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JAPAN 151B: The Nature of Knowledge: Science and Literature in East Asia (CHINA 151B, CHINA 251B, JAPAN 251B, KOREA 151, KOREA 251)

"The Nature of Knowledge" explores the intersections of science and humanities East Asia. It covers a broad geographic area (China, Japan, and Korea) along a long temporal space (14th century - present) to investigate how historical notions about the natural world, the human body, and social order defied, informed, and constructed our current categories of science and humanities. The course will make use of medical, geographic, and cosmological treatises from premodern East Asia, portrayals and uses of science in modern literature, film, and media, as well as theoretical and historical essays on the relationships between literature, science, and society.As part of its exploration of science and the humanities in conjunction, the course addresses how understandings of nature are mediated through techniques of narrative, rhetoric, visualization, and demonstration. In the meantime, it also examines how the emergence of modern disciplinary "science" influenced the development of literary language, tropes, and techniques of subject development. This class will expose the ways that science has been mobilized for various ideological projects and to serve different interests, and will produce insights into contemporary debates about the sciences and humanities.

Terms: Win | Units: 3-5 | UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-SI | Repeatable 2 times (up to 10 units total)

Instructors: Zur, D. (PI) ; Sigley, A. (TA)

JAPAN 188: The Japanese Tea Ceremony: The History, Aesthetics, and Politics Behind a National Pastime (ARTHIST 287A, JAPAN 288)

This course on the Japanese tea ceremony ('water for tea') introduces the world of the first medieval tea-masters and follows the transformation of chanoyu into a popular pastime, a performance art, a get-together of art connoisseurs, and a religious path for samurai warriors, merchants, and artists in early-modern Japan. It also explores the metamorphosis of chanoyu under 20th century nationalisms and during the postwar economic boom, with particular attention to issues of patronage, gender, and social class.

Last offered: Autumn 2022 | UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-SI

JAPAN 195C: Modern Japanese History: From Samurai to Pokemon (HISTORY 195C)

(95C is 3 units; 195C is 5 units.) Japan's modern transformation from the late 19th century to the present. Topics include: the Meiji revolution; industrialization and social dislocation; the rise of democracy and empire; total war and US occupation; economic miracle and malaise; Japan as soft power; and politics of memory. Readings and films focus on the lived experience of ordinary men and women across social classes and regions.

Terms: Aut | Units: 5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, GER:EC-GlobalCom, WAY-EDP, WAY-SI

Instructors: Uchida, J. (PI) ; Chung, Y. (TA)

JEWISHST 4: What Didn't Make the Bible (CLASSICS 9N, HISTORY 112C, RELIGST 4)

Over two billion people alive today consider the Bible to be sacred scripture. But how did the books that made it into the bible get there in the first place? Who decided what was to be part of the bible and what wasn't? How would history look differently if a given book didn't make the final cut and another one did? Hundreds of ancient Jewish and Christian texts are not included in the Bible. "What Didn't Make It in the Bible" focuses on these excluded writings. We will explore the Dead Sea Scrolls, Gnostic gospels, hear of a five-year-old Jesus throwing temper tantrums while killing (and later resurrecting) his classmates, peruse ancient romance novels, explore the adventures of fallen angels who sired giants (and taught humans about cosmetics), tour heaven and hell, encounter the garden of Eden story told from the perspective of the snake, and learn how the world will end. The course assumes no prior knowledge of Judaism, Christianity, the bible, or ancient history. It is designed f more »

Over two billion people alive today consider the Bible to be sacred scripture. But how did the books that made it into the bible get there in the first place? Who decided what was to be part of the bible and what wasn't? How would history look differently if a given book didn't make the final cut and another one did? Hundreds of ancient Jewish and Christian texts are not included in the Bible. "What Didn't Make It in the Bible" focuses on these excluded writings. We will explore the Dead Sea Scrolls, Gnostic gospels, hear of a five-year-old Jesus throwing temper tantrums while killing (and later resurrecting) his classmates, peruse ancient romance novels, explore the adventures of fallen angels who sired giants (and taught humans about cosmetics), tour heaven and hell, encounter the garden of Eden story told from the perspective of the snake, and learn how the world will end. The course assumes no prior knowledge of Judaism, Christianity, the bible, or ancient history. It is designed for students who are part of faith traditions that consider the bible to be sacred, as well as those who are not. The only prerequisite is an interest in exploring books, groups, and ideas that eventually lost the battles of history and to keep asking the question "why." In critically examining these ancient narratives and the communities that wrote them, you will investigate how religions canonize a scriptural tradition, better appreciate the diversity of early Judaism and Christianity, understand the historical context of these religions, and explore the politics behind what did and did not make it into the bible.

Terms: Aut | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-SI

Instructors: Penn, M. (PI)

JEWISHST 14B: The Crusades: A Global History (HISTORY 14B)

( HISTORY 14B is 3 units; HISTORY 114B is 5 units.) Questioning traditional western narratives of the crusades, this course studies Latin and Turkic invaders as rival barbarian formations, and explores the societies of western Afro-Eurasia and the Mediterranean in the centuries before western European global expansion. We approach the crusades as a "Christianized Viking raid," and investigate an array of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish sources. In so doing, we emphasize the diversity of perspectives within the Muslim, Christian, and Jewish communities: in the Muslim case, the tangle of Turkic, Arab, and Berber ethnicities; in the Jewish case, Hebrew, Arabic, and Turkic speakers ranging from the Iberian peninsula to India; in the Christian case, the fragmented Greek, Latin, and Arabic traditions. We explore how these barbarian invasions transformed the societies of western Afro-Eurasia, how ancient Greek knowledge in Islamic translation came to medieval Europe, and how a fragmenting Byzantine Empire gave way to the rise of the Ottoman Empire. However foreign, the interactions and encounters between these societies continue to reverberate today.

Last offered: Spring 2022 | UG Reqs: WAY-EDP, WAY-SI

JEWISHST 14S: Conversion in Ancient and Medieval Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (HISTORY 14S)

In the third century, a group of Roman soldiers submerged themselves in baptismal waters in the Syrian desert and became Christians, a radical act. A thousand years later, the Jews of Spain were forced to do the same; in 1391, their mass forced baptisms sparked widespread panic. Traces of these historical events, and countless others like them, survive in texts, manuscripts and archeological remains, and prompt the following questions: how did people of the past judge the "authenticity" of a religious conversion? What was the relationship between religion, culture, ethnicity, and race? Was religion an internal conviction, or a cultural practice? This course will explore conversions, both willing and forced, in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa from Antiquity to the Renaissance. Our exploration will focus on conversions among the three Abrahamic traditions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Last offered: Autumn 2022 | UG Reqs: WAY-EDP, WAY-SI

JEWISHST 31Q: Resistance and Collaboration in Hitler's Europe (HISTORY 31Q)

What is resistance and what did it entail in Nazi-occupied Europe? What prompted some to resist, while others accommodated or actively collaborated with the occupiers? How have postwar societies remembered their resistance movements and collaborationists? This seminar examines how Europeans responded to the Nazi order during World War II. We will explore experiences under occupation; dilemmas the subject peoples faced; the range of resistance motivations, goals, activities, and strategies; and postwar memorialization. Select cases from Western, Eastern, and Mediterranean Europe.

Terms: Win | Units: 3-4 | UG Reqs: WAY-ER, WAY-SI

Instructors: Batinic, J. (PI)

JEWISHST 77: "Jewish" in 7 Concepts

This course explores Jewish religion, history, and culture by tracing seven key concepts that shape what we mean when we say "Jewish." This course offers a gateway for students pursuing a minor in Jewish Studies or a degree in CSRE, but is open to everyone. The course will include visits from Stanford Jewish Studies core faculty members who will share their approaches to the concepts from their respective fields in history, religious studies, and literature.

Last offered: Winter 2023 | UG Reqs: WAY-EDP, WAY-SI

JEWISHST 85B: Jews in the Contemporary World: Culture, Pop Culture, and Representation (HISTORY 85B, REES 85B)

( HISTORY 85B is 3 units; HISTORY 185B is 5 units.) From Barbra Streisand to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, from The Dybbuk to Broad City, and from Moscow to LA, this course applies a multicultural perspective on different experiences of Jewishness in the 20th and 21st centuries. The discussion is centered on the ways in which these experiences are represented in various types of media: in literature or on TikTok, in poetry or on Instagram, in film and on television. The themes of the course include (but are not limited to) the interplay of national, religious, ethnic, linguistic, and political identities, intersectionality, the definitions and boundaries of Jewish cultures, Queer and variously gendered experiences of Jewishness, as well as antisemitism and stereotyped representations of Jewishness. The course introduces students to the analysis of a diverse array of media as cultural texts and historical sources. Students are encouraged to apply their new skills to media of their choice.

Last offered: Spring 2023 | UG Reqs: WAY-EDP, WAY-SI

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