MLL 452 - Modern Japanese Short Stories in English Translation

Units: 4; Breadth Area: GE-UD-C; Diversity
A comprehensive overview of Japanese literature that has shaped modern-day Japan. Selected stories by prominent writers that portray controversial images of Japan. Course covers the eras of First Experiments, Interwar, Postwar, and the contemporary. All readings are in English.

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

demonstrate an understanding of and ability to apply the principles, methodologies, value systems, and thought processes employed in the arts and humanities; by the provided comprehensive overview of Japanese literary-social movements, spanning one and a half centuries from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 to the twenty-first century, the course provides a multi-perspective foundation for students to investigate the literary narratives with Japanese/American/diasporic cultural diversity.
analyze cultural production, Japanese/American/diasporic short stories, and films, as an expression of, or reflection upon, what it means to be human. Students will be able to discuss, deliberate, and write about their critical viewpoints in an insightful and logical manner.
demonstrate how the perspectives of the arts and humanities in Japanese literary representations are used by informed, engaged, and reflective citizens to benefit local and global communities.
describe the histories and experiences of more than one U. S. cultural groups, (e.g. Asian/American/diasporic, women, and GLBTQ) and the resilience and agency of group members.
identify structures of oppression and the diverse efforts and strategies used by groups (e.g. Asian/American/diasporic, women, and GLBTQ) to combat the effects of oppressive structures inside/outside Japan and across the 20^th and 21^st centuries.
analyze the intersectionality among the Japanese/American/diasporic, women, and GLBTQ groups and the intersection of the categories of race and gender as they affect cultural group members’ lived realities and as they are embodied in personal and collective identities.
recognize the way that multiple differences within the focused cultural groups complicate individual and group identities. The weekly topics investigate the issue of ‘identity’ formation, the interconnected nature of social categorization applied to the ‘Japanese/American/diasporic,’ and the overlapped systems of discrimination.

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.