JPNB58 Representation of Identities in Japanese Media: Texts and Contexts

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2025
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
In-person direct teaching
Teacher(s)
Andrea Boccardi, M.A., PhD (lecturer)
Mgr. Marek Mikeš, Ph.D. (assistant)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Marek Mikeš, Ph.D.
Department of Japanese Studies – Asia Studies Centre – Faculty of Arts
Supplier department: Department of Japanese Studies – Asia Studies Centre – Faculty of Arts
Prerequisites
No prerequisites for this course.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 40 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/40, only registered: 0/40
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
As feminist and black activist bell hooks states, “[w]hether we’re talking about race or gender or class, popular culture is where the pedagogy is, it’s where the learning is” (1997). This course uses bell hooks’ codification of cultural criticism as a starting point to discuss the representation of plural and multicultural identities in post-WWII Japanese media. By analyzing and contextualizing popular culture – e.g. magazines, films, advertisement, tv shows, manga, this course aims to offer an overview of current topics and discussions regarding social groups and trending issues in modern and contemporary Japanese society as they are perceived, represented, portrayed, and ultimately consumed in mainstream Japanese media.
Learning outcomes
By the end of this course, the students will be able to:
(1) identify and engage with key issues concerning Japanese society, media and identity representation;
(2) understand and contextualize different social groups, their agency, their history and their (self-)portrayal in media;
(3) interpret primary and secondary sources in Japanese media using textual and audio-visual analysis;
(4) show a deeper knowledge of academic debates around the role of media and popular culture in society.
Syllabus
  • 1. Introductory Session - Cultural Criticism and Transformation – What is “Japan” today?
  • 2. Advertisement, “Discover Japan” Campaign, the Phantom of Modernity
  • 3. Masculinity, the Family, and the Media
  • 4. Satire, Institutions, the Emperor
  • 5. Satire, Institutions, the Emperor (Cont'd) + Assessment Workshop
  • 6. Cosmetic Multiculturalism and the Problem of the “Other”
  • 7. Burakumin, Discrimination and Legal Battles (Buraku Story)
  • 8. Okinawa as a Tropical Paradise, the Battle of Okinawa and its Anniversary, and Chura-san
  • 9. Ainu Mosir and the Fabric of Indigeneity
  • 10. Zainichi Koreans, Pachinko, and Transnationality
  • 11. Blackness and the Hafu experience
Literature
  • Ergül, Hakan. Popularizing Japanese TV: The cultural, economic, and emotional dimensions of infotainment discourse. Routledge, 2018.
  • Ko, Mika. Japanese cinema and otherness: Nationalism, multiculturalism and the problem of Japaneseness. Routledge, 2013.
  • lewallen, ann-elise. The fabric of indigeneity: Ainu identity, gender, and settler colonialism in Japan. University of New Mexico Press Published, 2016.
  • MacWilliams, Mark W. Japanese visual culture: explorations in the world of manga and anime. Routledge, 2014.
  • Igarashi, Yoshikuni. Japan, 1972: Visions of Masculinity in an Age of Mass Consumerism. Columbia University Press, 2021.
  • hooks, bell. Outlaw culture: Resisting representations. Routledge, 2006.
  • Ivy, Marilyn. Discourses of the Vanishing: Modernity, Phantasm, Japan. University of Chicago Press, 1995.
  • CHAPMAN, David. Zainichi Korean identity and ethnicity. 1st pub. London: Routledge, 2008, x, 182. ISBN 9780203944813. info
Teaching methods
Lectures, class discussions, in-depth textual and audio-visual analysis of primary sources in class
Assessment methods
Attendance in class. Participation in class discussions and debates. Final case study essay (2500 words + reference list). Students are expected to pick one of the macro-areas discussed in the module, select a case study (a piece of media) and analyze it by employing textual and/or audio-visual analysis and connecting it with theories and discourses studied in the course.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course is taught every week.
Information on the extent and intensity of the course: konzultace, individuální četba.
Information on course enrolment limitations: Zápis mimo japanistiku je podmíněn souhlasem vyučujícího.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2025, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2025/JPNB58