Calendar

SES # TOPICS KEY DUE DATES
1

Introduction to the Course

  • What is "popular" culture, and how might it differ from traditional culture, high culture, and mass culture?
  • What are some "gender issues" related to Japanese popular culture?
  • Overview of the syllabus
  
2 Feminist Social Theory and Cross Cultural Perspective Microtheme due
3 Guest Lecturer: Professor Edward Schiappa, Comparative Media Studies, MIT  
4 Women and Media + "Rotten Girls" (fujoshi) Manga Microtheme due
5 "Rotten Girls" (fujoshi) Manga (cont.) Microtheme due
6 "Cool Japan" and Its Discontents Microtheme due
7 Participatory / Convergence Culture Microtheme due
8 Capital, Debt, and Power Microtheme due
Special Event in Lieu of Class: Dissolve Unconference: A Summit on Inequality
9 Peer Review Writing Workshop Essay 1 draft due
10

Robots, Gender, and Sexism in 21st Century Japan

Screening: Shanghai Dragon. Directed by Shoji Kawamori. Color, 20 min. 2007.

 Essay 1 due
11 Robots, Gender, and Sexism in 21st Century Japan (cont.) Microtheme due
12 Anime and Collaborative Creativity Microtheme due
13 Anime and Collaborative Creativity (cont.) Microtheme due
14 Either Attend Class or Attend Harvard University Professor Theodore C. Bestor's lecture "Washoku on the World Stage: UNESCO and the Promotion of Japanese Cuisine."  
15 Gender and Performance  
16 Host Clubs, Masculinity, and Seduction  
17 Onnagata  
18 Idols and Celebrity Culture  
19 Gender and Games (featuring Kyrie) Essay 2 due
20

Queer Japan

Screening: We Are Transgenders. Directed by Lulu Ogawa. Color, 78 min. 1998.

  
21–23 Final Presentations  
24 Conclusions and Future Questions Final paper due