emory｜cute studies-九游会j9官网ag登录入口

cute studies

emory university

professor erica kanesaka

this course critically examines the aesthetics of cuteness in the context of the politics of race, gender, sexuality, disability, and age, with a special focus on the globalization of japanese kawaii (“cute”) culture and its impact on asian america. in its associations with the small, soft, and simple, cuteness is an aesthetic category intimately bound up in differences of power. over the past few decades, this aesthetic has been freshly emerging as a global phenomenon in relation to new technologies and the spread of japanese popular culture.

in this course, we will study literary texts and cultural objects that engage the aesthetic to unpack how cuteness commodifies social difference and distills complex political dynamics within seemingly trivial and mundane aspects of everyday life. we will situate its contemporary popularity in longer histories of imperialism and commodity capitalism, as well as cultural conceptions of asian people, women, children, and animals. no prior knowledge of japanese language and culture is required.

topics to be discussed will include: the historical emergence of cuteness and kawaii; childhood innocence and nostalgia; caricature and animation; globalization and soft power; toys and play; pets and domesticated animals; food and eating; japanophilia; pink as a cute color; cute robots and digital aesthetics; the ties between the cute, cool, campy, sexy, and uncanny; cuteness’s uptake in contemporary literature and art; cuteness’s potential for healing and care.

required readings

kazuo ishiguro, klara and the sun

toni morrison, the bluest eye

ruth ozeki, a tale for the time being

*all other readings will be available as pdfs on canvas.

course objectives

• think critically about the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, disability, and age in a global context

• develop an understanding of core concepts and issues in the interdisciplinary study of global asian and asian american popular cultures

• analyze literature and culture in relation to minor aesthetics and minoritarian politics

• articulate a personal vision for how to approach power, vulnerability, and difference in intellectual inquiry, artistic creation, political activism, and everyday life

class schedule

part i: introduction to kawaii & cuteness

week 1: introductions

first class on wednesday 1/11 – please attend; no readings or discussion post due *bring a cute item from home for show and tell

week 2: cute studies: a serious subject?

no class on monday 1/16

wednesday 1/18

• sianne ngai, “the cuteness of the avant-garde”

• hiroshi nittono, “the two-layer model of ‘kawaii’: a behavioural science framework for understanding kawaii and cuteness”

• joshua paul dale, “sei shōnagon’s ‘list of cute things’”

• ocean vuong, “toy boat”

week 3: cuteness, race, and difference

monday 1/23

• leslie bow, “racist cute: caricature, kawaii-style, and the asian thing”

• franny choi, “how to become an object”

• r.o. kwon, “stop calling asian women adorable”

wednesday 1/25

• toni morrison, the bluest eye (“forward” and “autumn”†)

†please also read the opening material that appears before “autumn” (“here is the house…” and “quiet as it’s kept…”)

• robin bernstein, “children’s books, dolls, and the performance of race; or, the possibility of children’s literature”

week 4: power play: toys and other scriptive things

monday 1/30

• toni morrison, the bluest eye (“winter” and “spring”)

• lori merish, “cuteness and commodity aesthetics: tom thumb and shirley temple”

wednesday 2/1

• toni morrison, the bluest eye (“summer”)

• ann ducille, “dyes and dolls: multicultural barbie and the merchandising of difference”

week 5: sparking joy: kawaii affective assemblages

monday 2/6

• jane mai and an nguyen, selections from so pretty / very rotten: comics and essays on lolita fashion and cute culture

• megan catherine rose, haruka kurebayashi, and rei saionji, “kawaii affective assemblages: cute new materialism in decora fashion, harajuku”

• monica swindle, “feeling girl, girling feeling: an examination of ‘girl’ as affect”

wednesday 2/8

• “empty nesters” from tidying up with marie kondo(tv show available on netflix)

• erica kanesaka, “believing in fairies: marie kondo and our oriental attachments”

• karen tei yamashita, “konmarimasu: a japanese american incarceration road trip”

week 6: pink ice cream: sweetness, sentimentality, sexuality

monday 2/13

• baby talk for parents (website)

• leslie jamison, “in defense of the saccharin(e)”

• kristin wong, “becoming fluent in baby talk”

• michelle zauner, “crying in h mart”

wednesday 2/15

• pink: the history of a punk, pretty, powerful color at the museum at the fashion institute of technology (exhibition video, details, and audio tour)

• blackpink (with selena gomez), “ice cream”

• janelle monáe, “pynk”

• jillian hernandez, “radical pink: the aesthetics of visionary black girlhood in sadie barnette’s ‘dear 1968…’ and black sky”

part ii: cuteness across the pacific

week 7: pink globalization i: from japanese schoolgirl culture to global phenomenon

monday 2/20

• ruth ozeki, a tale for the time being(part 1: p. 1–108)

• kanako shiokawa, “cute but deadly: women and violence in japanese comics”

wednesday 2/22

• ruth ozeki, a tale for the time being(part 2: p. 109–258)

• christine yano, “wink on pink: interpreting japanese cute as it grabs the global headlines”

week 8: pink globalization ii: queering kawaii and the politics of care

monday 2/27

• ruth ozeki, a tale for the time being(part 3: p. 259–355)

• makiko iseri, “flexible femininities? queering kawaii in japanese girls’ culture”

wednesday 3/1

• ruth ozeki, a tale for the time being(part 4 and appendices: p. 356–418)

• sharon tran, “kawaii asian girls save the day! animating a minor politics of care”

week 9: break

no class on monday 3/6 and wednesday 3/8 (spring break)

week 10: softening techno-orientalism: mukokuseki and mobile kawaii

monday 3/13

• big hero 6(film)

• koichi iwabuchi, “how japanese is pokémon?”

• joel gn, “designing affection: on the curious case of machine cuteness”

wednesday 3/15

• pokémon go(mobile app) o catch 5 pokémon at different moments and locations in your daily life and save the images. take note of your experiences and the reactions of people around you.

• tara fickle, “mobile frontiers: pokémon after pearl harbor” from the race card: from gaming technologies to model minorities

week 11: artificial friends i: dolls and digital companions

monday 3/20

• kazuo ishiguro, klara and the sun (parts 1 and 2)

• sherry turkle, “authenticity in the age of digital companions”

wednesday 3/22

• kazuo ishiguro, klara and the sun (part 3)

• anne anlin cheng, “dolls” from ornamentalism

week 12: artificial friends ii: techno-orientalism and technoableism

monday 3/27

• kazuo ishiguro, klara and the sun (part 4)

• jane shi, “reimagining the autistic mother tongue”

• alice wong, “my cyborg future”

wednesday 3/29 *no discussion post due; care robot workshop in class

• kazuo ishiguro, klara and the sun (parts 5 and 6)

part iii: more cute questions

week 13: docile or dangerous?: the yellow peril and cute monstrosity

monday 4/3

• gremlins(film)

• erica kanesaka, “yellow peril, oriental plaything: asian exclusion and the 1927 u.s.japan doll exchange”

• wendy allison lee, “cute. dangerous. asian american. ‘gremlins’ @ 35”

no class on wednesday 4/5 (prof. kanesaka away at conference)

week 14: cruelty or affection?: using pets, using people

monday 4/10

• bao (short film)

• erin khuê ninh, “the model minority: asian american immigrant families and intimate harm”

• debra j. occhi, “kyaraben (character bento): the cutesification of japanese food in and beyond the lunchbox”

wednesday 4/12

• cute animal digital artifacts *tbd* (class selection):

o post one of your favorite cute animal memes or videos on the designated canvas discussion board under this week’s module.

• allison page, “‘this baby sloth will inspire you to keep going’: capital, labor, and the affective power of cute animal videos”

• amanda s. robinson, “finding healing through animal companionship in japanese animal cafés”

week 15: vulnerability or power?: angry little asian girls

monday 4/17

• lela lee, selections from angry little girls

• sara ahmed, “a killjoy manifesto”

no class on wednesday 4/19 (work day with office hours 10–3pm)

week 16: conclusions

final class on monday 4/24 – please attend; no readings or discussion post due