HSOC-318: World Design Studies: Asias

This course provides both an introduction to and critical exploration of the ways in which design has been historicized and theorized. Rather than presenting a survey, this course is a thematic introduction to the study of design and material culture objects from different time periods in various social and cultural contexts. Through lecture, reading, discussion, and hands-on assignments, the course will engage object histories in their specific cultural and economic contexts in order to relate the production, consumption, and circulation of things to broader social processes. In the course, we will focus in particular on case studies of encounter and trade involving Asia to examine the ways in which gender, power, class, race, and colonialism have shaped the field of design. Of particular focus will be the ways the discipline of design has been defined in relation to objects that have become indices of "China" and "Asia."