Graduate Courses 2025-2026

 

Asia

ASIA_V 518_033 – New Media and Asia : Video Games  [3.0 credits] 
Instructor: Dr. Colleen Laird

Term 1, Tuesdays, 12:00pm-3:00pm, Classroom:  BUCH B319

Why does studying video games matter? How can we critically engage with video games? What can we discover at the intersection of Asian studies and video game studies? Designed with these three foundational questions in mind, this graduate seminar is an introduction to the study of video games with a focus on texts, markets, and player communities in Asia. Participants will engage with both core readings in video game studies as well as new research in area studies in order to analyze texts from their own geographic area and/or cultural context of interest.

 

China

ASIA_V 502A_026 – Modern Chinese Fiction in Global Perspective  [3.0 credits] 
Instructor: Dr. Christopher Rea

Term 2, Tuesdays, 1:00pm-4:00pm, Classroom: BUCH B304

This course focuses on modern Chinese literature in relation to concepts such as world literature, the Sinophone, nationalism, cosmopolitanism, globalization, and critical theory. Focusing on the case of fiction, including novels and short stories, we will explore various methodologies and analytical frameworks for deriving meaning from individual creative works, and for understanding a broader field of activity. While some literary works will be available in English translation, others require reading knowledge of Chinese.

 

ASIA_V 501A_017 – Research Methods and Source Materials in Classical Chinese Studies [3.0 credits]
Instructor: Dr. Leo Shin

Term 2, Thursday, 2:00pm-5:00pm, Classroom: BUCH B216

An introduction to the research tools for the study of China. Topics to be covered will in part depend on the students’ particular research interests. Special attention will be given to the expanding universe of digital resources.

 

ASIA_V 511_012 – Readings in Chinese Religious Texts [3.0 credits] – Online, Synchronous.
Instructor: Dr. Jinhua Chen

Term 1, Tuesdays, 5:00pm-8:00pm, online, synchronous.

Topics of this course will be flexible, adjusting to the interest and background of the students. Selections for readings can be from any important Chinese Buddhist and Taoist texts belonging to any major Buddhist and Taoist traditions of any period. Focus is given to the doctrinal issues implied in a specific genre of Buddhist and Taoist texts. Methodological issues of interpreting Chinese Buddhist and Taoist texts are also to be discussed. In addition to intensive reading of the original texts, students are to be trained in some basic methods indispensable for the research of Sinology in general and Buddhism and Taoism in particular.
By the end of this course students are expected to punctuate original Chinese Buddhist and Taoist texts correctly, translate them appropriately and interpret them both faithfully and creatively.

 

ASIA_V 513B_034 –  Topics in Classical Chinese Literature [3.0 credits]
Instructor: Dr. Kay Duffy

Term 1, Fridays, 2:00pm-5:00pm, Classroom: IBLC 265

This course is a graduate-level seminar centred on the reading, interpretation, and translation of literary texts. The aims of the course are to expose students to a range of ideas and approaches to reading Classical Chinese literature and to support the development of the skills required to engage seriously with these works and with the scholarly debates surrounding them. Each week students will cultivate their skills in reading, interpretation, translation, and research through preparation of translations of assigned texts, as well as discussion of the scholarly literature germane to the seminar topic. Over the course of the term, each student will develop a final project, which might take the form of a research paper, annotated translation, or state of the field essay.

 

ASIA_V 570A_004 – Dreams in Chinese Culture [3.0 credits]
Instructor: Dr. Alison Bailey

Term 2, Tuesdays, 3:00pm-6:00pm, Classroom: BUCH D325

Course description – TBA

 

Japan

ASIA_V 570A_009 – Text and Image Inter-relations [3.0 credits]
Instructor: Dr. Joshua Mostow

Term 1, Thursdays, 4:00pm – 6:00pm, Classroom: BUCH D315

Course description – TBA

 

ASIA_V 532-A_021 – Approaches to Ecoculture and Narrative [3.0 credits]
Instructor: Dr. Christina Laffin

Term 1, Tuesdays, 4:00pm – 6:00pm, Classroom: BUCH D315

Course description – TBA

 

ASIA_V 532-B_021 – TBA [3.0 credits]
Instructor: Dr. Christina Laffin

Term 2, Tuesdays, 4:00pm – 6:00pm, Classroom: BUCH D315

Course description – TBA

 

ASIA_V 535_033 – Japanese Cinema Studies: Theory and Practice [3.0 credits] – Online, Synchronous.
Instructor: Dr. Colleen Laird

Term 2, Tuesdays, 9:00pm-12:00pm, online, synchronous.

This graduate seminar serves as an introduction to Japanese cinema studies and foundational film theory. Participants will engage with primary theoretical texts including essays by filmmakers and critics, monographs that have historically shaped the field of Japanese cinema studies, scholarship that demonstrates close readings of Japanese films, and the practices of formal sequence analysis and videographic criticism. Students will learn how to make video essays through a sequence of short videographic exercises. To understand the global context of Japanese cinema throughout motion picture history, participants will be required to watch both Japanese films and films from other national cinemas. Students should be prepared to watch several films per week in addition to time allocated for readings. Although all non-English, non-Japanese language films will have English subtitles, some Japanese language films do not. Graduate students interested in the course who do not have Japanese language reading/aural comprehension skills are welcome but should consult with the instructor at the beginning of the term for reading and viewing alternatives.

 

ASIA_V 532-B_009 – Traditional Japanese Literature [3.0 credits]
Instructor: Dr. Joshua Mostow

Term 2, Thursdays, 4:00pm – 6:00pm, Classroom: LASR 5C

Classical Japanese texts from a variety of genres and periods—chosen in consultation with the students—are read and translated. Base texts are often manuscripts or early modern editions, providing training in early modern palaeography.

 

Korea

ASIA_V 561A_008 – Language and Colonialism in East Asia [3.0 credits] 
Instructor: Dr. Ross King

Term 1, Wednesdays, 10:00am – 1:00pm.  Classroom: LASR 5C

This course interrogates the profound effects of colonialism on language development and linguistic modernity in East Asia from the 18th-20th centuries. The course begins with an overview of classic works on language and colonialism in South Asia because of the historical precedents set in India for their theoretical perspectives, but focuses thereafter on Meiji and Taisho Japan, its internal colonialism (Ainu, Ryukyuan), and then its external colonialism (Taiwan, Korea, and the South Seas), with an emphasis on language policies, linguistic thought, language ideology, questions of assimilation and identity, and post-colonial consequences for language in this region today. All readings are in English, but students should have knowledge of one or more of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean for the final project.

 

ASIA_V 561B_008 – Language, Writing, and Linguistic Thought in the History of the Sinographic Cosmopolis [3.0 credits] 
Instructor: Dr. Ross King

Term 2, Wednesdays, 2:00pm – 5:00pm.  Classroom: IBKC 156

This course examines questions of the history of language and writing in the Sinographic Sphere (漢字圈), with a special focus on Japan and Korea and the role of Sinitic writing in these countries. Other topics included are the interplay between ‘cosmopolitan and vernacular’ and the notion of a ‘Sinographic Cosmopolis’, the ‘ideographic myth’ in the study of Sinitic writing, the role of glossing and commentary in vernacularization in East Asia, the problem of translation in the Sinographic Sphere, ideologies of language and writing in Japanese and Korean antiquity and modernity, the debates surrounding sinographs (‘Chinese’ characters) and Literary Sinitic with the onset of modernity in Japan and Korea, and questions of language, writing, colonialism and (colonial) modernity in Japan, Korea and Vietnam. Previous exposure to at least one of Chinese, Japanese and/or Korean is assumed (and needed for the final project), but all readings are in English.

 

 

ASIA_V 581A_007 – Research Methods and Source Materials in Korean Studies [3.0 credits] 
Instructor: Dr. Nam-lin Hur

Term 1, Thursdays, 10:00am – 1:00pm.  Classroom: BUCH D306

ASIA 581A will deal with premodern Korea’s foreign relations.

 

ASIA_V 581B_047 – Korean Pop Culture Studies [3.0 credits] 
Instructor: Dr. Ji-yoon An

Term 2, Wednesdays, 11:00am – 2:00pm.  Classroom: AUDX 157

This course will critique the latest publications in Korean studies, with a focus on cinema and other forms of popular culture. Along with information on current research trends, the course will provide students with the opportunity to hone their academic skills in reading, writing, and discussion. We will analyse two texts per class, from recently published journal articles to the latest book monographs in the field. Class discussions will be focused on issues related to the author’s scholarly position, structure, argument, primary sources, methodology, and the general topography of the research topic. Although the readings of the course are mainly focused on Korean culture, the course is specifically designed to be practical and helpful for students preparing to write a thesis on culture from any context. There is some flexibility to adjust the readings according to the interests and backgrounds of the students. Each student may choose the form of their final project between a new research paper or a rewrite of a previous paper.

 

South Asia

ASIA_V 576B_046 – Re-Orienting in the Fields of Punjab Studies [3.0 credits] 
Instructor: Kiran Sunar

Term 1, Tuesdays, 4:00pm – 7:00pm.  Classroom: LASR 5C

This course invites graduate students to orient ourselves to the unruly historical terrain of Punjab Studies. We dig into the ongoing conundrum of what “Punjab Studies” is and ask ourselves how we might re-orient to the possibilities of its becoming. This course is ideal for graduate students who work on or who hope to work on Punjab(s), Punjabi, Punjabis, and/or Punjabi diasporas. No knowledge of the Punjabi language is required. We will meet synchronously either in-person or on Zoom on a weekly basis for 2 hours. While this is a graduate seminar, advanced undergraduate students are welcome to join this course with the instructor’s permission.

Please contact kiran.sunar@ubc.ca.

 

ASIA_V 541A_040 – Reading Islamicate South Asia [3.0 credits] 
Instructor: Dr. Hasan Siddiqui

Term 1, Fridays, 1:00pm – 3:30pm.  Classroom: IBLC 156

Course descrption: TBA

 

ASIA_V 551A_037 – Islamic Theology [3.0 credits] 
Instructor: Dr. Rumee Ahmed

Term 1, Tuesdays, 3:00pm – 6:00pm.  Classroom: BUCH D228

Islamic theology is a living tradition with roots going back 1400 years that tries to answer the simple question, ‘what are we doing here?’ In this course, we will look at classical Islamic theologies from the early centuries of Islam, then study how they morphed and changed over centuries in response to shiting ideas and mores, and conclude by reading modern theological works from Islamic liberation theologians, political Islamists, and neotraditionalists. There are no prerequisites for the course and all readings will be in English.

 

ASIA_V 570B_049 – Gender and Sexuality in premodern Islamicate literature [3.0 credits] 
Instructor: Dr. Alexandra Hoffman

Term 1, Wednesdays, 2:00pm – 4:30pm.  Classroom: PCN 1008

This course focuses on gender and sexuality in the literatures of the Middle East and West Asia, ca. 800-1800 CE. We will read scholarly approaches as well as primary sources (in English translation) on normative constructions of gender and sexuality, on homoerotic relationships, as well as on sexual minorities like eunuchs and intersex people. Our readings will also cover the transformations that modernity brought to configurations of gender and sexuality in the Islamicate world.
This seminar is open to advanced undergraduate students. All class readings will be in English, but students should be able to read a Middle Eastern language (i.e. Persian, Arabic, Ottoman Turkish, or others) for their final papers. Students without proficiency in these languages may still be able to take the course. Please reach out to the instructor to discuss (alexandra.hoffmann@ubc.ca).

ASIA_V 576B_046 – Punjabi Poetics [3.0 credits] 
Instructor: Dr. Kiran Sunar

Term 1, Thursdays, 4:00pm – 7:00pm.  Classroom: LASR 5C

This in-person graduate seminar delves into the long tradition of Punjabi poetics from a variety of poetic genres and periods. We will meet weekly to translate, close read, and discuss a work of Punjabi poetry. Readings and discussions will also draw on global theories of translation and South Asian literary studies. Selections of poetry from across pre-modern, colonial, and postcolonial contexts will be made in consultation with students.
While this is a graduate seminar, advanced undergraduate students are welcome to join this course with the instructor’s permission. Full fluency is not mandatory, but a reading knowledge of one of the Punjabi scripts (Gurmukhi or Shahmukhi) is required. Please contact instructor directly to discuss: kiran.sunar@ubc.ca.

 

ASIA_V 576C_040 – Religion and Empire in South Asia [3.0 credits] 
Instructor: Dr. Hasan Siddiqui

Term 2, Mondays, 10:00am – 1:00pm.  Classroom: LASR 211

Course descrption: TBA

 

 

Theories, Methods & Pan-Regional

ASIA_V 516_028 – Race, Indigeneity and Coloniality in Asia and Beyond [3.0 credits] – Online, Synchronous
Instructor: Dr. Sunera Thobani

Term 1,  Mondays 2:00 – 3:30 pm, online, synchronous.

This interdisciplinary Graduate Seminar introduces students to major theoretical approaches to the study of race, racialization, Indigeneity and coloniality in Asia and Beyond. We explore key concepts in Critical Race, Indigenous, Anti-Colonial/Decolonization and Post-Colonial Studies; analyze how these concepts deconstruct western theoretical and political frameworks; and evaluate what these theoretical traditions reveal about the shifting relations between ‘Asia’ and the ‘West’ in the global context. Special attention will be paid to how race, Indigeneity and coloniality intersect with gender, sexuality, class, caste and nation in specific Asian contexts.

NOTE: This seminar counts for the pan-Asian theory course requirement for Asian Studies PhD students.

 

ASIA_V 591_010 – Critical Issues in Asian Studies [3.0 credits] 
Instructor: Dr. Harjot Oberoi

Term 1, Mondays, 4:00pm-7:00pm. Classroom: BUCH B312

General Description: This proseminar introduces current topics in methodology and theory application to the study of the languages, literatures, and cultures of Asia.
There are no prerequisites and all readings are in English.
Asian Studies, as a branch of human knowledge engaged in the study of non-western cultures and societies, is not a conventional discipline on the model of history, economics or political science. As a result, it has neither a clear body of foundational texts nor a core set of problems and questions shared among its practitioners. Scholars working in Asian Studies have the freedom to draw on a variety of theoretical orientations and critical practices, which can be a great strength. At the same time students in area studies rarely know where to begin or how to speak to colleagues in other fields. Should students begin with readings from foundational Asianists such as Ernest Renan, Max Muller, James Legge, and Basil Hall Chamberlain? Or should they first learn to situate themselves in relation to key theorists of the human sciences such as Hegel, Marx, Weber, Heidegger, and Foucault? One of the key objectives of this course is to address these sorts of disciplinary predicaments, namely matters of origin and current thematic concerns.
Breakdown of Grades and Grading Criteria: Seminar participation 20%, Research essay 80%.

 

ASIA_V 598_001 – Asia in Museums and Beyond [3.0 credits] 
Instructor: Dr. Fuyubi Nakamura

Term 1, Thursdays, 10:00am-1:00pm, Classroom: Buchanan Room 306

Combined with ASIA_V 498-011 (a class of 15 students).  All classes will be held in person in the room indicated or in museum galleries and in person attendance is mandatory for the course.

Museums and exhibitions have increasingly played significant roles in contemporary society: museums are not only a place of historical memory or cultural heritage, but also a location of interaction where identities are contested and negotiated. This course examines the poetics and politics of representing and exhibiting cultures by studying topics including collecting, colonialism, Indigenous cultures and the issues of classifications. It also explores the diversity of visual and material cultures of Asia including art, photography, and museums.
1. Combined with ASIA 498 (a class of 15 undergraduate students).
2. In-person attendance is mandatory for the course.
3. Visits to museums will be an integral part of the course.
4. There is a course cost of around $15-20 (museum admission fees).
5. The class will not be recorded.

NOTE: This seminar counts for the pan-Asian theory course requirement for Asian Studies PhD students.

 

ASIA_V 592_206 – The Profession of Asian Studies (for MAs) [3.0 credits]
Instructor: Dr. Christina Yi

Term 1, Wednesdays, 5:00pm-7:00pm, Classroom: Buchanan B216

This seminar will introduce essential skills for academic and professional work in Asian Studies. It is intended to help students understand the MA program itself, as well as the nature of an academic career, and to give them the skills and practical knowledge necessary to make their own decisions about how best to realize their individual long-term goals.

 

ASIA_V 592_005 – The Profession of Asian Studies [3.0 credits]
Instructor: Dr. Bruce Rusk

Term 2, Wednesdays, 5:00pm-7:30pm, Classroom: Buchanan B312

Introduction to essential skills for academic and professional work in Asian Studies. Outlines career trajectories in the PhD and beyond, including grant applications, cv-writing, and job searches. Required of Asian Studies PhD students, normally in their first year.

Note: This course is required for all first-year Asian Studies PhD students. PhD candidates in Asian Studies a year or two before their expected graduation are encouraged to audit the course. PhD students in other programs may enrol with the permission of the instructor.

 

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