This course explores prominent examples of modern Japanese literature, cinema, and animation, featuring authors such as Endō Shūsaku, Murakami Haruki, and Ogawa Yōko, alongside directors like Kurosawa Akira and Miyazaki Hayao. The curriculum incorporates critical theory to address themes of identity, history, and the portrayal of atrocity. A central focus will be placed on posthumanistic movements in modern Japanese culture, contrasting these perspectives with the anthropocentric focus found in American humanistic traditions.

This course examines medieval lives, ranging from the ceremonial and highly structured world of the court to the more intimate settings of city households, where material objects shaped daily routines, devotional practices, and personal expression. Students will engage with a broad range of visual and material media, including manuscripts, textiles, metalwork, and ivory, in order to understand how material culture impacted experiences of both courtly and urban spaces. In addition, the course explores medieval archival records and literary works, particularly Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and Arthurian legends, to further illuminate ideals of power, romance, and civic identity.