Instructor: Dr. Yao Xiao
The complex relationships between mechanisms of power, gender, and representation in Asia in different spaces examined through an interdisciplinary lens.
Term 1
Description:
Representation is power. Representation tells stories. Representation speaks to identification and meanings. Rather than attempt the mission impossible of defining “Asia”, this course aims to unpack the complexity of what “Asian-ness” means, in what contexts, within what power dynamics, and for whom. From the streets to the screen, from grassroots identities to popular culture, from memories of wars to workers in factories, from community making to social movements, we – as co-learners – will utilize an interdisciplinary lens to understand key dimensions of representation, to identity how contemporary representation works in and across Asian contexts, and to examine both the foreground and background of “Asian-ness”, almost always already within the power dynamics of gender, race, sexuality, class, coloniality, religion, diaspora, language, and the infinite spectrum of social formations.