Teaching

EAAS V3927
China in the Modern World

Fall 2012: Tuesday 4:10pm-6:00pm
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INTRODUCTION

The rise of China has impacted world politics and economy in significant ways. How did it happen? This course introduces unique angles of self-understanding as suggested by Chinese writers, intellectuals, and artists who have participated in the making of modern China and provided illuminating and critical analyses of their own culture, history, and the world. Our readings will cover a wide selection of modern Chinese fiction and poetry, autobiographical writing, photography, documentary film, artworks, and music with emphasis on the interplays of art/literature, history, and politics. We will pay close attention to the role of storytelling, the mediating powers of technology, new forms of visuality and sense experience, and the emergence of critical consciousness in response to transpacific and global modernity. Our goal is to develop critical reading skills and gain in-depth understanding of modern China and its engagement with the modern world beyond the Cold War rhetoric. Topics of discussion include historical rupture, loss and melancholy, exile, freedom, migration, social bonding and identity, capitalism, nationalism, and the world revolution.

This course is open to all undergraduate students. It fulfills Global Core and may count as an elective. No prior knowledge of China or any of its languages is required.

METHOD OF INSTRUCTION

Lecture and Discussion. We will draw on cross-disciplinary methods from art history, film studies, anthropology, and history in approaching our texts and other works. In the course of the semester, a number of contemporary Chinese artists, filmmakers, or writers will be invited to visit our class and answer questions.

REQUIREMENTS

Attendance is mandatory. Students are required to complete all assignments and participate in class discussion. Each student is asked to pick a week and post at least three questions on that week’s reading to the Courseworks site by 9am on Monday, and everyone else should respond to those questions by 9am on Tuesday. In addition to the final examination, the written work consists of two short essays (5-7 pages)