01:098:322 Selected Interdisciplinary Topics in East Asia 

This course will explore how to understand Asian community with specific approaches to modern literature, film, history, culture and society in China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, and other areas. A few leading scholars and rising stars from America, Asia, and Europe will deliver a wide range of lectures about Asian Community in terms of literary narrative, cinematic imagination, interdisciplinary and multimedia representation. The course instructor will lead related discussions and provide further introduction to the major topics with regard to the understanding of East Asia and Asian community at large.

The major intermingling and interdisciplinary topics include: East Asian literary modernity; Eco-Writing; Landscape Aesthetics and Environmental Narrative; Social Memory; the Korean War; Cold War Asia and Cosmopolitanism; Literary Urban Studies; Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, and Asian community; Internet Culture; Race, Transcendence, Cross-Cultural Dialogue; Sustainable Futures; among others.

This course will equip students with the necessary knowledge and critical skills to understand main themes in the large context of Asian community. Weekly short journals (400 words for graduate students, and 300 words for undergraduate students), dynamic dialogue with outside speakers, regular oral presentations, and the product of a final paper (10-15 pages for graduate students, and 7-8 pages for undergraduate students) on a particular aspect of modern Asia and the transregional connections, will allow students to demonstrate their ability to formulate a research question, gather and evaluate relevant information, develop and sustain an argument, and communicate their findings orally and in written form in a mode appropriate to their chosen area of inquiry into the vision and concept of Asian community.

Grading: * weekly one-page single-spaced email comments/feedbacks and related oral/virtual presentations of the findings you have made about guest lectures and required readings (400+ words for graduate students, and 300+ words for undergraduate students): 50%; * one eight-minute formal presentation of your final paper: 20%; * one final paper –10-15 pages for graduate students, and 7-8 pages for undergraduate students: 30%

It is essential that students have read all of the assigned materials carefully and prepared to engage actively in the class discussion.

The assessment methods for this course are designed to evaluate student mastery of the course goals. The assignments require students to read, interpret and discuss texts related to topics and issues in Asian literature, film, and cultural studies. Upon completion of the course, students will have learned analytical and rhetoric skills through weekly discussions of the texts and issues, as well as through individual oral presentation to the class. Students will also be able to construct a thesis argument and build support with examples through the final papers about the vision and concept of Asian community.

All class materials are maintained under Rutgers University license. They are educational records under FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act), the U.S. federal law that governs access to educational information and records. Therefore, please DO NOT share or circulate course materials outside the class.