ASCL 60.21 Body Politics in Japan: Beauty, Disfigurement, Corporeality

The body is a tangible, self-evident entity. Or is it? The premise of ASCL 60.21 is that the body is a political, ethical, sociocultural, and historical phenomenon deeply ingrained in our perceptions of self, other, and the world. This course is an endeavor to understand the politics of the body in premodern and modern Japan through a wide range of primary and secondary texts. In order to consider the multiple perspectives of the body across time, the readings are organized thematically, covering topics from physical beauty as virtue/vice, symbolic meanings of hair and clothing, aesthetics of the Tale of Genji, to disfigurement, disability, aging, race, among other things. This course is open to everyone and no knowledge of Japanese literature or language is required.

Instructor

Schmidt-Hori

Degree Requirement Attributes

Dist:INT or TMV; WCult:NW

The Timetable of Class Meetings contains the most up-to-date information about a course. It includes not only the meeting time and instructor, but also its official distributive and/or world culture designation. This information supersedes any information you may see elsewhere, to include what may appear in this ORC/Catalog or on a department/program website. Note that course attributes may change term to term therefore those in effect are those (only) during the term in which you enroll in the course.