese literature"
Week 10: 10/30, 11/01 - Women and Economic Miracles
10/30 Tu "Sweatshops and economic miracles"
11/01 Th "Feminization of migration and economic survival of the family"
Week 11: 11/06, 11/08 - Diversity, Resistance and Challenge
11/06 Tu "Sexual identity and everyday resistance"
11/08 Th "Gender, power and development in South Asia"
PART V: CULTURE AND MEDIA
Week 12: 11/13, 11/15 - Tradition and Modernity
11/13 Tu "Soft power in Asia"
11/15 Th "Cultural identity and hybridity in Japanese literature"
Week 13: 11/20 - Media and Freedom of Speech
11/20 Tu "Freedom of speech in China and Mongolia"
11/22 Th Thanksgiving Day Holiday
Week 14: 11/27, 11/29 - Production and Consumption of Expressive Culture
11/27 Tu "Bollywood cinemas in India"
11/29 Th "Revising a musical tradition in South Korea"
PART VI: CHALLENGE FOR UNITY AND DIVERSITY
Week 15: 12/04, 12/06 - Summary and Evaluations
12/04 Tu "Implications for research, policy and action"
12/06 Th "Implications for research, policy and action, continued"
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Final Exam - Saturday, December 15, 5-8 pm
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Click here for a copy of the complete syllabus in PDF format.