Spring 2025 Literature Course History of Heaven
Society for Asian Art and Asian Art Museum are separate non-profit organizations with separate memberships. Please use the appropriate registration buttons to register for Society programs.
Higher Learning begins with the study of heaven. As the source of orientation in space and time, heaven provides humanity the foundation for its knowledge and political order. To understand what knowledge is or how politics function, we need a basic understanding of the ways of heaven.
This course examines the function heaven serves in the founding of order against the void in nature through the formation of conventional systems of time and space and the role heaven has played in the promulgation of governments. From a cross-cultural, interdisciplinary perspective, we will see heaven unfold through the developments that leave us with the world we know today.
Brian Baumann holds a PhD in Mongolian Studies from Indiana University. His pursuit of Mongolian Studies stems from a two-year tenure in Mongolia with the Peace Corps, 1991-1993. He has taught at the University of California, Berkeley since 2015.
Course syllabus and readings will be shared via email with registered attendees of this course.
Caption: Setting Sun on Sacramento Valley, California, U.S.A, 1930, by Chiura Obata (American, 1885–1975). Ink and colors on paper. Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, Gift of Dr. Stephen A. Sherwin and Merrill Randol Sherwin, 2010.12. © Estate of the artist. Photograph © Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.
Registration Policies
The Society for Asian Art's cancellation policy requires at least one week's advance written notice in order to receive a refund of registration fees. This excludes our Travel programs, which have separate cancellation policies, as well as any programs where a specific refund policy is stated on the event page. Your fees will be returned to you through a check in the mail. To cancel, please contact us.
For programs located within the Asian Art Museum, the museum entrance fee must be paid separately and is not included with your registration fee.
Please note that by registering for a program, you are giving consent to the SAA to be photographed or videoed as a participant.