Cultural performances of asia

Lectures: 1 session / week, 3 hours / session

This course examines cultural performances of Asia, including both traditional and contemporary forms, in a variety of genres. Explores the communicative power of performances with attention to the ways performers, media, cultural settings, and audiences interact. Also considers the ways the representation of cultural difference is altered through processes of globalization. Performances viewed live when possible, but the course also relies on video, audio, and online materials as necessary. There are no prerequisites for this course and it is taught in english.

Paying particular attention to gendered constructions of "Asian" identity, we will consider a variety of approaches to performance and culture. What does "Asian" mean in the popular imagination and in scholarly research? How can we learn more about how images of Asia and Asians are constructed by attending to theories of performance? Looking at the intersection of three terms "Asian / Performance / Cultures," we will examine the ways that identities are always caught between shifting actors and audiences, settings and economies, and explore what this tells us about how culture and identity changing in a globalizing world.

One premise of the course is that working at the intersection of Asian Studies and Women's Studies can provide insights for both fields. As Judith Butler argues, gender itself is not a core essence, but something that emerges from "performance," both on- and off-stage, which then constitute patterned understandings of masculine, feminine, transgendered, and so on. How can such a perspective enhance our understanding of the ways "Asianness" is constituted? Interestingly, many of the contrasts that are used to compare men and women are reproduced in comparing the West and Asia. Consider, for example, the ways "men/the West" are supposedly rational, individualistic, and competitive while "women/Asia" are allegedly emotional, group-oriented, and harmonious. The construction of national identities frequently, if not always, entails gendered characteristics, and this dynamic will be a key theme for exploring Asian performances. We will look not only at live performances, but also at various media and other spaces (such as museums) where images of Asia are portrayed.

The course will focus on Japan, but include performances related to other areas of Asia. Students will also be asked to identify some kind of Asian performance to explore for their final project (presentation and paper). Some of the particular performances and media that we will examine include:

Essays are designed to encourage students to engage with the theoretical propositions of the course, while also taking a comprehensive and analytical look at the materials. Written work will be graded according to three criteria:

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