East Asian Studies

Courses

Please consult the course information available online at and for a complete list of East Asian-related courses offered at Yale University.

EAST 500a / HSAR 803a, Reflecting Truth: Meiji Photography between Performativity and Representation, Modernity and Empire  Ayelet Zohar

Celebrating 150 years since the Meiji Restoration (1868) is an ideal opportunity to look back and ponder the engagement with an alternative history of photography, from a Japanese point of view. Photography arrived in Japan soon after its creation in the UK and France (1839), and first images were created as soon as 1848 in Kagoshima and Nagasaki. We consider the two paths photography developed in Japan, and their intersections: experimental approaches with performative modes of execution (i.e., direct light, opaque image, camera-less photographs, etc.), versus representations of Japan, a method that can be studied through two tracks—the creation of exotic, nonmodern images for the Western, consuming eye; and the documentation of Japan’s rapid modernization and political developments into settlement, nationalism, colonialism, and militarism.
W 1:30pm-3:20pm

EAST 511b / RLST 598b, Modern Korean Buddhism from Sri Lanka to Japan  Hwansoo Kim

This course situates modern Korean Buddhism in the global context of the late nineteenth century to the present. Through critical examination of the dynamic relationship between Korean Buddhism and the Buddhisms of key East Asian cities—Shanghai, Tokyo, Taipei, and Lhasa—the course seeks to understand modern East Asian Buddhism in a transnational light. Discussion includes analyzing the impact of Christian missionaries, pan-Asian and global ideologies, colonialism, Communism, capitalism, war, science, hypermodernity, and atheism.
Th 1:30pm-3:20pm

EAST 573a / EALL 873a / HIST 873a, China and the World circa 1900  Peter Perdue and Jing Tsu

Reading and discussion of significant themes in China and world history in the first decade of the twentieth century. We concentrate on topics that contain international, transnational, and comparative implications, and include discussion of literary and historical material. Most readings are in English, but selected primary sources in Asian languages may be used. Open to all History, East Asian Studies, and East Asian Languages and Literatures students, and others by request. Includes research paper and weekly writing exercises. Prerequisite: knowledge of one foreign language, European or Asian.
Th 3:30pm-5:20pm

EAST 575b / ANTH 575b, Hubs, Mobilities, and Global Cities  Helen Siu

Analysis of urban life in historical and contemporary societies. Topics include capitalist and postmodern transformations, class, gender, ethnicity, migration, and global landscapes of power and citizenship.
T 1:30pm-3:20pm

EAST 900a or b, Master’s Thesis  Staff

Directed reading and research on a topic approved by the DGS and advised by a faculty member (by arrangement) with expertise or specialized competence in the chosen field. Readings and research are done in preparation for the required master’s thesis.
HTBA

EAST 910a or b, Independent Study  Staff

By arrangement with faculty and with approval of the DGS.
HTBA