[Foreign Cultures 21. Cinéma et culture française, de 1896 à nos jours]
Catalog Number: 8550
Tom Conley
Half course (spring term). M., W., F., at 10, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 3
Focuses on relations of cinema to French culture from the silent era to the age of video. Explores film in dialogue with cultural and historical events, development of a national style and signature, a history of criticism. Correlates study of cinema to cultural analysis. Takes up Renoir and poetic realism, unrest in 1930s, France and other filmic idioms (Italy, Hollywood, Russia), new wave directors, feminist and minoritarian cinema after 1980.
Note: Expected to be given in 2004–05. Conducted in French.
Foreign Cultures 22a. La critique sociale à travers l’humour
Catalog Number: 0656
Marlies Mueller
Half course (fall term). M., W., (F.), at 11, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 4
A second-year language course that explores French institutions, values, and traditions of the 17th and 18th centuries as objects of humorous attacks by such authors as Beaumarchais, La Fontaine, Molière, and Voltaire. Comprehensive syntheses of early-modern cultural debates through multi-disciplinary approach. Extensive use of visual material (Cassell, Leconte, Rossellini, Scola, Wajda). Emphasis on all four communication skills so that at the end of the course, students should be able to understand lectures in French, converse on a large variety of topics with native speakers, read material of moderate difficulty, and write correct French.
Note: Conducted in French. Both Foreign Cultures 22a and 22b, not necessarily in sequence, must be taken to fulfill the Foreign Cultures requirement.
Prerequisite: A Harvard placement score of 600 minimum, equivalent preparation, or permission of instructor.
Foreign Cultures 22b. La critique sociale à travers l’humour
Catalog Number: 0591
Marlies Mueller
Half course (spring term). M., W., (F.), at 11, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 4
A continuation of Foreign Cultures 22a at a higher level. Explores institutions, values, and traditions in humorous works of 19th- and 20th-century France. Emphasis on the individual’s search for wisdom and happiness in a changing social context (Balzac, Beineix, Godard, Renoir, Sartre, and Stendhal).
Note: Conducted in French. Both Foreign Cultures 22a and 22b, not necessarily in sequence, must be taken to fulfill the Foreign Cultures requirement.
Prerequisite: A Harvard placement score of 710 minimum, Foreign Cultures 22a, equivalent preparation, or permission of instructor.
Foreign Cultures 30. Forging a Nation: German Culture from Luther to Kant and Beyond
Catalog Number: 0580
Peter J. Burgard
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., at 10, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 12
Examines literary, philosophical, religious, and political movements of the period 1500–1775, from the Reformation to the Enlightenment. Analysis of texts from that time and consideration of their literary reception in the 20th century.
Note: Readings and discussions in German; exams in English; German optional for term paper.
Prerequisite: German D, equivalent preparation, or permission of the instructor.
Foreign Cultures 32. Jugend gegen Hitler
Catalog Number: 5463
Judith Ryan
Half course (spring term). M., W., at 11; F., at 12; F., at 11, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 4
The course will treat a series of fictional, cinematic, biographical, autobiographical, and documentary works that depict young people coming to terms with everyday life in Germany during the Nazi regime. Attention will also be paid to the language of Nazi proclamations and opposition pamphlets and flyers. Topics explored include youth resistance movements, the ubiquitous influence of the Hitler Youth, life in hiding from the Nazis, and the concentration camp experience.
Note: Expected to be omitted in 2004–05. Readings and discussions in German; papers and exams in English.
Prerequisite: German D, equivalent preparation, or permission of the instructor.
Foreign Cultures 34. Mesoamerican Civilizations
Catalog Number: 3196
William L. Fash and Davíd L. Carrasco
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., at 1, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 15
This course highlights the distinctive features of the evolving cultural traditions of Mesoamerica, one of the oldest living civilizations in the world. Precolumbian religion, arts, cultural ecology, and construction of power and social identity through myth, ritual, and official history are explored first. Continuities and changes in those traditions resulting from the Spanish conquest, colonial rule, and subsequent global change in the 20th century are then analyzed. In Mexico and Central America, the past continues to shape the present, and living cultures help illuminate processes, events, and worldview in the archaeological past.
Foreign Cultures 35. Barcelona y la modernidad
Catalog Number: 7634
Bradley S. Epps
Half course (spring term). M., W., (F.), at 12, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 5
Examines the construction, expansion, and transformation of Barcelona as cultural capital of Catalonia and as site of political and aesthetic experimentation from the mid-19th century to the present. Drawing on literature, criticism, visual arts, architecture, urban planning, film, and music, we explore national identity, nationalism, and language; bilingualism and multiculturalism; and the relations between art and economics, political conformity and resistance.
Note: Conducted in Spanish; papers in Spanish or English.
Foreign Cultures 37. Madrid, fin-de-siècle
Catalog Number: 4425
Luis Fernández-Cifuentes
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., at 12, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 14
Madrid’s first turn of the century as a modern city was marked by the intellectual and artistic activity of the so-called Generation of 1898 (the year Spain lost its last colonies); the second turn, by the aftermath of Franco’s dictatorship and the country’s incorporation into the European Union. This course will explore and compare the cultural identity of the city at both junctures, through architecture and painting, narrative and film, theatre and comic books, politics and journalism.
Note: Conducted in Spanish; papers and exams may be written in English.
Foreign Cultures 46. Caribbean Societies: Socioeconomic Change and Cultural Adaptations
Catalog Number: 6357
Orlando Patterson
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., at 11, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 13
Caribbean societies are largely the economic and political creations of Western imperial powers. Though in the West, they are only partly of it, and their popular cultures are highly original blends of African and European forms. The course examines the area as a system emerging from a situation of great social and cultural diversity to the present tendency toward social and cultural convergence. Patterns of underdevelopment are explored through case studies of Latin and Afro-Caribbean states, as are cultural adaptations through studies of Afro-Caribbean religions, fiction, and music.
Note: Expected to be omitted in 2004–05.
[Foreign Cultures 48. The Cultural Revolution]
Catalog Number: 6474
Roderick MacFarquhar
Half course (spring term). M., W., at 10, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 3
From 1966 to 1976, the People’s Republic of China was wracked by civil strife, student violence, political intrigue, and military plots. What had once seemed the best disciplined and most stable of dictatorial states seemed about to dissolve into disunity, even anarchy, and as a result of the actions of the man who had done more than anyone else to create it: Chairman Mao Zedong. The Cultural Revolution is traced to pinpoint Mao’s aims and to explore the deeper political, social, economic, and cultural issues that his actions raised for the Chinese, and for the rest of us as well.
Note: Expected to be given in 2005–06. For students under the Core requirement, counts as either Foreign Cultures or Historical Study B, but not both.
Foreign Cultures 56. Jewish Life in Eastern Europe
Catalog Number: 1271
Jay M. Harris
Half course (fall term). M., W., (F.), at 11, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 4
An examination of the variegated cultural achievements of Eastern European Jewish society, including its religious and ethical worldviews, its educational institutions, its literature, its politics. Primary focus on the 19th century, the development and continuity of traditional life, and the confrontation between traditional and newer cultural patterns.
Note: Expected to be omitted in 2004–05.
Foreign Cultures 60. Individual, Community, and Nation in Vietnam
Catalog Number: 1976
Hue-Tam Ho Tai
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., at 10, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 12
An introduction to the enduring bases of Vietnamese society and culture. Focuses on the impact of change on the individual, the family, the community, and the nation through the ages. The condition of women from primitive times to the socialist present, the relationship between religion and politics, the continuing struggle over land, and the dilemmas of leadership and national integration are examined through a combination of literary and historical documents as well as more analytical materials.
Note: Expected to be omitted in 2004–05.
Foreign Cultures 63. China’s Two Social Revolutions
Catalog Number: 1884
Martin K. Whyte
Half course (fall term). M., W., at 12, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 5
A general overview of the patterns of social life in China and how these have changed since the revolution in 1949. The socialist transformations led by Mao Zedong after 1949 and the market and other reforms led by Deng Xiaoping after Mao’s death receive equal emphasis. Topics covered include political institutions, work organizations, village life, cities, religion, family life, population control, gender relations, inequality, and schooling.
Note: Expected to be omitted in 2004–05.
Foreign Cultures 68. Authority and the Claims of the Individual in Chinese Literary Culture
Catalog Number: 9028
Stephen Owen
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., at 1, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 15
Examines the role Chinese literary texts have played in articulating the place of the individual as part of, or against, the authority of community and state. Beginning with the celebrations of social integration in the early parts of the Classic of Poetry (early first millennium BC), we will follow the increasingly complex role literature came to play, both as a critic of authority and as establishing a domain of private life.
Note: Expected to be omitted in 2004–05. For students under the Core requirement, counts as either Foreign Cultures or Literature and Arts A, but not both.
Foreign Cultures 70. Understanding Islam and Contemporary Muslim Societies
Catalog Number: 1065
Ali S. Asani
Half course (spring term). M., W., F., at 11, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 4
Offers an introductory survey of the Islamic world as well as the fundamental concepts and devotional practices of the Islamic faith. Focuses on developing an understanding of the diversity of the Muslim religious worldview and the manner in which it has influenced the political, social, and cultural life of Muslims in various parts of the world, particularly in the modern period. Briefly considers the contemporary situation of Muslims as a religious minority in Europe and the US.
Note: Expected to be omitted in 2004–05.
[Foreign Cultures 72. Russian Culture from Revolution to Perestroika]
Catalog Number: 5581
Svetlana Boym
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., at 12, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 14
Explores 20th-century Russian culture through literature, art, and film. Topics include art and revolution, utopian imagination and the authoritarian state, the rewriting of history through literature and film, art of the fantastic and the literature of exile, postcommunism and postmodernism, the search for national identity, and resistance to nationalism. Proceeds from revolutionary avant-garde art and artistic experimentation of the 1920s to the declaration of Socialist Realism and the experience of Stalinism, from dissident art of the 1960s to the culture of the Cold War, perestroika, and beyond. Works by Malevich, Eisenstein, Vertov, Mayakovsky, Babel, Bulgakov, Mandel’shtam, Nabokov, Kundera, and Brodsky.
Note: Expected to be given in 2004–05.
Foreign Cultures 74. Cultures of Southern Europe
Catalog Number: 0603
Michael Herzfeld
Half course (spring term). M., W., (F.), at 9, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 2
This is a survey of the modern cultures of Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, and Spain. Southern Europe has been viewed as both the fount of “Western civilization” and as a poor and crime-ridden backwater; it has been home to imperial powers and humiliated client-states alike. Through the reading of anthropological field studies (urban and rural), literary and historical portrayals, and artistic representations (including film and opera), this course focuses on what such contradictions mean for people in those countries at the level of everyday life, and provides an account of differences as well as similarities among the countries discussed.
Note: Expected to be omitted in 2004–05.
[Foreign Cultures 76. Mass Culture in Nazi Germany: The Power of Images and Illusions]
Catalog Number: 3396
Eric Rentschler
Half course (fall term). M., W., at 9; screenings, M., 4–6, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 2
A half-century after Hitler’s demise, the legacy of Nazi sights and sounds remains contested and problematic. We analyze seminal films of the Third Reich as ideological constructs, popular commodities, and aesthetic artifacts. How did emanations of Goebbels’ Ministry of Propaganda figure within the larger contexts of state terror, world war, and mass murder, and how have Nazi images been presented and recycled since 1945? Sampling of short subjects and documentaries (Triumph of the Will, Olympia, and The Eternal Jew), and narrative films (Hitler Youth Quex, La Habanera, Jew Süss, and Kolberg). Readings provide pertinent socio-historical backgrounds and important theoretical perspectives.
Note: Expected to be given in 2005–06. No knowledge of German required.
[Foreign Cultures 78. Culture-Building and the Emergence of Modern Scandinavia]
Catalog Number: 0671
Stephen A. Mitchell
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., at 9, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 11
Focuses on the nordic world (Denmark, the Faroes, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden) in the 20th century, but begins with early 19th-century nationalist aspirations tied to folklore collecting and literary movements (e.g., the Kalevala). Examines the “valorization” of peasant culture, pre-Christian paganism, and other aspects of nordic cultural history in a wide variety of cultural monuments (e.g., paintings, museum displays, films, and literary works). Traces the question of who shapes public perceptions of “national cultures” in Scandinavia in selected periods, including the Nazi occupation, the “sex, suicide, and socialism” stereotype of the 1960s, and contemporary settings (e.g., the Olympic Games).
Note: Expected to be given in 2005–06.
Foreign Cultures 80. Korean Cultural Identities
Catalog Number: 8798
David McCann
Half course (fall term). M., W., at 10, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 3
Surveys articulations of Korean cultural identity in literature, art, and the writing of history from the Unified Silla Kingdom in the 7th century, through the succeeding Koryô and Chosôn dynasties, and into the first half of the 20th century. Then examines event and aftermath of the Japanese colonial occupation, 1910–1945; liberation, division, and the Korean War, 1945–1953; and the separating cultural spheres in north and south. Considers the re-production of identity issues in the context and course of the first century of Korean-American history, 1903-2003.
Note: Expected to be omitted in 2004–05.
[Foreign Cultures 82. Modern Arabic Narratives: Self, Society, and Culture]
Catalog Number: 2619
William E. Granara
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., at 12, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 14
A historical overview of cultural and social issues in contemporary Arab society as reflected in modern fiction. Attention will be given to the development of the novel and short story as literary media that treat themes such as the conflict between tradition and modernity, anti-colonialism, nationalism, civil war, poverty, alienation, religion and politics, and changing gender roles. Readings will include works of Tayeb Salih, Naguib Mahfouz, Muhammad Choukri, as well as prominent women authors, such as Hanan Shaykh and Sahar Khalifeh.
Note: Expected to be given in 2004–05. No knowledge of Arabic required.
Foreign Cultures 84. Tokyo
Catalog Number: 9691
Theodore C. Bestor
Half course (spring term). M., W., (F.), at 1, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 6
Tokyo has been one of the world’s great metropolitan centers since the 17th century, both the urban hub of Japanese society and culture, and the intersection between Japanese domestic society and trends of global influence. This course examines trajectories of change in Tokyo’s urban culture, lifestyles, social structure, and spatial environment across the city’s history, using ethnography, history, literature, diaries, architecture, photography, art, cartography, animation, film, and the Internet to explore Tokyo as an urban culture in comparative perspectives drawn from anthropology, history, and other social sciences.