| Week 1: Introduction |
| 1 |
Introduction to the Course |
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| Week 2: Analyzing Japan / Analyzing Popular Culture |
| 2 |
Film Segment: "The Japanese Version" |
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| 3 |
The History of Popular Music in Japan |
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| Week 3: Racial Boundaries and Representation in Popular Culture |
| 4 |
Film Segment: "Doubles" |
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| 5 |
Race in Japanese Hip-Hop |
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| Week 4: Gender, Sexuality, and Popular Culture |
| 6 |
Seminar on "Gender Roles and Anime."
If unable to attend the Seminar, then your Assignment is to Write a 2-page Commentary Contrasting Two of the Assigned Readings (Due by Ses #8). |
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| 7 |
Special Event: "Comfort Women of Korea visit MIT."
If you cannot attend, an additional assignment can be done instead. |
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| Week 5: Identity, Resistance, and Popular Culture: Borders and Crossings |
| 8 |
Japanese Identity: Homogeneity or Difference? |
Discussion of Essay #1 Assignment |
| 9 |
Methods and Approaches to the Study of Popular Culture |
Essay #1 Due (5 Pages, Double-Spaced) |
| Week 6: Manga and Cultural Production |
| 10 |
Harvard Talk |
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| 11 |
A Sociology of Cultural Production of Manga |
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| Week 7: Manga and Power |
| 12 |
Metropolis: Fritz Lang to Tezuka to Otomo |
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| 13 |
Manga and Social Commentary |
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| Week 8: Manga and Anime |
| 14 |
Harvard Talk |
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| 15 |
Who are the Otaku? |
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| Week 9: Assessing Manga as Cultural Form |
| 16 |
In Class Discussion of Manga Issues Re: Essay 2 |
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| 17 |
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Essay #2 Due (5 Pages, Double Spaced) |
| Week 10: Re-Imagining Japan |
| 18 |
Tradition and Transnationalism |
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| 19 |
Flow or Appropriation - Whose Culture is it? (2) |
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| Week 11: Japanese Television |
| 20 |
Student Presentations 1 |
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| 21 |
Japanese Television |
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| Week 12: Japanese Popular Literature |
| 22 |
Student Presentations 2 |
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| 23 |
Japanese Popular Literature |
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| Week 13: Crisis and Restructuring |
| Week 14: Popular Culture and Japan's Future |
| 24 |
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Final Paper is Due the Last Day of Class.
There is no Final Exam |