Gender and Identity in Japanese History and Culture

Prof. Caitlin Casiello

(she/her/hers)

caitlin.casiello@gmail.com or cc2842@columbia.edu

Class: Tuesday Friday 1:10-2:40

Office hours: Wednesdays 2 PM to 4 PM or by appointment

Course website: Courseworks

Brief Course Description: 

This course provides a survey of Japanese history and culture through the lens of gender as a special topic. Taking as given the feminist theoretical proposition that gender roles are partly determined by time and place, we look at a number of moments in Japanese history to explore how gender was constructed, how it was expressed, and how it transformed in each instance. Topics discussed include classical literary culture and gendered writing practices, the potential of a “third gender” in medieval literature and other forms of gender variance, sex work in Edo, gendered performance in Kabuki, masculinity and samurai culture, feminist analysis of the clan system, modern literature and women writers, and contemporary debates on gender, family, and sex. 

Course Objectives:

• Learn about the history of Japan and gain broad familiarity with different modes of literary and cultural production throughout Japanese history. 

• Conduct research on Japanese history and culture using sources effectively.

• Analyze gender as a category of human experience shaped by different cultural and historical norms in Japanese history. 

ASSIGNMENTS 

Weekly Short Responses (500 words) written in class on Friday

Short Essay #1: Reflections on Kyoto (2-4 pages)

Short Essay #2: Analysis paper (3-5 pages)

In Class Presentation/Discussion Leading

Final Paper (6-8 pages)

1. Participation: Class will be heavily based on participation of the students. The goal is to practice thinking out loud expressing ideas about media with colleagues (your fellow students.) Besides participating in class discussion, we can discuss alternative forms of participation such as leading discussion (preparing questions, presenting on a reading) for one class session, meeting with me in office hours to discuss, or contributing additional comments on the class forum (replies to other students.) Attendance is part of participation. 

2. Weekly Short Responses (around 500 words): a short reflection on the screenings or readings. In class on Fridays, I will give a prompt/question and we will spend 15 minutes writing these; you will then post them on the Courseworks discussion page. The goal is to show you have thought about the screenings and materials and to practice writing. They will be graded for completeness. 

3. Short Paper #1 (2-4 pages): A personal reflection describing one moment in your life in Kyoto so far. Though you are encouraged to incorporate references to the course texts or themes, the goal is to practice narrative writing from your experiences. 

4. Short Paper #2 (3-5 pages): For this paper, you will write on one of the works we have studied so far or one from a list of topics I provide. You may build on one of your weekly responses. The format of this essay is open as long as it has an argument and analyzes one of the texts. 

5. In-class Presentation or Discussion Leading: You may either take over class discussion one day (present on the readings, come up with questions) or present on your paper topics. The goal is to practice presenting ideas orally in front of colleagues. 

6. Final essay (6-8 pages): You will write a paper which makes an argument on a work related to class themes. For this, you must incorporate research including five sources. The goal is to show you can conduct research in this field, analyze sources, and craft an argument based on texts which shows your unique point of view. If you would like to propose an alternative format (video essay, creative assignment), please speak to me and we will work out a balanced way of demonstrating course objectives in your new format. 

GRADES

15% Participation

15% Weekly Postings

15% Short Paper #1

15% Short Paper #2

15% Presentation

25% Final Paper

POLICIES

Accessibility: The course will be designed to encourage many forms of engagement for students of different abilities. I encourage you to speak to me if you feel you need accommodations to fully participate in coursework. If you have a disability that may interfere with your ability to participate in the activities, coursework, or assessment of the objectives of this course, please contact the university’s office for disability services. 

Attendance & Participation: Students are expected to attend all course meetings and screenings. Participation grades will be based on engagement in class, but I am open to other forms of participation (e.g. if you lead discussion one session, if you respond to your classmates’ weekly postings, if you email me questions about course material or come to office hours to discuss.) 

Classroom Environment: All students should be respectful of each others’ experiences and perspectives. I will intervene when discussions could cause harm to attendees based on racism, sexism, classism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, or anti-religious bias. I hope we can all learn new things from each other as a community. 

Content Warnings: Many of the works discussed will feature violence and difficult scenes; I will endeavor to warn for sexual violence, racist violence, and self-harm/suicide. These warnings are given so that all students may be able to fully participate in the course. Let me know if you think my warnings are insufficient. 

Reporting Sexual Violence: If you have experienced sexual assault, sexual harassment, domestic violence, dating violence, stalking or sexual exploitation on campus or between members of the community, the university provides resources, both confidential and nonconfidential, to help. Faculty (including myself), staff, and other people in supervisory roles (including RAs) are mandatory reporters, which means we must report all allegations of the above-listed crimes to Columbia University’s Title IX office; the Title IX office will then reach out to offer options for how to proceed. If I believe you are about to make an allegation, I will stop you to confirm that you are aware I cannot keep the conversation confidential. 

Electronics in Class: You are allowed to use devices to take notes in class and to Google-check me if you feel the need to. I won’t be policing electronics usage, but you will get more out of the class if you focus on the class (seems obvious, I know.) 

Email & Contact: All communication will be through the course website or to your university email addresses, so check them. I am available via my gmail address caitlin.casiello@gmail.com or my university email address cc2842@columbia.edu. I will be sure to respond to emails within 1-2 business days.

Grading & Feedback: Grading in humanities disciplines is often subjective; I will endeavor as much as possible to offer guidance and explanation for grades given. As part of this process, I will ask you to grade your own progress as well at certain points during the semester. Similarly, I will provide feedback forms for you to comment on my progress during the semester. I am happy to give extensions on deadlines if you ask before the deadline and I am also happy to give students the opportunity to rewrite and resubmit work for a better grade. 

Plagiarism & Academic Integrity: I encourage students to discuss course materials with each other and I am open to many forms of collaborative work if proposed to me ahead of time. However, written assignments must be the student’s own work and use of sources must be correctly cited. We will go over correct citations and when to cite sources in class but I encourage you to ask and err on the side of citing more if you’re unsure. “AI” resources such as ChatGPT are highly discouraged. Any use must be cited, including the prompt you used, and must not be used to generate text you submit as your own writing. 

COURSE SCHEDULE 

1/14 & 1/17

Week 1: Gender & National Origins I: The Kojiki 

Read: The Kojiki, trans. Gustav Heldt, “Book One”, p 7-27; Suggested: “Introduction” 

1/21 & 1/24

Week 2: Gender & National Origins II: The Mystery of Himiko

Watch: Himiko (dir. Shinoda Masahiro, 1974)

Read: “Japan in the Wei Dynastic History” from Japan: A Documentary History, p. 11-14; “In Pursuit of Himiko,” Walter Edwards in Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 51, No. 1. (Spring, 1996), pp. 53-79.

1/28 NO CLASS ON FRIDAY 1/31

Week 3: Gendered Writing and National Literature I – Heian Literature

Read: Murasaki Shikibu, The Tale of Genji, “Aoi no Ue”; 

Sei Shōnagon, selections from The Pillow Book 

Tomiko Yoda, “Women and the Emergence

of Heian Kana Writing” in Gender and National Literature, p 81-110

Yuika Kitamura “Sexuality, Gender, and The Tale of Genji in Modern

Japanese Translations and Manga” in Envisioning the Tale of Genji, p. 329-357

Short Paper #1 Due 1/31; no weekly response required. 

2/4 & 2/7

Week 4: Gendered Writing and National Literature II – Heian Literature

Read: Whatever you didn’t get to read from the week above 

2/7: Field Trip to 京都風俗博物館

2/11 & 2/14: NO CLASS 

Tuesday is a holiday and Friday is the KCJS spring trip. 

2/18 & 2/21

Week 5: Warrior as Gender: Tale of the Heike

Read: Selections from The Tale of the Heike

Chapter 1 from Male Colors 

2/25 & 2/28: NO CLASS 

Spring Break

3/4 & 3/7 

Week 6: Gendered Performance – Noh & Kabuki 

Read: Noh plays: “Aoi no Ue”; “Dōjōji”

Kabuki selections: Musume Dōjōji, Chushingura  

To be scheduled: Field trip to the theater. 

3/11 & 3/14

Week 7: Edo Period Eroticism: Shunga & Sex Work

Watch: Shunga documentary 

Read: Selections from Ihara Saikaku 

3/18

Week 8: The Modernization/Westernization of Sex

Read: “Introduction” from Sabine Fruhstuck, Colonizing Sex 

Edogawa Rampo stories, selection

3/21 - Manga/Anime Event

3/25 & 3/28

Week 9: The Colonial Politics of Gender

Read: Theodore Jun Yoo, “The Colonized Body: Korean Women’s Sexuality and Health” from The Politics of Gender in Colonial Korea: Education, Labor, and Health, 1910–1945 p. 161-192

Ito Noe chapter from The Bluestockings of Japan

4/1 

NO CLASS ON FRIDAY 4/4

Week 10: Counterculture Gender in the 1960s-70s

Watch: Funeral Parade of Roses 

Read: Tanaka Mitsu, “Liberation from the Toilet,”; chapter from Setsu Shigematsu, Scream from the Shadows

4/8 & 4/11

Week 11: Beautiful Fighting Girls: Anime & Gender

Watch: Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Movie

Read: Saito Tamaki, “The Psychopathology of the Otaku”, in Beautiful Fighting Girl 

4/15 & 4/18

Week 12: Consumption and the Human  

Read: Aoko Matsuda, “The Jealous Type” 

Sayaka Murata, “A First-Rate Material,” “Life Ceremony” 

Yoko Ogawa, “Afternoon at the Bakery”

Mariko Ohara, selection from Hybrid Child

Final Paper due April 18