ASIA 490
Senior Seminar: Asia in Comparative Perspective
Epic Narratives
Monday 7 - 10 PM
Spring 2005: Schedule of topics and assignments
Subject to Change! Check here Often!
1/17 -- Introduction -- what's "epic"? what's "narrative"
Be prepared to introduce yourself and your areas of interest.
1/24 -- Oral Poetics
Read: Zumwalt, Rosemary Levi. 1998. A Historical Glossary of Critical Approaches, in Teaching Oral Traditions, ed. John Miles Foley. New York: MLA, pp. 75-94.
via E-Res
Homework Bring to class your typed/word-processed answers to this
set of questions relating to the Zumwalt reading.
Read: Feld, Steven. 1982. Chapter 1: The Boy Who Became a Muni Bird, in Sound and Sentiment: Birds, Weeping, Poetics, and Song in Kaluli Expression. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, pp. 20-43.
via E-Res
Mike Nelson will be the discussion leader for the Feld chapter.
Suggested Reading:
The Annotated Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Suggested Reading:
Milman Parry: The Oral-Formulaic Style of the Homeric Tradition
1/31 -- Ramayana (the story)
Read: Narayan, R. K. 1998. The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic. Penguin. (Read the entire book)
Prepare: An oral summary of your assigned portion of the Ramayana to present in class; you may not refer to any notes while you make your oral presentation (in other words, find an "oral" way to remember the characters' names and the story's events)
Provide a very, very succinct written outline (a copy for
each class member) of characters and events in your assigned portion.
Perhaps this outline could be the bare-bones framework you memorized to
prepare for your oral presentation.
Prologue and Ch. 1: David
Ch. 2: Nhu
Ch. 3: Nicole
Ch. 4: Eric
Ch. 5: Ted
Ch. 6: Anna Welton
Ch. 7: Mike
Ch. 8-9: Anna Weinberg
Ch. 10-11: Lucas
Ch. 12: Isankya
Ch. 13, 14, and epilogue: Nike
2/7 -- Buddhist Art
Part I: Buddhist Narrative Art
Read: one of these online summaries of the Life of the Buddha:
The Illustrated Life of the Buddha
The Life of Buddha (make sure you read all four parts)
Prepare: a presentation on something that relates to Buddhist
narrative art in your focus area (some students may have to widen their
area just a bit; for example, Michael N. can look for Buddhist art in
Java, which is close to Bali). One issue all students should address is
how their chosen example creates a sense of narrative.
Presentations should be short (approximately 5 minutes) and include visual documentation of some sort.
Write: a brief script/outline of your presentation as well as a bibliography to turn in. Feel free to use online resources, but make sure you look for relevant books and articles as well; bibliographies that miss obvious and/or readily available print sources will be marked down.
Part II: Tibetan Sand Mandalas
Read: Lopez, Donald S. 2001. The Story of Buddhism. San Francisco: HarperCollins, pp. 206-230.
via E-Res
Read: Gyatso, Tenzin (the Fourteenth Dalai Lama). 1995. The World of Tibetan Buddhism. Boston: Wisdom Publications, pp. 106-109, 167.
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Read: Leidy, Denise Patry and Thurman, Robert A. F. 1998. Appendix A: Kalachakra Mandalas, in Mandala: The Architecture of Enlightenment. New York: Asia Society, pp. 148-156.
via E-Res
(note: take a look at the actual book on reserve to savor the color plates)
Be ready: to discuss the following question:
"How might a mandala be interpreted as narrative?"
Special Event
Between 2/9 - 2/12, Buddhist Monks from Deprung
Loseling Monastery in Atlanta, Georgia, will visit Kenyon to produce a
sand mandala. Tuesday, 2/8, 7:30-8:30 reception for monks in Philander's Pub
Wednesday, 2/9: 12:00 Noon: opening ceremony
Saturday, 2/12: 2:00 PM closing ceremony
2/14 -- Ramayana in performance; Ramayana characters
Guest: Ben Arcangel
Look at: as many images of the Ramayana as you can, including
photographs of performances, illustrations in written versions,
pictorial or sculptural representations of Ramayana episodes, etc.
Look far and wide, but everybody should look at the following:
Kam, Garret (2004). Panoramayana (CD-ROM containing 50 photographs of Ramayana performances from Southeast Asia). On reserve under ASIA 490 in the library.
http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/maxpages/special/ramayana/imagesmaps.htm (A variety of Ramayana images)
Ramayana - A Picture Gallery
Comic book version
Prepare written answers: to the following questions:
1. What kinds of features/characteristics do artists use to differentiate the various characters?
2. Pick your favorite character: what specific visual characteristic help define this character?
3. In your focal area (if applicable): Which characters/episodes seem most common?
Special Event: Sundanese Dance Performance
Ben Arcangel will perform Sundanese (West Javanese) dances,
accompanied by the Kenyon College.
4:00 PM, Bemis Music Room (Peirce 201)
2/21 -- Some Asian narrative traditions
Read: all the articles in Asian Music: Journal of the Society for Asian Music
Vol. 26 No. 1 (Fall/Winter 1994/1995) (The issue's theme is "Musical
Narrative Traditions of Asia.") The journal is available for sale in
the bookstore; in addition, all the articles are available via JSTOR
Scott L. Marcus and Dwight F. Reynolds. Introduction
via JSTOR
Francesca Rebollo-Sborgi. The Musicality of Oral Performance: The
Case of Tianjin Shindiao and the Musical Expression of Urban Identity
(China)
via JSTOR
Discussion Leader: Eric
Dwight F. Reynolds. Musical Dimensions of an Arabic Oral Epic Tradition (Egypt)
via JSTOR
Discussion Leader: Anna Weinberg
Scott L. Marcus. Parody-generated Texts: The Process of Composition in Biriha, A North Indian Folk Music Genre (India)
via JSTOR
Discussion Leader: Nike
Hugh de Ferranti. Relations Between Music and Text in Higo Biwa: The Nagashi Pattern as a Text-Music System (Japan)
via JSTOR
Discussion Leader: Lucas
Andrew N. Weintraub. Tune, Text, and the Function of Lagu in Pantun Sunda, A Sundanese Oral Narrative Tradition (Indonesia)
via JSTOR
Discussion Leader: Nhu
n.b. one student will be assigned the responsibility of leading a discussion for each article.
2/28 -- Many Ramayanas
Read: Richman, Paula, ed. 1991. Many Ramayanas. University of California.
Everybody should read: Preface and Part One (pp. xi - xiii; 1 - 63)
Each student will make a presentation on one of the remaining
chapters (note: two chapters will be presented by two-person teams).
4. The Mutilation of Surpanakha Anna Weinberg
5. Fire and Flood Eric
6. A Ramayana of Their Own Nichole / Nike
7. The Raja's New Clothes David
8. Creating Conversations Lucas
9. E.V. Ramasami's Reading of the Ramayana Ted / Isankya
10. Ramayana Exegesis in Tenkalai Srivaisnavism Anna Welton
11. The Secret Life of Ramcandra of Ayodhya Nhu
12. Personalizing the Ramayan Mike
Spring Break
3/21 -- Sundanese Wayang Golek: politics and nationalism
Read: Weintraub, Andrew N. 2004. Chapter 8: Mediating the Nation in Post-Suharto Indonesia, in Power Plays: Wayang Golek Puppet Theater of West Java. Athens: Ohio University. pp. 208-228.
via E-Res
Read: Weintraub, Andrew N. 2001. Wayang Golek: The Sound and Celebration of Sundanese Puppet Theater (liner notes). Montpelier: Multicultural Media. (entire booklet)
On reserve in the Library's Music Listening Room (upstairs)
Skim: Weintraub, Andrew N. 2001. translation of "The Birth of Gatotkaca," PDF file from Wayang Golek: The Sound and Celebration of Sundanese Puppet Theater. Montpelier: Multicultural Media.
via E-Res
Prepare for presentation in class: a version of some narrative
that uses the original story's characters and situations to comment on
contemporary events. You can choose a story from your focal area (and
any contemporary event) or a contemporary event in your focal area (and
any story), or both.
3/28 -- Pansori (meet in Peirce 201, the Bemis Music Room)
read: Park, Chan E. 1999. "P'ansori, the Ancient Art of Storytelling," in Traditional Storytelling Today: An International Sourcebook, ed. Margaret Read MacDonald.
Chicago. London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, pp. 122-128.
via E-Res
All students should prepare a written plot outline of
"The Song of Ch'unhyang" (pp. 123-124). In addition, each student
should prepare an outline for one of the other four stories described
on pp. 123-126 and also be prepared to present the outline orally in
class (in 2 minutes or less).
In class, we will watch Im Kwan Taek's 2000 film version of
Chunghyang; take
notes! --each student will turn in a brief response paper (1-2 pages)
to the film before next Monday's class meeting. The response paper
should address (1) how traditional Korean storytelling is handled in
the film, and (2) what sort of modern relevance the film's version of
the story might have.
4/4 -- Buddhist Art take 2
We will all attend
Rob Linrothe's public lecture in Olin Auditorium at 7:30 PM.
Title of Lecture: Recovering the Past, Responding to the Present: The Renaissance of Painting in Northeastern Tibet
Before the lecture, let's all stop in to the Olin Art Gallery
(conveniently upstairs then back downstairs again from Olin Auditorium)
at 7:00 pm to attend the opening of class member Nike Desis's
senior exercise art show.
After the lecture, we will reconvene in Palme House to discuss
two
articles (these discussions will be facilitated by student discussion
leaders). Our discussion will focus on modern recontextualizations of
narrative materials and how that affects their forms and meanings.
Linrothe, Rob. 2001. Creativity, Freedom and Control in the Contemporary Renaissance of Reb gong Painting. The Tibet Journal 26(3&4):5-90. Focus your attention mainly on pp. 5-17 and 27-43.
via E-Res
Discussion Leader: Isankya
Sharon A. Grady and Phillip B. Zarrilli. 1994. "...It Was like a Play
in a Play in a Play!" "Tales from South Asia" in an Intercultural
Production, TDR (The Drama Review) 38(3):168-184.
via JSTOR
Discussion Leader: Anna Welton
4/11 -- Epics as "national" stories: student presentations (Day 1)
4/18 -- Epics as "national" stories: student presentations (Day 2)
Ted
Anna Welton
Anna Weinberg
Eric
Nichole
Michael
4/25 -- Miscellaneous (meet in Peirce 201, the Bemis Music Room)
We will work with visiting Indonesian performers
Ismet Ruchimat (composer and musician) and Ati Sumiati (dancer)
Student-led discussions of three more articles, which everybody should read in advance of the class meeting:
Samten G. Karmay. 1993. The Theoretical Basis of the Tibetan Epic, with
Reference to a 'Chronological Order' of the Various Episodes in the
Gesar Epic.
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 56(2):234-246.
via JSTOR
Discussion Leader: David
Michael E. Meeker. 1992. The Dede Korkut Ethic. International Journal of Middle East Studies 24(3):395-417
via JSTOR
Discussion Leader: Nicole
Jordens, J. T. F. 1986. Chapter Five: Gandhi and the Bhagavadgita, in Modern Indian Interpreters of the Bhagavadgita, ed. Robert N. Minor. State University of New York Press.
via E-Res
Discussion Leader: Ted
5/2 A few more Ramayanas (meet in Peirce 201, the Bemis Music Room)
student presentations / performances
5/13 4:30 PM Final Papers are Due!!