tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post1652336600969789112..comments2024-03-14T04:16:20.472-07:00Comments on In Socrates' Wake: Making Asian Studies (More) InterdisciplinaryMichael Cholbihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02012523929044363216noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-65126885631752981422010-01-14T04:50:31.339-08:002010-01-14T04:50:31.339-08:00Hi David -
1. The second history lecture is a gr...Hi David - <br /><br />1. The second history lecture is a great idea on either of those topics. Although the psychology person will talk a little about current relevancy to questions of human rights, it might be interesting if the first of your ideas (on the role of Confucianism through the eras) could also spend some time on the current situation (post Mao): the "reconstruction" of Confucianism as a state sponsored ideology under the PRC, and the interesting challenges and tensions this creates. Of course, this could also be a standalone: perhaps something done by a political scientist? <br /><br />2. It was not hard, but there are clearly serious obstacles to putting together these sort of things. The problem is: the current structure of faculty work just doesn't open up a space for this sort of thing -- or for trying to expand on it -- and so it just leaves it as "noble labor" for the professor(s) in question. <br /><br />In this instance, I am lucky to have some dedicated colleagues, and they are also fellow members of the Asian studies department, so I suppose they feel a little obligation to do a bit more. I was successful, however, in prying out some money from various sources at the university, and I'll be using that to give out small, but meaningful, honorariums. <br /><br />My current concern is that this is something I'd like to continue in the future, and build on. So this sort of approach to constructing a course needs to have access to resources -- mostly financial at this point (heck -- I'd like to invite speakers to come talk from local universities, but I'd need more "healthy" honorariums to do that). It's on my "to do" list to investigate how to get a more formal lasting commitment from the university on ways to go about securing those resources. <br /><br />3. At the moment, I have no formal plan to evaluate the non-philosophical components. I wanted to just test drive it first, and see how it works, how the students react, and how they seem to incorporate the talks into their own thinking as the semester goes on. From there I'll try to figure out some ways to assess the contribution's impact, though I admittedly haven't thought much yet on how to do that.Chris Panzahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01656795570624714115noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-33268564012788589652010-01-13T10:48:30.167-08:002010-01-13T10:48:30.167-08:00This sounds like a great approach. I particularly ...This sounds like a great approach. I particularly like the inclusion of the meditation and psychology lectures.<br /><br />You might think about adding a second history lecture on the role of Confucianism during various eras of Chinese history. It might help students appreciate the historical significance of what they're reading. Alternatively, a historical lecture on the spread of ideas from India to China and from China into Korea and Japan might provide a broader context.<br /><br />Did you find it difficult to get other faculty to participate?<br /><br />Can you say more about how, if at all, you're evaluating the non-philosophical components of students' learning in the course?david morrowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17628941227584383772noreply@blogger.com