The Female Image in Japanese Art and Literature YHU3232—Fall 2016 Wednesdays 9Am-12Pm, Classroom 1: RC1-G-04
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The Female Image in Japanese Art and Literature YHU3232—Fall 2016 Wednesdays 9am-12pm, Classroom 1: RC1-G-04 Professor: Nozomi Naoi Email: [email protected] Office Hours: TBD, and by appointment Office: Elm RC2-01-01F Course Description: This course will examine the production, reception, and interpretation of the female imagery and representation of gender roles for the Japanese woman through visual images and literary texts from the eleventh to the twentieth century, with an emphasis towards the modern period. The role of gender and female imagery in Japanese art and literature will be discussed from various sources such as the 11th century world’s first novel, The Tale of Genji, by the female author Murasaki Shikibu, and its numerous pictorial representation as well as literary reference that continues on to the 20th century. Since the 17th century, images of beautiful women, known as bijin-ga, have been a staple genre in pictorial representation in Japanese art, which depicted contemporary lifestyle and women that showcased fashion, hairstyles, and modes of behavior of the time. During Japan’s modern era, emerging social types such as the ‘new women’ (atarashii onna) or ‘modern girl’ (modan gaaru) became both the object of discourse and the subject of visual and literary representation, creating a primary locus around which new debates of Westernization, modernity, and contemporary lifestyle and culture took place. Visual images and literary texts have been selected according to themes: ranging from narrative handscrolls (emaki), paintings, prints, illustrations in magazines and fiction novels, posters for department stores, classical texts (Tale of Genji, Buddhist writings) and literary texts by renowned authors such as Tanizaki Jun’ichirō and Kawabata Yasunari. In addition, general theoretical texts from a variety of academic disciplines will enrich class discussions by providing contexts for a historical, social, gender, art historical, and literary analysis. Requirements and Evaluation: This course involves lengthy reading assignments and in-depth discussions. For this reason, it is mandatory that all students read the assigned texts carefully and critically prior to each meeting. Please come prepared to share your thoughts and participate actively in discussion with the rest of the class. Class Discussion Leaders: Each student will be paired with another student and will be assigned to lead class discussion by extracting and clarifying the main points of the text/topic, providing contextual background, and formulating questions or critiques to open up discussion. Please prepare a 1 page outline of your presentation to be distributed to the rest of the class and a power point file with a small set of images that will serve as a touchstone for our discussion. The images can be drawn from the week’s readings, but should also include other objects/texts that you think will serve as further information or interesting examples for our discussion. Final Research Project: An annotated bibliography (2-4 pages) and presentation (10 minutes) on the chosen topic of your final research project will be required towards the end of the semester. Final research projects will involve individual research and can be in the form of a paper (5-8 pages) or other appropriate form of visual or multi-media product of comparable scope and sophistication (such as a self-designed digital exhibition, documentary film, and so forth), with prior approval from the professor. Students should consult early in the semester with the professor about the topic and scope of the project. (In the case of a non-paper final project, the student is required to submit a 1-2 page written report describing the project, the contextual background and research motives/questions driving the project, the process and preparation that went into the final product, and a brief analysis of the result along with the final production.) Student Presentations: Each student will be required to do a presentation (10 minutes) on his or her topic of the final research project. Please prepare a 1-page outline of your presentation to be distributed to the rest of the class and a power point file (or other presentation method of your choosing). <A more detailed description of the assignments and their assessment will be provided by the instructor throughout the semester. > 2 GRADING • All assignments must be completed in order to receive full credit for this course • Late penalties: late papers will be penalized 10% (one grade equivalent) per day. 45% Class Participation: (including attendance (10%), short writing exercises and assignments (20%), class discussion leader presentation (15%) and preparation) 10% Annotated Bibliography 20% Presentation on Final Research Project 25% Final Research Project A range work demonstrates sophistication and depth in analysis; compelling and reflective expression; insightful and original perspectives; thoughtful and judicious reflection and inquiry. B range work demonstrates good comprehension of the materials; earnest engagement; shows potential to develop further in expression or perspective. C range work and below indicates scope for improvement in a number of aspects. SEMINAR POLICIES Attendance: Attendance is mandatory. You are expected to attend all class meetings barring illness or other emergency. Your final grade will be deducted by one third (e.g. B+ to B) if you have two or more unexcused absences. Being late to class three times will count as an absence. Active learning: Because of the interactive nature of the seminar, the use of laptops, cell phones, tablets, and other electronic devices during class is discouraged. Take thoughtful handwritten notes. Before coming to class, please make sure your cell phone is turned off or set to silent mode, and placed in your backpack. You may not receive or send text messages during class. Students who violate this policy will be asked to leave and receive no credit for the session. Exception: you may bring your own laptop if you are making a power-point presentation. Academic integrity: Your submitted work must uphold the standards of academic integrity articulated in the student handbook. All written work submitted to me must be completely your own. Rewriting or paraphrasing information from online sources is a violation of the code of academic integrity. The public domain: All papers you submit may be duplicated for the purposes of peer review and class discussion. 3 Key texts (excerpts will be assigned throughout the semester): • Joshua S. Mostow, Norman Bryson, and Marybeth Graybill, eds., Gender and Power in the Japanese Visual Field. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2003. • Molony, Barbara and Kathleen Uno, eds. Gendering Modern Japanese History. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center: Distributed by Harvard University Press, 2005. • Suzuki, Michiko. Becoming modern women: love and female identity in prewar Japanese literature and culture. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2010. • Elise Tipton and John Clark. Being modern in Japan: culture and society from the 1910s to the 1930s. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2000. COURSE SCHEDULE Week 1 (Aug. 10) | First day of Class Introduction to the course What is the “Female Image” Week 2 (Aug. 17) | Introduction to The Tale of Genji: Continuing source of Female Imagery Literary Texts: • Murasaki Shikibu, The tale of Genji (Genji Monogatari). Translation by Royall Tyler (New York: Viking, 2001). Book sections: Introduction [online pdf] and Chapter 4 “The Twilight Beauty (Yugao)” Visual Images: • Genji Scrolls (12th c.) • Harvard Genji Album (1510) Secondary Readings: • Akiyama Terukazu. 1990. “Women Painters of the Heian Court,” trans. and adapted by Maribeth Graybill. In Marsha Weidner, ed., Flowering in the Shadows: Women in the History of Chinese and Japanese Painting, 159-184. • Lippit, Yukio. 2008. “Figure and Facture in the Genji Scrolls.” In Haruo Shirane ed. Envisioning The Tale of Genji: Visuality, Gender, and Cultural Production. New York: Columbia University Press. 4 Week 3 (Aug. 24) | What is “Gender” in Japanese art? *NUS MUSEUM VISIT* 10am~ • Chino, Kaori. 2003. “Gender in Japanese Art.” In Mostow, et al, ed. Gender and Power in the Japanese Visual Field, 17-34. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. • Kano, Ayako. 2003. “Women? Japan? Art?: Chino Kaori and the Feminist Art History Debates.” Review of Japanese Culture and Society vol. 15 (December 2003): 25-38. • Inaga Shigemi. 2007. “A Commentary on Ayako Kano’s Review of the Feminist Art History Debates.” Review of Japanese Culture and Society vol. 19 (December 2007): 175-80. • Kano, Ayako. 2007. “Response to Shigemi Inaga’s Commentary.” Review of Japanese Culture and Society vol. 19 (December 2007): 181-84. Week 4 (Aug. 31) | The Woman as Painter and Author: Issues of Feminine Modes Literary Texts: • A Tale of Brief Slumbers, translated by Skord (1991) Visual Images: • A Tale of Brief Slumbers (Utatane sōshi), narrative handscroll (ca. 16th c) Secondary Readings: • Nochlin, Linda. (1971) “Why have there been no great women artists?” in Art and Sexual Politics: Women's Liberation, Women Artists, and Art History. Edited by Thomas B. Hess and Elizabeth C. Baker. New York, Macmillan 1973. • Pollock, Griselda. 1988. “Modernity and the Spaces of Femininity.” In Vision and Difference: Femininity, Feminism and the Histories of Art, 50-90. London / New York: Routledge. • McCormick, Melissa. “Monochromatic Genji: The Hakubyō Tradition and Female