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FALL 2005 COURSE GUIDE
Category II: Global Cultures and Traditions
Courses in this category introduce students to cultures and civilizations associated with Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, Native America, and Russia. Each course examines the distinctive qualities of the cultures studied and seeks to engage and explain those characteristics on their own terms. Students learn to understand the impact of historical development on cultures that interact in the contemporary geopolitical scene and to articulate the role that cultural differences play in those interactions. As a result, they are better prepared to participate actively in an increasingly global cultural and political landscape. Courses in this category are distinguished by their breadth of perspective over a substantial period of time. Comparative insights may also be offered between these cultures and those studied in Category I. For additional enrollment information, see the Fall 2005 Schedule of Classes.
Anthropology 263g Exploring Culture Through Film (3 sections available) |
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ANTHROPOLOGY 100g
Principles of Human Organization: Non-Western Societies
Professor Cooper
TTh, 11:00 - 12:20This course will introduce students to the basic analytical tools with which anthropologists have come to understand and interpret the societies and cultures of the non western world. In the process, students will become familiar with a small sample of those societies and cultures including northwest Coast American Indians, Trobriand Islanders of the south Pacific, Chinese, and East Africans.
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ANTHROPOLOGY 263g
Exploring Culture Through Film
Professor Seaman
MW, 8:00 - 9:20The main objective of this course is to provide students with an idea of the case study method in anthropology through intensive viewing of films and photographs about non-Western people whose culture is also well-represented in ethnographic texts. We will focus on three cultures: the !Kung San or Ju/'hoansi (Bushmen) of Southern Africa, the Yanomamö Indians of Venezuela, and the Tiv of Nigeria. Up until very recent times, all of these cultures lacked the political institutions characteristic of the state or empires and thus provide examples of peoples for whom power and authority are largely imbedded within the categories of family, friend or foe. Up until the 1980s, some Ju/'hoansi lived in small, localized bands supported by a primarily hunting and gathering ecology. The Yanomamö represent a 'big-man" type of social system and they still retains some autonomy because of their remote location; they are ecologically dependent upon slash-and-burn agriculture and some hunting. The Tiv are market-oriented hoe agriculturalists whose traditional segmentary lineage system was capable of mobilizing thousands of people in feuds, wars and judicial proceedings. The Tiv and the Yanomamö are examples the kind of peoples usually called 'tribal', even though their scale of social integration differs greatly. All of these peoples have been studied extensively by anthropologists and each has also been the subject of a series of ethnographic films or photographic essays. The Kung San by John Marshall; the Yanomamo by Timothy Asch and Napoleon Chagnon; the Tiv by Paul Bohannan. Recently Peter Biella and Gary Seaman collaborated with Chagnon to produce a computer interactive study on the Yanomamo entitled The Ax Fight. A similar project is underway for the Tiv. We therefore possess detailed written and filmed ethnographies of these three peoples as well as interactive media resources. It is these films and texts and interactive media that will allow us to form some sense of what it is like to live and act in a Ju/'hoansi or Yanomamo or Tiv mode.
A second important course objective is to learn to relate written materials to the audiovisual information contained in filmic and visual media. To accomplish this, the student is required to maintain a structured 'film journal' to transfer information from visual to textual format. A model form to organize the journal will be provided. These journals will be done in the discussion sections at the end of every class period.
ANTHROPOLOGY 263g
Exploring Culture Through Film
Professor Simic
TTh, 2:00 - 3:20
This course will introduce the student to the subject matter and theories of social anthropology through the extensive use of visual media, especially through film. Topics will cover a spectrum of issues, including: marriage and the family; economics; ritual and religion; conflict and conflict resolution; and culture change, among others. The approach will be broadly comparative. Traditions covered in the course will include those of Africa, Latin America, and the Balkaus, among others.
ANTHROPOLOGY 263g
Exploring Culture Through Film
Professor Boehm
TTh, 3:30 - 4:50The course introduces students to the subject matter of anthropology through a combination of ethnographic readings on particular species or cultures, and by use of films as a medium that furthers an unbiased understanding of cultural differences. The purpose is to assist the student in understanding nonliterate cultures that represent different stages of cultural evolution, and also in understanding the evolutionary precursor of human beings, the chimpansee, with whom we share a common ancestor some five million years ago. The general objective is to understand how chimpanzees and four human cultures mangae to exist in nature, and how their social organization and political behavior make sense in terms of the cultural tradition they share and the adaptive problems they face.
Specifically, we will begin studying Pan troglodytes schweinfurtheii, the same East African chimpanzees that have been studies by Jane Goodall in her well known research. With chimpanzee behavior as a reference point, we will examine first two human societies of a type that is widely distributed in the nonliterate world, in which there is a wide seperation between women's and men's roles. These are the warlike Yanomamo, who live by slash-and-burn horticulture, and the feuding pastoral Serbs of Montenegro, both patrillineal societies in which all males are considered politically equal to their leaders and in which values placed on male valor drive people to violent deeds. Next, comes a Pacific Island people whose sex roles are far more egalitarian; they have social classes and powerful chieftains, but they place a high premium on romantic life as our own culture does; they are distinctive in that they do not believe in biological paternity, yet they have families in the normal human pattern. The final culture to be studied is the eskimo, who lack warfare and concentrate their efforts on gaining a subsistence in an unusually challenging environment.
Emphasis on Film
As a major enhancement to reading detailed ethnographic reports on chimpanzees and these four human cultures, heavy emphasis will be placed in this course on the use of ethnographic films to make for a more complete and vivid understanding of these disparate cultures. Each Thursday, a film will be shown that is relevant to the lecture to the following Tuesday. On arriving at the lecture on Tuesday, students will hand in questions and comments on the assigned reading. At the end of Thursday's film, students will hand in question and comments on the film. In addition, each student will attend a discussion section with a Teaching Assistant, in which discussion will be oriented to the relations of the film to other ethnographic materials covered, and to other topics selected by the Teaching Assistant.
ANTHROPOLOGY 316gm
North American Indians in American Public Life
Professor Williams
TTh, 11:00 - 12:20
This class analyzes the problems and challenges that have faced American Indians in the United States political system. After briefly introducing the cultures of the Native Americans before the coming of the Europeans, this course takes a diachronic perspective in looking at the changing historical position of Native peoples in American public life.
The course will assess whether people of the First American Nations can be classified as the de facto colonial subjects of the United States, and how their present-day political/legal positions evolved from an independent status to a dependent one. By focusing on these issues, students will be expected to think about and make conclusions about the unique realities facing modern Native people as a minority in their own homeland, and the implications of these realities for an understanding of American notions of democracy.
ART HISTORY 125g
Arts of Asia: Antiquity to 1300
Professor Cho
TTh, 11:00 - 12:20Please contact the Art History department for course description.
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE 250g
Cultures of Latin America
Professor Diaz
TTh, 11:00 - 12:20
This course explores the heterogeneous character of civilization in Latin America, with a focus on the interaction of indigenous and “foreign” – mostly European, but also African and North American – elements in the region. By drawing mostly on literature, but also on history, opera, film, and painting, the course seeks to study various questions that surround the “construction” of Latin America. How do Latin American cultures interact with those of other parts of the world? What, if anything, is really distinctive about Latin America? How do Latin Americans represent, and how do others? We will concentrate on four periods, from colonial times to the present: the emergence of new cultural forms in vice regal New Spain; the construction of nationhood in nineteenth-century Argentina; the Cuban Revolution and its relations with the outside world; and the ascent of Hispanic cultures in the United States and of North American cultural forms in Latin America.
EAST ASIAN LANGUAGES AND CULTURES 110g
East Asian Humanities: The Great Tradition
Professor Hayden
TTh, 11:00 - 12:20
This course introduces the fundamental humanistic traditions of China, Japan, and Korea through representative works of traditional literature, esthetics, social philosophy, religion, and historical writing. The readings are mostly from primary sources as translated into English. No previous knowledge of an East Asian culture or language is expected.
EAST ASIAN LANGUAGES AND CULTURES 342g
Japanese Literature and Culture
Professor Bialock
TTh, 2:00 - 3:20The objective of this course is to explore fundamental patterns in the culture and civilization of Japan through an examination of key literary, historical, religious, and philosophical texts from the ancient through modern periods. Particular attention will be paid to the way in which issues of gender, power, and class have shaped the production of Japanese literature. Since standard narratives of Japan's cultural past have been heavily influenced by Japan's emergence as a modern nation state, attention will also be paid to how the cultural dialogue and conflict between Japan and the West that accompanied modernization have shaped both Japanese and western views of Japan's evolution as a civilization. Issues discussed in this course will include the role of myth, story-telling, and historical narrative; conceptions of authority as reflected in evolving notions of imperial, sacred, and secular power; the role of ritual, performance and sociality in Japanese literary and art forms, with specific comparisons to western theatrical and novelistic traditions; the centrality of aesthetics in Japanese self-identity; concepts of self, gender, and otherness, with comparisons to western notions of individuality and subject. The course may also include screenings of several films that require attendance outside normal class time.
EAST ASIAN LANGUAGES AND CULTURES 350g
Chinese Civilization
Professor Birge
WF, 10:00 - 11:50This course presents basic features and highlights of Chinese civilization from neolithic times down to the present day. It explores both the development and the continuities of this great civilization, including aspects of philosophy, religion, politics, gender, literature, and art. We will also look at some areas of Chinese culture as it is encountered here in Los Angeles. No prior knowledge of China is required.
EAST ASIAN LANGUAGES AND CULTURES 352g
Chinese Literature and Culture
Professor Hayden
TTh, 12:30 - 1:50This course will introduce traditional Chinese literature through representative works of history, philosophy, poetry, fiction, and drama, as translated into English. No previous knowledge of Chinese culture or language is assumed.
EAST ASIAN AREA STUDIES 150g
East Asian Societies
Professor Rosen
TTh, 2:00 - 3:50
The following course description belongs to Professor Cooper.
This course is designed to provide an introduction to the societies and cultures of contemporary East Asia. Required readings are ethnographic studies of agricultural and industrial communities in China, Japan, and Korea. Lectures will provide historical and political background to each country. Readings will serve as a basis for discussion of cultural and economic themes and issues in the recent history of each country.
HISTORY 106g
Chinese Lives: An Introduction to Chinese History
Professor TBA
MW, 8:00 - 9:20
The following course description belongs to Professor Wills.
This class introduces students to some key themes in the history of China from the origins of the civilization down to our own day. The emphasis is not on volume of material read or facts mastered, but on reading, thinking, and writing. Wills, Mountain of Fame provides some continuity of exposition and introduction to some key themes and problems through the study of a series of famous and infamous lives of individuals in Chinese history. Ebrey, Chinese Civilization gives you a sense of the variety of Chinese experience and the challenges of trying to make sense of sources in translation. Very short writing exercises are required regularly, to give you practice in the kinds of writing and thinking we want you to work on in this course, and to push you to keep up with the readings.
HISTORY 107g
Japanese History
Professor Berger
TTh, 12:30 - 1:50
This course has two essential purposes. The first is to acquaint you with a survey of Japanese history. Our purpose will not be to memorize names, dates and places, but rather to see how a civilization quite different from those of the West evolved, developed, and met human needs. We may thereby learn quite a bit not only about Japan, but about our own cultural traditions. At a time when comparisons between contemporary Japan and America appear daily in the mass media, seeing the patterns of Japanese history may help us understand the patterns of contemporary Japan, and evaluate those comparisons with a more educated eye.
The second purpose is to explore what "history" means as an intellectual discipline, and how materials from other branches of knowledge, such as archaeology, economics, fine arts, literature and political science may be deployed to enrich our understanding of the past. The major cultural traditions explored are Japan's agrarian-village tradition, warrior (samurai) tradition, aristocratic/bureaucratic (court nobility) tradition, and the patterns of embracing or rejecting traditions encountered from foreign sources.
HISTORY 324g
Islam in Russia and the Soviet Union
Professor Rorlich
MWF, 12:00 - 12:50
The main goal of this class is to equip students with the basic empirical information and analytical approaches that will enable them to understand the dynamics of religion, culture and politics in shaping one of the world's major civilizations. Hence, guided by a comparative perspective, this class focuses on the study of those societies of the former Soviet Union whose identities and cultures were shaped by Islam but also by their encounter with the colonial "other", be it in Tsarist or Soviet form. Given its focus on an area outside the "core" Middle Eastern countries, this course also contributes to a better understanding of the cultural diversity of the "Muslim World" against the background of its unity of faith while also identifying the remarkable diversity of "Russian Islam" forged as it was, by the interaction of the settled and nomadic; urban and rural; Muslim and non-Muslim societies.
This course will begin with a general discussion of Islam as a religion and way of life; it will then turn to its main focus, the exploration of the beliefs, religions practices, cultural traditions, social institutions, and political culture of the Muslims of the former Soviet Union from the tenth century until the emergence of independent states such as Azerbaijan, Kazakhastan, Uzbedistan, and others.
RELIGION 131g
Religions of Asia
Professor Meeks
TTh, 3:30 - 4:50
The following course description belongs to Professor Slingerland.
The purpose of this course is to trace the development of religious thought in India, China and Japan, from earliest times until the present, paying attention to certain recurrent themes or motifs while also taking note of some profound discontinuities, especially as we move from India to East Asia. Although the importance of popular and elite practice as both a complement to and source of innovation in religious thought will be noted, as will the influence exerted by socio-economic and other "non-religious" forces? The primary focus of this course will be trends in religious/philosophical thought, as well as the relevance of these trends for contemporary Western thought.
Course Requirements
Students are expected to attend all lectures as well as a weekly discussion section, where a short paragraph concerning one of the week's readings will be turned in (although not graded). Each student will also be expected to write two papers (6-8 pages each) over the course of the semester, and these papers will require a close familiarity with the assigned readings. It is crucial that the readings be completed by the student, as the lectures merely provide a background to (rather than a synopsis of) the assigned texts. There will also be a midterm and final exam, which will focus primary upon the lecture material and will be open-notes (hardcopy, non-commercial notes only, no books or electronic devices allowed), so careful note-taking in both lecture and while doing the readings is strongly encouraged.
SLAVIC LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES 330g
Russian Thought and Civilization
Professor Wolfson
MWF, 11:00 - 11:50
The following course description belongs to Professor Postoutenko..
To many observers, not least Russians themselves, Russia has long appeared to be something of an enigma. With its enormous land mass extending from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific it belongs, at least geographically, to both Europe and Asia. Russia undeniably belongs to the cultural and religious heritage of Europe, yet its historical development has followed paths distinctly different from those of the western European nations more familiar to us. Russia's attempt to rediscover its identity following the collapse of communism and the disintegration of the USSR in 1991 have brought the dilemma of Russian identity to the fore more forcefully than at any time in the past three hundred years. For those reasons -- because Russia invites us to rethink what the term "Europe" means, and because the cultural identity of Russia has once again become important to world affairs -- it is vital to understand what Russia is about. This course examines some of the key events in Russia's history that have made it what it is, as well as the sense of Russian identity that has evolved along with them.