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CS92PROD
The Question of the Everyday in Modern Japan
CEAS 395
Spring 2018
Section: 01  

What do we mean when we talk about 'the everyday'? Thinkers like Tosaka Jun and Henri Lefebvre teach us that the everyday is above all a realm of practice, a space of conflict within which life itself unfolds and the social is produced. What might be gained, then, by shifting the emphasis in studies of 'Japan' away from static, abstract notions like nation-state or national culture, and toward interrogations of the tactics deployed by social actors to survive the conditions of their own lives? How might we enhance our understandings of phenomena ranging from fascism to Fukushima - and, crucially, responses thereto - by attending to the ways in which these unfold in lived geographic, historical, or economic circumstances?

This course will aim to open up new ways of thinking about modern and contemporary Japan by approaching it in terms of 'the everyday,' and the disparate and ambiguous ways in which social actors may conceive of and critique their own place in the world. By attending to literature, music, film, and scholarly texts, we will consider some of the different ways in which 'Japan' has been understood by different actors in different moments, and think about the ways in which the contingent experience of living the everyday can engender specific - and often ambiguous - political stances upon the world.
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: HA CEAS
Course Format: DiscussionGrading Mode: Graded
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: None
Fulfills a Requirement for: (CEAS-MN)(CEAS)(CEAS-Lit&Cult)(CSCT)
Past Enrollment Probability: 90% or above

Last Updated on DEC-04-2024
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