Faculty of Arts & Science 2013-2014 Calendar

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Asia-Pacific Studies

Zaheer Baber
Ruoyun Bai
Joshua Barker
Jacques Bertrand
Ritu Birla
Marion Bogo
Alana Boland
Loren Brandt
Eric Cazdyn
Li Chen
Jennifer Chun
Francis Cody
Amrita Daniere
Naisargi Dave
Deepali Dewan
Arti Dhand
Wendy Dobson
Christoph Emmrich
Victor Falkenheim
Eric Fong
Takashi Fujitani
Frances Garrett
Kanishka Goonewardena
Ju Hui Judy Han
Ping-Chun Hsiung
Kajri Jain
Chelva Kanaganayakam
Malavika Kasturi
Ken Kawashima
Kundan Kumar
Hui Kian Kwee
Tong Lam
Tania Li
Hy Luong
Ken MacDonald
Virginia Maclaren
Minelle Mahtani
Bonnie McElhinny
Heather Miller
Kanta Murali
Rajashree Narayanareddy
Lynette Ong
Jin Park
Ito Peng
Srilata Raman
Katharine Rankin
Ajay Rao
Karen Ruffle
Izumi Sakamoto
Shiho Satsuka
Andre Schmid
Jayeeta Sharma
Rachel Silvey
Neera Singh
Jesook Song
Andre Sorensen
Wen-Ching Sung
Ashwini Tambe
Nhung Tran
Ka Tat Tsang
Shafique Virani
Joseph Wong
Yiching Wu
Jia-Lin Xie
Lisa Yoneyama
Weiguo Zhang
Xiaodong Zhu

Program Administrator
Munk School of Global Affairs, Room 228N
1 Devonshire Place
ai.asianstudies@utoronto.ca 
416-946-8832

Asia-Pacific Studies Programs

The fluid processes of transnationalization and modernization in Asia mean that it is increasingly anachronistic to approach the study of contemporary Asia from the perspective of just one country or a singular discipline. The Contemporary Asian Studies (CAS) major and minor programs offered by the Asian Institute at the Munk School of Global Affairs provide a multi-disciplinary lens through which to examine the linkages between Asia’s history, its emergence onto the global stage, and the challenges and opportunities inherent in its modernity, as well as Asia’s future(s) in the global arena.

The CAS program is thematically-driven, reflective of contemporary issues that are of relevance to understanding the complexities of today’s Asia. The CAS courses are distinctly pan-Asian in geographic scope, providing empirical and critical coverage of South, Southeast, and East Asia through multiple disciplinary approaches to the study of the region, including Anthropology, Economics, Geography, History, Political Science, and Sociology.

By exposing students to current issues and debates in Asia, the CAS program is designed to prepare students for careers in or about Asia. In addition, the Asian Institute is committed to facilitating overseas experiential learning opportunities, including field schools, international course modules, professional internships, and study abroad opportunities. Upper-level CAS courses are designed to be research-intensive. There is no language requirement for the CAS major or minor. However, students are strongly encouraged to study an Asian language. One FCE in an approved Asian language can be credited towards the major or minor degree.

NOTE: Students who wish to count courses towards the CAS major or minor that are not listed as CAS courses or in Group A, B, or C below (including U of T courses and transfer credits) must seek pre-approval from the program director prior to taking the course. Asian content does not guarantee that the course will be approved for CAS program credit.

This program has unlimited enrolment and no specific admission requirements. All students who have completed at least 4.0 courses are eligible to enrol.

(7.5 full courses or their equivalent)

1. CAS200Y1 or POL215Y1
2. CAS310H1, CAS320H1
3. CAS400Y1
4. 1 FCE from each of Groups A, B, and C
5. 1 additional FCE at the 300 or 400 level from Group A, B, or C, or at any level in an Asian Language
6. 0.5 FCE in Breadth Requirement Category 5: The Physical and Mathematical Universes, or another half course approved by the program director, to fulfill the Quantitative Reasoning competency required in the program.

This program has unlimited enrolment and no specific admission requirements. All students who have completed at least 4.0 courses are eligible to enrol.

(4 full courses or their equivalent)

1. CAS200Y1 or POL215Y1
2. CAS310H1, CAS320H1
3. 2 additional FCEs from Group A, B, or C (excluding 100-level courses), or 1 FCE from Group A, B, or C, and 1 FCE in an Asian language

Note: Not all electives are offered every year. Students are responsible for checking co- and prerequisites for all courses in Groups A, B, and C. Some of these courses may not be offered on a regular basis, and/or may only be offered to students enrolled in a POSt sponsored by the department or unit offering the courses.

CAS200Y1, CAS440H1, CAS430H1, EAS251H1, EAS307H1, EAS476Y1, HIS347H1, JMC301Y1 , JPA331Y1, JPA411H1, NEW214H1, POL215Y1, POL357Y1, POL376Y1, POL431Y1, POL441H1, SAS216H1

CAS420H1, EAS247H1, EAS345Y1, EAS357H1, EAS374H1, ECO435H1, GGR342H1, GGR343H1, JPA411H1

ANT341H1, ANT352H1, ANT354H1, ANT377H1, ANT466H1, ANT467H1, CAS350H1, CAS360H1, CAS440H1, EAS105H1, EAS217Y1, EAS271H1/Y1, EAS272H1, EAS289Y1, EAS303H1, EAS318H1, EAS333H1, EAS340Y1, EAS347H1, EAS364H1, EAS369Y1, EAS372H1, EAS375H1, EAS378H1, EAS394H1, EAS431H1, EAS453H1, EAS457H1, EAS462H1, EAS464H1, EAS465H1, EAS473H1, EAS497H1, HIS281Y1, HIS282Y1, HIS283Y1, HIS284Y1, HIS315H1, HIS328H1, HIS385H1/Y1, HIS409H1, HIS448H1, HIS467H1, HIS470H1, HIS485H1, INI390Y1, MUS209H1, RLG205Y1, RLG207Y1, RLG236H1, SAS114H1, SAS318H1, SAS413H1, SAS414H1, SOC218H1

Asia-Pacific Studies Courses

This course introduces students to Asia’s growing role in the contemporary global community. It provides an interdisciplinary take on key themes and topics in the study of the Asia with a particular emphasis on the dynamic movement of people, ideas, and resources across borders in the region. It provides conceptual and area studies backgrounds for students aiming to take more advanced courses on Asia and for students interested in the Contemporary Asian Studies major and minor. The course also examines the growth and character of economic, political, and cultural connections tying Asia to Canada.

This course analyzes the impact of colonialism in South, East, and Southeast Asia and the various ways in which pre-colonial traditions intersect with and reshape colonial and postcolonial process across the various regions of Asia. The course will examine the conjunctures of economy, politics, religion, education, ethnicity, gender, and caste, as these have played out over time in the making and re-making of Asia as both idea and place. Attention will be paid to postcolonial and indigenous theories, questions of ‘the colonial’ from the perspective of Asian Studies, and debates about the meaning of postcolonialism for the study of Asia now and in the future.

Since at least the late 1700s, the effects of capitalism across the globe have profoundly transformed both the rural and urban landscapes of human livelihood, consumption, production and governance in Asia.  While colonial empires have declined, new empires have emerged, and a growing number of countries have witnessed the rise of nationalism and independent states, political and technological revolutions, and most recently neoliberal globalization. The varied nature and specificities of these dramatic transformations are only beginning to be understood. This course theorizes and explores “Asian modernities” in a comparative framework. It is aimed at students wishing to better understand the great transformations of 20th and 21st century Asia in a global context.

In focusing on youth in Asia, this course brings together two disputed cultural formations of substantial contemporary importance. Both youth and Asia are increasingly invoked on the global stage in support of a wide range of interests. Examining practices of young people and the idea of youth in the context of Asia requires critical attention to the promises and fears that attach to the rise of Asian economies, international demographic transitions, the growth of a global middle-class, increasing consumption disparities, changing immigration patterns, expanding technological skills, global/local environmental concerns, and young people’s shifting political priorities and loyalties. The course may consider: youth subcultures, styles, music, and politics.

This course will explore ways that gender is mobilized and produced in parts of Asia. It seeks to understand gender in its diversity and in attempts to “fix” or locate it in various bodies and places. Attempts will be made to see how gender is made knowable in terms of sexuality, medicine, nation, class, ethnicity, religion, and other discourses.

2013-14 topic TBA. Check www.utoronto.ca/cas for an updated description.

Supervised independent research on a topic agreed on by the student and supervisor before enrolment in the course. Open to advanced students with a strong background in contemporary Asian studies. A maximum of one year of Independent Research courses is allowed per program. Contact hours with the supervisor may vary, but typically comprise of one hour per week. Ineligible for CR/NCR.

Supervised independent research on a topic agreed on by the student and supervisor before enrolment in the course. Open to advanced students with a strong background in contemporary Asian studies. A maximum of one year of Independent Research courses is allowed per program. Contact hours with the supervisor may vary, but typically comprise of one hour per week. Ineligible for CR/NCR.

This seminar course examines the diverse postwar experiences of countries in East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. The region comprises a wide range of countries that at once differ, but also share some commonalities in cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, in levels of social and economic development, and in political regimes. To make sense of this diversity, a comparative, multi-disciplinary perspective will be introduced. Highlighting the principal theme of interdependence – of countries but also of fields of enquiry (geography, history, political science) – the first term will look at the interactions between economic development, political change, and migration. The second term will continue with these themes, but will pay particular attention to environmental issues, and history as memory and politics. The course will critically examine various social science theories that seek to explain socio-economic change in its many manifestations, and aim to find an appropriate balance between the particular and the general or universal. This course includes an International Course Module in 2013-14. (Note that enrolment in the course does not guarantee a place in the Module.)

This course is an interactive, participatory seminar. It will provide an opportunity to complement theoretical understanding about Asia acquired in other courses through hands-on research and experiential learning. The course will enable students to link studying Asia and Canada to career trajectories in the field of development and research.

This upper-level seminar will introduce students to the interdisciplinary study of popular culture and mass-mediated cultural forms in Asia. Through readings about popular protest, festivals, cinema, print, television, and music this course provides methodological tools to interpret the politics of representation and the formation of alternative modernities in the Asian continent and among the diaspora. The course will furthermore familiarize students with a range of theoretical lenses for conceptualizing the different meanings of the public from a modern Asian perspective.

This course explores the rise of Asia and its integration into the new global economy (labour, capitalism, knowledge economy, economic nationalism, inequality, gender, the meaning of capitalism, democracy, among others), exposing students to different disciplinary perspectives. Geographical coverage is pan-Asian, including East, Southeast and South Asia.

This course explores the far-reaching social, political, and cultural transformations in East, Southeast, and South Asia, focusing on the regions; twentieth-century revolutionary histories and struggles to establish modern nation-states. The course adopts a topical approach within a chronological and comparative framework to highlight major historical movements and theoretical issues significant to the Asian experience.

“Power” is critically examined in Asia from a variety of
possible perspectives, times, and locations. Possible topics
may include: revolution, states, resistance, colonialism,
Orientalism, and mutual aid. “Power” is studied from a
cultural and interdisciplinary perspective, so as to integrate
and deepen students’ previous studies of Asia.

2013-14 topic TBA. Check www.utoronto.ca/cas for an updated description.

Supervised independent research on a topic agreed on by the student and supervisor before enrolment in the course. Open to advanced students with a strong background in contemporary Asian studies. A maximum of one year of Independent Research courses is allowed per program. Contact hours with the supervisor may vary, but typically comprise of one hour per week. Ineligible for CR/NCR.

Supervised independent research on a topic agreed on by the student and supervisor before enrolment in the course. Open to advanced students with a strong background in contemporary Asian studies. A maximum of one year of Independent Research courses is allowed per program. Contact hours with the supervisor may vary, but typically comprise of one hour per week. Ineligible for CR/NCR.

This course examines the Second World War in the Asia Pacific region and highlights: (1) how imperialism and colonialism of both the Euro-American and Japanese varieties were central to the War's outbreak, conduct, and “resolution”;  (2) various “local” rather than simply national experiences and memories of the War, including those of marginalized groups in Japan and its colonies, “comfort women,” victims of war atrocities, Asian North Americans, African Americans, and Pacific Islanders.

This course covers topics of interest in China from the Communist takeover in 1949 through to the reform period of the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. It will also address aspects of China’s diplomacy related to its growing economic power.  (Given by the Department of Political Science and the Contemporary Asian Studies Program)

The course explores the ways in which identity has been empowered, represented, and institutionalized in Asia’s emerging democracies; how identity claims challenge historically notions of state and nation; various ways in which democracy is being shaped and challenged by demands for identity recognition. Thematic, cross-regional approach; pan-Asian (East, Southeast, South Asia). (Given by the Department of Political Science and the Contemporary Asian Studies Program)

This course explores the place of Taiwan the new global economy from historical, comparative, and international relations perspectives. (Given by the Department of Political Science and the Contemporary Asian Studies Program)

In addition to the CAS and joint courses listed above, the following courses offer priority enrolment to CAS students:

SAS114H1     Introduction to South Asian Studies
SAS216H1     South Asia: Perspectives on Politics and Society
SAS318H1     Colonialism and Tradition
SAS414H1     Public Culture and Media in South Asia
POL357Y1     Politics and Government in South Asia