ART 259 - Art, Politics and Cultural Identity in East Asia

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

(Same as ASIA 259) Topic for 2016/17b: Manga, Anime, and the Visual Arts of Japan. Manga (cartoons, comics) and anime (hand-drawn or digital animations) are global phenomena deeply rooted in the visual arts of Japan. This course surveys the history of manga and anime from premodern times to the present. Our attempt to understand the real and imaginary worlds conjured through manga and anime images demands careful study of artists’ materials, techniques, and solutions to problems of visual design and composition. We trace the history these images from early sources in painting and woodblock-printed illustrations, through the twentieth century and into the present, as manga and anime gain an increasingly central role in popular culture. We investigate the many abiding themes which manga and anime address, including gender, ethnicity, politics, social life, religion, and technology: worlds natural and supernatural, and the divergent possibilities, whether human, posthuman, or transhuman, that such worlds entail. Gregory Seiffert.

ART 105 or ART 106 or one 100-level Asian Studies course, or permission of the instructor.

Two 75-minute periods.