Kelly Hansen is an Assistant Professor of Linguistics and Japanese at SDSU
Title
Narratives of Japanese Popular Culture
Goal
Matsuo Basho was a 17th century Japanese poet who popularized the haiku form.
In his travel journal Narrow Road to the Deep North, he traveled through
Northern Japan to visit sites made famous in poetic history. At each site, he drew
on the inspiration of premodern poetic traditions to create innovate poems in the
new haiku form. The journal is packed with references to historical figures and
events, well-known poems from the classical period, and other cultural references.
The original plan for this project was to use Storymap, assigning each group a
location or part of the map to develop. I had hoped to continue adding to the map
throughout the semester, to highlight the importance of place in Japanese
narrative traditions, and consider how places might change - both physically and
culturally - over the modern period. The final reading of the semester was a posttsunami
travel journal done by a young poet who traveled to Northern Japan three
months after the tsunami, observing how many of the famous sites Basho visited
had been altered by the tsunami. The entire journal is done in tweets.
Because of the limitations of Storymap (only one image allowed per location, and
limited ability to change formatting), we switched to wikis. The project (and the
course overall) lost the emphasis on place which I had originally intended, and
shifted to a focus on understanding how premodern references and traditions are
incorporated in modern works.
Lesson Plans
Each group was asked to include the following in their wiki: (1) a brief overview
of their section, focusing particularly on places visited (2) analysis of any poems
in their section, including contextual and seasonal references (3) explanation of
any historical or cultural references, and (4) commentary on the overall tone and
rhythm. I did the first few pages of the journal as a model.
For the final project of the semester, students were given the option of writing a
traditional essay or creating a wiki, either alone or with a partner. Students who
created wikis also gave short presentations in class. About 75% of the students
chose to do wikis. The vast majority of the projects focused on popular culture
products - anime, manga, music, and video games. Students were surprised to
discover that many of their favorite anime and manga were packed with historical
and cultural references, and eager to share their research with classmates.