Course Details

“DIY-East Asia” looks at the solutions being created by groups of young people around the world to economic inequalities, environmental injustices, and gendered, racial and ethnic discrimination. The DIY movement in East Asia is a transformational movement based on new forms of collaboration. DIY-ers are engaged in restoring community, rebuilding emptied out public spaces in rural and urban settings, and producing creative, ecological and non-hierarchical livelihoods. They connect with, learn from and share know-how via social media with others around the world taking part in similar projects. In East Asia, the DIY movement is also concerned with reconciling historical injustices brought on by imperialism and economic dispossession. Our geographic and historical focus for the class is East Asia, w/examples also drawn from Europe, Latin America and the United States.

Requirements for the class include: close reading and active participation in class discussion, two open book, open note essay exams, and a small group ethnographic research project. The ethnographic project will enable students to gain experience with the anthropological methods of interviewing and in some cases participant observation. Students will also work together on formal presentations of their research to be given in front of a group of their peers and faculty at the conclusion of the course.