CSP 6 Women and the Arts of Asia

This seminar explores the many ways in which women in East Asia have engaged with art—as producers, as patrons, and as objects or subjects of the gaze. At the same time, we will study how gender and womanhood have been conceived and contested in China, Japan, and Korea. We will investigate topics such as shifting ideals of beauty; bodily modifications; Buddhist conceptions of the feminine; performing “women” in theater; and representations of gender in anime. Readings and discussions will be supplemented with hands-on activities, including ink painting, pottery making, and the tea ceremony. Ultimately, we will develop critical tools for examining how women have been represented in East Asian visual culture and how they have exerted their own forms of artistic agency.