Do you like love stories? Kung fu movies? Feel embarrassed admitting it and wonder why? This course investigates the cultural, political and aesthetic significance of romance and martial arts in Chinese popular fiction and some films from the 16th to the 20th centuries. Students read works in these two major genres, learn key frameworks from cultural studies and explore scholarship on the aesthetic and political interventions of Chinese romantic and martial arts fiction in local, national and global contexts.

This course is a survey of modern Korean literature from the 1990s to the present. It charts the formal and thematic development of Korean literature by examining how literature illuminates Korea's history and politics. The class engages in the close reading of medium and full-length fictions in English translation, while considering their historical and cultural contexts.

This course offers a survey of Korean film history in light of cinema's relationship to the masses. As a popular art form, cinema has always been in close contact with its audiences. Cinema has contributed to the emergence of modern masses. By examining how cinema has shaped its audiences and vice versa, this course charts the development of Korean cinema as a popular entertainment as well as an art form during the last hundred years. This course starts from the globalization of Korean cinema and its transnational audiences and chronologically harks back to the colonial period.

An exploration of representations of "otherness" in Japanese literature and film from the mid-19th century until the present. How was (and is) Japan’s identity as a modern nation configured through representations of other nations and cultures? How are categories of race, gender, nationality, class and sexuality used in the construction of difference? This course pays special attention to the role of "otherness" in the development of national and individual identities.

This course introduces the historical, social and ideological background of "standard Japanese" and the Japanese writing system. The course looks at basic structural characteristics of the language and interpersonal relations reflected in the language, such as politeness and gender. The course also addresses fluidity and diversity of linguistic and cultural practices in contemporary Japan. This course is suitable for students with little knowledge about the language as well as those in Japanese language courses. All readings are in English translation. Enrollment limited to 30.

China grounds its literary tradition in lyric poetry. One enduring definition of lyric, or shi, in the Chinese tradition is the natural, direct expression and reflection of one’s inner spirit as a result of a unique encounter with the world. This course is an introduction to masterworks of the Chinese lyric tradition from its oral beginnings through the Qing dynasty.

This course seeks to expand the students’ knowledge of the literature in dance history and theory. It prompts discussions of historiography, writing, research methods, and cultural theory in dance studies. The readings trace the development of critical dance studies since the 1990s by surveying the field’s foundational texts as well as recent scholarship. These texts illuminate a variety of dance genres, time periods, and artists, while theorizing the body, movement, choreography, and performance from cultural, social, and ideological perspectives.

Advanced work in choreographic design and related production design. Study of the creative process and how it is manifested in choreography. Prerequisite: two semesters of choreography.

First-year MFA students enroll in this course to fulfill the graduate dance production requirement (usually stage managing a dance concert). Enrollment in DAN 507 takes place in the semester when the student completes the dance production assignment, as scheduled by the faculty. Restrictions: DAN graduate students only.

First-year MFA students enroll in this course to fulfill the graduate performance requirement. Enrollment in DAN 505 takes place in the same semester as the performance. The requirement is met by participating in the choreography of a Five College Dance Department faculty member (including guest artists) or an MFA thesis. Students must attend the respective auditions. Restrictions: DAN graduate students only.