Fall 2003: UMass Amherst Courses


ASIAN-ST 397A: ST-Southeast Asia

  • Location: Morril.III 126
  • Time: Tue. & Thur. 9:30-10:45 am
  • Instructor: Hafner, James A.

ASIAN-ST 397B ST-Brg As&Asn Am Gen

  • Location: TBA
  • Time:4:00PM-6:00PM, Days: Tue
  • Instructor: Ciecko, Anne T.

Comparative Literature 141: Good Evil, East West (Cont. Ed.)

Geosciences 670: Housing and Urban Development

  • Location: Herter 211
  • Time: Mon. 10:10 am-12:10 pm
  • Instructor: Gaubatz, Piper 
  • For more information, please contact Piper Gaubatz: gaubatz@geo.umass.edu, 545-0768
  • The course will focus on contemporary urban issues in China and Japan.  This graduate reading, research, and discussion seminar is open to all UMASS grad students.  No background in East Asian urban development is required.

WOMENSST 295B: Asian American Women: Gender, Race, and Immigration

  • Location: Bartlett 125
  • Tuesday, Thur. 2:30-3:45 pm 
  • Instructor: Kang, Miliann
  • For more information, please contact Prof. Miliann Kang, mkang@wost.umass.edu, 577-1710 or 545-1922
  • This course explores the histories, politics and identities of Asian American women and draws comparisons between their experiences and those of other women of color, white women, and Asian American men. It examines the intersections of gender, race, ethnicity, class, nation and sexuality in Asian American women's lives in five distinct but inter-related areas: 1) feminist debates; 2) immigration experience; 3) the family; 4) gender and work; and 5) sexual politics. Topics will include: immigration and settlement; labor history and contemporary employment patterns; patriarchy in the family and inter-generational relations; Asian American women's sexuality; the representation and exploitation of Asian female bodies; violence against women; militarized prostitution and sex tourism; and movements for social change. Fulfills the Women of Color inside the U.S. requirement.


Spring 2003: UMass Amherst Courses

Asians 197A: Study Abroad in Asia

  • Location: TBA
  • Time: Wed. 2:30-3:20 pm
  • Instructor: TBA

ASIANS 397B: Colloquium: Bridging Asia and Asian America

  • Location: TBA
  • Time: Tue. 4:00-6:00 pm
  • Instructor (s): Maira, Sunaina and James Hafner

Asians 491A: Senior Seminar

  • Location: TBA
  • Time: By Arrangement
  • Instructor(s): Maira, Sunaina and James Hafner

Comparative Literature 141: Good Evil, East West

  • Location: TBA
  • Time: TBA
  • Instructor: Miller, Lucien 

English 497F: Asian Americans and Latinas in the Borderlands: Gender, Sexuality, and (Trans)nationalism

  • Location: TBA
  • Time: TBA
  • Instructor: Maira, Sunaina

Dance 493: Alankara Arts In India

  • Location: TBA
  • Time: offered each year in January as a month long study tour
  • Instructor: TBA
  • Arts in India, a January term study tour sponsored by the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, is a unique learning experience for students, one that plays a crucial role in the introduction, appreciation and understanding of India. With an immersion in Indian arts, dance and music, this program facilitates an in-depth learning experience for the students through interaction with the professional artists, academics and leaders who shape the arts and cultural policies in the country. Students are asked to reflect on the diversity of the transnational arts, as experiencing the phenomena of fusion in the arts will allow them to understand the implications of "globalization" in traditional society.
    The study tour covers several cities in the North and South: Delhi, Jaipur, Agra, Khajuraho, Kochi and Mumbai where students will observe and participate in dance, theater and music classes and have conversations with scholars, teachers and artists. Students will experience traditional ways of teaching and will be asked to compare and contrast teaching methods followed in the East and West, the styles and philosophy, with relevant inclusions of historical, literary and language study.  Students will visit museums, attend concerts, see local cultural attractions and festivals in each region they visit in an attempt to grasp the distinct "Indian-ness" of the people.
  • Goals: To provide the opportunity for students interested in world music, dance fine arts, theater, cultural anthropology, literature, and history to travel and study in India. To provide students with information and direct knowledge about the performing and visual arts in India. To create dialogues, interactions and collaborations between students studying music, dance, theater, art and area directed humanities with a possibility for creating new and innovative work. To provide valuable learning experiences for students to gain understanding of a culture other than their own.

Dance 142J: Introduction to Classical Indian Dance: Technique, History and Ritual 

  • Location: Studio 2, Kendall Hall, Mount Holyoke College 
  • Time: TBA
  • Instrucor: TBA
  • This course is an introduction to the basic patterns of formal dance movement that include gestures and facial expression in expressive and mimetic interpretations through poetry, music compositions and rhythmic structures.  As classical dance forms in India are historically rooted in religion, ritual and philosophic thought, learning classical dance, its history and technique will be related to stories, myths and ritual celebrations in India. A study of Mudras (hand gestures) will include practice and memorizing an established vocabulary of gestures from a 9th century classical dance text.  Using these gestures we will explore their application within a traditional/contemporary framework of movement, poetry and spoken ideas.  Readings and videos will be assigned to augment class work for historical, religious and cultural understanding of dance in India.


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