EAST ASIAN MARTIAL ARTS IN HISTORY, FICTION, AND FILM

Credit Hours: 3 · Undergraduate Lower-Level

This course introduces students to East Asian physical and martial cultures as practiced today and depicted in historical sources, literature, film, and other media. Topics include spirituality, ethics, physical fitness, gender, race, politics, economics, and multimedia depictions of premodern combat and practices like qìgōng, Shàolín kung fu, tàijí quán, kendō, karate, and more. Works of philosophy, history, literature, and film may include Sūnzǐ’s Art of War, Sīmǎ Qiān’s “Biographies of Assassins,” The Ballad of Mùlán, The Tale of the Heike, Outlaws of the Marsh, The Book of Five Rings, 47 Rōnin, Hagakure, and films by directors like Kurosawa, Lo Wei, Ang Lee, Zhāng Yìmóu, Níng Yíng, and Tarantino.