CHN 410/510/ Chinese Literature/ Professor Steve Durrant
Few would dispute the claim in the title of this class that the 18th century masterpiece Dream of the Red Chamber (also known as The Story of the Stone) is the greatest novel to have ever been written in China. The novel can be read primarily as a story of a love triangle, as an account of the decline of a wealthy aristocratic family, as the story of a Peter Pan-like boy who refuses to grow up, as an account of the interactions between Confucianism on the one side and Daoism/Buddhism on the other, as a kind of cosmic drama, as a virtual encyclopedia of Chinese culture in the 18th century, or in all of these ways at once and in other ways as well. It is so rich that an entire discipline, known as “Red Studies” (Chinese hongxue 紅學) has developed around the study of this text. Now, reading Dream presents a problem: the novel is approximately 2500 pages in its best English translation, more than we can tackle in a single quarter. What I intend to do is guide students through a 320-page abbreviation of the novel and then have them read a series of sample chapters in their entirety. There will be a considerable amount of reading, perhaps 750 pages, but students will leave the class with a good idea of this novel, and, I hope, an adequate foundation to become true “dreamers” by continuing on to read the entire text, should they wish to, in the years ahead.
ANTH 161/ Introduction to Cultural Anthropology/ Professor Tami Hill
Cultural Anthropology is the study of individual and groups within the context of culture. Anthropology draws on many disciplines (history, politics, economics, gender studies, philosophy, linguistics) in the exploration, description, and interpretation of how people use culture to make meaning out of their lives. In this course, we will use the lens of various groups, countries, and cultures across the globe to examine the following topics: how humans have organized themselves over time and across space, religion and ritual, social identity, difference and inequality, colonialism and globalization, immigration and refugees.
My goal in this course is to illustrate how anthropology can help us to better understand, interpret, analyze, and appreciate ourselves, our cultures, and the world around us. My main approach is to make the “familiar strange and the strange familiar”—helping us to question our own cultural beliefs and practices which we may take for granted and assume as “natural”—while trying to better understand other cultural practices that we might initially consider strange or bizarre. Basically, I think Cultural Anthropology makes life more interesting and I want to show you why and how this is true through this course.
GEOG 410/510/ Geography Of The Anthropocene/ Professor Scott Warren
In this course we explore the relationship between nature and culture, and the many ways that humans have modified the earth. Many scientists, writers and other observers have asserted that humankind has “come to rival nature” in our ability to shape the earth and its systems (e.g., human-caused climate change). These observers argue that this ability to change nature and shape natural systems to our liking has ushered in a new era of geological history called the “Anthropocene.” We will interrogate this claim, reflect on its significance and theoretical underpinnings, and develop a better understanding of the drivers and consequences of global change.