Chinese Shadow Puppets in the Interdisciplinary Humanities Curriculum

Currently, the largest collection of 19th Century traditional Chinese Shadow Puppets in the U.S. is on loan to the Elling Eide Research Library and Preserve. This collection of over 1000 individual pieces, including major characters from traditional Chinese literature, gods, ghosts, animals, furnishings and props, will be exhibited in the Asian Center at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida in late 2019 and early 2020 to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year. Recognizing that this folk art is the earliest animated technique in the world and a precursor to film and that students today are extremely interested in animation, this presentation discusses the ancillary curriculum project to the exhibit, in which the two authors created general education curriculum online modules on selected Chinese Shadow Puppets to address issues of diversity and cultural influence. The project itself targeted students in the general humanities at the senior high school and early college level and was intended to expand the reach of the collection beyond the local level. The presentation reviews the process of creating the modules, the intended student learning outcomes, and the final online project in order to illustrate the benefits of engaging students through puppetry.