Research Thesis

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

Hopefully i'm posting this in the right place?! 😛

Topic: The modern relationship between mother-in-laws and daughter-in-laws in East Asian countries like Korea, Vietnam, and China.

Thesis: It has always been a tradition for a daughter-in-law living in East Asian countries to respect her mother-in-law. As often is the case, the mother-in-law is the dominant figure who has an indirect control over the marriage of her son and daughter-in-law. Nowadays, however, the daughter-in-law has a more respective role in the family as she is more independent and in full control of her own marriage.

[Anonymous]

Cool topic van! I think you can find alot about that especially through personal interviews.

Here's mine:

Topic: The Evolution of Courtship and Marriage Rituals in Urban China

Thesis: Whereas in the earlier parts of the 20th century, urban Chinese couples followed courtship rituals similar to those in rural areas, they later adopted less traditional, western-influenced practices.

-Sally

[Edit by="yzhen on Apr 24, 3:50:04 PM"][/Edit]

[clay dube]

Hi Folks --
Van Dinh's done us a service by creating a thread for your research theses. Post your thesis here along with any comments you might have or questions you might raise.

Others should feel free to comment upon the thesis and to suggest materials or issues to consider.

When you post your thesis, just hit "post reply" to this message and then put your research topic in the subject line. Put the thesis (and perhaps your full name, not everyone knows her/his classmates' last names) into the message area.

(By the way, did I mispell "theses"? -- If I did I could correct it. You can always edit your own posts.)

[Anonymous]

I have always been concerned about health, obesity, and the causes of it. During a study tour in Taiwan this past summer, I noticed the media's and society's paranoia over staying thin. On almost every channel I turn to, I see "diet patch" infomercials that claim to help people lose pounds at a rate of almost 1 pound/day. When I indulged in the night markets and put on a little weight, almost all my relatives made me feel self conscious about it. To show you how obsessed Chinese people are about weight, I can just tell you that TO THIS DAY they still ask my mother if I managed to shed that summer weight. Keep in mind I went back to Taiwan 9 months ago. Ok, enough. This topic turned out to be a double-edged sword.

Thesis: Towards the end of the 20th century, China has seen an exponential growth in the percentage of overweight and obese people due to urbanization and shifts in the social and economic status of Chinese people.

-Amy

[Anonymous]

Topic: Along with a lot of other people in this cluster, I too am interested in the traditional versus modern gender roles in the East Asian society. Although I will be concentrating on what women and men did daily in the early 20th century and compare it to the 21st century. Also, the marriage rituals and their evolution. This includes qualities that constitute a "good wife", child rearing expectations, daughter-in-law expectations, family sizes, role of husband, wife/father, mother. Mainly, how all of these aspects changed and WHY they changed over time. The country I will be concentrating on is Taiwan.

Thesis: In the beginning of the 20th century in Taiwan, the gender role of women was to stay in the household and have complete devotion to the family, but as modernization and women's rights began to emerge, traditions changed dramatically as women began to leave the home and contribute to other aspects of society rather than exclusively to the family.

[Anonymous]

my topic is going to be centered on daugther expectations and how these expectations stem back to old ideas which constrains a daughter to an old set of rules that are not applicable in modern society.

thesis:Chinese traditional views on how a daughter should behave, which dates back to Confucius, limits a daughter to a sheltered life in today's modern society.

yeah.. this is still broad.. and i cant really word it correctly at the moment.. maybe tomorrow in the morning.

[Anonymous]

i actually had to do a little research before writing my thesis. this was because i had to be sure that there was, even if weak, a link between my topic and family life. if there wasn't, it would be a lost cause, but it turned out ok.

thesis:
During the mid-twentieth century, Korean populations experienced large rises in Christian conversions that resulted in the growth of a type of ‘religious family’ through the influences of social services for church members and the provision for fellowship among Korean immigrants. These protestant and catholic developments soon became powerful enough to serve essential social functions, even to the point of greatly impacting Korean social life, and in effect, ways of life within the family.

so in other words, my paper focusses on korean christians and their massive conversion rates (within the immigrant populations). hopefully the connection to family is fairly obvious. religious spheres interact with social spheres, and social spheres directly influence family lifestyles. i even actually go as far to argue, that the church served as a secondary family for korean immigrants. another example is this: if korean catholicism encourages that women act in a certain way, Korean females will be forced to adhere to a particular way of life within the family.

i realize that the focus is more so on religious influences than the family itself, but i'm hoping that the link between the two is strong enough so that i would not have to abandon this project.[Edit by="afang on Apr 24, 11:49:22 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

I tried to do some research on my topic, but I'm still unsure whether there's enough information. So, tentatively (still), my thesis wil be on domestic violence and its discourse.

Thesis:
After the establishment fo the People's Republic of China, Chinese women's public discourse on domestic violence became more apparent due to the increase in financial independence, education, and changing family structure.

I'm not sure if the wording works, but that's the gist for now. If any of you guys have suggestions for sources, please let me know. Thanks so much.

Minh Nguyen

[Anonymous]

Thesis: Although Mao Zedong’s Communist ideology resulted in the creation of laws advocating women’s equality to men, the lack of enforcement of these new laws has prevented any significant improvement in the treatment of women in China. Moreover, some of Mao Zedong’s policies have had a direct negative impact on women.

Topic: First, I plan to discuss Mao’s policies towards women and why they would seemingly benefit women. I will go into the fact that he wanted everyone to have an equal opportunity and especially poor people and women. Then I will go into how the laws are not enforced and while some improvements have been made, many women have not been able to succeed in work, education, and politics. In terms of politics, I want to go further in depth in Mao’s one-child policy, which has caused the phenomenon of China’s lost girls and caused many families to abort or murder their daughters. The laws protecting the baby girls from infanticide have not been enforced.
[Edit by="rliu on Apr 25, 1:20:14 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

TOPIC: Although homosexuality has only recently captured the attention of Americans nationwide, this generally considered taboo issue among Asians has historical roots deep in East Asian history. I would like to research the notions of homosexuality and the culture surrounding romantic same-sex relationships in Asia comparing the past and present.

THESIS: Chinese and Japanese perspectives on homosexuality have evolved marginally/dramatically [depending on research] from past to present.[Edit by="vchan on Apr 25, 11:55:17 AM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

Thesis:
During the feudal, landlord era, China’s family system was not as affected by its government and governmental policies as it came to be during the time of the Western powers’ invasion, the first few years of communist rule, and modern day China, where influence has been exerted over intrafamilial relationships, the hierarchical basis of familial roles, inheritance rights, and marriage practices.

I know it's really long right now but I'm not sure what time periods or what aspects of the family structure to focus on since I haven't done the bulk of my research yet... 🙁

[Anonymous]

Topic:
I am going to look at the Shanghai family in the 1920s-1930s and 1.) prove that gender relations in Shanghai families are more equal than gender relations in the rest of China. and 2.) show why.

Thesis:
In 1920s and 30s China, the precocious development of higher eduaction, industrialization, and colonialism experienced by Shanghai citizens created a unique gender equality within the Shanghai family.

[Anonymous]

Thesis: By examining the migration patterns and life style in different areas of China, it shows the formation and reformation of Chinese families due to the immigration to Taiwan during the 50s had a tremendous impact on the separated family members and the new families that formed.

[Anonymous]

topic: i'm planning on discussing various mindsets/attitudes towards dating/courting in current Japanese society, but more specifically, the difference in mindsets between males and females.

thesis: Within contemporary Japanese society, women and men have largely differing qualities they find desirable in a potential spouse. Neither gender is more demanding; these ideals merely reflect each gender's minset towards the purpose and goal of marriage.

right now it's still a little vague (and applicable to..a lot of countries..haha), so as i continue researching, i'm hoping to add a bit in about how these different mindsets influence consumer patterns, or maybe even comparing male/female mindsets to the singles in another country.

[Anonymous]

So my apologies for posting this so late. The topic I wanted to focus on was family rituals in China and how it has changed from pre-1949 to a rough time period afterwards--I'm not quite sure where i want to put an end point to my analysis yet. I'm thinking about describing certain rituals related to the life-cycle such as weddings, ancestor worship, and death. Then analyzing how government (political), and social influences has transformed the way families practice rituals after Communist rule.

Thesis: With the declaration of the People's Republic in 1949, government influence and urbanization has changed the way Chinese families practice weddings and ancestor worships, while tradition and pre-modern Confucian ideals have kept the structure and practice of death rituals fairly unchanged.

[Author]

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