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Home 2016-2017 Undergraduate College Catalog Course Offerings Anthropology Courses ANTH 2030: Cultures of East Asia (3 cr.)

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ANTH 2030: Cultures of East Asia (3 cr.)

What constitutes East Asia? How shall we

understand East Asia as a geographic location, as

diverse forms of culture, as an imagined

community, and cultural construction that is

consistently changing in relation to globalized

processes? Through learning about the main

cultural traditions and foundations of East Asian

societies, together we will investigate how

cultural anthropology as a discipline offers

concepts and questions to help us better

comprehend diverse ways of life in East Asia.

This course will introduce important conceptual

categories and ethnographic examples about the

historical changes and contemporary issues of

East Asian societies, such as family, kinship,

gender, social relationship, religion, and major

philosophical thoughts in East Asian countries.

The course will also explain East Asian political

economic systems and their dynamics in a

globalizing context. We will focus on China,

Japan, and South Korea and will explore the

connections between other East Asian regions.

Ultimately we will utilize insights drawn from

the course to shed light on cross-cultural

comparison between East Asia and the western

world, especially the US. Students will learn to

view East Asia critically and ethnographically,

and thus reflect on their own cultural

assumptions and experiences as inhabitants of the

West as well as global citizens.

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