NCTA Tenjin Archives Literature Courses

Last Offered: Spring 2024

This asynchronous NCTA short course guides participants on an exploration of Chinese literature and culture through the lens of imagination and fantasy. This course will help teachers explore Chinese literature through a focus on the rich cultural presentations of individual freedom and contemplation on divergent systems, worldly and otherworldly. The materials explored will help teachers better understand the continuing recycling and development of classical images and stories in Chinese imaginative literature through cutting-edge global and American cultural production, such as Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese and the Academy Award winner Everything Everywhere All at Once.

This course offers teachers 6 professional development hours. For any questions reach out to easc@iu.edu

Last Offered: Spring 2024, Summer 2025

This asynchronous 5-week NCTA workshop explores science fiction literature from China, from its roots in the earliest dynastic periods to twenty-first-century trends. With an eye toward the relationship between history and literature, we will look at how authors in China have used fiction to imagine how the world might work; how local authors adapted the conventions of European science fiction to create distinctly Chinese literature; how the events of history have contributed to different literary visions of China’s future; and how Chinese science fiction has begun to build a fan base outside China.

This course offers teachers 10 professional development hours. For any questions reach out to easc@iu.edu

Last offered: Fall 2024

This two-week, asynchronous NCTA short course will explore South Korean colonial era literature through the lens of femininity. Alongside an introduction to South Korean literature, participants will also be given a brief overview of early 20th century South Korean through the focus on the concept of the “modern woman/new girl” phenomenon that swept across East Asia during this era. Using fictional and historical sources, participants will build an understanding of how these concepts of “modern” femininity were perceived and how they pushed against traditional ideas of womanhood in colonial Korea.

Last Offered: Spring 2025

Participants will dive into the world of Korean literature from the perspective of translation. They will engage with the tricky work of translation and tackle some of the questions surrounding the ethics of translation work. Using The Vegetarian as a lens, participants will be challenged to think about the values of literal vs. literary translations and the outcome of each style onto the source material. Participants will learn about the history of this controversial translation, considering both its downsides and merits on the broader field of South Korean literature. By considering the different challenges of translation, participants are encouraged to reevaluate the impact and influence of translated material both inside and outside the classroom.

Last offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2025

Taught by Cecilia Boyce, this six-week NCTA course will equip teachers with the knowledge and resources needed to incorporate the short fiction of Haruki Murakami into their literature classrooms. Through the exploration of Murakami’s short stories teachers will gain more insight into the cultural and historic subtext of Murakami’s stories while engaging in dialogue with other teachers. This course includes asynchronous work with synchronous online lectures.