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Cultural Products, Representational Discourses and Transnational Identities

Code: 44258
Credits: 10
2026/2027
Degree programme Type Course
Global East Asian Studies OB 1

Contact lecturer

Name :
Antonio Paoliello Palermo
Email :
antonio.paoliello@uab.cat

Teaching staff

Blai Guarné Cabello
Roberto Figliulo
Tomás Grau De Pablos
Artur Lozano Mendez
Esther Torres Simon
Antonio Paoliello Palermo
Irene Masdeu Torruella
Alba Serra Vilella

Group languages

You can consult this information at the end of the document.

Prerequisites

None.

Part of the teaching is delivered in Spanish and part in English.

Course coordination: Antonio Paoliello

Objectives

"Cultural Products, Representational Discourses and Transnational Identities" is a compulsory subject worth 10 ECTS that focuses on the study of the global circulation of cultural products and creative industries, identity currents and representational discourses emerging from East Asia, understood as a node of creative-cultural influences, political-identity processes and discursive-representational formations that transcend their regional limits, influencing the rest of the world. The course integrates the theoretical and conceptual contributions of anthropology and sociology, cultural and literary studies, and the study of media and visual culture, with the ultimate goal of understanding the global relevance of popular culture, identity formulations and East Asian representational configurations in the contemporary world.

Learning outcomes

  • CA01 (Be able to interpret the global dynamics of cultural, creative and discursive circulation in the area of East Asia.) Be able to interpret the global dynamics of cultural, creative and discursive circulation in the area of East Asia.
  • CA02 (Be able to communicate clearly and systematically to diverse interlocutors the global relevance of popular culture, identity formulations and representational discourses related to East Asia.) Be able to communicate clearly and systematically to diverse interlocutors the global relevance of popular culture, identity formulations and representational discourses related to East Asia.
  • KA01 (Recognise the cultural, creative and representational complexity and implications of the reality of a global East Asia.) Recognise the cultural, creative and representational complexity and implications of the reality of a global East Asia.
  • KA02 (Describe the role of new forms of social communication in the global circulation and consumption of products, content and discourses emerging from East Asia.) Describe the role of new forms of social communication in the global circulation and consumption of products, content and discourses emerging from East Asia.
  • SA01 (Analyse the main aspects of the processes of dissemination, (re)production and consumption of cultural products and representational discourses emerging from East Asia on a global scale.) Analyse the main aspects of the processes of dissemination, (re)production and consumption of cultural products and representational discourses emerging from East Asia on a global scale.
  • SA02 (Analyse the changes in the creative-cultural and discursive-representational spheres resulting from East Asia's active participation in the globalisation process.) Analyse the changes in the creative-cultural and discursive-representational spheres resulting from East Asia's active participation in the globalisation process.
  • SA03 (Analyse in a detail the role of agents and channels of creative-cultural and discursive-representational circulation in global East Asia.) Analyse in a detail the role of agents and channels of creative-cultural and discursive-representational circulation in global East Asia.
  • SA04 (Competently employ theoretical and methodological concepts and perspectives in the study of cultural and creative industries, identity currents and representational discourses related to East Asia that circulate on a global scale.) Competently employ theoretical and methodological concepts and perspectives in the study of cultural and creative industries, identity currents and representational discourses related to East Asia that circulate on a global scale.

Contents

The subject’s contents are oriented towards the acquisition of knowledge on the global circulation of cultural products and creative industries, the identity currents and the representational discourses that emerge from East Asia. The specific contents of the subject are:


1. Cultural products and creative industries: a) Audiovisual industries and products: musical, literary, artistic, electronic and digital; b) Media convergence: crossmedia narratives, transmedia stories; c) Cultural circulation and (re)production: adaptations, appropriations and practices of social communication and cultural consumption, fandom ecosystem and fan culture.


2. Representational discourses and transnational identities: a) Discursive formations: representational imaginaries, Occidentalisms and Orientalisms, cultural nationalism; b) Transnational routes: migration, diaspora, transnationalism, new mobilities, communities abroad; c) Identity expressions: ethnic, (sub)cultural, referential, gender, orientation, choice, consumption.


3. Linguistic-cultural aspects: a) East Asian languages (China, Japan, Korea): a) history and formation, writing systems, literate cultures, linguistic transfers, language and ideology; b) Sociolinguistic practices: family transmission, teaching, minority languages and language policy; c) Literature in (trans)national contexts: Sinic literature, Japanese literature, Korean literature, canon and translation.

Learning activities and methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning outcomes
Essays writing, personal study, readings papers/specialized reports, cooperative learning 163 6.52 CA01, CA02, KA01, KA02, SA01, SA02, SA03, SA04
Oral defense of essays and debates 25 1 CA01, CA02, KA01, KA02, SA01, SA02, SA03, SA04
Lectures, talks 62 2.48 CA01, CA02, KA01, KA02, SA01, SA02, SA03, SA04

- Lectures

- Readings papers/specialized reports

- Cooperative learning

- Debates

- Talks

- Essays writing

- Oral presentations

- Personal study

Annotation: within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Assessment

Continuous assessment activities

Title Weight Hours ECTS Learning outcomes
Oral defense of essays and active participation in face-to-face sessions and activities 10% - 40% 0 0 CA01, CA02, KA01, KA02, SA01, SA02, SA03, SA04
Theoretical - practical written assessment 10% - 40% 0 0 CA01, CA02, KA01, KA02, SA01, SA02, SA03, SA04
Submission of essays, reports and commentaries 20% - 70% 0 0 CA01, CA02, KA01, KA02, SA01, SA02, SA03, SA04

The above information on assessment, assessment activities and their weighting are meant as a guide. The subject's lecturer will provide full information when teaching begins.

The evaluation in this subject is continuous assessment. This subject is not suitable for single assessment.

Continuous assessment

Students must provide evidence of their progress by completing various tasks and tests. These activities are detailed in the table at the end of this section of the Study Guide.

Review and missed/failed assessment activities

When publishing final marks prior to recording them on students' transcripts, the lecturer will outline the procedure to carry out their review and, once this is done, the resit procedure, if applicable.

UAB Assessment procedure: https://www.uab.cat/web/studies/graduate/university-master-s-degrees/evaluation/what-is-it-about-1345666815028.html

Misconduct in assessment activities

Any irregularity committed during an assessment (academic fraud, plagiarism, or misuse of AI, unless expressly authorized in the course syllabus) that could lead to a significant change in the grade will result in a grade of 0 for that assessment. If multiple irregularities occur during assessments for the same course, the final grade for that course will be 0. Furthermore, disciplinary proceedings may be initiated against any individual who commits any of these irregularities.

In this course, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies may or may not be permitted depending on the activity. The permitted and prohibited uses in each case will be detailed in the course introduction. Students must clearly identify which parts were generated using AI technologies, specify the tools used, verify and validate the information obtained and include a critical reflection on how these tools influenced the process and the final result of the activity. A lack of transparency regarding the use of AI in graded assignments will be considered a breach of academic integrity and may result in a partial or total penalty on the assignment grade, or more severe sanctions in serious cases. The teaching staff, in case of doubts, may require a face-to-face meeting to validate the authorship.

Bibliography

Ang, Ien, 2001, “On Not Speaking Chinese. Diasporic identifications and postmodern ethnicity,” On not Speaking Chinese: Living Between Asia and the West, Routledge.

Bernards, Brian, 2016, \"Sinophone Literature,\" Kirk A. Denton, ed., The Columbia Companion to Modern Chinese Literature, Columbia University Press.

Cho, Hae-Joang, 2005, “Reading the Korean Wave as a Sign of Global Shift,” Korea Journal 45(4):147-182.

De Seta, Gabriele, 2020, “Sinofuturism as Inverse Orientalism: China’s Future and the Denial of Coevalness,” “The Alternative Sinofuturism Special Issue,” SFRA Review 50(2-3):86-94.

Denison, Rayna, 2015, Anime: A Critical Introduction, Bloomsbury.

Gottlieb, Nanette, 2005, Language and Society in Japan. Cambridge University Press.

Guarné, Blai, 2010, “The Japanese Oxymoron: A Historical Approach to the Orientalist Representation of Japan,” Ignacio Lopez-Calvo, ed., One World Periphery Reads the Other: Knowing the “Oriental” in the Americas and the Iberian Peninsula, Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Guarné, Blai, ed., 2017, Antropología de Japón: Identidad, discurso y representación, Edicions Bellaterra.

Guarné, Blai and Paul Hansen, 2018, “Introduction: Escaping Japan Inside and Out,\" Escaping Japan: Reflections on Estrangement and Exile in the Twenty-First Century, Routledge.

Hendry, Joy, 2013, Understanding Japanese Society, Routledge. [Para entender la sociedad japonesa, Edicions Bellaterra, 2018]

Jung, Eun-Young, 2009, “Transnational Korea: A Critical Assessment of the Korean Wave in Asia and the United States,” Southeast Review of Asian Studies 31:69-80.

Kaltenegger, Sandra, 2023, “Modelling Chinese as a Pluricentric Language,” Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development.

Keene, Donald, 2020, “La literatura japonesa en el mundo,” Mirai. Estudios Japoneses 4:3-9.

Liu, Petrus and Lisa Rofel, eds., 2020, “The Wandering Earth: Gender, Sexuality, and Geopolitics,” Modern Chinese Literature and Culture. Foreign Language Publications.

Loriguillo-López, Antonio, ed., 2021, Estudios sobre cultura visual japonesa: Videojuegos, manga y anime, Edicions Bellaterra.

Lozano-Méndez, Artur, ed., 2016, El Japón contemporáneo: Una aproximación desde los estudios culturales, Edicions Bellaterra.

Rovira Esteva, Sara, 2010, Lengua y escritura chinas: Mitos y realidades, Edicions Bellaterra.

Salazar, Noel B., 2011, “The Power of Imagination in Transnational Mobilities,” Identites: Global Studies in Culture and Power 18:1-23.

Shirane, Haruo, Tomi Suzuki, David Lurie, eds., 2015, The Cambridge History of Japanese Literature, Columbia University Press.

Storey, John, 2018, Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction (Eighth Edition), Routledge.

Yang, Wei, 2013, “Voyage into an Unknown Future: A Genre Analysis of Chinese SF Film in the New Millennium,” Science Fiction Studies 40(1):133-147.

Yeh, Diana, 2014, “Contesting the ‘Model Minority’: Racialization, Youth Culture and ‘British Chinese’/‘Oriental’ Nights,” Ethnic and Racial Studies 37(7):1197–1210.

Yi, Jeong-Duk, 2003, “What is Korean Culture Anyway? A Critical Review,” Korean Journal 43(1):58-82.

Software

We will not use specific sotfware.

Course groups and languages

The information provided is provisional until November 30. After this date, you will be able to consult the language of each group through this link. To access the information, you will need to enter the course CODE

Type of teaching Group Language Semester Shift
(TEm) Theory (master) 1 Spanish first semester afternoon