East Asian Studies at Trinity Program

This course Introduces literary works that have contributed to discourses about heroes in contemporary East Asia. We will study how the portrayals of heroes reflect historical, social, and cultural changes. Classical and early modern literary texts are analyzed in the contexts of contemporary cultural products. Discussions focus on how narratives of heroes have been one of the most indispensable sources for the construction of political and cultural identities. We also examine how narratives about heroes have evolved to express historically and culturally specific experience and agendas. (Offered every year).

This course will survey the environmental history of China, then will delve into the theory and practice of both Form School and Compass School fengshui, and finally will analyze the proposition that fengshui is a type of "folk" ecology. (Offered every other year)

As a panethnicty, Asian Americans are brought together by a linguistic diversity that defies mainstream monolingual paradigms. To many Asian Americans, various degrees of exposures to two or more languages create a translingual dimension in identity formation. By problematizing monolingual paradigms and adopting multi-/translingual conceptual frameworks, this course explores how crossings between languages shape Asian American identities and representations. (Offered occasionally.)