Popular Culture in Asia

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Content The unit focuses on how contemporary socio-economic, cultural and political transformations in the Asian region intersect with forms and practices of popular culture. Specifically, it seeks to highlight the relevance of popular culture as a lens through which to analyse social, cultural, political and economic change, to understand how globalisation, inter- and intra-regional integration, urbanisation, consumerism, and shifts in how gender and sexual identities are articulated across societies in East and Southeast Asia. The unit also considers globalisation and lobal discontinuities in the context of the production, circulation and consumption of popular culture both from the West to Asia, and increasingly from Asia to the rest of the world. The unit examines these issues with reference to various spaces and practices of popular culture including film, television, and popular music; fan cultures and social media; fashion and beauty cultures; postcolonialism and nationalism; and urban design and street culture. The unit can be counted towards a major in either Anthropology or Asian Studies. Assessment Typically this unit is assessed in the following ways: (1) tutorial participation; (2) tutorial assignment; (3) essay; and (4) examination. Further information is available in the unit outline. Supplementary assessment is not available in this unit except in the case of a bachelor's pass degree student who has obtained a mark of 45 to 49 overall and is currently enrolled in this unit, and it is the only remaining unit that the student must pass in order to complete their course. Unit Coordinator(s) Associate Professor Joanna Elfving-Hwang and Associate Professor Romit Dasgupta Unit rules Prerequisites: any Level 1 ANTH, ASIA, JAPN, CHIN, KORE or INDO unit Incompatibility: SOCS2216 Popular Culture in Asia Contact hours lectures: 20 hours; tutorials: 9 hours