Seminars & Short Courses
The Body as Mirror: Hair, Feet, and Skin in East Asian Culture
As educators, we are quite familiar with our students’ focus on appearance and fashion as a marker of identity– and the people of pre-modern and modern East Asia were/are no different. In two sessions, this mini course will explore how the physical body was valued not just in a biological sense but also for how the body conveyed meaning on a social and cultural level. Sessions include hair as a marker of Confucian filial piety, foot binding, tattooing, lightness of skin tone, and the resistance in Japan to wearing high heels. Participants will come away with a selection of documents and images that can be used in the classroom.