Memory and Identity in the People’s Republic of China

Catalog description

This course explores how the government of the People’s Republic of China historically has defined and managed ethnic and religious diversity within China, and how in turn, various ethno-religious groups in China have negotiated their own sometimes fraught positions. How have local understandings of identity in China been influenced by state-driven narratives about China’s collective past? How is historical memory in China incarnated in physically tangible and symbolically meaningful places, such as museums and memorials? This course draws on historical and anthropological approaches to identity, ethnicity, language, modernity, religion, nationalism, and memory to explore these questions in detail. Satisfies a requirement in the History major and minor. Satisfies a requirement in the East Asian Studies major. Satisfies a requirement in the Chinese Studies major and minor. Satisfies the Historical Thought requirement. Satisfies the cultural diversity requirement.