AMES1917W: Playing with Genders: How Arts Inform Our Everyday Genders, a Case Study in Japanese Arts

Matters related to "gender" have been debated in courts, schools, businesses, and the media. These societal debates point to the difficulty in defining "gender" in a simple and stable sense. This difficulty points to the reality that gender is not a way of "being"—but more a way of "doing." One way to begin to understand this paradigm shift is to look to the arts for an understanding of gender and how gender performance in art can inform our everyday concepts of gender. In order to begin this understanding, this seminar focuses on the gender performance of Japanese literature and theater (in English) as a "case study" due to Japan's highly formal cultural traditions and their rich "cross-gender" performing arts. The long "history" of "cross-gender" performing arts in Japan can even date back to a mythical warrior prince in ancient times, and such performing arts have remained flourishing through today not only in literature and theater but also in film, TV, anime/manga, video games, etc. This seminar will explore the history of "cross-gender" performance, mainly starting in the 17th century. The course will give students an opportunity to explore gender performance in Japanese art in the classroom and also at the University libraries and Minneapolis Institute of Art. Our class will host several guest speakers on gender performance beyond Japan, including Asian American theater, Chinese theater, and British theater.

View on University Catalog