Topics in Modern Japanese Literature: Mirrors and Masks: Gender and Sexuality in Japanese Literature

This course will ask students to consider presentations of gender and sexuality in Japan throughout its literary history, beginning from its oldest and most foundational text, The Kojiki, and working up through modern literature, including pop culture such as manga and anime. Students will be asked to think critically across centuries by juxtaposing the ancient against the modern, and they will also be asked to critically consider terms like "homosexual," "male," "queer," and a plethora of others as they relate to cultures so temporally, spatially, and philosophically removed from contemporary English-speaking context. How do we conceive of gender across time? What about sexuality? What counts as "queer" in a society with differently structured norms and conceptions of gender and sexuality? What are the dangers of fetishizing the Other and who counts as the Other, especially when taken into consideration alongside popular Orientalist views of East Asia? This class and all readings will be conducted in English, but Japanese versions of applicable readings will also be available through the library.

Course Attributes: BU IS; AS HUM; AS LCD

Topics in Modern Japanese Literature: Mirrors and Masks: Gender and Sexuality in Japanese Literature

WOMEN, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY STUDIES 365A

Section 01