Linda White

This course is very helpful and interesting and the workload is not too much. You do need to carefully understand every reading material to get a nice grade around A. The only problem is that the teaching and materials do not show a clear way of instructing. Basically you will be confused about what you are learning during the first half of your semester. So talking to Professor White is especially helpful and important! Try to go to her office hour for every major question and confusion you have. Bring good question (better to be organized) is a basic practice. And there is indeed one problem I spot in the class. Japanese, or pan-asian culture is very different from most of the western ones in many ways and some students seem to regard this class as "criticizing body in Japan", better not to take this class with such an assumption (although there is nothing wrong to criticize and you probably should do so). Overall, you can trust professor White's reading materials and teaching, they do make you learn a lot.

This course is very helpful and interesting and the workload is not too much. You do need to carefully understand every reading material to get a nice grade around A. The only problem is that the teaching and materials do not show a clear way of instructing. Basically you will be confused about what you are learning during the first …Read more

It's a very discussion-based class based on readings and thematic ideas. Prof. White is definitely passionate and good at leading these discussions, but I would've loved to hear more of her expertise instead of purely discussion. She definitely picks favorites, but it only comes through in class discussions and otherwise, her grading is fair and pretty easy overall. In general, there's a reading due each class with discussion questions or a short essay about it. There's a few papers throughout the semester, a fairly long writing-based midterm in class, and one big 10 page research paper on a topic of your choice as the final paired with a very casual presentation. She's very engaged and interested in student input and takes discussion very seriously, and in general, she's a very accommodating and kind professor. I would definitely recommend this class overall as the content is very interesting, just be aware of its little quirks.

It's a very discussion-based class based on readings and thematic ideas. Prof. White is definitely passionate and good at leading these discussions, but I would've loved to hear more of her expertise instead of purely discussion. She definitely picks favorites, but it only comes through in class discussions and otherwise, her grading …Read more

This class was awesome, there were super interesting readings about ancient Japanese practices and the homework was to read the chapters and write discussion questions. There was a fun group research project at the end of the class where we presented as a humanities lab.