Teaching

Free, self-paced, online course offered through EdX/HarvardX. This course expands the definition of the “book” to include manuscript scrolls and albums. It shows the concurrent existence of scrolls and printed books, and focuses attention on the embodied reading experience...

This undergraduate seminar examines the history, culture, and practice of the Japanese tea ceremony (chanoyu) and its reception in the United States. What began as a ritualized preparation of tea, by the medieval period had developed into a wide-ranging cultural practice the...

Explores themes, topics, and concepts essential to studying the East Asian region in all of its diversity and complexity, and introduces students to a range of methodologies providing tools for critical thinking applicable to all future academic work. The focus is on...

Focuses on fashion and clothing in Japan (and beyond) from the early modern period to the present day. It aims to build a knowledge base of historically contextualized case studies through readings, lectures, and discussions. In the process, it explores questions about...

The Tale of Genji, written by the Japanese woman Murasaki Shikibu (ca. 1000), is one of the most sophisticated works of literature in the world. It uncannily anticipates all of the richness and psychological complexity associated with the eighteenth-century novel. And yet to...

This advanced seminar examines the central role of the imperial institution in Japan throughout history from the Heian period through the Edo period. Despite the continuous existence of the imperial institution, most textbooks and scholarly publications minimize the cultural...

This is a seminar for advanced graduate students in East Asian art (and adjacent fields) focusing on reading secondary and primary sources in Japanese, as well as recent scholarship and theoretical texts in English. The topic will change each semester to accommodate the...

The HAA excursion course introduces sophomore concentrators to on-site art and architecture through the case study of a particular geographic and cultural area. This year the plan was to visit India during spring break. The first half of the semester consists of an...

This course surveys artistic production in Japan from the prehistoric period to the twenty-first century. The goal is not to define the national or “Eastern” character of Japanese art, but to interrogate manifestations of human creativity produced in the archipelago on their...

In this advanced seminar, primarily for graduate students with the ability to read classical and modern Japanese, we'll examine a small selection of narrative picture scrolls ( emaki) dating between the 12th to the 16th centuries. As a type of illustrated book, emaki open...

In Hum 10, first-year undergraduates study and discuss important works of literature, philosophy, and the arts. They receive intensive training in writing critical papers. And they have the opportunity to experience current cultural events at Harvard and in the Boston area...