AEAS/AWSS 270 (#9078)
Women in East Asian
Literature
FALL 2008 TTH 8:45AM-10:05AM
HU 039
Dr. Fan Pen Chen
Office hours: Tu 10:15-11:15; Th 3:00-4:00; and by appointment.
Office: Hu-246
Phone: 442-2600
Email: fanchen@albany.edu
Course Description: East Asia is a culturally rich and complex
area of the world that includes societies as diverse as
The class will
combine lectures with discussion and close reading of assigned materials. Aside
from a midterm and final exams, students are required to do a group project
that couple analysis with creativity through rewriting a traditional piece of
literature into one appealing to contemporary ideologies and performing it.
The course satisfies
the Gen Ed requirements for “Humanities” and “Regions Beyond
Europe.”
Prerequisites:
The course has no prerequisites and no prior knowledge of East languages or
cultures is required.
Required textbooks:
Robin R. Wang ed., Images of Women in Chinese Thought and Culture: Writings from Pre-Qin Period through the Song Dynasty. Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Co. Inc., 2003.
Donald Keene ed., Anthology of Japanese Literature.
The textbooks will be available at Mary Jane Bookstore. Other materials will be available through the University electronic reserve system (ERes). All you need to do is to go to the University library page from the University main page. Select “ERes,” click on “Electronic Reserves and Reserves Pages,” fill in “270” for the Course Number, click on “EAS270” and fill in the password (eas270f08).
Grading:
The final grade will consist of: 1) A map quiz (5% percent of the final grade); 2) Mid-term exam grade (25% of the final grade); 3) Final exam (30% of the final grade); 4) Class attendance, preparation, and participation in class discussions (20% of the final grade); and 5) group presentation (20% of the final grade).
Numerical
scores will be converted to course grades according to the following scale:
93-100%=A; 90-92.99%=A-; 87-89.99%=B+; 83-86.99%=B; 80-82.99%=B-; 77-79.99%=C+;
73-76.99%=C; 70-72.99%=C-; 67-69.99%=D+; 63-66.99%=D; 60-62.99%=D-; 0-59,99%=E.
Class rules: 1) Class attendance is mandatory (attendance will be taken; since you cannot participate without being present, the participation grade will be affected by your absences. 2) You must purchase the textbook and download the Eres materials and bring them to class. You must bring the materials under discussion to our class every time we meet. They should be in front of you, and you should be able to use them in our class discussions. 3) You are responsible for reading the assignments on time and come to class prepared to discuss any part of the reading assignment. 4) You are encouraged to ask questions whenever you do not understand something. 5) It is your responsibility to take notes and review them for the exams. 6) All the evaluations (mid-term, final exam, class participation, formal presentation) are mandatory. If you fail to come the day in which they are assigned, you will get a “0” for that component of your grade. Only written medical documentation or excuses documented through authorized institutions such as the Undergraduate Dean’s office or the police department, will be accepted. Verbal justifications will not be enough to justify you absence to any of the components that comprises your final grade. 4) The acquisition and demonstration of good ethical standards is one of the goals at our university. Plagiarism and any other form of “cheating” are unacceptable and they will be reported to the corresponding university authorities. You are responsible for reading the undergraduate students’ manual online for greater familiarity with the university rules and regulations which also apply to our class.
Characteristics of all General
Education Courses
1.
General Education courses offer introductions to the central topics of
disciplines and interdisciplinary fields.
2.
They offer explicit rather than tacit understandings of the procedures,
practices, methodology and fundamental assumptions of disciplines and
interdisciplinary fields.
3.
They recognize multiple perspectives on the subject matter.
4.
They emphasize active learning in an engaged environment that enables students
to be producers as well as consumers of knowledge.
5.
They promote critical inquiry into the assumptions, goals, and methods of
various fields of academic study; they aim to develop the interpretive,
analytic, and evaluative competencies characteristic of critical thinking.
Learning Objectives for General Education Humanities
Courses
Humanities courses teach students to analyze and interpret
texts, ideas, artifacts, and discourse systems, and the human values, traditions,
and beliefs that they reflect.
1.
Humanities courses enable students to demonstrate knowledge of the assumptions,
methods of study, and theories of at least one of the disciplines within the
humanities.
Depending on the discipline, humanities courses will enable
students to demonstrate some or all of the following:
2.
An understanding of the objects of study as expressions of the cultural
contexts of the people who created them
3.
An understanding of the continuing relevance of the objects of study to the
present and to the world outside the university
4.
An ability to employ the terms and understand the conventions particular to the
discipline
5.
An ability to analyze and assess the strengths and weaknesses of ideas and
positions along with the reasons or arguments that can be given for and against
them
6.
An understanding of the nature of the texts, artifacts, ideas, or discourse of
the discipline and of the assumptions that underlie this understanding,
including those relating to issues of tradition and canon
Learning Objectives for General Education Regions
Beyond
Courses in the General Education category of Regions Beyond Europe enable students to demonstrate
**************************
Course Schedule
(Subject to Amendment)
8/26 –
Introduction. Photo
essay of a traditional “mom and pop”.
8/28 – Overview of the geography, diversity and
history of
9/2 – View the film, “Nü Shu: a Hidden Language of
Woman in
9/4 – Women in Chinese Antiquity (prehistory
to the Qin dynasty)
Evidence of matrilineality (Images
of Women: pp.22-23 Jiangyuan; pp.144-147 “King Kaoli
of
9/9 – Development of patriarchy (p.47 “The Speech
at Mu”; p.66 The Analect; pp.49-60 The
Record of Rites). Femme fatale and the dynastic cycle
(pp.159-161).
9/11 – Women’s role and lives (p.131 sericulture;
pp.6-22 The Book of Odes/Poetry; pp.140-1
Stratagems of the Warring States; p.88, p.90 Discourses of the States).
9/16 – Women in Medieval China (the Han to the Five dynasties).
The yin and yang (pp.68-72; p.124). Women in the religious
traditions (pp.191-4; pp.346-348; p.282; pp.291-3).
9/18 – Virtuous women (pp.150-5; pp.157-9;
pp.177-88; pp.327-40; pp.438-9). Discussion: “The Princess of Suiyang and Scholar Tan” (pp.204-5)
9/23 – Power of the mother-in-law (pp.233-42). Famous women (pp.209-12; 421-3; 250-4).
9/25 – Quiz on the geography of
Women in Pre-Modern China (the Song to the end of the Qing dynasty)
Footbinding; female chastity; female
infanticide; concubinage; love for daughters
(pp.432-434); talented women (pp.435-436).
9/30 – NO CLASS
10/2 – Women in Chinese drama (ERes) and fiction: romantic beauties, virtuous ladies, femme fatales, ghosts (pp.204-5), spirits, shrews, romantics, martial women (pp.250-4; 205-6). Discussion of “Painted Skin” (ERes).
10/7 – Modern
10/9 – NO CLASS
10/14 – Modern
10/16 –
Midterm Exam
10/21 – Overview
of the history of
10/23 – “The Tales of Ise” (pp.67-75); “Kokinshu” (pp.78-9); “Kagero Nikki” (Gossamer Years; pp.97-9); “The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon” (pp.137-9)
10/28 – Continued.
10/30 – The Tale of Genji – film and novel. “Yugao” (pp.106-136).
11/4 – Continued.
11/6 – “The Lady Who Loved Insects” (pp.170-6).
11/11 – Presentations
11/13 – Presentations
11/18 – Medieval
11/20 – Medieval
11/25 – Film: Continued. Discussion of film (see ERes for questions). Deadly women in Medieval Japanese drama.
11/27 – NO CLASS
12/2 – “What the Seasons Brought to the Almanac-Maker” (pp.335-53).
12/4 – Modern