ANTH/WMGS 326 Issue in the Anthropology of Kinship
Winter 2018
MARRIAGE AND PARTNERING
Mar. 7, 12: Finding a partner
Required readings: Suzuki, Nobue (2007) “Marrying a Marilyn of the tropics: Manhood and nationhood in Filipina-Japanese marriages.” Anthropological Quarterly 80(2): 427-454

- note how Suzuki uses Freeman’s article to provide a starting point.
    - this provides one example of how you might use the required reading in your essay
- Suzuki discusses a similar context to Faier’s article, but focuses on Japanese men instead of the Filipina women
- what is the political and economic history of relations between Japan and the Philippines?
- how does capitalist modernity structure marriage in Japan?
    [how do capitalist modernity and the organization of state benefits structure partnering in Canada?]
- how does partner choice (Japanese, international – from where?) fit into ideas of Japanese modern nationhood?
- notions of masculinity, hyper-masculinity, demasculinization
- notions of the “past” in terms of gender norms, especially for wife behaviour
- how are Filipina women representative of modernity?
- so, are these marriages dependent on dominant male/submissive female, First World/Third World relations? To what extent do they challenge that norm? How does this article combine with that of Faier to provide evidence?


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