Process Case

Process Paper

As a group filled with diverse tastes, picking a topic was very hard for the four of us. Geisha was a topic mentioned early on, however we had some hesitation because we were not sure whether or not it would apply to the topic "Rights and Responsibilities in History". However it stuck in our minds throughout our discussions of topic ideas. We wanted to learn more about an exotic culture and most of us either having read or seen "Memoirs of a Geisha", our palettes had been wetted. We made a document on which we recorded all of the educational sources each of us located and then reviewed those web sources. Each of us read either an autobiography of a geisha or a professional study on geisha in order to familiarize ourselves with different aspects of the geisha culture. The diversity and controversy of the geisha culture inspired us to do a documentary rather than a web page so as better to convey our thesis. Our thesis relates to the topic because the geisha system was in its conception a way for women to achieve more freedom and responsibilities. Within the culture also are responsibilities to those becoming geisha, such as the onee-san/maiko relationship. As there are many calls for the reform of the geisha system to bring it up to modern standards, the controversy surrounding geisha and their rights and responsibilities is still alive today, and the culture is an enduring one in Japan.

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