AMERICAN IDEAS AND GLOBAL RECE

Catalog description

What is the story of the United States? What fundamental ideas of America have been formed as a nation and as an empire? Are there connections we can draw between the US today and its past? What relevance does the US have in China historically and in the present day? What place does the US have in the Chinese imagination? In this course, we address these questions by examining a variety of texts, ranging from important founding documents, political speeches, autobiographies, and travelogues to excerpts of American novels. Through class discussions, team projects, and role plays, we will discuss fundamental concepts of America, its past and present, and explore themes such as politics and religion, race and slavery, immigration and identity, women and economics, and education and citizenship. We will also consider how America is being perceived in the world specifically within the Chinese context. 001368