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 34. Mesoamerican Civilizations
Catalog Number: 3196
William L. Fash
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., at 11, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 13
This course highlights the distinctive features of the dynamic, still evolving cultural traditions of Mesoamerica, one of the oldest living civilizations in the world. Aztec and Maya religion, arts, cultural and imperial power and social identity through myth and ritual sacrifice are explored first. Cultural innovation and change in those traditions resulting from the Spanish conquest and colonial rule are then analyzed with some attention to the immigration of Mesoamerican ideas, peoples and practices into the US. This course makes extensive use of the ethnographic and archeological collections of the Peabody Museum in a “hands-on” way.
Foreign Cultures 46. Caribbean Societies: Socioeconomic Change and Cultural Adaptations
Catalog Number: 6357
Orlando Patterson
Half course (fall term). M., W., (F.), at 11, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 4
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 socio-economic 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, folkways, and music.
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 omitted in 2009–10. For students under the Core requirement, counts as either Foreign Cultures or Historical Study B, but not both.
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
Can a society modernize yet preserve its cultural identity? We will explore this issue with reference to Vietnam, where a Marxist-Leninist political system co-exists with a market economy. Modernization has been accompanied by a revival of tradition, religion, and rituals; urbanization by renewed stress on village solidarity. Gender roles are being transformed. Family relationships are being reshaped by increased mobility and new means of communications. Migration to the uplands is changing local cultures even as ethnic minorities are offered to global tourists as icons of authenticity. What does it mean to be Vietnamese under these circumstances?
Note: Expected to be omitted in 2009–10.
[Foreign Cultures 63. China’s Two Social Revolutions]
Catalog Number: 1884
Martin K. Whyte
Half course (fall term). M., W., at 10, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 3
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 given in 2009–10.
[Foreign Cultures 67. Popular Culture in Modern China]
Catalog Number: 8730
David Der-wei Wang
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., at 11, and a weekly section to be arranged. Four additional sessions to be arranged for screening of films. EXAM GROUP: 13
This course provides a comprehensive examination of modern Chinese popular culture in the People’s Republic of China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia. From literature to film, from music to theatre, this course will probe popular culture as it has manifested itself, and trace its sociopolitical, aesthetic, and affective impact on modern Chinese.
Note: Expected to be given in 2009–10. For students under the Core requirement, counts as either Foreign Cultures or Literature and Arts C, but not both.
Foreign Cultures 68. Authority and the Claims of the Individual in Chinese Literary Culture
Catalog Number: 9028
Xiaofei Tian
Half course (spring term). M., W., at 1, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 6
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 2009–10. 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 12, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 5
Offers an introductory survey of the fundamental concepts of the Islamic faith and devotional practices of Muslim societies around the world. Focuses on developing an understanding of the diversity of Muslim religious worldviews and the manner in which they have been shaped by the political, social and cultural contexts in which Muslims live in various parts of the world, particularly in the modern period. Briefly considers the contemporary situation of Muslims as a religious and racial minority in Europe and the US.
Note: Expected to be omitted in 2009–10. Expected to be omitted in 2009-10. This course, when taken for a letter grade, meets the General Education requirement for Culture and Belief.
[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 2010–11. For students under the Core requirement, counts as either Foreign Cultures or Literature and Arts C, but not both.
Foreign Cultures 74. Cultures of Southern Europe
Catalog Number: 0603
Michael Herzfeld
Half course (spring term). M., W., (F.), at 12, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 5
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.
[Foreign Cultures 76. Nazi Cinema: Fantasy Production in the Third Reich]
Catalog Number: 3396
Eric Rentschler
Half course (fall term). T., Th., at 10; screenings, W., 4–6, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 12
More than a half-century after Hitler’s demise, the legacy of Nazi sights and sounds remains contested and problematic. We will 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 2009–10. No knowledge of German required. For students under the Core requirement, counts as either Foreign Cultures or Literature and Arts B, but not both.
[Foreign Cultures 79. Historical and Musical Paths on the Silk Road]
Catalog Number: 5576
Mark C. Elliott and Richard K. Wolf
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., 1–2:30, and two weekly sections to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 15, 16
Globalization may seem quintessentially modern, but in fact it is nothing new. To demonstrate the deep interconnectedness of the historical cultures of Eurasia, this course takes students on a journey along the Silk Road, from ancient times to the present. We will use an integrated interdisciplinary approach to study the ebb and flow of people, ideas, goods, techniques, and artistic styles along the trade routes of Central, South, and East Asia, with a special focus on musical traditions. In addition to learning about particular histories and historic links among societies, we also consider the formation of critical theories of relatedness.
Note: Expected to be given in 2009–10. No knowledge of Asian languages or music is required. One weekly section is a music section and the other is a discussion section.
Foreign Cultures 80. Korea at 2100
Catalog Number: 8798
David McCann
Half course (spring term). M., W., at 11, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 4
This course seeks to help students develop an informal sense of the distinctive features of Korean culture, present and past. Part I examines Korean’s contemporary place in the world, with a focus on the Korea Wave; Part II, the twentieth century, issues of modernity, the Japanese colonial occupation, Liberation, Division, and the Korean War, and rapid social political change; Part III, the past as case study. Final project consists of team reports on Korean culture and the interplay of the contemporary and the past.
Note: Expected to be omitted in 2009–10.
[Foreign Cultures 81. The Culture of Everyday Life in China]
Catalog Number: 8733
Peter K. Bol and Michael A. Szonyi
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., at 10, and a weekly two-hour section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 12
An inquiry into social and cultural life in China, past and present, through an exploration of the patterns of everyday life over the last thousand years in a single region. Uses writings from local women and men in the past, interviews with their descendants today, the ancestral halls and genealogies of multi-generational families, shrines and temples of local gods, and extensive photo documentation as sources for understanding how life was experienced by the inhabitants of a community, farmers and scholars alike, and how that community was related to the larger world.
Note: Expected to be given in 2009–10.
Foreign Cultures 82. Modern Arabic Narratives: Self, Society, and Culture
Catalog Number: 2619
William E. Granara
Half course (fall term). M., W., at 12, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 5
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 omitted in 2009–10. 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.
Note: Expected to be given in 2009–10.
[Foreign Cultures 85. Japan Pop: From Basho to Banana]
Catalog Number: 0401
Adam L. Kern
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., at 2, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 16
Surveys what is arguably the major alternative to American popular culture, from its relative isolation in the 17th-century to its massive globalization of the present day. Drawing upon literary studies, cultural studies and visual culture, students will engage in the close readings of texts in English translation in different genres and media: anime, comic poetry, contemporary performance art, film, haiku, J-pop, hip-hop, kabuki, kibyoshi, manga, novellas, novels, and puppet plays.
Note: Expected to be given in 2009–10. No knowledge of Japanese required.
[Foreign Cultures 86. West African Cultures]
Catalog Number: 1648
J. Lorand Matory
Half course (fall term). M., W., (F.), at 1, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 6
We will explore the history and cultures of West and West-Central Africa, taking seriously the ancient involvement of this region in international politics and commerce. Equally important is the cosmopolitan dialogue that has transformed African ethnic identities, gender relations, and religious devotion in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Note: Expected to be given in 2009–10.
Foreign Cultures 88. The African Experience: Between Tradition and Modernity
Catalog Number: 5925
Francis Abiola Irele
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., at 11, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 13
This course seeks to introduce students to aspects of cultural change in Africa as reflected in the dominant currents of contemporary African thought and literature, centered on a theme from which they derive coherence and significance: that of the tension between tradition and modernity. While concepts from sociology and anthropology will be employed to elucidate the theme, the emphasis of the course will be placed on the literary and intellectual texts that have shaped reflection on modern African experience. The lectures and discussions of the texts will be supplemented by documentary films and feature films by African directors.
Foreign Cultures 90. Tel Aviv: Urban Culture in Another Zion
Catalog Number: 0199
Avi Matalon
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., at 12, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 14
How to read a city? Tel Aviv was founded under the concept of the “first Hebrew city” and rapidly became the cultural, economic, and political center of Jewish settlement in Palestine. Over the past century it has become a metropolis and the cultural and economic hub of the State of Israel. This course will trace Tel Aviv’s historical development and its cultural representation using history, literature, film, urban planning, photography, art, and music.
Note: Expected to be omitted in 2009–10.
Foreign Cultures 92. From the Prague Spring to the Velvet Revolution: Czech Culture under Communism
Catalog Number: 5237
Jonathan H. Bolton
Half course (spring term). M., W., at 11, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 4
Examines how the intense political pressures of invasion, occupation, and revolution shape a country’s intellectual life and are shaped by it in turn, looking at Czechoslovakia’s literature, drama, art, and music from the 1968 Prague Spring reforms, through the Soviet invasion and subsequent political crackdown, to the 1989 Velvet Revolution, a hallmark of the peaceful overthrow of Communism in Central Europe. We consider works by Milan Kundera, Bohumil Hrabal, and Vaclav Havel; films of Milos Forman, Jiri Menzel, and Petr Zelenka; music of the Plastic People; the dissident “anti-politics” of Charter 77; and legacies of the past in post-Communist Prague.
Note: Expected to be omitted in 2009–10.
Foreign Cultures 93. Pathways through the Andes–History, Culture, and Politics in Andean South America
Catalog Number: 2073
Thomas B. F. Cummins
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., 1–2:30, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 15, 16
Explores the development of Pre-Columbian civilizations and the transformation of post-conquest societies in the central Andes region of South America – modern Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Chile. By examining major trends and events in Andean culture and politics – e.g., the emergence of the Inca empire, resistance and accommodation to Spanish imperialism, the construction of new national identities, and divergent experiences under 20th century nation-states – we explore questions concerning contemporary challenges facing the region’s indigenous and peasant peoples. Readings in archaeology, ethnohistory, art criticism, political economy and 20th century literature and philosophy.
Foreign Cultures 94. Buddhism and Japanese Culture
Catalog Number: 3203
Ryuichi Abe
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., 10–11:30, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 12, 13
This course is designed to enable students to analyze a wide range of Japanese cultural creations–such as Noh Theater, Haiku poetry, art of tea, manga, and anime–by illustrating the influence of Buddhism both on their forms and at their depths. The first part of the course is a study of major Buddhist philosophy and its impact on Japanese literature. The second part observes Buddhist ritual practices and their significance for Japanese performing arts. The last part traces the development of Japanese Buddhist art, and considers the influence of Buddhism on diverse contemporary popular Japanese art media.