“This course would definitely show you how big the world is/was, in a way you wouldn't have expected.”

An advanced course for Columbia undergraduates

I created this course in order to earn the Columbia Graduate School of Arts & Sciences’ competitive Teaching Scholars fellowship. The course is for 3rd year Columbia undergraduates, ideally those majoring in East Asian, Southeast Asian, or Central Asian studies, but open to all advanced students.

It fills a modest gap in Columbia’s curriculum - a general lack of courses on premodern Southeast Asia and Central Asia - by teaching on both regions at once and viewing them from the perspective of East Asia, a region well-studied at Columbia and with many undergraduate majors.

The readings are primarily translations of ancient and medieval Chinese geographies of lands to China’s west and south. In teaching the course during the spring semester of 2022, I realized that students from China and Taiwan have a major advantage in it, having read many of these same texts in the original Chinese as part of their high school education - though exercises to do with them assigned in East Asian schools were more often training in the art of reading premodern Chinese, rather than actual study of the history or geography of Central or Southeast Asia.

Students’ Evaluations of the Course

This course is very informative, inspiring, and interesting (some of the readings are not though). It is hard to remember the contents of books if you don't like them, but you will definitely learn how to think of them in a way that helps you generate meaningful questions. The professor is super supportive as well so you won't worry about falling behind. Preparing for the midterm exam was a little bit stressful for me, because the prompts were quite broad and thus I did not know what to review; but it was basically all about the ability to analyze and reflect on textual sources, so I think as long as you think actively you'll be fine.

I really enjoyed the presentation structure of the class, i.e., that students took turns leading discussions every week. I think it was a helpful way to digest the texts and encouraged rapport between classmates. I think it was also a good way for us to keep themes and ideas across texts continuous, linking them to one another while also distinguishing them.

Professor Bensen is very supportive. Whenever I have questions he is happy to help, and he has done more than required in teaching, making this course very inspiring. His lectures always contain loads of information but he has never left questions unanswered. He lets students lead discussions for most of the readings and gives very useful feedbacks in time.

[Nolan is] Great, has a deep knowledge on ancient Chinese relations with the rest of the world which is reflected in his contributions to our discussions. Pretty chill during office hours as well even if we're annoying.

I think it is worth spending a lot of time on, but also think it requires a certain level of interest or passion for the student to engage fully with the material. I think Nolan is a very receptive and knowledgeable instructor, thus I was encouraged to engage with the content (on top of my interests in the topic).

Nolan Bensen is a very knowledgeable instructor. He imparts a lot of his knowledge onto us during his presentations or in discussions. He is also very open and receptive. He often asks us for our opinions and validates them while also presenting his own views. Though the class is small, we have a good rapport with him as he is very friendly and encourages us to engage in discussion and bring our own unique perspectives to the class. He also makes a lot of effort to meet with us outside of class for office hours and is committed to helping us out whenever there is something we don't understand. He tailored specific reading lists for us and met with us one-on-one to help us work on our research projects.

Course Materials

Presented here are several lecture slides and handouts for the class, and its syllabus and midterm.

  • The core of any course: its syllabus.

  • Early in the class lessons on geography are provided, as well as on Chinese history as it relates to neighboring regions. This 40 minute lecture covers events in the middle 1st millennium CE.

  • Before a collaborative research process that replaces a final examination, students take this midterm proving their ability to intepret premodern Chinese geographies and travelogues in translation.

  • This model for the students begins the course’s second half, in which they collaboratively develop their brief research paper ideas into full-fledged papers and presentations