MLL 352 - Japanese Folktales and Culture

Units: 4 ; Breadth Area: GE-UD-C; Diversity
A survey of Japanese folklore that studies the folk cultures and narratives (folklores, legends, myths, and jokes) with focus on the relationship between animal roles and the livelihood of Japanese/American people. Taught in English with an optional Japanese module.

Strongly Recommended Preparation: Upper division status (greater than 60 earned semester units) and completion of lower division Area C requirements.
Prerequisites: Completion of GE Areas A1, A2, A3, and B4 with grade C- (CR) or better.
Repeatability: May be repeated for credit for a maximum of 8 units.
Possible Instructional Methods: On-ground, or Hybrid, or Online-Asynchronous.
Grading: A-F or CR/NC (student choice).
Breadth Area(s) Satisfied: GE-UD-C - Upper Division Arts or Humanities, Overlay - Diversity
Course Typically Offered: Variable Intermittently

Student Learning Outcomes - Upon successful completion of this course students will be able to:

Discuss the relationship between animal roles/Japanese events, the livelihood of people in the Japanese folktales, and capture the view of Japan and United States
Recognize important ideological, ethnic, cultural and historic factors that have contributed to the formation of the diversity and hybridity of Japanese and Japanese-American cultures and identities
Demonstrate how folktales reflect culture and express beliefs, customs, attitudes, and ways of thinking
Discuss and compare the roles and images of gender and sexuality in the transformation of cultural practices in terms of Japanese festivals
Evaluate how Japan presents itself to the world via folktales, and how the rest of the world such as USA/Japanese-Americans receive and question this presentation
Share presentations or post blog entries about how the arts and humanities are used by, informed, engaged with, and reflective of citizens to benefit local and global communities

UD-C. Upper-division Arts or Humanities Learning Outcomes

demonstrate an understanding of and ability to apply the principles, methodologies, value systems, and thought processes employed in the arts and humanities;
analyze cultural production as an expression of, or reflection upon, what it means to be human; and
demonstrate how the perspectives of the arts and humanities are used by informed, engaged, and reflective citizens to benefit local and global communities.

Diversity Overlay Learning Outcomes

describe the histories and/or experiences of one or more U. S. cultural groups and the resilience and agency of group members;
identify structures of oppression and the diverse efforts and strategies used by groups to combat the effects of oppressive structures;
analyze the intersection of the categories of race and gender as they affect cultural group members’ lived realities and/or as they are embodied in personal and collective identities;
recognize the way that multiple differences (including, for example, gender, class, sexuality, religion, disability, immigration status, gender expression, color/phenotype, racial mixture, linguistic expression, and/or age) within cultural groups complicate individual and group identities.