National Imagination: Week 8-10

Week Eight-Ten: Gendered Nation. Students spend three weeks analyzing three cultures as "Gendered Nations." According to Professor Marvin D'Lugo, "this means everything that's been excluded in the patriarchal society." Main topics include women as representations, women as creators of cultural production, women as a source of intervention and resistance within each society. Some examples include:

• In the case of Germany, Professor Walter Schatzberg shows his students the film "Germany Pale Mother," a film that grew out of a tradition of women film makers, and is a mother's rereading of recent German history.


• In the case of Japan, Professor Alice Valentine assigns the late 10th- early 11th-century text "The Tale of Genji," written by a woman, to give her students a look at court culture and the themes of aesthetics, form and ritual over ethics.


• In the case of Argentina, Professor Marvin D'Lugo shows students the films "Camilla" and "The Official Story" to introduce students to the country's history of marginilizing women.