Women in Asia

Index

Welcome-Dorothy Ko

A hearty welcome to the forum on "Women in Asia! I look forward to a month-long conversation on the intellectual and pedagogical issues that confront us as we seek to introduce our students to unfamiliar cultures in distant parts of the world.

To get us started, I'd like to pose four broad questions:

1. How do we understand the boundaries of Asia? Born and raised in Hong Kong, I finished high school there before coming to the U.S. for college and graduate school. While in Hong Kong I embraced my identities as a Chinese, Cantonese, and a British colonial subject, but I never thought of myself as Asian. It was simply not a meaningful geographical or cultural unit to me. The enormous diversity of Asia was only a small part of the problem. In U.S. academia today, we adopt the use of Asia together with its sub-divisions of Northeast Asia (China, Korea and Japan), Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines), South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka) and Central Asia as if they were objective labels. Asia seems more neutral far less demeaning than the old label of the Orient. This may well be true, but Asia is nonetheless a construct of Euro-American imagination. I‚d like to propose that Asia (commonly taken to mean the area west of the Ural Mountains) is as much a product of an imaginary geography as a physical one. It is far more coherent and meaningful to Euro-Americans than to the peoples living there. What intellectual and ideological functions, then, does the label of Asia serve?

2. Is woman an analytic category that is applicable to all Asian societies? The literary scholar Sara Suleri ended one chapter in her affecting memoirs of her childhood in present-day Pakistan with a startling statement: There are no women in the Third World. The memoirs are suffused with her fond memories of her grandmother, mother, sisters, cousins, and friends. What could she possibly have meant? Sara Suleri has called attention to the artificiality of woman as a shared identity. The manufacturing of woman as a coherent subject be it based on biology or culture˜was the very goal of the feminist movement in the U.S. One may hasten to add that this project has been largely successful. But I believe that we would be making a big mistake if we assume that the category exists naturally in other parts of the world. In pre-modern China, my own field of research, class divisions always trumped gender. That is to say, upper-class women had far more in common in cultural outlook and political interests with their men than with lower-class women. Instead of simply teach the position of women or women's status, we need to ask questions about gender formation˜about the construction of male and female identities˜in a time- and locale- specific way. What are some of the institutions and ideological forces that went into the production of woman?

3. How do we assess or present other people‚s traditions, customs, or religion? From footbinding, widow-burning to veiling, Asian cultures or traditions seem particularly unkind to women. There is no gainsaying that these practices exist(ed), but I am weary of teaching the history of Asian women simply to validate our own sense of freedom and superiority. How do we present other people‚s cultures religions/superstitions or traditions without using our own values as the standard of judgment? How do we discuss Confucianism, patriarchal family or arranged marriage without a priori judgment and condemnation?

4. Is cultural relativism a productive stance in our study of Asia? Some may argue that to avoid the pitfalls of pre-judging another culture, one should adopt cultural relativism as an analytic stance. While I agree that it is important to appreciate the relative merits and logic of foreign cultures on their own terms, I also recognize the importance of a critical stance toward the histories we study. On what basis could this critique be built? How do we effectively convey it in the classroom?

I have deliberately stated these questions in a provocative way, in the hopes that you will respond enthusiastically and critically with your ideas.

Cordially,

Dorothy Ko

Professor of Chinese History

Barnard College

Columbia University

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Welcome-Kurt Waters

Welcome to the Women in Asia online forum sponsored by the Center for History and New Media (CHNM) at George Mason University.

As the co-moderator with the high school world history teaching background, I must admit that I am a little nervous as we begin this project. My knowledge base is limited, but I do have 27 years experience teaching high school and unlimited energy! I look forward to contributing and to learning a great deal this month. With that in mind, I'd like to start by posing three questions to the high school, community college, and college instructors from across the country who have enrolled this forum.

As we inquire and share about women's history in Asia, it would be helpful to frame our remarks within the context of a world history periodization. A manageable one I like to use in the one under which the high school Advanced Placement World History course is organized:

Foundations 8000 BCE to 600 CE

Post Classical 600 - 1450

Early Modern 1450 - 1750

Modern 1750 - 1914

Contemporary 1914 - Present

The first question I might pose would be, Does this periodization lend itself to the major themes and changes in women's history in Asia, or might different sets of dates be more appropriate?

As world history teachers, all our lessons must begin with a solid knowledge base. None of us has had thorough training in all the areas in which we are expected to teach. When I first began teaching, my strategy was to read the class text the night before, and stay up late reading one or two other textbooks so that I would know more than the students. Thank goodness those days are over. The Internet, and the accessibility to recent scholarship, has brought the world and its history into our classrooms. Rich collections of primary resources, university and museum sites, virtual field trips and the like provide us with great opportunities, but also with the challenge of how to manage so much information.

Over the next month, I know we all would appreciate any recommendations you may have about quality teaching resources - online, video, or print. A second question I might pose is, "Where do we find the best materials to teach about women in Asia?"

The days of the expert instructor lecturing for ninety minutes to a room full of students are numbered as well. Today's student appreciates engaging with course material - actively constructing meaning through involvement. A third question I pose is, "What strategies do you use in your classroom to get students actively involved in their learning?"

Those are some of the questions that I have. What questions do you have?

Once again, I look forward to participating in this forum on Women in Asia. Thank you in advance for your participation.

Kurt Waters

Social Studies Chair

Centreville High School

Clifton, VA

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From: Kristin Lehner <klehner@GMU.EDU>

Date: March 5, 2006 12:21:23 PM EST

To: WOMENINASIA-L@mail04.GMU.EDU

Subject: Greetings and how to post

Hello all Women in Asia Forum participants,

As moderator for this month's forum, run by George Mason University's Women in World History website (http://chnm.gmu.edu/wwh) I wanted to send a brief message explaining how to post:

You can send messages to the entire group by clicking "reply" to any message. Additionally, you can start new subject threads by sending an email directly toWOMENINASIA-L@listserv.gmu.edu.

If you have any technical questions, please do not hesitate to email me directly at klehner@gmu.edu.

We look forward to hearing from you, and to delving into some of the questions posed by Dorothy and Kurt in their opening statements!

Best wishes,

Kristin

Kristin Lehner

Women in World History Project Associate

Center for History and New Media

George Mason University

4400 University Dr. MSN 3G1

Fairfax, Virginia 22030

United States

Phone: (703)993-4528

[ Back to Index ]

From: "Fischler, Lisa C" <fischler@MORAVIAN.EDU>

Date: March 6, 2006 8:50:58 AM EST

To: WOMENINASIA-L@mail04.GMU.EDU

Subject: combatting stereotypes

Hi, I am hoping this forum is as full of ideas as the forum for Women in Latin America was. I am always looking for pedagogical tools for combating stereotypes, sexism, and racism in class while teaching about women in contemporary East Asia. Any links or ideas that might be helpful? Thank you,

Lisa Fischler

Assistant Professor

Political Science Dept.

Moravian College

From: Waters, Kurt <Kurt.Waters@FCPS.EDU>

To: WOMENINASIA-L@mail04.GMU.EDU

Sent: Tue, 7 Mar 2006 04:02:40 -0500

Subject: Re: combatting stereotypes

Lisa,

Whenever stereotypes, sexism, or racism surface in class, I remind students to view the comment from multiple perspectives.

At the beginning of every course, I show the students an illusion. I use the image that can be found at:

http://www.bonheurpourtous.com/illusion/2femmes.jpg

Inevitably one half of the class sees an old woman, the other half a young woman. I ask students if there is a "right" way to view the drawing or a "wrong" way and we usually come to the conclusion that seeing one image and not the other is not dumb, but different. That becomes the class motto.

When discussing foot binding, sati, or arranged marriages for the first time, there's always a comment about how "dumb" the practice seems. I remind students of the old woman and the young woman. "Not dumb, class, but different." Then we try to talk about why the custom might have been appropriate for that time and that place.

Does anyone else use similar techniques to get students to think about multiple perspectives using sources more closely related to Women in Asia?

________________________________

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From: nirmal kumar [mailto:kumarnirmal42@YAHOO.CO.UK]

Sent: Tuesday, March 07, 2006 12:42 PM

To: WOMENINASIA-L@mail04.GMU.EDU

Subject: Re: combatting stereotypes

I think stereotypes of women emrge because we see our world as unipolar and culturally exclusive. Women in South asia have been revered and exploited at the same time, punished and valorised at the same time. So non western models of seeing socialthings have to be fostered.

Nirmal

I am very uncomfortable teaching footbinding this way. After all, we teach a history that has oppressed by gender and social class for thousands of years. Should I explain to my young women that oppression is not acceptable now, in our society, but it was right , or ok, or appropriate in the past? Who was it appropriate for? I recognize that tradition is powerful and women usually accepted their station in life -- but who created that station for them? and taught them to accept it? what happened to those that tried to reject "appropriate" behavior? Maybe we should discuss why exactly foot-binding was "appropriate."

Marc Kagan

From: Ione Ishii <ioneishii@GMAIL.COM>

Date: March 7, 2006 7:02:20 PM EST

To: WOMENINASIA-L@mail04.GMU.EDU

Subject: Re: Stereotypes and footbinding

Hello,

I did a rather in depth research paper on foot binding in China and found that foot binding was considered extremely erotic for men. It appears many men during the period of footbindinghad rather kinky foot fetishes about the foot itself - fondling them as well asthe Lotus shoes, and would become sexually aroused by the deformed feet themselves. However, the more general attraction was that thelotus foot was thought totightenthe vagina muscles due to the way women needed to walk in such a way, albeit a painful stride, that the buttock and vagina muscles were worked and tightened. This ultimately gave the man a great deal of sexual pleasure. So as men would see women with bound feet, they would fantasy about the sexual pleasure the women could give them. The smaller the feet, the better the sexual experience.

Women during this period were considered property and the best hopes that parents hadwas that they wouldmarry their daughtersoff to wealth men. Parents would force the process of footbinding onto their daughters in order to make them more likely to marry well (keep in mind the Confucian ideas of relationshipsbetween parents andchildren, too) Most women who had bound feet were the upper class, peasant women who needed to work in the fields could not be hampered with this cruel practise, because their value was work, not beauty. And bound feet were considered beautiful and sexy.

During the Communist revolution women were forced to have their feet unbound so they could march and work more effectively; however, many women with bound feet for decades would be simply crippled after their feet were unbound. The process to correct bound feet was often unsuccessful, except for surgical procedures.

The reaction young people today have about this practise is one of horror, especially when you see the claw like bone structure of a bound foot. The bones in the feet are actually broken and tucked under the arch giving the foot the small size. The process took years with a steady tightening of the bindings. Many girls died of infections, lost toes, and had to deal with decaying flesh at various stages of their lives.

But my question to students would be "how different is the ideaof pierced navels, nipples, and other parts of the women body, as well as breast augmentation, tattoos, plastic surgery than foot binding?" Women pay handsome sums to have these "modern" beautificationtreatments for possibly similar reasons - to attract sexual attention. Even simple, less painful procedures such as perming hair, straightening it, coloring hair, hair removal (ouch), artificial finger nails, etc. might be considered horrible by other cultures and clearly by another generation.

Another even more shocking procedure takes place in African with clitoral circumcism which leaves the womanwith little or no sexual feeling, causing numerous health problems.

I hope this helps.

Ione Ishii

GraduateFellow, East Asian Studies

University of San Francisco

[ Back to Index ]

I have been studying and occasionally teaching Chinese language and history for several years, and the subject of footbinding is always difficult to address without inciting the fascination and "othering" of the "exotic" and "strange" Chinese. I have found that it does not matter if my audience is comprised of high school students or (adult) teachers; a high level of caution and preparedness is always necessary.

So I appreciate Lisa Fischler's call to discuss this issue, Kurt Waters' ideas about introducing perspective, and Marc Kagan's comments on the "appropriateness" of an oppressive practice.

First I will say that when teaching about footbinding, I always talk about it in the context of cultural ideas of beauty. As a historian, I am always thinking about historical relativity, so I introduce footbinding as only one of the hundreds of known means that humans have developed to physically alter their bodies in order to render them more "beautiful," according to the aesthetic values of their particular culture and time. I take great pains to reiterate that there is nothing freakish or uniquely "Chinese" about altering a woman's foot to make it appear more attractive; rather, it was a common and inherently human way to deal with the body. Anthropologists and historians of body culture, I am sure, have a lot to say about this. I am not aware of specific works, however.

To put footbinding in further cultural context, if I am doing a PowerPoint I always include pictures of corsetted women and the anti-corset drawings that showed what corsets did to a woman's internal organs. While I do not have them on hand, there are primary documents written by turn-of-the-century Chinese intellectuals who responded to Westerners' disgust with footbinding and defended the practice by arguing that corsetry was an even more cruel and senseless means of altering women's bodies because it crushed and damaged a woman's most valuable part of her body--her uterus. I believe that you could find some translated quotes in Howard Levy's well-known book (whose very title evinces Western bias and a bloated sense of superiority), _Lotus Lovers: The Complete History of the Curious Erotic Custom of Footbinding in China_.

I also talk about blackening teeth, braces, breast implants, plastic surgery, botox, etc. as further expressions of the same cultural drive to be "beautiful," whatever beautiful means in a given place and time. It is obvious, but it never hurts to talk about the cultural relativity of beauty. A small example from my own life: we in the US tend to think that only straight teeth are beautiful, but a Scottish friend once told me that he really loved my slightly crooked teeth because they give me character, and he especially loved that an American woman had such teeth. I firmly believe that within 50-100 years we may look back at women with DD breasts and think that they are quite ugly--in fact, I think that now, but obviously many Westerners (men?) currently find them attractive.

Once the relativity of beauty is established, it becomes easier to discuss the historic and cultural contexts of footbinding without delving into innane conversations of how "strange/foreign/barbaric" the practice was. Such judgements lead us no closer to understanding the cultural conditions which gave birth to the practice and, therefore, are a waste of time (either in the classroom or at home in the quiet of our own studies). This may also be a way to sidestep the issue of how "appropriate" footbinding was to its own culture in that the driving question in this model is not, "How appropriate or inappropriate was footbinding for imperial Chinese culture?", but, "What elements of imperial Chinese culture allowed for the creation and perpetuation of footbinding?"

This model that I am laying out also allows for teaching about sexism. It is still very important to be wary of any judgements that East Asian/Chinese societies were *more* patriarchal and sexist than Western/US societies--these are just an expression of ignorance and racism, in my estimation. The best that I have been able to do thus far in order to teach against these stereotypes is:

1) call it what it is--name racism in the classroom and tell your students that the belief that East Asian societies were or are more sexist than our own (meaning US/Western) is an outgrowth of imperialist attitudes and racism;

2) demonstrate that it is not true by highlighting the strengths of womanhood and particular women in East Asia. I have done this by relating specific roles that women had in China (such as managing the household finances) long before there was ever such a concept in Western societies. I also may mention that in the US currently, a woman is raped every second. This statistic can more or less speak for itself. You can also talk about the fact that, at this point, pretty much every society worldwide has had a women's liberation movement--the US does not by any means have a corner on this market.

When I have the chance to explore this further in the classroom, I will look for scholarly works that discuss the various forms of patriarchy in the world without describing one as more severe or oppressive than another. Trying to judge the relative severity of an oppression is another futile endeavor in my book, and if you want to be light about the subject, you can say that the various forms of patriarchy are an expression of human creativity--how many different ways can we control women? Hundreds of human cultures have found hundreds of different ways!

It is still important to address sexism. An overwhelming number of examples of altering one's body to achieve beauty--footbinding included--have to do with women enduring pain to attract men's sexual attention. While there are clearly examples of men doing similar things (taking steroids in bodybuilding, taking drugs to avoid hair loss, battling excess fat, etc.), the balance still seems to tip toward men taking the dominant role in the human mating ritual. Again, this is not specific to China or Asia by any means, and I am sure that everyone on this listserv can think of a variety of creative ways to address this.

At this point, I realize that I have gone on way too long. Any thoughts from others?

Thank you for your attention,

Nicole Barnes

The Program for Teaching East Asia

University of Colorado at Boulder

595 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0595

Phone: 303-735-5127

Fax: 303-735-5126

Nicole.Barnes@colorado.edu

http://www.colorado.edu/CAS/TEA

From: Di Yin Lu <diyinlu@GMAIL.COM>

Date: March 9, 2006 1:22:19 AM EST

To: WOMENINASIA-L@mail04.GMU.EDU

Subject: Re: Stereotypes and footbinding

In resonance with Prof. Ko's point concerning the multivariate relationship between gender and class, particularly her statement that "upper-class women had far more in common in cultural outlook and political interests with their men than with lower-class women", I would like to raise the issue of bound feet and socio-economic class.

I've noticed that classrooms that discuss foot binding do not often discuss the relationship between foot binding and socio-economic class. Certainly, the sexual allure of bound feet in China is well documented in Ming and Qing dynasty literature and reveals many interesting paths into the everyday life of well educated, well heeled women of the inner quarters. Bound feet, however, are seldom associated with women who work in domestic or agricultural industries (unless the subject is a maid/paid companion for an upper class female).

Those women who were forced to have their feet unbound during the Cultural Revolution, by and large, also came from more privileged backgrounds.

When we teach students about Chinese women with bound feet, whether the time period is Dynastic, Early Republican or Communist China, how do we avoid focusing too much on the life modes of the well heeled? What about the feet, and lives, of ordinary Chinese women who actually trodded the earth?

Thanks in advance for any answers or suggestions.

Regards,

Di Yin Lu

[ Back to Index ]

I am currently teaching a course on women in S. and Southeast Asia. The very first reading I assigned was Chandra Mohanty's "Under Western Eyes".

Most of the students really seemed to like it and understood it. Then with each subsequent reading I have brought up the Mohanty article, and asked the students what they think Mohanty, or someone with similar views would think of the particular article, book, or historical figure.

Dana Lightstone

-------------------------------------------------------------

Dana Lightstone

Doctoral Candidate

Department of History

University of Wisconsin-Madison

From: dk2031@COLUMBIA.EDU

To: WOMENINASIA-L@mail04.GMU.EDU

Sent: Thu, 9 Mar 2006 19:42:26 -0500

Subject: Re: Stereotypes and footbinding

Dear Marc,

Thank you for making such a forceful argument. I do wonder about the suitability of using "oppression," an entirely modern CONCEPT, to understand PRE-MODERN practices. I am not saying that oppression did not exist in pre-modern times, but that the very concept presupposes a modern concept of the autonomous body and its agency that was alien to many pre-modern peoples. As a historian, I do not find it useful to apply modern, Western concepts to pre-modern, non-Western situations.

Your message makes me think that teachig the HISTORY of Asian women might be a different intellectual project than teaching the POLITICS of Asian women. Any thoughts on this?

dk.

Dorothy Ko/Professor of History/Barnard College/Columbia

University/3009 Broadway/New York/NY 10027/U.S.A.

Phone: 212.854.9624

FAX: 212.854.0559

[ Back to Index ]

As I am just a generalist Social Studies teacher, I may need clarity on some of these terms.

First, I need a better understanding of "pre-modern" in Asia, or China. Is that any time before 1949? 1911? The Opium Wars? What signifies becoming "modern?" Industrialization? Contact with "Enlightenment" ideas? Acceptance of Enlightenment ideas?

Second, are you saying that pre-modern people did not understand that they were individuals who could make choices? All pre-modern people? Even the rulers? Where do things like peasant or slave revolts fit into this? Since that seems like a cheap shot, I feel uneasy, like I am missing something in your argument or I don't fully understand it.

Could you give me a concrete example of what you mean, placing it in some actual historical context?

Marc Kagan

From: Susan Goodier <sgoodier@ADELPHIA.NET>

Date: March 12, 2006 10:49:07 AM EST

To: WOMENINASIA-L@mail04.GMU.EDU

Subject: Incorporating women in Asian History courses

Good morning, List Members,

I am currently teaching a 100 level Asian history course. As I do with all of the general history courses I teach, I try my best to include the history of women with the standard discoursein a natural way. The text we are using, unfortunately, uses an eye dropper to squeeze out a comment about women at the end of thechapters. Although issues like footbinding, sati, veiling, and arranged marriagesare certainly a part of Asian history, I am interested in also teaching less sensational (forgive me)women's history. What sources could list members suggest for such a goal?

This issue will become even more importantforthe fall, asI am designing a300 level Non-Western Women's history (although I wish I could find a better name for the course). I am interested in texts on Asia for that course as well. Has anyone used Women in the New Asia by Yayori Matsui? What about Women in Asia by Barbara N. Ramusack and Sharon Sievers?

What kind of success do list members have with using novels to teach history? Does anyone have any suggestions for an Asian novel?

I would also like very much to return to Dorothy Ko's opening remarks, which I found provocative and shared with mystudents. I would love to know what list members think about this one:

2. Is "woman" an analytic category that is applicable to all Asian societies? . . . Instead of simply teaching "the position of women" or "women’s status," we need to ask questions about gender formation—about the construction of male and female identities—in a time- and locale- specific way. What are some of the institutions and ideological forces that went into the production of “woman”?

I don't know how to begin to answer these questions, but I suspect they are rooted in religious traditions.

Thank you!I am delighted to have these forums available, and I hope they continue.

Susan Goodier

Utica College

[ Back to Index ]

I shall restrict myself to a short list of primary sources you might find helpful: Albert O'Hara (trans.), Biographies of Women, a translation of by Liu Xiang's Han collection of "exemplary" women (both positive and negative); Kathryn Cissell Tsai (trans.), Lives of the nuns: biographies of Chinese Buddhist nuns from the fourth to sixth centuries: a translation of the Pi- chŒiu-ni chuan, by Bao Chang; and Patricia Ebrey, Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook which contains useful primary sources about women throughout Chinese history. You will also find a section on the four books for women in deBary et al, Sources of Chinese Tradition, Vol. 2, 2/e.

May I also point out that, owing to Liu Xiang's example, there is a section that includes biographies of women (lie nu) in the traditional dynastic histories - unfortunately not helpful for those who do not read Chinese.

Best regards,

Terry

In response to your question about using novels to teach history, I've found Enchi Fumiko's The Waiting Years (Onnazaka) to be an excellent starting point for discussion of Japanese women's lives during both the Meiji period (when it was set) and the post-WWII period (when it was written).

In my course on Modern Japanese Women Writers, we read it against literature written during the Meiji period by women (particularly Higuchi Ichiyo), and discuss the differences in literary constructions of femininity and the narration of women's "place" in society in these works. Students are quick to note that Enchi's version of Meiji-era womanhood is more self-consciously political than Ichiyo's. I then have students speculate on why this might be the case, which leads to discussion of the evolution of feminist thought in Japan, and the changes in social structure (especially the institution of the family) brought about by industrialization, imperial expansion, and war.

We use Vera Mackie's Feminism in Modern Japan as a resource, and this helps students to contextualize the literature as products of specific historical circumstances.

Hope this is helpful.

Julia C. Bullock

Assistant Professor, REALC

Emory University 1707 N. Decatur Road, N.E.

Atlanta, GA 30322

ofc (404)727-2168

fax (404)712-8511

[ Back to Index ]

Dear Julia,

Thank you for such excellent sources, and for reminding us that there are other parts of Asia beside China. I wonder if you or other members of the forum care to comment on "Memoirs of the Geisha" (both the novel and film)?

I'd also like to invite those who have taught women in Korea, South Asia and Southeast Asia to share their experiences.

dk.

Personally, I think I would hesitate to present this to students as reflective of the actual lives of Japanese women. However, it might be very interesting to read this as part of a unit on Orientalist fantasies, produced from both within and outside of Japan. One could compare it to Snow Country, for example, by Kawabata Yasunari (a fantasy of geisha written by a Japanese male author) and/or to "Troubled Waters," by Higuchi Ichiyo (a fantasy of geisha written by a Japanese female author).

I should qualify this by saying that I haven't actually tried it myself. But I'd be very interested to hear from any list members who have used either the book or the movie in class, and can suggest ways to approach it in a nuanced fashion. Anyone?

Julia C. Bullock

Assistant Professor, REALC

Emory University 1707 N. Decatur Road, N.E.

Atlanta, GA 30322

ofc (404)727-2168

fax (404)712-8511

I'm teaching a new class on femininities AND masculinities in Asia next year and would love to hear suggestions from others who have incorporated other than female gender into their courses.

Jennifer Hubbert

Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Lewis & Clark College

0615 S.W. Palatine Hill Rd.

Portland, OR 97219

503-768-7672

A big thank you to Jennifer Hubbert for incorporating the study of men and masculinity into Asian gender studies!

One reader that is most helpful is Jeffrey Wasserstrom and Susan Brownell's edited volume, _Chinese Femininities, Chinese Masculinities_. Berkely: UC

Press, 2002.

Nicole

Nicole Barnes

The Program for Teaching East Asia

University of Colorado at Boulder

595 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0595

Phone: 303-735-5127

Fax: 303-735-5126

Nicole.Barnes@colorado.edu

http://www.colorado.edu/CAS/TEA

[ Back to Index ]

From: Women in Asia [mailto:WOMENINASIA-L@mail04.GMU.EDU] On Behalf Of

Jennifer Hubbert

Sent: Monday, March 13, 2006 11:21 AM

To: WOMENINASIA-L@mail04.GMU.EDU

Subject: Re: Incorporating women in Asian History courses

I do something similar to that with Jung Chang's "Wild Swans." I teach it from what might be called a neo-orientalist perspective. While it's written by a woman who was brought up in China, she writes from the perspective of the memoir genre that sees flight from China as the solution of all problems and the memoir dovetails nicely with classic Cold War understandings of China.

I'm teaching a new class on femininities AND masculinities in Asia next year and would love to hear suggestions from others who have incorporated other than female gender into their courses.

Jennifer Hubbert

Department of Sociology and Anthropology Lewis & Clark College

0615 S.W. Palatine Hill Rd.

Portland, OR 97219

503-768-7672

Also, Greg Pflugfelder is teaching a course at Columbia this semseter entitled "Masculinities" - I believe the focus of the class is not Japan/Asia specific, but since his area of expertise is Japan I'm sure he could refer you to some excellent resources.

Best,

Robin Orlansky

Ph.D. Student, Dept. of East Asian Lang. & Civ.

University of Pennsylvania

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What a wonderful resource! Can anyone suggest something similar for Japan?

Julia C. Bullock

Assistant Professor, REALC

Emory University 1707 N. Decatur Road, N.E.

Atlanta, GA 30322

ofc (404)727-2168

fax (404)712-8511

[ Back to Index ]

From: Vibha Arora <vibhaaurora@GMAIL.COM>

Date: March 14, 2006 7:07:40 AM EST

To: WOMENINASIA-L@mail04.GMU.EDU

Subject: Re: Incorporating women in Asian History courses

Hiya - This query has brought to the fore some interesting readings for me - Many thanks.

I teach an interdisciplinary course on Gender and Society at Delhi Univ, India.

Does 'Asian'include south asian women? If yes, i would like to suggest a few readings.There has been so much done in India in the last few decades...

kind regards

Vibha

Vibha Arora (D.Phil Oxon, M.Phil Delhi)

Delhi, India

I have tried to include women in Chinese history programmes in my College, for example, "Women in Late Qing China", "May Fourth Women", or "Christian Women in Late Qing China", etc. However, my proposal for the inclusion of these new courses in the programmes has been rejected by male authorities in the College. One male claimed that "women's history is a luxury course". Another male thought that " women's history tends to exclude men". Does anyone have a similar experience in your institution? And if so, how will you tackle it? How will you convince the authority to create new courses on women?

Yuen Ting LEE

Hong Kong Scholar

_______________________________________________

From: Nicole Barnes <Nicole.Barnes@COLORADO.EDU>

Date: March 14, 2006 11:04:08 AM EST

To: WOMENINASIA-L@mail04.GMU.EDU

Subject: Re: Incorporating women in Asian History courses

Asia certainly does include South Asia! Please give us those reading suggestions!

Nicole

Nicole Barnes

The Program for Teaching East Asia

University of Colorado at Boulder

595 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0595

Phone: 303-735-5127

Fax: 303-735-5126

Nicole.Barnes@colorado.edu

http://www.colorado.edu/CAS/TEA

[ Back to Index ]

From: Women in Asia [mailto:WOMENINASIA-L@mail04.GMU.EDU] On Behalf Of

Waters, Kurt

Sent: Monday, March 13, 2006 5:57 PM

To: WOMENINASIA-L@mail04.GMU.EDU

Subject: Re: Women brought up in Asia as sources

I am humbled by all the wonderful resource recommendations posted over the past week.

I have a question about an author (I am almost too embarrassed to ask):

Is Pearl Buck an outdated resource for teaching about women in Asia for high school students? I ask only because I am sure high school book rooms are loaded with The Good Earth, The Living Reed, and Mandala.

Kurt

First, I want to thank you for asking about Pearl Buck. I know that her books are popular in HS courses, and they can be fabulous resources when used properly.

I do not think that Buck's writings have ever been or will ever be a proper representation of Chinese people as they see themselves. Therefore, I would strongly caution any teacher against using them to teach about women in Asia. However, Pearl Buck did have an immense impact on *American perceptions* of Chinese people for at least one or two generations, and perhaps many more as we continue to teach her books.

So you can use her books very cleverly as a way to examine US attitudes and beliefs about Chinese people. Her words have been taken at more or less face value for the fact that she grew up in China, but that does not make her a true representative of the Chinese mind and character, as she sets out to do in her novels. The very fact that she is doing it for a foreign (Western, English-speaking) audience is testament to the at-minimum one degree of separation she already has from her subject matter as an English language author seeking publication in the US.

If you want to teach about Chinese women's history, I would suggest that you use any of the resources that have been mentioned in this discussion over the past couple of days. I do not believe that any novels re: Chinese women have yet been named, but a literature specialist on this listserv (anyone?) can surely point us to some of those.

It may be spuriously related, but since I am reading it now I want to mention a fabulous collection of the writings of young Asian-American women, called _YELL-Oh Girls! Emerging Voices Explore Culture, Identity, and Growing up Asian American_, edited by Vickie Nam (HarperCollins 2001). The book is full of short stories, poems, etc. written by young Asian American women and would be a fabulous resource in a secondary or college classroom.

Sincerely,

Nicole

Nicole Barnes

The Program for Teaching East Asia

University of Colorado at Boulder

595 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0595

Phone: 303-735-5127

Fax: 303-735-5126

Nicole.Barnes@colorado.edu

http://www.colorado.edu/CAS/TEA

In regards to masculinity in East Asia (primarily China, as you see by this list), you probably already know about these books, but just in case:

Xueping Zhong, _Masculinity Besieged? Issues of Modernity and Male Subjectivity in Chinese Literature of the Late Twentieth Century_. Duke UP, 2000.

Martin W. Huang, _Negotiating Masculinities in Late Imperial China_. University of Hawaii Press, 2006.

As you can see, this one *just* came out, but it's already available through both UH press and Amazon.com.

Song Geng, _The Fragile Scholar: Power and Masculinity in Chinese Culture_. Hong Kong University Press, 2004.

Kam Louie, _Theorising Chinese Masculinity: Society and Gender in China_. Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Kam Louie and Morris Low, eds., _Asian Masculinities: The Meaning and Practice of Manhood in China and Japan_. Routledge, 2003.

I also read an article a couple of years ago about Lu Xun (or Hu She? Thank goodness they're dead and they don't have to know that all the early 20th century Chinese intellectuals start to blend together after a while!) and his lovers--unraveling his self-conception as a man. I will have to look it up at home and send another e-mail with the citation.

Take care,

Nicole Barnes

University of Colorado Program for Teaching East Asia

From: Vibha Arora <vibhaaurora@GMAIL.COM>

Date: March 17, 2006 8:15:42 AM EST

To: WOMENINASIA-L@mail04.GMU.EDU

Subject: Re: Incorporating women in Asian History courses

Hiya,

Thanks for this insightful list. I'm sure myself and my other south asian colleagues will be able to join this dialogue and chip in.Its the finalweek of formal teaching at Delhu Univ before the annual exams.I will be delightedto come back to theforum with a compilationina week's time.

kind regards and until then,

vibha

Dr. Vibha Arora

Lecturer in Sociology

Hindu College

University of Delhi

[ Back to Index ]

From: Women in Asia [mailto:WOMENINASIA-L@mail04.GMU.EDU] On Behalf Of

Katrina Gulliver

Sent: Friday, March 17, 2006 11:07 AM

To: WOMENINASIA-L@mail04.GMU.EDU

Subject: women in Vietnam

Hello everyone,

just curious, does anyone know of any sources on women in Vietnam in the first half of the 20th century? I am interested in anything related to the development of feminism, if it could be so termed, in a local context.

Katrina Gulliver

University of Cambridge

The following is a list of some useful sources for women in historical and contemporary Southeast Asia. Andaya introduction to the edited volume Other Pasts most succinctly addresses the place of gender and issues of constructions of the "traditional high status" of women in Southeast Asian history. For women in twentieth-century Vietnam, see the Vietnam article in Louise Edwards and Mina Roces.

If people are interested in texts on women in Buddhism, let me know and I can provide a brief list.

Cheers, Chie

Dr. Chie Ikeya

Rockefeller Fellow

Critical Asian Studies Program

Simpson Center for the Humanities

University of Washington

Barbara Watson Andaya, ed., Other Pasts: Women, Gender and History in Early Modern Southeast Asia, Honolulu: Univ of Hawaii Press, 2000.

Atkinson and Errington, eds., Power and Difference: Gender in Island Southeast Asia, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1990.

Aihwa Ong and Michael Peletz, eds., Bewitching Women, Pious Men: Gender and Body Politics in Southeast Asia, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995.

Louise Edwards and Mina Roces, eds., Women's suffrage in Asia : gender, nationalism and democracy, London ; New York : Routledge Curzon, 2004.

Lenore Manderson and Margaret Jolly, eds., Sites of Desire, Economies of Pleasure, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997.

Scot Barm, Woman, Man, Bangkok: Love, Sex, and Popular Culture in Thailand, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2002

Joost Cote, transl., On feminism and nationalism: Kartini's letters to Stella Zeehandelaar, 1899 C 1903, Victoria: Monash Asia Institute, 2005.

Ward Keeler, ""But Princes Jump!": Performing Masculinity in Mandalay" and Ingrid Jorgt, "Women's Practices of Renunciation in the Age of Sasana Revival" in Monique Skidmore, ed., Burma at the turn of the twenty-first century, Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2005

Mi Mi Khaing, The world of Burmese women. London, Totowa, N.J.: Zed Books, 1984.

From: wari <concourse02@YAHOO.COM>

Date: March 17, 2006 8:51:38 PM EST

To: WOMENINASIA-L@mail04.GMU.EDU

Subject: Re: women in Vietnam

For vietnam, my chapter on Vietnam in The greenwood encyclopedia of Women's issues may be helpful.

Darunee T

From: Women in Asia [mailto:WOMENINASIA-L@mail04.GMU.EDU] On Behalf Of C

Ghanbarpour

Sent: Friday, March 17, 2006 3:10 PM

To: WOMENINASIA-L@mail04.GMU.EDU

Subject: Re: women in Vietnam

I would be intersted in a list of texts of women in Buddhism. Thank you.

Christina Ghanbarpour

University of California, Irvine

[ Back to Index ]

Bartholomeusz, Tessa J. 1994. Women under the Bo tree: Buddhist nuns in Sri Lanka. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press.

Blackstone, Kathryn R. 1998. Women in the footsteps of the Buddha: struggle for liberation in the Therigatha. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon.

Dharmasena, Thera. 1991. Jewels of the doctrine: stories of the Saddharma Ratnavaliya. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Houtman, Gustaaf. 1999. Mental culture in Burmese crisis politics: Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy. Tokyo: Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.

Jordt, Ingrid. 2001. Mass lay meditation and state-society relations in post-independence Burma. Ph. D. Dissertation, Harvard University.

Kapur-Fic, Alexandra R. 1998. Thailand: Buddhism, society, and women. New Delhi: Abhinav Publications.

Kawanami, Hiroko. 1991. The position and role of women in Burmese Buddhism: a case study of Buddhist nuns in Burma. Ph. D. Dissertation, University of London. (Look for Kawanami's forthcoming Worldly Renunciation: the World of Burmese Buddhist Nuns)

Sponberg, Alan, and Helen Hardacre, eds. 1988. Maitreya, the future Buddha. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press.

Dr. Chie Ikeya

Rockefeller Fellow

Critical Asian Studies Program

Simpson Center for the Humanities

University of Washington

From: Women in Asia [mailto:WOMENINASIA-L@mail04.GMU.EDU] On Behalf Of Yuen Ting Lee

Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 5:18 AM

To: WOMENINASIA-L@mail04.GMU.EDU

Subject: Incorporating women in Chinese history programmes

Dear members,

Yuen Ting LEE

Hong Kong Scholar

********************

Nicole Barnes wrote:

Dear Dr. Lee and all,

I have not had such experiences myself, but I am replying to let you know that I am very sorry that you are facing such severe sexism in your academic institution. One possible response might be to argue with your male colleagues that such courses on women in China are very common in colleges and universities across the U.S., and you wouldn't want to let Westerners be the only leading voices in the field of Chinese women's studies. As a white US'er woman who studies the history of Chinese women, I feel quite strongly that the field needs several voices--from all over the world, but especially China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong--to add perspective.

Perhaps this is a card that you can play when your male colleagues show their fear of being "left out" of history (as though this had not already been happening to women for centuries!).

Sincerely,

Nicole Barnes

The Program for Teaching East Asia

University of Colorado at Boulder

595 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0595

Phone: 303-735-5127

Fax: 303-735-5126

Nicole.Barnes@colorado.edu

http://www.colorado.edu/CAS/TEA

[ Back to Index ]

From: Women in Asia on behalf of Yuen Ting Lee

Sent: Mon 3/20/2006 7:51 AM

To: WOMENINASIA-L@mail04.GMU.EDU

Subject: Re: Women in Chinese History

Dear Nicole and all,

Thanks to Nicole for her useful suggestions with regard to incorporating women in Chinese history programmes. In addition, I think that to increase the number of female students in my Department, I need to convince my male colleagues to incorporate women in Chinese history programmes. There are only two woman scholars in my Department, and the number of female students is ridiculously low. Have you ever tried to do research into a topic, say, "Who actually studies women's history? Men or Women? Do you think that women are more interested in women's history than men?

For those who are now teaching women's history in their institutions, I really admire them. I hope that I would have such an opportunity in future.

Yuen Ting LEE

Hong Kong Scholar

From: "Wei, George" <wei@SUSQU.EDU>

Date: March 20, 2006 8:50:09 AM EST

To: WOMENINASIA-L@mail04.GMU.EDU

Subject: Re: Women in Chinese History

Hi, Yuen Ting:

Sorry for this belate response. I have taught a course "Asia: Family and Gender," for which Chinese women is almost half part of the entire content. A course purely on Chinese women may be luxury if your school is small, but if it includes the women of other Asian countries, family issues as well as male issues, you may be able to convince your male colleagues of doing it.

Best,

George Wei

Susquehanna University

From: Max Dashu <maxdashu@LMI.NET>

Date: March 20, 2006 6:51:07 PM EST

To: WOMENINASIA-L@mail04.GMU.EDU

Subject: Re: Women in Chinese History

I agree with Nicole Barnes that colleagues who shy away from women's history can be (however subtly) shamed into getting with the program. Any historian worth his (or her) salt ought to have a knowledge of women in his/her area of concentration; otherwise they don't know their field! That it is more difficult to pull up this information should not be an excuse, but rather add to the prestige of the undertaking. It is long overdue!

Max Dashu

Suppressed Histories Archives

Global Women's History

http://www.suppressedhistories.net

[ Back to Index ]

Perhaps making women's history as wide as possible might do the trick. It seems to me that some Chinese men are fear of being excluded. If I rename the proposed course, say "Gender in Asia", or "Gender Issues in China", then my male colleagues might be interested to hear the proposal. Even a good friend of mine has recently suggested that I better claim myself a social historian, not a historian on women's history or on Chinese feminism.

I used to read a book by Sharon Wesoky, __Chinese Feminism Faces Globalisation__(2002). In the book, the term "feminism" has been redefined as "nuxing zhuyi" but NOT "nuquan zhuyi". It appears that some men don't like the latter term, which means the idea of women's rights. Some men fear their own rights are being excluded.

Yuen Ting LEE

Hong Kong Scholar

Whether this is what Chinese men fear, I do not know (despite my name, I am a woman). I do know that Chinese men (like West Asian and African ones) are often portrayed in stereotypical ways. In the case of Chinese men, they are most often seen as effeminate.

I wonder if you've taken a look at Susan Brownell and Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom's reader, Chinese Femininities/Chinese Masculinities. That China itself had been feminized in colonial discourse is not something to be taken lightly. Unfortunately, Woman Studies amd specifically the critique of the treatment of women by traditional cultures has been a part of that history.

After all, let us not forget that no less than Simone de Beauvoir dismissed Chinese women as having been victimized since time immemorial, and in a footnote. What that implies is that Chinese men are and have been, shall we say, less than feeling. If I were a man (I am Chinese) I wouldn't feel so kindly towards a movement that has been less than fair to me. Who knows what "those people" are saying to our impressionable young people.

Emotional and theoretical minefields in the academy...

Terry Woo

Currently Visiting Professor at The Chinese University of Hong Kong

[ Back to Index ]

Terry Woo

Thanks to your reminder of the book, _Chinese Femininities/Chinese Masculinities_. I'll probably write a review of it in the near future. I have recently reviewed a book co-edited by Mechthild Leutner and Nicola Spakowski, _Women in China: The Republican Period in Historical Perspective_(2005). One article of the this book shows how some scholars in recent years are still facing the problem of incorporating women into mainstream Chinese studies. As Nicole Barnes wrote earlier, "the field needs several voices--from all over the world".

Thanks again to all those who have contributed to my queries.

Yuen Ting LEE

Hong Kong Scholar

[ Back to Index ]

From: Vibha Arora <vibhaaurora@GMAIL.COM>

Date: March 25, 2006 4:40:19 AM EST

To: WOMENINASIA-L@mail04.GMU.EDU

Subject: Re: Women + Third Sex in History and Movements in India

Hiya,

I have complied a short list of books & my colleagues from India and south asia are welcome to add on to it.Such additions will be helpful for all of us.

The course I'm teaching includes some but very few of the books given here.But the listincludes an ethnographic study by Nanda aboutthe Hemaphrodites-Eunuchs that I am teaching to undergraduates of Delhi University.

kind regards

vibha

References:

Agarwal, Bina, 1994, A field of One's Own: Gender and Land Rights in South Asia. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.

Bhasin, Kamla& Menon, Ritu, 1998, Borders and Boundaries: women in India's partition. New Delhi: Kali for Women.

Chakravarti, Uma, 1998, Rewriting History: The Life and Times of Pandita Ramabai. New Delhi: Kali for Women.

______ & Gill, Preeti, ed. 2001, Shadow Lives: Writings on widowhood. Delhi: Kali for Women.

Karlekar, Malavika, 1991, Voices from Within: Early Personal Narratives of Bengali Women, Delhi: Oxford University Press

_____2006, Visualizing Indian Women 1857-1947. Delhi: Oxford University Press.

Kumar, Radha, 1989, A History of Doing. An Illustrated account of movements for women's rights and feminism in India. New Delhi: Kali for women.

Nair, Janaki, 1996, Women and Law in Colonial India: A Social History. Delhi: Kali for Women.

Nanda, Serena, 1990, Neither Man nor woman: The Hijras of India. Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing.

Sangari, Kumkum & Vaid, Sudesh, 1993, Recasting women: Essays in Colonial History. Delhi: Kali for Women.

Ray, Raka, 2000, Fields of Protest: Women's Movement in India. New Delhi: Kali for Women.

On 3/27/06, Margorie Binham <> wrote:

I have been asked to do a curriculum project on China, Japan, and Korea c.1350-1650.Could any one suggest some good sources on women in those eras?

Thanks.Marjorie Bingham

From: Qin Fang <fang0058@GMAIL.COM>

Date: March 27, 2006 1:02:02 PM EST

To: WOMENINASIA-L@mail04.GMU.EDU

Subject: Re: China, Japan, Korea sources

Margorie Binham,

One book i am using for my class is Women and Confucian Cultures, edited by Dorothy Ko,Jahyun Kim Haboush,and Joan RPaggot, in which the patriarchal family paradigm, chasitity cult, primary wives, and woman's writings were interpreted in relation to Confucianisms in three countries.

Another two books might be useful two and areoftenused for textbooks for undergraduate class. One is The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyong: The Autobiographical Writings of a Crown Princess of Eighteenth Century Korea by Hyegyonggung Hong Ssi. The other is Women and the Family in Chinese History (Critical Asian Scholarship) by PATRICIA EBREY.

best

Qin Fang

[ Back to Index ]

From: Amanda Shuman <ashuman@GMU.EDU>

Date: March 27, 2006 2:07:57 PM EST

To: WOMENINASIA-L@mail04.GMU.EDU

Subject: Teaching the Cultural Revolution

Hello,

I have been enjoying the past few weeks of discussion on this listserv. I hope I have not missed my opportunity to pose a few of my own questions.

As someone who is about to enter graduate school for Chinese history (and therefore beginning a teaching career in it as well), I am curious to know who out there is currently teaching gender in the Cultural Revolution. I have been reading about the Cultural Revolution and have viewed Carma Hinton's film Morning Sun. In the bookSome of Us,Wang Zheng writes a chapter about how "youth" identity became more important to her than "female" identity, at least in part because being "female" was associated with our connotations (e.g., wives, mothers).I am curious as to how this subject (gender during the CR, and even more generally during the Mao era) is actually being taught.What kinds of sources and books are people assigning to their classes? Does it vary between high school and college classes (is the CR even being taught to high schoolers, or does the class stop in the 1950s)? What kinds of issues about the CR are people discussing with students? If gender is not factoring into the discussion of this recent event, why not?

I would appreciate hearing about all sources and discussions people are having in their classrooms in regards to this topic.

Thanks,

Amanda

------

Amanda Shuman

Webmaster

Center for History and New Media

George Mason University

(703) 993-4522

http://chnm.gmu.edu

The Good Women of China by Xinran is also a good look into the lives of women affected by China's Cultural Revolution.

Hope this is useful.

Christopher L. Van Huss

History Teacher

Felicity-Franklin High School

513-876-2113 ext.672

"Life must be lived forward, but it can only be understood

backward." -- Søren Kierkegaard

Today marks the official close of the Women in Asia forum. So, on behalf of the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University (http://chnm.gmu.edu), I'd like to thank our moderators Dorothy Ko and Kurt Waters, and all of the participants--active and lurking.

I also like to point out that all of the messages from this month are archived and fully searchable through the Women and World History website at: https://listserv.gmu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=WOMENINASIA-L

Please also see our "Forums" page on the Women in World History website at: http://chnm.gmu.edu/wwh/forum.html

Finally, if you have any further questions about the Women in Asia Forum or the Women in World History website, please feel free to contact me anytime at klehner@gmu.edu.

Best wishes,

Kristin

Kristin Lehner

Women in World History Project Associate

Center for History and New Media

George Mason University

4400 University Dr. MSN 3G1

Fairfax, Virginia 22030

United States

Phone: (703)993-4528

Email: klehner@gmu.edu