Instructor: Diana Eck
How "Asian" is America today? This seminar explores the Asian dimensions of American history, immigration, religion, and culture as immigrants have come from India, China, Southeast Asia, Korea, and Japan. When and why did they come to the U.S.? What forms of religious and cultural life did they bring to the U.S. in the 19th and 20th centuries? What opportunities and obstacles did they find here? How do Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs, Buddhists of many lineages, as well as Asian Christian communities contribute to the religious landscape of American cities and towns today? How has Asia reshaped the collective identity of the United States from the first encounters of Thoreau and Emerson with texts and ideas of the "Orient" to the saturation of modern America with the holistic cultures of yoga, tai chi, and mind-body medicine? Jointly offered in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Religion 1599.