Spring 2002

http://www.uncc.edu/jmflower/syllist.htm

HIST 3000 A03

John Flower

704-687-4637

jmflower@email.uncc.edu

office hours: Tuesday, Thursday, 1 – 2pm (and by appointment)

Course objectives:

This course will provide students an opportunity to encounter the history and culture of Tibet through historical narrative, media documentation, autobiography, and film. Students will gain a basic grounding in the history of ancient Tibet, and in the principles of Tibetan Buddhism, with a more in-depth understanding of Tibet in the modern era. In addition to the outline history presented in the course, special focus will fall on the interactions between Tibet and China, and on cultural constructions of Tibet in the Western imagination.

This course is a joint inquiry; it is NOT primarily a lecture course. Students will be expected to engage in discussion of the assigned materials. The instructor reserves the right to change the syllabus and course assignments to ensure student participation.

 Course requirements:

• Attendance is mandatory. More than four unexcused absences will lower the midterm exam portion of the course grade by 10 points for each additional absence.
• Tardiness is unacceptable. Students must come to class on time. Late arrivals are considered absent.
• Preparedness is required. All students are expected to do the assigned readings and to actively participate in class discussion.
• The midterm exam (2/5) will count as 10% of the final course grade.
• Two 5 – 7 page papers (due 3/12 and 4/9) each count as 30% of the final course grade. Late papers will be marked down 10 points for each day they are late.
• The final exam (5/7) will count as 30% of the final course grade.

Texts:

Grunfeld, The Making of Modern Tibet

Goldstein, Siebenschuh, Tsering, The Struggle for Modern Tibet

Goldstein & Kapstein, Buddhism in Contemporary Tibet

Schell, Virtual Tibet

Note: additional assignments are accessed through the course website.

Course Schedule

Week one: introduction

(1/10) Review of syllabus; course introduction

Week two: place and ethnohistory

(1/15) Geography: living in a sacred landscape

(1/17) Ancient Tibet and early imperial China

Web assignment: Tibetan and Himalayan Digital Library

http://iris.lib.virginia.edu/tibet/frameset.html

Week three: the Buddhist revolution

(1/22) Buddhism and the Lamaist State

(1/24) Interactions with Qing dynasty China

Reading: Grunfeld, 3-47

Web assignment:  About Buddhism  

Questions to find from the website:  Who was the Buddha?  How does his life history shape his philosophy?  What are the "Four Noble Truths" and the "Eightfold Path"?  Read at least one of the essays on Buddhist morality: How do these values compare with the values of your own tradition?

Week four: the "Discovery" of Tibet

(1/29) Early Foreign Contacts

(1/31) Intrigues of the "Great Game"

Reading: Grunfeld, 48-70

Web assignment: Travel Writings

Week five: "Shangri-la" (1)

(2/5) in-class midterm exam

(2/7) Tibet as "Other"

Note: begin reading assignments for weeks six and seven.

Week six: the Modern Era

(2/12) Background: the Chinese Revolution

(2/14) "Liberation" and co-existence with Communism

Reading: Grunfeld, 70-130; The Struggle for Modern Tibet 1-88

Week seven: Revolt and Occupation

(2/19) Uprising and the Dalai Lama in exile

(2/21) The cultural revolution and reform eras

Reading: Grunfeld, 131-189; The Struggle for Modern Tibet 88-201

Week eight: films: Lost Horizon; Heinrich Harrer’s Seven Years in Tibet

Week nine: Spring break

Assignment: view Kundun and Hollywood’s Seven Years in Tibet

Week ten: Tibet imagined: "Shangri-la" (2) PAPER 1 DUE 3/12

(3/12, 14) Discussion of Virtual Tibet

Reading: Virtual Tibet

Week eleven: Human Rights (1): the "Tibet Question"

(3/19) the official Chinese perspective

(3/21) Chinese dissent

Reading: Grunfeld, 212-64

Web assignments: Chinese government "white paper"

Chinese dissidents on Tibet

Week twelve: Human Rights (2): Independence?

(3/26) the Dalai Lama

(3/28) Tibetans in exile

Reading: Grunfeld, 190-211

Web assignment: Tibetan Government in exile website.

Week thirteen: the revival of Buddhism (1)

(4/2) monastic life

(4/4) landscape and memory

Readings: Buddhism in Contemporary Tibet, 1 - 94

Week fourteen: the revival of Buddhism (2) PAPER 2 DUE 4/9

(4/9) pilgrimage

(4/11) festivals

Readings: Buddhism in Contemporary Tibet, 95 – 149

Week fifteen: Contemporary Tibet

(4/16) case study: folk music

(4/18) case study: environment and development

Web assignment: Tibetan and Himalayan Digital Library

Week sixteen: Cultural identity

(4/23) film: Windhorse

(4/25) Discussion of Windhorse

Week seventeen (4/30) / review for final exam

Final exam: May 7, 12 – 3pm