Second semester Vietnamese for beginners. A continued introduction to modern spoken and written Vietnamese, based on intensive drill of phonology and grammar structures for everyday topics. By the end of the second semester, students should be able to function successfully in ordinary Vietnamese conversation and read simple texts of moderate difficulty.

Introduces various types of written and spoken Urdu; vocabulary building, idioms, and problems of syntax; and conversation. Reading of selected fiction and nonfiction in modern Urdu, including fables, short stories, and poetry. Exercises in grammar, conversation, and composition.

The course concentrates on developing skills in reading, writing, speaking, and aural comprehension. Evaluation is based on attendance, written homework assignments, quizzes, dictations, and examinations. Conventional teaching materials may be supplemented by popular songs and clips from contemporary Indian cinema.

This course focuses on progressive acquisition of language skills to communicate effectively in Tamil. It facilitates development of Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing competence along with basic grammar.

 

A study of the Buddhist tradition as it is found today in Asia. The course will focus on specific living traditions of East, South, and/or Southeast Asia. Themes to be addressed may include contemporary Buddhist ritual practices; funerary and mortuary customs; the relationship between Buddhism and other local religious traditions; the relationship between Buddhist institutions and the state; Buddhist monasticism and its relationship to the laity; Buddhist ethics; Buddhist "modernism," and so on.

Have you tasted sinigang, lumpia, adobo, or for the adventurous, even balut? This seminar course focuses on Philippine cuisine and literary works that use Filipino food as inspiration, theme, or metaphor. Each class uses a particular dish, cooking method, or Filipino ingredient as a starting point in the discussion of Philippine literature, culture, and history. Among the questions the course explores are: How can we understand the way of life and belief systems of the ethnolinguistic groups of the Philippines through their cuisines?

Have you ever watched a foreign language film? This seminar course focuses on Philippine films, most of which are in the Filipino language with English subtitles. The course is divided into three main topics: 1) popular culture, film genres and formulas; 2) history, class dynamics, race, and gender in classic Philippine films ; and 3) documentaries, experimental cinema, and power discourse. Among the questions we shall explore are: How did Filipinx filmmakers follow or subvert the conventions of genres such as romance, horror, and action films?

The course entails substantial selected readings from the great Sanskirt epic poems--the Mahabharata and the Ramayana in translation, selected readings from the corpus of secondary literature on Indian epic studies as well as lectures on salient issues in both. Readings will be supplemented with selected showings of popular cinematic and television versions of the epics.

This course provides an overview of one of the world's largest and most beloved film industries, the popular Hindi cinema produced in Bombay (Mumbai) and consumed around the world under the label "Bollywood." The films and readings range from the post- Independence era to the present, with introduction to key films, directors, stars, genres, formal techniques, and themes. Our readings and viewings allow us to question and discuss the ways these films reflect and influence the cultures and society from which they emerge.

This course offers a broad historical and cultural survey of the civilizations of the Indian subcontinent from the 12th century to Partition in 1947. Attention will be paid to the geography and ethnography of the region, its political history, and the religious, philosophical, literary, and artistic movements that have shaped it and contributed to its development as a unique, diverse, and fascinating world civilization.