East Asian Culture: From Zen to K-Pop
MIT OpenCourseWare offers this introductory subject on culture across China, Japan, and Korea, covering both traditional and contemporary forms. Lessons examine Confucianism and Buddhism, literature, art, food, and architecture alongside popular culture like K-pop, questioning what actually counts as a shared "East Asian culture" versus what varies within the region. Gender is treated as a core thread running through the material rather than a side topic, and the syllabus also looks at how Asian cultural expressions circulate and get received in the United States. No Asian language background is required, and the course is taught entirely in English. Materials include readings, lecture notes, and assignments from the MIT course, plus two field trips built into the syllabus, to the Museum of Fine Arts and the Peabody Essex Museum. Students pursuing the MISTI-Singapore requirement can direct their final project toward Singapore specifically. As open courseware, the full set of materials is free to access online.