No 6287
Wednesday 28 November 2012
Vol cxliii No 10
pp. 147–190
The supplementary regulations have been amended for the following papers of the Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Tripos as specified below:
This course is to enable students to use basic elements of Chinese grammar correctly, use Chinese over a range of everyday situations, write basic Chinese and translate English into Chinese at the sentence level, and write simple essays in Chinese.
Modern Chinese is taught intensively throughout the year, and in this paper students are required to translate passages in modern Chinese into English. This paper is mainly designed to assess the student’s ability in understanding and translating simple Chinese texts.
In this course students are introduced to the language of the Hebrew Bible. First term: after introduction to basic vocabulary and orthography (consonants and vowel points), students commence a biblical text (Jonah), during the reading of which they are gradually introduced to grammar and deal with translational and interpretive issues. Second term: the focus will be on a philologically and linguistically oriented reading of Genesis 1–4 (and possibly related texts) along with the integration of secondary literature dealing with pertinent issues of both a linguistic and non-linguistic nature.
In this course, students acquire competence in spoken and written Modern Hebrew. Classes will cover Modern Hebrew grammar and representative texts from Modern Hebrew literature. All students doing this course also do an introductory course on Biblical Hebrew grammar in the Michaelmas Term and are required to answer one question on this in the examination.
This paper provides an introduction to the history of the Middle East and the political, religious, and cultural developments of the different regions and periods. It aims to familiarize the student with the sources of information available and with the main themes that will arise in studying Middle Eastern societies in subsequent years of the Tripos. The course consists primarily of lectures.
This paper provides a critical introduction to the politics, language, and culture of contemporary Middle Eastern societies. It starts with a theoretical and methodological introduction to the politics of knowledge about the Middle East, and then focuses on the historical advent of modernity in this region. In the second term, the course explores the languages and dialects of Middle Eastern societies in their political and cultural contexts. The final section of the course examines the region from the anthropological perspective, and will focus on language, gender, and social hierarchies.
The course provides students with the opportunity to explore the film traditions of East Asia through a number of possible themes, including modernity, identity and nation, and genre. These broad concerns encompass common themes of comparative significance, such as gender, city and countryside, love, marriage, and family and violence and are expressed in genres such as melodrama. Each student will give two presentations and write two essays (1,500–2,000 words) each term, one on each of the four sections of the course; feedback on these will be given in supervisions or in group discussions.
Reading selected twentieth-century Japanese literary and non-literary texts, with attention to style and content, the aim being to gain proficiency in reading, pronouncing, translating, and interpreting modern prose.
Topics in the history of Japan in the 19th and 20th centuries. In order to analyse Japan’s current relations with its Asian counterparts, the course also examines Japan’s shifting self-image and foreign relations over the centuries, with particular focus on China.
An introduction to the grammar of literary, pre-modern Japanese, followed by readings of simple prose and poetry. Some essay work on aspects of classical literature is also required.
An introduction to post-1945 Japanese politics examining Japan’s political parties and institutions from a comparative perspective. In considering the distinctiveness of the Japanese political system, it addresses a number of central issues including Japan’s economic growth, central-local government relations, the legal system, and the politics of defence and foreign policy. The paper pays particular attention to the nature of domestic political change since the mid 1990s as well as the economic and security policy challenges for a country that is increasingly active both globally and regionally. In analysing Japan’s politics comparatively, the paper also addresses the issues of authorization and democratization in Korea, Korea’s post-1945 political economy, and the security aspects of the Korean peninsula.
This paper introduces students to a variety of Arabic literary texts to enhance their understanding of textual analysis and linguistic expression.
This paper examines in some detail key moments in the formation of the modern Middle East, across regions and addressing various themes, with an emphasis on developing an understanding of periods of transition and conflict that have shaped and defined modern societies in the region since the nineteenth century. Lectures focus on Iran and Israel up to the late twentieth century, and the Arab world before and after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
This paper examines in some detail the political and social dynamics of the contemporary and modern Middle East from an anthropological perspective, focusing on particular regions or themes.
This paper introduces students to a selection of advanced texts to enhance their understanding of textual analysis and linguistic expression and to develop their knowledge of literary historical and critical approaches. One or more types of Arabic writing from one or more periods will be the focus of sustained study.
This paper uses a selection of either classical or contemporary Persian poetry and prose, to study the treatment of particular themes and rhetoric techniques.
This paper focuses on themes of interest and importance in Hebrew literature.
A seminar-based course that extends the comparative approach adopted in EAS.1. It concentrates on thematic and policy issues relevant to understanding Japan, the Korean peninsula, China (broadly defined), and also Southeast Asia, as well as the role of the United States in East Asia. The course runs over two terms and draws explicitly on historical research and social science methodology in addressing how best to conceptualize ‘East Asia’ as a region. Topics addressed will vary from year to year, depending on the research interests of the teaching officers involved, but an indicative list of subjects covered in the course would include some, but not necessarily all of the following issues: the Cold War as a historical phenomenon; conflict and war in East Asia and contemporary security challenges; comparative models of economic development in East Asia and the role of ‘plan-rational’ policy-making; the role of the nation-state and competing models of historical identity; multilateralism, the emergence of trans-national actors and economic integration in East Asia; political legitimacy, contrasting models of authoritarian rule, and democratization as a political movement; demographic change; energy and environmental policy and technological change.
The course aims to introduce undergraduates to the field of modern Chinese literature as it evolved through the 20th century and up to the present. Literature, whether popular or elite, has had a vital place in modern experience. In the first term students become familiar with some of the major canonical writers and issues. Teaching in the second term is organized around a particular topic: possible examples are post-Mao and contemporary fiction; fiction and film in Republican popular culture; Chinese modernism.
An introduction to key socio-political and cultural developments in reform-era China (from the early 1980s to the present), while situating them in the historical contexts of the late Imperial and Maoist periods. Topics covered will include Chinese political culture, kinship and marriage, reproduction and family planning, gender and sexuality, urban and rural lives, ethnic minorities, religion, state and society, nationalism, migration, the Chinese diaspora, etc. The analytical approaches are drawn from anthropology, political science, sociology, and cultural studies.
The course focuses on texts of the Tokugawa period and requires previous knowledge of classical Japanese (J7).
This paper explores Islamic reform and piety in the twentieth century. It does so from the complementary perspectives of anthropology and intellectual history. Modernist Islamic thinkers in this period grappled with the question ‘what is Islam?’ and ‘how should we read the Quran?’ Their thought inspired and informed social and political movements in the Arab world and beyond which have been concerned with the right way to understand and practice Islam. Students will read three Arabic texts by modernist Islamic thinkers, and consider anthropological and ethnographic analyses of relevant issues including history, ritual, and secularism. Students not taking Arabic will be provided with translations in class.
This paper provides a focused analysis of a particular subject relating to the contemporary Middle East. Students may choose one of two subjects which will be announced by the Faculty Board.
The Faculty Board of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies have confirmed that no candidate’s preparation for the examination will be affected.
On the recommendation of the Degree Committee for the Faculty of Architecture and History of Art, the General Board have agreed that the subject Environmental Design in Architecture (Option A (one-year course) and Option B (two-year course)) be replaced by two new subjects; Architecture and Urban Studies (replacing Option A) and Architecture and Urban Design (replacing Option B), and that the examination for the subject Environmental Design in Architecture be rescinded for candidates admitted from 1 October 2013. Special regulations for the examinations in the two subjects have been approved as follows:
1. The scheme of examination for the one-year course of study in Architecture and Urban Studies for the degree of Master of Philosophy shall consist of:
(a)a thesis, of not more than 20,000 words in length, excluding appendices and bibliography, on a topic approved by the Degree Committee for the Faculty of Architecture and History of Art;
(b)four essays or other exercises, each of not more than 3,000 words, on topics specified by the Degree Committee.
2. The examination may, at the discretion of the Examiners, include an oral examination on the thesis or on the general field of knowledge within which it falls.
1. Candidates for the two-year course of study in Architecture and Urban Design for the degree of Master of Philosophy shall be required to undertake a placement of nine months’ duration in an architectural practice or a similar alternative arrangement approved by the Degree Committee for the Faculty of Architecture and History of Art.
2. The scheme of examination shall consist of:
(a)a design thesis, of not more than 15,000 words in length, excluding appendices and bibliography, and including drawn material, on a topic approved by the Degree Committee for the Faculty of Architecture and History of Art;
(b)four essays or other exercises, each of not more than 3,000 words, on topics specified by the Degree Committee;
(c)one further essay, of not more than 3,000 words, on current practice and the cultural context of architecture;
(d)a logbook of a case study carried out during the placement.
3. The examination may, at the discretion of the Examiners, include an oral examination on the design thesis or on the general field of knowledge within which it falls.
The General Board, on the recommendation of the Faculty Board of Modern and Medieval Languages, have agreed that the examination in Russian Studies for the M.Phil. Degree be suppressed and the special regulations for the examinations be rescinded with effect from 1 October 2013.