Gender, Culture, and Representation: Women in China and Japan, 1600 to Present

Catalog description

Are Chinese and Japanese women mere victims of a patriarchal society? Do socialist revolution and industrial modernization liberate women? This seminar examines those questions by studying the historical changes and continuities in the experience of women in China and Japan from approximately the 17th century to the present. The construction and representation of gender relations in China and Japan represent complex processes with many changes. Using verbal and visual texts, this course considers women's lives and their struggles to represent themselves in both societies as well as the historiography on those subjects.