printer friendly pageCHINA 251: The Use of Classical Antiquity in Modern China (CHINA 151, CLASSICS 143)
This course examines the roles played by classical antiquity--Greek, Roman, and Chinese--in China's modernization process. Central topics of discussion include: the relationship between tradition and modernity, the relationship between China and the West, the politics and techniques of appropriation in the reception of classical heritage, and the evolving and highly contentious nature of the differences among various approaches to classical antiquity. Tackling the most fundamental questions that have confronted an ancient civilization from the turn of the twentieth century to the present, the course investigates how "classics" and "classical tradition" acquire different meanings and functions in changed contexts, and serves as a convenient introduction to key moments and figures in modern Chinese cultural and intellectual history.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 3-5
Instructors:
Zhou, Y. (PI)
;
Huang, X. (TA)
CHINA 251B: The Nature of Knowledge: Science and Literature in East Asia (CHINA 151B, JAPAN 151B, 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.
Last offered: Winter 2024
| Repeatable
2 times
(up to 10 units total)
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