From Round to Square (and back)

For The Emperor's Teacher, scroll down (↓) to "Topics." It's the management book that will rock the world (and break the vase, as you will see). Click or paste the following link for a recent profile of the project: http://magazine.beloit.edu/?story_id=240813&issue_id=240610

A new post appears every day at 12:05* (CDT). There's more, though. Take a look at the right-hand side of the page for over four years of material (2,000 posts and growing) from Seinfeld and country music to every single day of the Chinese lunar calendar...translated. Look here ↓ and explore a little. It will take you all the way down the page...from round to square (and back again).
*Occasionally I will leave a long post up for thirty-six hours, and post a shorter entry at noon the next day.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Syllabic Cycles (5)—Advanced Seminar: Mountains-a

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Syllabic Cycles"
One year ago on Round and Square (28 August 2012)—The New Yorker and the World: Course Description (g)
Two years ago on Round and Square (28 August 2011)—Hurtin' Country: Chiseled in Stone
[a] Towering RL
Click here for the other half of this two-part syllabus post:
HIST 310/ANTH 375: Weeks 1-8                   HIST 310/ANTH 375: Weeks 9-16 

Mountains
History 310/Anthropology 375
Autumn 2013
T 7:10-11:00 p.m.
Robert André LaFleur                                                             Office Hours:
Morse Ingersoll 111                                                                 Tuesday           2:30-4:00*
363-2005                                                                                   Thursday         12:00-1:30
lafleur@beloit.edu                                                                    …or by appointment
*Office hours will revert to the regular 12:00-1:30 time after autumn break.
  
Required Books
Birrell, Anne. The Classic of Mountains and Seas 
Casey, Edward. Representing Place 
Fu, Flora. Framing Famous Mountains 
Hinton, David. Mountain Home: The Wilderness Poetry of Ancient China 
Lévi-Strauss, Claude. Tristes tropiques 
Macfarlane, Robert. Mountains of the Mind: Adventures in Reaching the Summit 
McPhee, John. Annals of the Former World 
Mountaineers, Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills 
Nan Shunxun. China’s Sacred Sites 
Naquin, Susan. Pilgrims and Sacred Sites 
Robson, James. The Power of Place  
Rudwick, Martin. Bursting the Limits of Time 
Stein, Rolf. The World in Miniature 
Round and Square (www.robert-lafleur.blogsot.com) 
The New York Review of Books (NYRB)

Reserve Books
Braudel. Fernand. The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age...
Casey, Edward. Getting Back into Place 
Geil, William Edgar. The Sacred 5 of China  
Granet, Marcel. The Religion of the Chinese People 
Hawkes, David. Songs of the South 
Leach, Edmund, Political Systems of Highland Burma 
Liu Yang. Fantastic Mountains 
Mauss, Marcel. Seasonal Variations of the Eskimo
Muir, John. Mountaineering Essays 
Mullikin, Mary. The Nine Sacred Mountains of China

Hacker, Diana. A Pocket Style Manual (required in all history classes).

***  ***
In this advanced seminar we will examine the way that various thinkers have engaged the greatest monuments in their midsts—the mountains that dominate certain parts of the human landscape.  Mountains have figured prominently in writings and oral traditions from earliest times, and the fascination with them continues in the disciplines of history and anthropology, where the study of lofty terrain has alternately framed and dominated research work.  We will study the role of mountainous terrain in the opening chapters of Fernand Braudel’s The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II, as well as in Edmund Leach’s anthropological classic Political Systems of Highland Burma.  We will also examine classical statements of mountain travel and thought by Confucius, Vasari, in the Bible, and other sources.  In particular, we will study the five “marchmounts” or cosmological mountains of China—Mt. Heng in the north, Mt. Tai in the east, Mt. Song in the center, Mt. Hua in the west, and another Mt. Heng in the south.  Laid out in powerful “architectural” fashion, the great Chinese mountains framed political and historical discourse in early China. Since early times, the Chinese imagined heaven as round and earth as square, and their linkage played a prominent role in three thousand years of political and historical writings.  To this day, the mountains remain important as cultural sites and pilgrimage centers, and we will look at their role in multiple levels of Chinese economic, cultural, and political life.

Evaluation 
Weekly Discussion Notes/Logs and Quizzes       15%
Letter Assignment                                                 15%
Short assignments                                                15%
Seminar Paper                                                      55% 
Class attendance and participation is expected.  More than one absence will significantly affect your grade.  Late assignments will be penalized. See my late assignment policy.
All coursework is due on Wednesday, December 11th at 10:00 p.m.

History 310—Anthropology 375 
Mountains 
Autumn 2013
Week I
Orientations  
(August 29) 
Note Special Thursday Meeting (7:00-9:30) 
McPhee, Annals of the Former World 
          Book 1: Basin and Range 
          Book 2: In Suspect Terrain 
          Book 3: Rising from the Plains 
          Book 4: Assembling California 
          Book 5: Crossing the Craton 
—, Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills, 7-17 
                        Preface 
                        Part I—Outdoor Fundamentals 
                                    First Steps

Week II
Mountain Mindsets  
(September 3) 
Round and Square See separate Round and Square syllabus 
New York Review of Books See separate New York Review of Books syllabus 
Macfarlane, Mountains of the Mind 
            Possession         
            The Great Stone Book
            The Pursuit of Fear
            Glaciers and Ice: the Streams of Time
            Altitude: the Summit and the View            
            Walking off the Map
            A New Heaven and a New Earth
            Everest
            The Snow Hare 
Liu, Fantastic Mountains (reserve) 
            Forewords 
            Landscape Painting of the Ming Dynasty 
            Landscape Painting of the Qing Dynasty 
            Fantastic Mountains: A Transcendent Presence in the Natural World 
            Catalogue 
Hinton, Mountain Home (reserve) 
     Beginnings (Fifth Century CE) 
            T’ao Ch’ien (365-427) 
            Hsieh Ling-yün (385-433) 
     Tang Dynasty (618-907) 
            Meng Hao-jan (689-740) 
            Wang Wei (701-761) 
            Li Po (701-762) 
            Tu Fu (712-770) 
            Wei Ying-wu (c. 737-792) 
            Cold Mountain (Untitled Poems—seventh-ninth centuries) 
            Meng Chiao (751-814) 
            Li Tsung-yüan (773-819) 
            Po Chü-i (772-846) 
            Chia Tao (779-843) 
            Tu Mu (803-853) 
      Sung Dynasty (960-1279) 
            Mei Yao-chen (1002-1060) 
            Wang Anshi (1021-1086) 
            Su Tung-p’o (1037-1101) 
            Lu Yu (1125-1210) 
—, Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills, 532-562 
                        Part VI—The Mountain Environment 
                                    Mountain Geology 
                                    The Cycle of Snow 
                                    Mountain Weather 

Week III
China’s Southern Mountain 
(September 10)  
Round and Square See separate Round and Square syllabus 
New York Review of Books See separate New York Review of Books syllabus 
Robson, The Power of Place 
   Introduction 
      Part I: Situating Nanyue 
            Religion and the Sacred Peaks of China 
            Moving Mountains: Nanyue in Chinese Religious Geography 
            Imagining Nanyue: Physical Geography and Mythical Togography 
   Part II: The Daoist and Buddhist Histories of Nanyue 
            Rising Up to Paradise: Pre-Tang Daoism 
            Nanyue in the Tang: Local Daoist History 
            Lady Wei and the Female Daoists of Nanyue 
            Regional Buddhism During the Tang 
            Conclusion: On the Boundaries of Chinese Religions
Mullikin, The Nine Sacred Mountains of China (.pdf sent by e-mail), 42-52
            Heng-shan or Nan-yüeh of the South in Hunan Province
Geil, The Sacred 5 of China (.pdf sent by e-mail), 117-163 
            Nan Yo, Red Peak-of-the-South, in 5 Sections 
—, Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills, 18-72 
                        Part I—Outdoor Fundamentals (continued) 
                                    Clothing and Equipment 
                                    Camping and Food  

Week IV
Historical and Cultural Reflexivity  
(September 17)  
Round and Square See separate Round and Square syllabus 
New York Review of Books See separate New York Review of Books syllabus 
Lévi-Strauss, Tristes Tropiques 
     An End to Journeying
     Travel Notes
     The New World Inhabitants
     Caduveo
     Bororo
     Nambikwara
     Tupi-Kawahib
     The Return
—, Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills, 73-133 
Part I—Outdoor Fundamentals (continued) 
     Physical Conditioning 
     Navigation 
     Wilderness Travel 
     Leave No Trace 
     Stewardship and Access 

Week V
Time, History, and Geology 
(September 24)
Round and Square See separate Round and Square syllabus 
New York Review of Books See separate New York Review of Books syllabus 
Rudwick, Bursting the Limits of Time
     Part I: Understanding the Earth
            Naturalists, Philosophers, and Others
            Sciences of the Earth
            The Theory of the Earth
            Transposing History into the Earth
            Problems with Fossils
     Part II: Reconstructing Geohistory
            A New Science of “Geology”?
            Denizens of a Former World
            Geognosy Enriched into Geohistory
            The Gateway to the Deep Past
            Earth’s Last Revolution
     Coda: Retrospect and Prospect
—, Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills, 134-187
                        Part II—Climbing Fundamentals
                                    Basic Safety Systems
                                    Belaying
Week VI
Architecture and Cosmology 
(October 1) 
Round and Square See separate Round and Square syllabus 
New York Review of Books See separate New York Review of Books syllabus 
Stein, The World in Miniature
            Edward Schafer: Foreword                                                    
            Author’s Preface                                                                                            
            In Memory of Marcel Granet                                                         
            Trees, Stones, and Landscapes in Containers                                    
            Survey of Themes                                                                                          
            Dwelling Places and their Physical Details                                        
            The World and Architecture in Religious Thought                            
—, Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills, 188-254
                        Part II—Climbing Fundamentals (continued)
                                    Rappeling
                        Part III—Rock Climbing
                                    Alpine Rock Climbing Technique
                                    Rock Protection

Week VII
French Ethnology and Historiography 
(October 8)
Round and Square See separate Round and Square syllabus 
New York Review of Books See separate New York Review of Books syllabus 
Michel Strickmann, “History, Anthropology, and Chinese Religion”*
Granet, The Religion of the Chinese People, 1-56
            Marcel Granet, 1884-1940—Sociologist (by Maurice Freedman)
            Preface
            Peasant Religion
Mauss, Seasonal Variations of the Eskimo
              Translator’s Foreword                                                                 
              Introduction                                                                   
              General Morphology                   
              Seasonal Morphology                                                      
              The Effects of Eskimo Seasonal Variations                                      
              Conclusion                                                        
Fernand Braudel, The Mediterranean V. 1, 17-102
              Preface to the First Edition (read carefully)
       Part One: The Role of the Environment
              The Peninsulas: Mountains, Plateaux, and Plains
                        Mountains Come First (read carefully)
                        Plateaux, Hills, and Foothills (skim)
                        The Plains (skim)
                        Transhumance and Nomadism (skim)
—, Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills, 255-319
                        Part III—Rock Climbing (continued)
                                    Leading on Rock
                                    Aid and Big Wall Climbing
*You can find the Strickmann piece on JSTOR (it's in the Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies from 1980). Please read my e-mail message about this week's readings (sent Sunday, October 6th).

Week VIII
Autumn Break
Muir, Mountaineering Essays (Recommended) 
Introduction       
            The Tuolumne Camp
            A Near View of the High Sierra
            Prayers in Higher Mountain Temples, or A Geologist's Winter Walk
            A Perilous Night on Shasta's Summit
            The South Dome
            Mountain Thoughts
            An Ascent of Mount Rainer
            The Stickeen River
            Glenora Peak
            My Sled-Trip on the Muir Glacier
            First Ascent of Herald Island 

Click here for the other half of this two-part syllabus post:
[c] Descent RL
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