Relationship Between Gender And Literature

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Objective: The main objective of the course is to provide an opportunity to research students to help develop critical aptitude towards understanding relationship between Japanese society, gender and literature through systematic analysis of literary and social issues, literary groups and societies, and further situating them in the broader framework of social, economic and political developments in modern Japan with respect to gender relations.
Rationale: Gender issues relate to how men and women are situated vis-à-vis each other as laid down by social, economic, political and institutional structures. The main issues here are unequal or asymmetrical gender relations, inequality and marginalization of women under the overarching patriarchal social order. The role of religion, family, socialization, and the institutions of marriage, land and property ownership and inheritance shall form themes of initial discussion with reference to traditional social and power structures in Japan.
The process of social change brought about by industrialization and modernization has provided opportunities to question the traditional structures both within the family as well as outside. The emergence of a relatively librated ‘new women’ seeking equality with men in all spheres of life created new challenges and altered gender relations significantly. This allowed for changes in the institutional and legal provisions governing family, marriage and divorce on the one hand, and demands for