The Modernity of Didactic Literature for women in the Tokugawa Period
[Recorded 22nd April 2015] This talk examines the concept of “modernity” in the sociological sense, with reference to the dramatic changes in social life that accompanied modernization in Japan. It focuses on the influence of Confucianism on didactic literature as the path that assured the continuity between epochs. Texts like “survival guides”, “almanacs”, and “manuals for the right attitude”, lend a new perspective on gender roles of the time, just as gender studies provides a critical perspective on didactic literature. This seminar took place at Oxford Brookes University on 22 April 2015.