Overview
An advanced exploration of contemporary Asia through the analysis of popular culture, with a focus on the media’s role in shaping ethnic, gender, social, and class identities.
Asia has become a vital part of New Zealand life. Why do we consider this to be the ‘Asian century’? How does popular culture crucially contribute to Asia's changing and growing role in the world? How are Asian celebrities, popular film genres, music phenomena produced and circulated in the transnational media environment and how do they contribute to cultural, economic, social, political changes in Asia and beyond?
Through an analysis of different media and different regions, this paper will help students gain a better understanding of Asia and its relevance in the global context.
About this paper
| Paper title | Asian Popular Cultures (Advanced) |
|---|---|
| Subject | Asian Studies |
| EFTS | 0.1500 |
| Points | 18 points |
| Teaching period | Semester 2 (On campus) |
| Domestic Tuition Fees ( NZD ) | $1,040.70 |
| International Tuition Fees | Tuition Fees for international students are elsewhere on this website. |
- Prerequisite
- 72 points
- Restriction
- ASIA 201
- Schedule C
- Arts and Music
- Eligibility
Suitable for students of all disciplines.
- Contact
- More information link
- Teaching staff
Professor Paola Voci
- Paper Structure
The course analyses the role and the significance of popular culture in Asia. More specifically, we focus on:
- The relationship between cinema and the nation (with case studies from China, Japan, Korea, and India).
- Transnational Asian popular culture phenomena (with case studies from Martial Arts, Anime, Hallyuwood, and K-pop).
- Asian popular cultures and transmedia global storytelling in Hollywood, Netflix, and Disney.
While the content/structure of the paper is the same as ASIA 201, students enrolling in ASIA 311 (i.e., the advanced level) will be both supported and expected to achieve additional learning outcomes and take more leadership roles within our learning community.
- Textbooks
All reading material for this course is provided to students as e-readings via Blackboard
- Course outline
Available on Blackboard
- Graduate Attributes Emphasised
Global perspective, Interdisciplinary perspective, Lifelong learning, Critical thinking, Cultural understanding, Research, Communication, Self-motivation.
View more information about Otago's graduate attributes.- Learning Outcomes
By participating in lectures, tutorials, and screenings, students will gain:
- An appreciation of various forms of popular cultures (e.g. cinema, music, TV) in the Asian region and their national/transnational features.
- A critical understanding of mainstream as well as marginal and countercultures practices.
- An awareness of the complex issues involved in cultural translations and how an interdisciplinary approach can enhance the study of the region within and beyond the East-West problematic opposition.
By reading the assigned material and completing the assigned tasks, students will develop:
- A capacity for critical analysis of scholarship on issues related to Asian popular cultures and Asian studies more broadly.
- An ability to independently investigate a specific particular cultural form in the Asian region, understand its meaning in context and explain its role and importance within and beyond the Asian geopolitical and cultural boundaries.
- Demonstrate an advanced ability to acquire, organise, analyse and evaluate information both in writing and orally
- Apply knowledge and skills to demonstrate autonomy, expert judgement, adaptability, and responsibility as an effective and ethical communicator across multiple cultural contexts