Tag Archives: readings/research

Jalal ad-Din ar-Rumi or Mawlana

Posted on May 23, 2025 | Leave a comment

“Jalal ad-Din ar-Rumi or Mawlana: (1207?-1273) Anatolian-Persian mystic and poet. He was a theologian and teacher in Anatolia when he met Shams ad-Din, a holy man who revealed to him the mysteries of divine majesty and beauty; their intimate relationship scandalized Rumi’s followers, who had Shams murdered. The Collected Poetry of Shams contains Rumi’s verses on his love for Shams. His main work, the didactic epic Masnavi-ye Manavi (“Spiritual Couplets”), widely influenced Muslim mystical thought and literature. He is believed to have composed poetry while in a state of ecstasy and often accompanied his verses by a whirling dance. After his death, his disciples were organized as the Mawlawiyah order, called in the West the whirling dervishes. Rumi is regarded as the greatest Sufi mystic and poet in the Persian language. In English translation, his work has become widely popular in recent years.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

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The Weekly Text, 23 May 2025, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Week IV: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Yasir Arafat

Posted on May 23, 2025 | Leave a comment

This week’s Text, in observance of the fourth Friday of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month 2025, is this reading on Yasir Arafat along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet.

I’m hard pressed to imagine there is much, if any, demand for these documents; moreover, I understand that Yasir Arafat is a controversial figure. But I also understand that however one perceives Arafat and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), he is an important figure in the the history of part of the world we, after the ancient Greeks and Romans, call Asia.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Cultural Literacy: The Mikado

Posted on May 16, 2025 | Leave a comment

Strictly speaking, this Cultural Literacy worksheet on The Mikado has little or nothing to do with Asian Pacific History, either locally or globally. I should have known this, because as a middle school student, I served as an usher for a production of the play by my city’s Gilbert and Sullivan repertory company.

But if we think of this play as an attempt at representation, then there is something juicy to talk about here. I doubt Gilbert and Sullivan are exactly au courant in classrooms these days, so I also doubt that this document has much use or currency. Rather than throw it away, however…. Well, enough said.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Haiku

Posted on May 16, 2025 | Leave a comment

Haiku: A form of Japanese poetry, composed of seventeen syllables in a 5/7/5 pattern. The haiku evokes a complete impression or mood through the juxtaposition of a natural physical element such as a sound or sight, with a phrase to suggest a season or emotion. It developed from the nonstandard linked verse (haikai no renga) popular in the 16th and 17th centuries—the “opening verse” (hokku) of which eventually was treated as in independent form, known today as haiku. Its greatest practitioner was Matsuo Basho, followed by the painter Yosa Buson, Kobayashi Issa, and Masaoka Shiki. Haiku’s emphasis on the immediate and concrete influenced early 20th century Imagism in Europe and America, especially through the influence of Ezra Pound.

Two well-known examples by Basho are the ‘summer grasses’ verse composed on a visit to the site where Yoshitsune was vanquished, and the following:

Furuike ya                                           An ancient pond—

Kawazu tobikomu                           Then the sound of water

Mizu no oto                                        Where a frog plops in”

Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.

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The Weekly Text, 16 May 2025, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Week III: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Mohandas Gandhi

Posted on May 16, 2025 | Leave a comment

This week’s Text, for week three of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month 2025, is this reading on Mohandas Gandhi with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet.

I think it’s safe to assume that I needn’t belabor the world historical importance of the man the world knows by his honorific, Mahatma.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Showa Period

Posted on May 9, 2025 | Leave a comment

“Showa period: (1926-1989) Period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Hirohito, the Showa emperor. The Showa period saw the militarism of the 1930s and Japan’s disastrous participation in World War II, resulting in the nations complete collapse and ultimate surrender. The postwar era was one of rehabilitation, marked by such successes as its joining the U.N. in 1956, hosting the 1964 Olympics, and holding the Osaka World Exposition in 1970. Japan experienced a so-called ‘economic miracle,’ with growth averaging 10% in 1955-60 and higher in the years following. In the 1980s, the Japanese economy became one of the world’s largest and most sophisticated, with per capita income surpassing that of the U.S. Japanese society became increasingly urban, with one-tenth of the population living in Tokyo by the mid-1980s. U.S. influence on popular culture was very strong, and young Japanese emulated their U.S. counterparts in every way possible. The Showa period also saw more people living in nuclear families than in extended families, love marriage rather than arranged marriages, fewer children, and more opportunities for women. See also Hesei period, Occupation (of Japan).”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

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Sikkim

Posted on May 9, 2025 | Leave a comment

“Sikkim: Eastern Himalayas, northeastern India, Mt. Kanchenjunga, third-highest peak in the world, forms its western border. It has an area of 2,744 square miles (7,107 square kilometers); the capital, Gangtok, is the only urban center. As an independent country, it fought prolonged wars in the 18th and 19th centuries with Bhutan and Nepal. It first came under British influence in 1817, though it remained an independent buffer between British India and Tibet. In 1950 it became an Indian protectorate, and in 1975, a state of India. One of India’s smallest states, it exports agricultural products and is one of the world’s main producers of cardamom. Its mineral resources include copper, lead, zinc, coal, iron ore, and garnets.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

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Cultural Literacy: Suharto

Posted on May 9, 2025 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Suharto who bears that name alone because, according to his Wikipedia page, “In this Indonesian name, there is no family name or patronymic.” This is a full-page worksheet with a reading of three sentences and four questions.

And here, I suppose, is another item that surely has vanishingly little currency in classrooms in the United States, despite this nation’s meddling in Indonesian affairs, including support for Suharto, whose dictatorship was one of the most corrupt and brutal in the bloody twentieth century.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Persian Language or Farsi Language

Posted on May 9, 2025 | Leave a comment

“Persian language or Farsi Language: Iranian language spoken by more than 25 million people as a first language, and by millions more as a second. Modern Persian is a koine developed from southwestern dialects in the 7th-9th centuries, after the introduction of Islam brought a massive infusion of loanwords from Arabic. Its standardization and literary cultivation took place in northeastern Persia and Central Asia in the 11th-12th centuries. Polities outside Persia itself (e.g. Mughal India, Ottoman Turkey) have at times been major literary centers. Its status in those countries led to a very strong Persian influence on Urdu and Ottoman Turkish. Other Turkic and Indo-Aryan languages, Caucasian languages, and Iranian languages have also borrowed heavily from Persian. Like other Modern Iranian languages, Persian shows marked changes in sound structure from Old Iranian, as well as a drastic reduction in the repertoire of verbal forms and complete loss of case inflections for nouns and adjectives. It is written in a slightly modified form of the Arabic alphabet.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

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The Weekly Text, 9 May 2025, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Week II: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Deng Xiaopeng

Posted on May 9, 2025 | Leave a comment

For the second week of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month 2025, Mark’s Text Terminal offers as its Weekly Text this reading on Deng Xiaoping along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet.

I cannot imagine that there will be much, if any, demand for these materials; but when I taught at a school near Chinatown in New York City, there were enough kids interested in the topic of Chinese Communist Party succession (and therefore Deng Xiaoping) that I prepared this worksheet to accompany the reading from The Intellectual Devotional series.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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