Current Courses

Courses I Teach

• ARAB4610 - Visions of Islam: Paths to God
  An introduction to Islam that explores the religious beliefs and customs of the faith as understood and practiced by Muslims for over 1400 years. The course will consider modern, historical, and original sources, to understand different approaches to Islam, including politics, culture, theology, law, and identity. This course will be conducted in English.
• ARAB4620 - Asian Medicine: Tradition, Contexts, and Modernity
  This course introduces students to three large rational Asian medical traditions of East Asia, South Asia, and the Islamicate world. As a survey course it will explore concepts of identity, body, and medicine and constantly draw a parallel to the contemporary lived medical experience. Cross-listed and taught in English but research using Arabic-language sources required for ARAB section and Japanese-language sources required for JAPAN section.
• ARAB4630 - Science and Culture in the Islamicate World
  This course introduces students the role and development of science in the Islamicate world. In particular, it examines the development of the rational sciences, their relationship to the revealed (religious) sciences, and how they flourished. The period of study will explore the early Islamicate world, medieval Islam, the early modern world, and modern engagement with science such as with Salama Musa and Muhammad Abduh.
• ARAB4640 - Imagining the Prophet throughout History
  This course introduces students to different imaginations of the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad. Students will be exposed to early depictions of the Prophet from within the tradition, outside of Islam, and later historical reflections. They will also learn the importance of the differences in these depictions, especially between different disciplines within the tradition of Islam. They will also identify pre-modern and modern depictions, including the contemporary controversies of images, ranging from hadith and prophetic biography to modern movies, Western media, and Japanese manga. This course is taught in English.
• HUM2250 - Introduction to Medical Humanities
  This course introduces students to the ways in which the disciplines of the Humanities have examined and analyzed questions concerning health care and the history of medicine. Students will be introduced to some of the central debates in medical ethics, to the complexities of interpersonal and public communication in the arena of health care, and to the diverse ways in which health has been interpreted and medicine practiced in different societies.
• JAPAN4410 - Cultural Moments in Japan
  This course introduces students to Japanese culture through a multidisciplinary perspective. This course takes four important points of development in Japanese intellectual culture as case studies: early Japan and Sino-Korean knowledge, Edo Japan and popularization, encountering and institutionalizing European knowledge, and the modern world. Taught in English.
• JAPAN4420 - Asian Medicine: Tradition, Contexts, and Modernity
  This course introduces students to three large rational Asian medical traditions of East Asia, South Asia, and the Islamicate world. As a survey course it will explore concepts of identity, body, and medicine and constantly draw a parallel to the contemporary lived medical experience. Cross-listed and taught in English but research using Arabic-language sources required for ARAB section and Japanese-language sources required for JAPAN section.
• JAPAN4430 - Japanese Visual Culture
  The aim of this course is to introduce students to different aspects of Japanese visual culture from early Japan to the contemporary period, from ancient picture scrolls to modern manga and anime. Students are also exposed to different registers of the language, including its premodern written forms, such as cursive writing which is itself an important form of Japanese visual culture. This course is taught entirely in Japanese, including cultural readings in Japanese and academic readings in English.
• JAPAN4440 - Language and Culture through Reading Manga
  The aim of this course is to twofold. First, students will use their cumulative knowledge of Japanese language and culture to read various works of manga, acclimating themselves to natural language usage. Second, the course will train students to use culture, like manga, to extract new language and cultural knowledge. The class will be conducted in English and Japanese. Advanced Japanese language knowledge is required as all manga reading will be in Japanese. Students will also have to translate texts and contexts.
• JAPAN4450 - Science and Culture in Japan
  The aim of this course is to explore the role of science in Japan. In particular, the course will study three periods: the Ritsuryo system and the introduction of Chinese intellectual culture, the early modern Edo period and engagement with European science, and the Meiji period adoption of European science. The course will be taught in English and readings will be in English.
• WLC2010 - Intro to the Study of Literature and Culture
  This course provides an introduction to the study of literature and culture. It will focus on questions such as borders, historicity, and the role of the social in the construction of reality. Students will also learn how to do close readings of various types of texts including novels, film, and other cultural artifacts. By not focusing on any single national tradition, the course is intended to provide all students the tools needed for literature and culture courses.