- Holding up Half the Sky: Gender, Writing, and Nationhood in China

Catalog description

Interdisciplinary exploration of gender issues in China, especially but not exclusively focusing on the roles of women in the making of modern Chinese history. Students will learn about cultural specificities in the experiences of Chinese women while exploring the diverse meanings of "women's status" and gender relations. Themes to be examined in the course content include gendered subjectivities, the ideology of the new women, the impact of globalization and transnational capital, different gender roles, and women's writing from the Opium War to contemporary China. Emphasis on different stages of women's writing in relation to their cultural conditions and social awakening, and on the ways ideologies helped form gender identities in the twentieth century.