Topics in East Asian Studies: “War and Media” 204

This seminar reconsiders the epistemic and biopolitical stakes of postwar and contemporary media theory (cybernetics, technical media, philosophies of technology) by focusing on Asia (Japan, Koreas, Taiwan, and Vietnams) as the primary site of warfare and experimentation.  We will probe the entangled histories of war and media as well as the ongoing operations of militarized aesthetics and machines in the historical present.  Drawing upon recent works in the fields of literature, media studies, art history and gender and sexuality studies, this seminar tracks the research methods and theoretical apparatus through which the relation between war and media has come to be articulated.