Literature and Culture of Taiwan, at Tunghai University

About Tunghai University & Taichung City

When: May 16-30, 2007.

Instructors: Ngozi Onuora & Anne Matthews

EN 366: Studies in Literary History: Asian-American Literature

IN350 Global Studies: Immersion in The People's Republic of China: Taiwan

Budget/Student Fees breakdown is forthcoming.

Registration deadline to be determined.

    

EN366 Studies in Literary History: Asian-American Literature (3 credits)

Instructor: Anne Matthews

Contact email: ammatthews@mail.millikin.edu

Enrollment 8-10 students

Text: Asian-American Literature: An Anthology.  Edited by Shirley Geok-lin Lim.  Chicago: McGraw-Hill, 2000. 

Course Description

This course offers advanced study of literature in its historical, intellectual, and cultural contexts.  We will study works in various genres by Asian-American authors, paying particular attention to issues of immigration, assimilation, transculturation, racism, and sexism, and coming to understand the ways in which these writers negotiate their individual and cultural identities.  Students will be exposed to writers of many different national origins, including Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, Vietnamese, Malaysian, Indian, and Pakistani.  Students will write reflective journals on the reading assignments, considering the authors' perspectives as well as the meaning of this literature in their own lives.  Students will also write a major interpretive essay, synthesizing literary, cultural, and historical sources. 

Course Objectives
  1. Students will compare the cultural dimensions of various Asian groups living in the United States.
  2. Students will utilize primary sourcedefault.asps from Asian-American authors as a means of gaining a better understanding of those cultures in particular and American culture in general.
  3. Students will explore culturally diverse points of view, both in class at Millikin and with Chinese students at Tunghai University.
  4. Students will be encouraged to engage in critical thinking in developing perspectives beyond the ethnocentric paradigm of the dominant culture.
  5. Students will gain a greater sensitivity to diverse points of view within a global society.
  6. Students will practice close reading and writing polished, informed essays.

Course Schedule
  • At Millikin before we leave:  read and discuss Chapters 1-4 of Asian-American Literature; write first four reflective journals.
  • In transit to and from Taiwan:  read and discuss Chapters 5-6 of Asian-American Literature; write next two reflective journals.
  • After we return:  read and discuss Chapters 7-8 of Asian-American Literature; write final two reflective journals; draft workshop for interpretive essay; submit essay.

IN350 Global Studies: Immersion in The People's Republic of China: Taiwan (3 credits)

Instructor: Ngozi Onuora

Contact email: nonuora@millikin.edu

Enrollment 8-10 students

Required texts: Heaven Lake: A Novel   by John Dalton & Taiwan: A Political History  by Denny Roy (Both available from Amazon)

Course Description:

This course explores the diversity and interconnectedness of the world. Students will extend beyond the United States as they travel to Taiwan, a territory of China. This course is interdisciplinary and comparative. Concentration on experience in exploring the culture and history of Taiwan as well as their educational system will be achieved through culture classes, readings, field trips to historic sites and national landmarks, and student interaction and reflection with peers from Tunghai University in Taichung, Taiwan. Comparative analysis will include individual, group, culture and the world.

Course Objectives:

1. Students will compare cultural dimensions of Taiwan to their own culture.

2. Students will gain substantive understanding of how the diversity of the world affects their everyday lives in the United States.

3. Students will explore subject matter that extends their knowledge beyond fundamental diversity questions to living in a global society.

4. Students will utilize primary sources and artifacts from Chinese culture as a means of gaining a better understanding of that culture.

5. Students will explore culturally diverse points of view while attending classes with Chinese students at Tunghai University.

6. Students will be encouraged to engage in critical thinking in developing perspectives beyond the ethnocentric paradigm of the dominant culture.

7. Students will engage in moral and ethical reasoning, with an emphasis on greater complexity and sophistication, appropriate to the various experiences gleaned within the course.

8. Students will work collaboratively in assessing their personal motivations, intentions, reasoning, perspectives, and affective development as related to what they are learning about themselves as an integral part of a more global network.

9. Students will gain a greater sensitivity to diverse points of view within a global society.

Other immersions

Millikin University International Programs
Karin Borei, Director of International Programs 
email: kborei@mail.millikin.edu
  • Office: Staley Library 105
  • telephone (217) 424-6387 


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