This first-year, two-quarter program focused on the examination of the self in the mind, the spirit, the heart, and the community. We approached our study from a variety of perspectives, including psychological, historical, spiritual, and artistic. We also emphasized certain aspects of survival as a college student, including the development of writing based on research, participating in and facilitating seminars, and becoming comfortable with library and internet resources. The class met for three days each week, beginning with a student-directed activity intended to introduce the program materials planned for that week. Each week’s activities also included two lectures, a workshop (see below), a seminar, and a meeting to discuss the week’s work at the end of each week.
Lecture topics varied in fall quarter from Freud and Jung to Beethoven and Stravinsky, but the job of each student in seminar was to integrate the fields of psychology and personality theory with the expressive arts (especially music) and Euro-American culture in the 19th and 20th centuries. We leaned heavily on the Western European and American traditions of psychology in examining the individual self, particularly the images of the struggling hero, the solo genius, and the tortured artist. In focusing on specific individuals (such as Beethoven, for example) we examined the ways in which the North American understanding of the self is based on 19th-century ideals from the European Romantic era. By the eighth week of the program we had shifted to aspects of Asian culture, specifically Buddhism and Indonesian expressions of the self.
In fall quarter the students read An Introduction to Music and Art in the Western World (Wold, et al); Beneath the Mask: An Introduction to Theories of Personality (Monte); Peace is Every Step (Hanh); A House in Bali (McPhee); a short article on psychomusicology; and five Indonesian short stories (various authors). The students also watched several films on psychology and aspects of the Indonesian performing arts. Students took a written examination on the materials covered in the lectures on Western psychotherapy near the midpoint of the quarter. The purpose of the examination was to test the comprehension of the lecture materials as well as the quality and thoroughness of the student’s lecture notes. In addition, each student was asked to write a 5 to 7 page paper on any aspect of the performing arts in the context of 19th or 20th century Euro-American culture. The purpose of the paper was to develop student competence in library- and internet-based research, and to enable the faculty to assess and facilitate student writing skills in preparation for a considerably larger writing assignment in winter quarter.
During winter quarter the lecture topics varied from Japanese baseball and the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II to Asian American literature and the visual arts of Japan. During winter quarter seminars, the students searched for ways to understand Japan and Asian America from a variety of perspectives. The first six weeks had Japan as an exclusive focus, with lectures on Japanese culture, Buddhist-based therapies, language and culture, communication and miscommunication, and the performing arts. The final few weeks of the program examined Asian American culture, including issues of race, class, gender, literature, and the performing arts. The students were assigned two short papers to be written in response to questions posed during workshops on Naikan Therapy and non-verbal communication. They also took an open-book examination on Buddhist thought and practice, Japanese Buddhist-based therapies and Asian American studies.
Because of the Asian and Asian American focus in winter quarter, the students read With Respect to the Japanese (John Condon), The Faces of Buddhism in America (ed. Prebish and Tanaka), Words in Context: A Japanese Perspective on Language and Culture (Takao Suzuki), Some Prefer Nettles (Junichiro Tanizaki), You Gotta Have Wa (Robert Whiting), Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian-Americans (Ron Takaki), No-No Boy (John Okada), and several articles on Asian American performing arts. Each student developed a major research paper (10 – 12 pages) on a particular aspect of Japanese culture, which had to go through two drafts. Many students worked with the writing tutors to enhance their writing capabilities. They also viewed the film “Yojimbo” by Akira Kurosawa, several short videos on aspects of Japanese and Japanese American culture, and took a fieldtrip to a Buddhist temple, the Wing Luke Asian American Museum, and the Seattle Asian Art Museum. During the final week of the program, each student was required to present the results of a full quarter of research on an aspect of Japan to the entire program. This presentation required planning, concise summaries of the research, and rigorous adherence to a specified time limitation.
The professors for this program included Ryo Imamura (a counseling psychologist/Buddhist priest), Yoko Matsuda (a visiting faculty member from Kobe University of Commerce), and Sean Williams (an ethnomusicologist). Students participated in frequent workshops throughout the quarter. Professor Imamura led workshops on listening skills, Jungian psychological typologies, and non-verbal communication. Professor Matsuda taught a workshop on aspects of Japanese traditional culture, focusing on the tea ceremony, customs and manners, haiku theory and writing, and calligraphy; she used short videos to supplement the hands-on work. Professor Williams taught a workshop in which students learned to play the Indonesian gamelan, an ensemble of gongs, drums, and metal xylophones. Students learned appropriate ways of behaving and music-making in an Indonesian context; in particular they learned that each individual makes music in order to make the group sound better, not to shine as a soloist.