Curriculum Development
2017-2019
Sustainability in Japan & Environmental Research in Japan
[AS/ES 277 and AS/ES 396] The Environmental Sustainability in Asia – Japan course was offered by Professor Kathy Tegtmeyer Pak in January 2018 and 2019. Professor Greg Muth led the Environmental Research in Japan course during the January 2018 term and Professor Paul Jackson returned to lead the January 2019 term.
In the third iteration 27 students and Nate Jacobi, Associate Director of the Piper Center for Vocation and Career, joined the two faculty leaders as they traveled to Japan to work and study alongside Japanese staff, volunteers and students at the Asian Rural Institute and the Tokyo University of Agriculture. In addition, they enjoyed interacting with students from Taiwan, who were also guests of TUA/Nōdai in Nagawamachi, Nagano Prefecture. By joining in farm life, visiting a national park, taking a twelve-hour day trip through coastal areas of Fukushima most affected by the 3.2011 triple-disaster, and attending cultural festivals that promote rural life, students gained wider familiarity with the premises and practice of sustainability in Japan. To prepare for their experience, 15 students without abilities in Japanese language worked with Language Assistant Asuka Kakitani to complete the “Survival Japanese” course in the fall semester. The LIASE team was thrilled to welcome Kakitani-sensei to St. Olaf, especially having spent her childhood in Tochigi Prefecture and recently relocating from New York to Minnesota. Not only did she execute a well-structure introduction to Japanese Language and Culture, she contribute her composing and Jazz Music skills to the campus and greater community (learn more at Kakitani-sensei at www.asukakakitani.com) Students wrote about their experiences on the class blog: https://pages.stolaf.edu/esj-2018/
In the fourth iteration 24 students and the Associate Director of Instructional Technologies joined the two faculty leaders as they traveled to Japan to work and study alongside Japanese staff, volunteers and students at the Asian Rural Institute and the Tokyo University of Agriculture. For the second year Language Assistant Asuka Kakitani provided “Survival Japanese” language and culture training to 17 students without abilities in Japanese language in the fall semester prior to their departure. Students wrote about their experiences on the class blog: https://pages.stolaf.edu/esj-2019/
Asian Conversations
[AS 210 taught by Joanne Quimby and Hsiang-Lin Shih on campus, Fall 2017. AS 215 taught by Joanne Quimby and Rika Ito in Shanghai, Hiroshima, and Tokyo, January 2018, and by Ying Zhou and Karil Kucera on campus, Spring 2018.] Students read and discussed the environmental factors behind “the origins of the modern world” and the environmental impacts of WWII on Asia, especially the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. During January in Asia, the 28 students visited Hiroshima with arrangements made by ANT-Hiroshima including lectures, survivor testimony, and walking tours. When the students were back to campus in Spring, they continued to learn about the impacts of WWII on Asia. The curriculum on atomic bombing of Hiroshima was further developed and repeated in January 2019 to include emphasis on the environment, specificially to hear from Japanese “tree doctors” who care for and propagate the
A-bomb survived trees in Hiroshima.
Language study, Cultural study & Topics
[AS 237] In the Modern Chinese Literature and Society course student read and discussed novels about the environmental changes in Taiwan. They consulted, contributed to, and blogged on the website that presents the results of Leah Suffern (’17)’s 2016 summer fieldwork funded by LIASE, titled “Mapping Taipei in Chu T’ien-hsin’s Novella ‘The Old Capital’.” The course was also enriched by Hana Anderson (’20), Anthony Faure (’20), Sofia Reed (’20), and James Sandberg (’20)’s 2018 summer fieldwork funded by LIASE, titled “Memories of Agricultural Yilan, Taiwan.” [Chin 320] The course continued use of lyrics and prose about environmental changes, and the students who were interested in environmental studies commented on the materials from relevant perspectives. [Japan 320] Students read the article, “See How the Whole World Works through a Bowl of Udon” in Japanese. The key words in the article include food self-efficiency, farm to spoon, sustainability, permaculture, and slow life.
2016-2017
Sustainability in Japan & Environmental Research in Japan
[AS/ES 277 AS/ES 396] These two courses will be offered again in 2017-18, led by Professor Kathy Tegtmeyer Pak and Professor Greg Muth.
Asian Conversations
[AS 215 taught by Karil Kucera and Rika Ito in Shanghai and Tokyo, January 2017; Ka Wong and Tom Williamson taught AS220 on campus in Spring 2017.] During the course of their 27 days in Asia, the 23 students enrolled in the Asian Conversations Program continued the connections and conversations with colleagues and students at East China Normal University and International Christian University. The focus of this year’s program shifted slightly to discussions of the built environment, having the students look at how the Chinese and Japanese have traditionally approached living within the environment versus where they are at in the modern era. Some of the current practices with regard to sustainable building actually look back to past methods so this made for a nice synergy between past and present. In China, students experienced first-hand the intense air pollution of Beijing, after which they met with Professor Che and his graduate students, who reported on their ongoing research on air and water quality research in Shanghai. In Japan, activities included a trip to Nikko, site of one of the first legal battles related to the environmental preservation in Japan. In both countries, students interviewed their peers with questions related to how they understood the environment and what they saw as some of the big issues facing their country, their part of the world, and their generation going forward. Spring term activities included transcribing portions of these interviews and using the content in their final papers.
Language study, Cultural study & Topics
[Chin 320] The course continued use of lyrics and prose about environmental changes, and the students who were interested in environmental studies commented on the materials from relevant perspectives.[Japan 232] Students read and discussed a Japanese comic called “3.11 Japan Disaster: the scenery I had with you.”[Japan 320] Students read the article, “See How the Whole World Works through a Bowl of Udon” in Japanese. The key words in the article include food self-efficiency, farm to spoon, sustainability, permaculture, and slow life.[AS/Religion 289, Buddhism: Peace and Justice] This course continued to include a module on eco-Buddhism.[AS 397 Seminar, Human Rights in Asian Contexts] This course continued to include a module on environmental justice and e-waste issue in Asia.[History 250 & 251] The classes read excerpts from Robert Marks, China: Its Environment and History and the Modern China course viewed the Gary Marcuse film, “Waking the Green Tiger.”[Art 161] World Architecture – This course has moved away from the canonical study of Western architecture with half of the course now focused on historical sustainable approaches to the built environment and how those approaches are being revisited and revised in order to be implemented in today’s new green building practices.
2015-2016
Sustainability in Japan
[AS/ES 277; offered by Professor Tegtmeyer Pak, January 2016] In its second iteration, 21 students, one faculty member and one staff member traveled to Japan to work and study alongside Japanese staff, volunteers and students at the Asian Rural Institute and the Tokyo University of Agriculture. In addition, they enjoyed interacting with students from Taiwan, who were also guests of TUA/Nōdai in Nagawamachi, Nagano Prefecture. By joining in farm life, visiting a national park, taking a twelve-hour day trip through coastal areas of Fukushima most affected by the 3.2011 triple-disaster, and attending cultural festivals that promote rural life, students gained wider familiarity with the premises and practice of sustainability in Japan. To prepare for their experience, 17 students without abilities in Japanese language completed the “Survival Japanese” course in the fall semester. Students wrote about their experiences on the class blog: https://pages.stolaf.edu/esj-2016/
Asian Conversations
[AS 215 taught by Barbara Reed and Caleb Boteilho in Shanghai and Tokyo, January 2016, and AS 220 by Tom Williamson and Robert Entenmann on campus, Spring 2016.] The 38 students enrolled in the Asian Conversations Program continued the connections and conversations with colleagues and students at East China Normal University, Chuo University and International Christian University. In China, Professor Che and his graduate students reported on recent work being done on air and water quality research in Shanghai. In Japan, students once again spent a day at Chuo University hearing student reports on Japanese food and the environment and discussing their work together. In the spring term, students were assigned Marks’ The Origins of the Modern World: A Global and Ecological Narrative, and watched the film, Waking the Green Tiger (first screened on campus during our exploration grant year).
Environmental Research in Asia (Japan)
Nature in Japanese Literature
[AS 233 taught by Kendra Strand, a visiting professor, in Spring 2016] This course examined how nature is imagined, described, and consumed in Japanese literature and culture, and considered moments when the natural environment becomes inhospitable to human life. Students explored the relationships between humans and nature in Japanese literature and popular culture by: (1) tracing traditions from eighth-century landscape poetry to post-apocalyptic narratives in contemporary anime, (2) reading Japanese literature from a perspective of ecological criticism, and (3) producing their own works of nature writing.
Language study, Cultural study & Topics
[Chin 320] The course introduced lyrics and prose about environmental changes, and the students who were interested in environmental studies commented on the materials from relevant perspectives.[Japan 232] Students read and discussed a Japanese comic called “3.11 Japan Disaster: the scenery I had with you.”[Japan 320] Students read the article, “See How the Whole World Works through a Bowl of Udon” in Japanese. The key words in the article include food self-efficiency, farm to spoon, sustainability, permaculture, and slow life.[AS/Religion 289, Buddhism: Peace and Justice] This course continued to include a module on eco-Buddhism.[AS 397 Seminar, Human Rights in Asian Contexts] This course continued to include a module on environmental justice and e-waste issue in Asia.[History 250 & 251] The classes read excerpts from Robert Marks, China: Its Environment and History and the Modern China course viewed the Gary Marcuse film, “Waking the Green Tiger.”
Senior Seminars
[AS 399 taught by Robert Entenmann, Spring 2016] Readings included James Scott, The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009), a book focusing on environmental history and the highland peoples of “Zomia,” a region encompassing upland Southeast Asia and Southwest China. The students viewed the film, Threshold: Whispers of Fukushima, and interacted with the director. One student wrote “An Analysis of Hydropower on the Yangtze and Mekong Rivers” as her senior thesis; her interest in the topic stemmed from Gary Marcuse’s visit during our Exploratory Grant year. She majored in both Asian Studies and Environmental Studies.[ES 399 taught by John Schade, Spring 2016] Students viewed the film, Threshold: Whispers of Fukushima, and engaged the filmmakers subsequently during a class visit. Two students completed Asia-related projects during the semester; one wrote a second paper on environmental aspects of damming the Mekong River (see also Asian Studies 399) and the other researched rural and urban environmental attitudes in Japan stemming from his experiences during the Sustainability in Japan interim course.
2014-2015
Sustainability in Japan
[Asian Studies/Environmental Studies 277; offered by Professor Tegtmeyer Pak, January 2015]Students brought the ideas and practices of “sustainability” to life in a new context, by joining in farm life, comparing a national park with the neighboring devastation left by copper mining, and by joining in cultural festivals intended to fend off rural depopulation. Throughout their month, they worked, studied and played alongside Japanese staff, volunteers and students at the Asian Rural Institute and the Tokyo University of Agriculture.
See the 2015 blog here and the 2016 blog here. This course will be offered again in January 2016. Here’s more information.
Asian Conversations
[AS 215 taught by Karil Kucera and Kris MacPherson in Shanghai and Tokyo, January 2015] During their 28-day stay in Asia, the 35 students enrolled in the Asian Conversations Program focused on food and the environment, engaging in individual research related to food production and dissemination as well as sustainability. In Shanghai, they studied at East China Normal University, where they heard lectures by Professor Che and his graduate students on air quality research and water improvement techniques on nearby Suzhou Creek. Students also toured Hangzhou and discussed local efforts to clean up West Lake as well as the impact of the new UNESCO designation of West Lake as a World Heritage Site on preservation efforts. In Tokyo, students spent a day at Chuo University sharing reports on food and the environment as well as learning about the environmental research being done by Professor Tanaka and his students. At International Christian University, some students heard a lecture by a visiting Greenpeace research associate on Japanese environmental activism. Spring term activities included bringing together the Environmental Conversation students with the Asian Conversations at St Olaf to talk about food production and sustainability in Asia while enjoying various Asian dishes.
Asian Studies/Environmental Studies 396: Environmental Research in Asia (Japan)
Japanese 231
Students investigated environmentally sustainable initiatives on St. Olaf’s campus and in Japan, learning new environmental-themed vocabulary.
Japanese 232b
Students discussed in Japanese the film “Spirited Away,” linking environmental topics addressed in the film with contemporary issues in Japan. In particular, the class focused on waste management issues through analyzing the character Okusare-sama, the river god who is physically inhibited by waste.
Japanese 302
The class learned about the MOTTAINAI Campaign and Green Belt Movement in Japan by reading and discussing in Japanese an article by Wangari Maathai, an environmental activist awarded Nobel Peace Prize in 2004.