Pedagogies of “The Popular” in Asian Studies

Session Submission Type: Organized Panel

Abstract

Beginning in Japanese Studies but spreading to other area studies across the past two decades, so-called “popular culture” has emerged as an increasingly significant topic for language learning, classroom teaching and research. As Universities consolidate their curricula by dropping small or niche areas of study, there has been a movement away from teaching a fixed “Canon” of texts when promoting Asian languages and cultures. Smaller institutions in particular, although they may teach Asian languages, are asking teachers to offer broad, border-crossing courses resulting in only a small selection of topics, increasingly framed around “the popular”.

Papers in this panel explore both the opportunities and disadvantages of emphasising “the popular” in teaching and research about Asia across three societies: Japan, Australia and Hong Kong. Issues addressed include: Do students from different backgrounds have different stakes in “the popular”? Does “the popular” itself have a Canon – or is it just what’s currently en vogue? Is “the popular” conceived differently across the Asia-Pacific region? How do teachers keep up with their students in tracing the rapid pace of pop culture developments? Are the methodologies and literacies developed for the study of “classic” cultural texts able to be used in the same way for the exploration of pop culture topics? What is lost through de-emphasising a “Canon” of classic works and what is to be gained by tailoring curricula to students’ everyday interests?

Area of Study

• Interarea-Border Crossing

Session Organizer

• Mark James McLelland, University of Wollongong

Chair

• Mark James McLelland, University of Wollongong

Individual Presentations

• Popular Culture, Social Media and Sexuality in the Hong Kong Classroom - Katrien Jacobs, Chinese University of Hong Kong

• Managing Manga Studies in the Convergent Classroom - Mark James McLelland, University of Wollongong

• Teaching Japanese Pop Culture in Japan in Diverse Contexts - Debra Occhi, Miyazaki International College

• On Teaching Asian Popular Culture - Rebecca Suter, University of Sydney

Discussant

• Barbara Hartley, University of Tasmania