Identity Construction in East Asian philosophy, literature and films

 

We will examine concepts that play a role in identity construction and self-cultivation in East Asian philosophy, literature and films. Firstly, we will single out these concepts from Chinese and Japanese philosophical texts and from works by social scientists and theorists of culture. Then, we will look at recent East Asian novels and movies, investigating the historical, cultural and social fields that form the context of the interplay of discourses that contribute to identity construction in each unique case.
 
East Asia, especially China, Korea and Japan, have been historically connected. Korea and Japan were once tributary states of China. They adopted Confucianism, the Chinese bureaucratic administrative system, the Chinese script, and Buddhism. East Asia shares a Confucian value system grounded on relations, e.g. between senior and junior. They also share san jiao (Chinese: ‘the three teachings’): Confucianism, Buddhism, and a third one that focuses especially on the relationship with nature: Daoism (China), Shintoism (Japan) and Shamanism (Korea). These factors, together with various social, political and cultural factors, have contributed significantly to the construction of identities in East Asia.
 
This course is a good addition to tracks in Philosophy, Literature and Religious Studies.

Format

1. We will closely read Chinese and Japanese philosophical texts and we will explore the paths philosophers advise for self-cultivation. We will introduce culturally-grounded concepts used by anthropologists and philosophers of culture to describe East Asian society and culture and will reflect on their merits and limits, during interactive lectures, preceded by discussions on the online discussion board.
 
2. There will be (guest) lectures, during which the expert introduces the conceptual tools they deem relevant to interpret the process of identity construction of one or more characters in an East Asian movie or a novel, or of a group of people in a specific area or time. Students will prepare presentations —leading to their final paper— on a work of philosophy, literature, or cinema: they will analyse it, both applying philosophical and culturally-grounded concepts and models, and paying close attention to the concrete fields in which processes of identity construction take place.
 
Students will work on reflections, presentations, and papers.