A close study of a focused topic that has broad significance in Asian Studies. Normally to be team-taught by two faculty of the department. The approach will be multidisciplinary; the goal of the course will be to explore a subject of interest in Asian Studies that also has suggestive implications for issues in the humanities and social sciences.
The human mind seems infinitely creative in its effort to imagine boundaries between peoples. Human society seems just as infinitely creative in constructing barriers and breaking them down. Ancient Chinese rulers built walls to define the boundary between the states they imagined to be civilized and the nomads that threatened them. Modern European and American diplomats have drawn borders across the Middle East to distinguish what they imagine to be coherent nations in an international community of nations. Great religions and lesser sects, nomads, sojourners, and musicians have crossed these boundaries and drawn alternative ones around themselves, sometimes challenging and sometimes reinforcing political divisions already in place. Beginning with current events and reaching into the past, we will examine a variety of cases--political, religious, and cultural--in which imagining boundaries and crossing lines have enhanced or reduced major conflicts. Student input will play a major role in determining the content. Possible areas of inquiry include Iraq, Iran, Kashmir, Tibet, Islam in Southeast Asia, Buddhist international relief efforts, the Taiwan problem, and historical influences such as the Mongol expansion, religious pilgrimage, piracy, and Pan-Asianism in Japan.
Limited to 30 students. Spring semester. Professors Dennerline and Ringer.
