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AAPI Resources

Introduction

George Mason offers a wide range of classes on AAPI-centered subjects across undergraduate and graduate levels (see list below). 

Below are some examples of classes. If you're interested in taking a class as a non-degree student, you're encouraged to consult with the individual instructor before enrolling. 

Undergraduate Classes

ANTHROPOLOGY

Anthropology  309: Peoples and Cultures of India

Examination of South Asia, with emphasis on India. Includes general overview of prehistory and history; impact of colonialism; contemporary Indian culture, incgyuding the changing relations of caste and class, family organization, and the roles of women, religion, and ideology; and current trends in economic development and socioeconomic differences in different parts of the country. 

Anthropology  317: East Asian Cultures

Examines the anthropological literature on East Asian cultures (such as China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan). Includes particular attention to social and cultural changes in people’s everyday life associated with modernization, development, and movements. 

 

ART HISTORY

Art History 340: Comparative Perspectives on Immigration

Considers the dimensions and meanings of the immigrant experience in the United States, with a focus on the diversity of immigrants and refugees who have arrived during the past 30 years. Emphasis on the social context in which immigration occurs and on the bearing of institutional and cultural influences on patterns of adaptation, assimilation, and exclusion from the host society. 

Art History  203: Survey of Asian Art

Introduces the arts of South, Southeast, and east Asia. Examines aspects of the culture and history of Asia. Discusses monuments and artifacts in a variety of media and their relation to social and historical contexts. 

Art History 383: Arts of Southeast Asia

Examines various cultural and artistic traditions of ancient Southeast Asia, from the earliest archaeological evidence to onset of colonialism. Lectures and discussions focus on material culture of the great civilizations that arose within borders of modern Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Burma (Myanmar), Vietnam, Laos, and Malaysia

Art History  384: Arts of China

Explores the complex and dynamic history of China by examining ways in which social, religious, and political shifts have given rise to new and variant forms of material culture. 

Art History 385: Arts of Japan

Art and architecture of Japan, with particular attention to the ways political changes, religious movements, and social developments influenced and shaped those creations. Discusses monuments and artifacts in a variety of media in relation to social and historical contexts. 

Art History  386: The Silk Road

Explores luxury arts and material culture of Eurasian trade routes between Mediterranean and China in historical, religious, and social contexts. Emphasizes cultural interactions in medieval Central Asia. 

 

HISTORY

History 251: Survey of East Asian History

Surveys history of China and Japan from prehistoric times to ca. 1600.

History 54: Modern China

China from 1644 to the People's Republic of China. Emphasizes coming of West and various stages of Chinese reaction.

History  356: Modern Japan

Japan from Meiji Restoration to World War II. Emphasizes Japan's modernization in face of challenge. Offered by History & Art History. Limited to three attempts.

History 357: Postwar Japan

History of Japan from World War II to present. Examines Japanese experience of several key moments: Japan's defeat in Pacific War, reconstruction during U.S. occupation, rise to economic prominence during 1960s and 1970s, and cultural and international identity crisis during 1980s and 1990s. 

History  358: Post-1949 China

Puts People's Republic of CHINA (PRC) into historical context by assessing legacies of China's socialist revolution (1949-1976) and post-socialist reforms (1978-present). Explores revolutionary heritage of the Chinese Communist Party, goals and agendas of china's socialist state, ideologies and policies shaping urban and rural development, individual agency and responses to revolutionary mass mobilization and market reforms. 

 

Graduate Classes

History 555: Problems in Asian History. 3 credits.

History 677: The Vietnam War. 3 credits.

Considers the causes, major events, and historiographic debates of America's Vietnam War including the war's antecedents in Vietnamese history, American decisions for war, strategy and major military engagements, the American antiwar movement, and diplomacy and peace talks.