Gender and Representation of Asian Women

Assignments

Essay 1

1. Discuss the history of the trajectory of a global narrative of Madame Butterfly, its various adaptation and improvisations in the light of our discussion on colonialism, Orientalism, and audience theory.

Or

2. How Said’s theory of Orientalism can be revised in the light of the gendered discussions by two of the following authors: Stoller, Allison, Butler, or Mulvey. In other words, what points and discussions would you change in Said’s piece and what would you suggest to add when you incorporate the insights of these authors?

Essay 2

1. Pick two anthropologists from the course and discuss the extent to which these anthropologists succeeded or failed to deconstruct the stereotypes of Asian women. Which strategies were the most helpful?

Or

2. Compare two stereotypes/figures of Asian women. Discuss them in relation to colonialism, nationalism, and domestic politics in Euro-American world.

Research Project

Each student is responsible for working on a research project throughout the semester, culminating in a five page paper. You will need to identify a historical or a contemporary figure in fiction, popular culture, media, or in history that in your opinion serves as a stereotype. This person can be a contemporary or a historical subject. Your method should be two-fold:

1. Describe the figure, argue for its enduring contribution to stereotypes of Asian women by situating it historically within the history of Orientalist, feminist, and other frameworks and strategies that we have studied in this course;

2. Identify a body of knowledge that tries to confront a particular stereotype of Asian women. That can be films, photographs or other visual media, research articles, ethnography and fiction. Paper topics must be approved by the professor, with proposals, abstracts, and preliminary bibliographies due in Week #8.

Present your findings in a clear narrative, and be sure to contextualize your work within the historical debates in Orientalism, gender studies, and colonialism that we have studied in the course. Summarize your findings in a 5 page paper using standard formatting.