Fall 2014
EAS 280 Gender, Sexuality, and Asia
Professor: Hai REN, Ph. D.
Class Time: 9:30-10:45 a.m., Tuesdays & Thursdays
Classroom: Modern Languages Buildings Room 304
Office: Learning Services Building, Room 128
Office hours: 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. on Tuesdays; 2:00-3:00 p.m. on Thursdays; and by
appointment
Office Phone: (520) 626-5062
E-mail: [email protected]
Description
The course examines multiple meanings of gender and sexuality among peoples in East Asia,
including heterosexuals, lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders, and queers, by focusing on
historical, cultural, political, and social constructions of gender and sexual knowledge and
identities. Topics include changing conceptions of family and kinship; notions of desire, affect,
and happiness; ideas of sexed bodies, femininity, and masculinity; questions of gender and
sexual norms; the relationships between sexuality, gender, and political economy; queer cultural
and political activisms and projects through arts, literatures, and media.
The course consists of required readings, lectures by the instructor, visual and multimedia
materials, and discussions. My lectures focus on introducing major theoretical issues and
intellectual debates. The discussion emphasis will be on exploring the readings. This requires
that you keep up with the readings and come to class prepared to discuss them. Learning is best
achieved by active involvement and questioning, rather than passively sitting by as others do the
work.
Course Policies and Etiquette
I welcome you to this course and hope to make it an informative, productive, and engaging
experience for all. There are a few classroom policies to abide by.
Mutual Respect
In order to encourage consistent classroom participation from as many people as possible, this
class asks that everyone treat everyone else in a courteous, civil, and respectful manner
(regardless of actual feelings). That doesn’t mean we have to agree with each other all the time;
on the contrary, intelligent, thoughtful disagreement is a vital part of learning–so long as one
knows the difference between disagreement and attack (especially personal attack.). The goal is
to make our classroom a community of learners, where we, as individuals and as a group, can
test, debate, exchange, modify, discard, and reexamine ideas and experiences, improving our
ability to think critically and to communicate our ideas clearly.
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Please do not leave class early or arrive late. If you have a scheduling conflict, please find
another course that better suits your schedule. This course is offered nearly every year. Walking
into class late or leaving early will count as an absence.
Please turn all cell phones off. Don’t set them to vibrate, don’t leave them on for text messaging,
just turn them off. E-mailing or web surfing via your laptop is also not appropriate. If they
interfere with your participation in class, such distractions may affect your grade.
Code of Academic Integrity
All the work submitted in this course must be the product of your individual labor. The
unacknowledged borrowing of someone else’s ideas or the expression of those ideas (i.e. their
words) constitutes plagiarism, a very serious academic offense. If you have any questions about
plagiarism or its unpleasant consequences, please read the section on plagiarism in the Academic
Code of Conduct in your Student Handbook (For more information, please read
<http://deanofstudents.arizona.edu/codeofacademicintegrity>.
When you do research for assignments, be careful to credit ideas and language to their source,
including websites. For instructions on how to properly credit ideas or language, please consult a
university librarian. If you have further questions, be sure to ask me.
Disability Issues
Students with disabilities who require accommodations to fully participate in course activities or
meet course requirements must register with the Disability Resource Center. They will contact
the instructor and I will be more than happy to work with you. For more information, please read
<http://drc.arizona.edu/>.
Course Requirements
Regular attendance and active class participation. Two papers, two exams, two presentations, and
a self-evaluative report. Two copies of the papers and the journals must be submitted: a final
electronic copy to be uploaded to the course’s D2L site and a hard copy to the professor. The
grades of late papers will be reduced by 5 points (out of 100) for every day after the due date.
Papers (35%): You are required to write two papers. The short paper (15%) should be four to six
pages long, typed, and double-spaced. You will be given the option to rewrite this paper after
receiving my comments. If you decide to do this, you should let me know and submit the revised
paper within a week. The final paper (20%) should be six to eight pages long, typed, and doublespaced. You have the option to submit a draft to get my feedback before producing the final
version. The topics for each paper will be distributed to you at least three weeks prior to the due
date.
Exams (30%): Two exams (15% each) are designed to test what you learn, especially key
concepts, debates, and events. They will cover lectures, readings, and media materials.
Presentations (10%): As a way to enhance your participation, you are required to lead two
discussion sessions on the assigned readings. Each discussion must be based on your
understanding of the assigned readings. You are encouraged to discuss your questions, concerns,
and the direction of your thought with me in advance of the presentation. Discussion notes can
be revised later for your journal. A sign-up sheet will be circulated in the second week. You may
change your presentation dates if you find somebody with whom you can swap dates. In such a
case, you must inform me in advance.
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Journals (10%): As you do your readings, you are expected to write your own notes/summary
and questions in a journal and add them to notes taken in class from the lectures and discussions.
After class lectures and discussions, you are expected to be able to answer your reading
questions. You may keep revising the journal throughout the semester if you like. The idea
behind the journals is that you will come to class confidently informed and have reflected on the
reading carefully so we may have a substantial discussion. You must bring your journal to every
class. You will be often asked at random to read out your response. You will be submitting the
typed hard copy to the instructor once in the semester and again at the end of the semester.
Anyone who wants feedback early is invited to send the instructor a copy of your journal entry.
Email is fine for this. Alternatively, you may consult the instructor during office hours.
Class Attendance (10%):
Regular class attendance is mandatory. There will be a sign-in
sheet in each class session. Students are expected to attend class as well as participate in
discussions, and group sessions. Each student is allowed a maximum of two unexcused absences
during the semester. For each unexcused absence thereafter, five points are deducted from your
final grade. You are responsible for keeping the instructor informed of any situation that prevents
you from attending class.
You are required to write a one-page self-evaluative report (5%) at the end of the semester. This
assignment is designed to give you an opportunity to reflect what you have learned in the
semester. In the report, you should address the following questions: How would you like to apply
two concepts or/and methods in your future career? What aspects of your work are you pleased
about? What areas of your work would you like to improve or further expand? In addition, you
should also assign yourself a grade on the basis of evaluating your participation and attendance.
Required Books (Available at the University of Arizona Bookstore)
Rahman, Momin and Stevi Jackson. 2010. Gender & Sexuality: Sociological Approaches.
Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Saitō, Tamaki. 2011. Beautiful Fighting Girl. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Additional Required Readings (Available on D2L Course Website)
Chiang, Howard H. 2010. “Liberating Sex, Knowing Desire: scientia sexualis and Epistemic
Turning Points in the History of Sexuality.” History of the Human Sciences Vol. 23, No.5,
pp.42–69.
Chiang, Howard H. 2010. “Epistemic Modernity and the Emergence of Homosexuality in
China.” Gender & History, Vol.22 No.3 November 2010, pp. 629–657. (optional)
Cui Zi’en. 2010. “The Communist International of Queer Film.” positions: east asia cultures
critique, Vol. 18, No. 2, Fall 2010.
Eng, David L. 2010. “The Queer Space of China: Expressive Desire in Stanley Kwan’s Lan Yu.”
positions: east asia cultures critique, Vol. 18, No. 2, Fall 2010.
He, Xiaopei and Lisa Rofel. 2010. “‘I Am AIDS:’ Living with HIV/AIDS in China.” positions:
east asia cultures critique, Vol. 18, No. 2, Fall 2010.
Hjorth, Larissa. 2003. “Pop and ma: The Landscape of Japanese Commodity Characters and
Subjectivity.” In Berry, Chris, Fran Martin, and Audrey Yue (eds.) 2003. Mobile Cultures: New
Media in Queer Asia. Pp. 158-179. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
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Ho, Loretta Wing Wah. 2011. Chapter 2 “The Problematics of Storytelling.” In Gay and Lesbian
Subculture in Urban China. Pp. 23-56, 162. London: Routledge.
Ho, Loretta Wing Wah. 2011. Chapter 3 “Fieldwork: Filtering the Field.” In Gay and Lesbian
Subculture in Urban China. Pp. 57-81, 162-164. London: Routledge.
Ho, Loretta Wing Wah. 2011. Chapter 4 “Speaking of Same-Sex Subjects in Urban China.” In
Gay and Lesbian Subculture in Urban China. Pp. 82-98, 164. London: Routledge.
Ho, Loretta Wing Wah. 2011. “Appendices A-C.” In Gay and Lesbian Subculture in Urban
China. Pp. 144-159. London: Routledge.
Kang Wenqing. 2010. “Male Same-Sex Relations in Modern China: Language, Media
Representation, and Law, 1900–1949.” positions: east asia cultures critique, Vol. 18, No. 2, Fall
2010.
Liu, Petrus. 2010. “Why Does Queer Theory Need China?” positions: east asia cultures critique,
Vol. 18, No. 2, Fall 2010.
Liu, Petrus and Lisa Refel. 2010. “An Interview with Shi Tou.” [Shi Tou, a well-known lesbian
activist in China, is the lead actress in Li Yu’s film Fish and Elephant discussed in Martin’s
chapter “Critical Presentism”]
Martin, Fran. 2010. “Critical Presentism: New Chinese Lesbian Cinema.” In her Backward
Glances: Contemporary Chinese Cultures and the Female Homoerotic Imaginary. Pp. 147-175,
248-254. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
McMillan, Jo. 2010. “Selling Sexual Health: China’s Emerging Sex Shop Industry.” In Elaine
Jeffreys (ed.) Sex and Sexuality in China. Pp. 124-138. London: Routledge.
Modern Girl Around the World Research Group (Barlow, T. E., Dong, M. Y., Poiger, U. G.,
Ramamurthy, P., Thomas, L. M., and Weinbaum, A. E.). 2005. “The Modern Girl Around the
World: A Research Agenda and Preliminary Findings.” Gender & History Vol. 17 No. 2, pp.
245-294.
Ren, Hai. 2014. “Sexuality and Mass Media.” In Global History of Sexuality. Edited by Robert
Buffington, Donna Guy, and Eithne Luibheid, pp. 195-220. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
Rocha, Leon Antonio. 2010. “Xing: The Discourse of Sex and Human Nature in Modern China.”
Gender & History Vol. 22 No. 3 November 2010, pp. 603-628.
Sinnott, Megan. 2010. “Borders, Diaspora, and Regional Connections: Trends in Asian ‘Queer’
Studies.” The Journal of Asian Studies Vol. 69, No. 1, February 2010, pp. 17–31.
Wei, Wei. 2007. “‘Wandering Men’ No Longer Wander Around: The Production and
Transformation of Local Homosexual Identities in Contemporary Chengdu, China.” Inter-Asia
Cultural Studies Vol. 8, No. 4, pp. 572-88.
Selected Films (to be Discussed and Referred to in Readings and Lectures)
Ang Lee, The Wedding Banquet (1993)
Chen Kaige, Farewell, My Concubine (1993)
Cui Zi’en, Night Scene (2005, 75 minutes)
Cui Zi’en, Queer China (2008, 118 minutes)
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Huang Yushan, Twin Bracelets (1991)
Stanley Kwan, Lan Yu (2001, 86 minutes)
Yan Yan Mak, Hu Die 蝴蝶 (Butterfly) (2004, 124 minutes)
Zhang Yuan, East Palace, West Palace (1996)
Nakajima Takehiro, Okoge (1992)
Nagisa Oshima, Gohatto (Taboo) (1999)
Tsai Ming-liang, Vive L’Amour (1994)
Weekly Schedule of Topics and Readings
[Note: The schedule may be revised if necessary.]
Week 1 (8/26, 8/28)
Introduction
Topics:
Course topics, requirements, and goals
Concepts of gender, sexuality, and Asia
Reading:
Rahman and Jackson, Gender & Sexuality. Part I (pp. 1-48).
Week 2 (9/2, 9/4)
Inequalities and Social Structure
Topics:
Connecting gender & sexuality to social issues (for example, social division and norms,
inequalities, class, race, power relations)
Reading:
Rahman and Jackson, Gender & Sexuality. Part II (pp. 49-99).
Week 3 (9/9, 9/11)
Gender, Sexuality, and Modernity
Topics:
Gendered and sexualized modernity
Reading:
Rocha, “Xing: The Discourse of Sex and Human Nature in Modern China.”
Modern Girl Around the World Research Group, “The Modern Girl Around the World.”
Kang “Male Same-Sex Relations in Modern China: Language, Media Representation, and
Law, 1900–1949.”
Week 4 (9/16, 9/18)
Cultural Beliefs and Values
Topics:
Role of knowledge
Sexuality and science
Reading:
Rahman and Jackson, Gender & Sexuality. Part III (pp. 101-152).
Chiang, “Liberating Sex, Knowing Desire: scientia sexualis and Epistemic Turning
Points in the History of Sexuality.”
Chiang, “Epistemic Modernity and the Emergence of Homosexuality in China”
(optional).
Week 5 (9/23, 9/25)
Self, Identity & Agency
Topics:
Gendered and sexual selves, identities, and actions
Reading:
Rahman and Jackson, Gender & Sexuality. Part IV (pp. 153-200).
Week 6 (9/30, 10/2)
Ethnographic Fieldwork
10/2: Midterm (covering Weeks 1-6)
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Topics:
Ethnographic fieldwork
Problem of story-telling
Reading:
Ho, Gay and Lesbian Subculture in Urban China. Chapter 2 (“The Problematics of
Storytelling”) (pp. 23-56, 162), Chapter 3 (“Fieldwork: Filtering the Field”) (pp. 57-81, 162164), and “Appendices A-C” (pp. 144-159).
Week 7 (10/7, 10/9)
Urban Spaces
10/9: Journals #1 (covering readings from Week 1 to Week 7) due
Topic:
Sexuality and urban spaces
Reading:
Ho, Gay and Lesbian Subculture in Urban China. Chapter 4 (“Speaking of Same-Sex
Subjects in Urban China”) (pp. 82-98, 164)
Wei, “‘Wandering Men’ No Longer Wander Around: The Production and
Transformation of Local Homosexual Identities in Contemporary Chengdu, China.”
Liu and Rofel. “An Interview with Shi Tou.”
Week 8 (10/14, 10/16)
Gendered and Sexual Health
10/16: Paper #1 due
Topics:
Sex shops
AIDS
Reading:
McMillan, Jo. 2010. “Selling Sexual Health: China’s Emerging Sex Shop Industry.”
He and Rofel,“‘I Am AIDS:’ Living with HIV/AIDS in China.”
Week 9 (10/21, 10/23)
Media
Topics
Media consumption
The Otaku
Reading:
Ren. “Sexuality and Mass Media.”
Saitō, Beautiful Fighting Girl. Translator’s Introduction, Preface, Chapter 1,
Week 10 (10/28, 10/30)
Gender & Agency
Topics:
The figure of the beautiful fighting girl in Japan
Reading:
Saitō, Tamaki Beautiful Fighting Girl. Chapter 5.
Hjorth, “Pop and ma: The Landscape of Japanese Commodity Characters and
Subjectivity.”
Week 11 (11/4, 11/6)
Queer Asian Cinema
American Studies Association Annual Meetings, Los Angels, November 5-9, 2014.
11/6: TBA
Topics:
Queer documentaries
Reading:
Cui, “The Communist International of Queer Film.”
Film screening:
Cui Zi’en, Queer China (2008, 118 minutes)
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Cui Zi’en, Night Scene (2005, 75 minutes)
Week 12 (11/11, 11/13)
New Lesbian Cinema
11/11: Veteran’s Day - No Classes
Topics:
Affect, feelings, and remembrance
Reading:
Martin, “Critical Presentism: New Chinese Lesbian Cinema.”
Film screening:
Yan Yan Mak, Hu Die 蝴蝶 (Butterfly) (2004, 124 minutes)
Week 13 (11/18, 11/20)
Rethinking Gender and Sexuality in Asia
Topics:
Reflecting on historical, cultural, and political issues that have discussed in the course
What contributions does “Queer theory” make to Asia studies?
Reading:
Liu, “Why Does Queer Theory Need China?”
Sinnott, “Borders, Diaspora, and Regional Connections: Trends in Asian ‘Queer’
Studies.”
Week 14 (11/25, 11/27)
Queer Space in Asia
11/27: Thanksgiving Recess (11/27/2013-12/1/2014) - No Classes.
Topics:
Reading:
Eng, “The Queer Space of China: Expressive Desire in Stanley Kwan’s Lan Yu.”
Film screening
Stanley Kwan, Lan Yu (2001, 86 minutes)
Week 15 (12/2, 12/4)
Research
12/2-12/4: TBA
American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, Washington, D. C. December 3-7,
2014.
Topics:
Research on paper topics
Week 16 (12/9)
Summary and Conclusion
Paper #2 due on 12/9/2014
Journals #2 (covering readings from Week 8 to Week 16) due on 12/9/2014
Self-evaluation due by 5:00 PM on Friday, 12/12/2014.
Final Exam (covering Weeks 7-16): Wednesday, 12/17/2014, 10:30 am - 12:30 pm
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Additional References (for Further Study):
Chao, Shi-Yan. 2010. “Coming Out of The Box, Marching as Dykes.” In The New Chinese
Documentary Film Movement: For the Public Record, edited by Chris Berry, Lu Xinyu, and Lisa
Rofel. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
Chiang, Howard H. 2009. “Rethinking ‘’Style’’ for Historians and Philosophers of Science:
Converging Lessons from Sexuality, Translation, and East Asian Studies.” Studies in History
and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences Vol. 40, pp.109–18.
Chiang, Howard H. 2009. “The Historical Formation of Sexuality: Europe, China, and Epistemic
Modernity Global.” Critical Studies in History Vol. 2, pp. 2–18.
Ding Naifei. 2010. “Imagined Concubinage.” positions: east asia cultures critique, Vol. 18, No.
2, Fall 2010.
Erni, John Nguyet and Anthony Spires. 2004. “The Formation of a Queer Imagined Community
in Post-Martial Law Taiwan.” In Asian Media Studies: Politics of Subjectivities, edited by John
Nguyet Erni, and Siew Keng Chua. Blackwell.
Grossman, Andrew (ed.) 2000. “Queer Asian Cinema: Shadows in the Shade.” A special issue of
The Journal of Homosexuality, Vol. 39 No. 3/4.
Jeffreys, Elaine. 2006. “Debating the Legal Relation of Sex-Related Bribery and Corruption in
the People’s Republic of China.” In Elaine Jeffreys (ed.) Sex and Sexuality in China. Pp. 159178. London: Routledge.
Kang, Wenqing. 2009. Obsession: Male Same-Sex Relations in China, 1900-1950. Hong Kong:
Hong Kong University Press.
Kong, Travis S. K. 2010. Chinese Male Homosexualities: Memba, Tongzhi and Golden Boy.
London: Routledge.
Leung, Helen Hok-Sze. 2007. “Archiving Queer Feelings in Hong Kong.” Inter-Asia Cultural
Studies Vol. 8, No. 4, pp. 559-71.
Martin, Fran. 2010. “Introduction: Love and Remembrance.” In her Backward Glances:
Contemporary Chinese Cultures and the Female Homoerotic Imaginary. Durham, NC: Duke
University Press.
Martin, Fran. 2010. “Appendix: Interview with Shi Tou, Beijing, December 24, 2003.” In her
Backward Glances: Contemporary Chinese Cultures and the Female Homoerotic Imaginary. Pp.
187-197. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Martin, Fran, Peter A. Jackson, Mark McLelland, and Audrey Yue (eds.) 2008.
AsiaPacificQueer: Rethinking Genders and Sexualities. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
Peletz, Michael G. 2007. Gender, Sexuality, and Body Politics in Modern Asia. Washington, D.
C.: Association for Asian Studies.
Sang, Tze-lan Deborah. 2003. The Emerging Lesbian: Female Same-Sex Desire in Modern
China. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
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Wilson, Ara. 2006. “Queering Asia.” Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian
Context Issue 14, November 2006. [online document:
http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue14/wilson.html]
Yang, Irene Fang-chih. 2004. “From Variety Show to Body-Sculpting Commercials: Figures of
Audience and The Sexualization of Women/Girls.” In Asian Media Studies: Politics of
Subjectivities, edited by John Nguyet Erni, and Siew Keng Chua. Blackwell.
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