16:217:517 WOMEN AND GENDER IN EAST ASIA RELIGIOSITY

 

Description: This seminar examines the religious beliefs and practices of and about women in Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism, and other religious traditions popular in China, Japan, and Korea. It aims to excavate the gender constructs that have shaped East Asian religiosity, as well as their social implications. To this aim, the seminar reviews how the female gender has been perceived and performed, what roles women have played or been prescribed in various religious traditions, and what differentiate the female and male piety. It also investigates how the body has been viewed in discourses of religious salvation. Course materials are organized thematically and include both foundational primary sources in translation (e.g., religious scriptures, ritual manuals, doctrinal exegeses, narrative tales, performative texts, and religious artifacts) and seminal scholarship.

Number of Credits: 3