Chinese Cultural Revolution in the Global Context

Catalog description

"China’s “Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution” (GPCR/CR, 1966-1976) was one of the most important political and cultural events of the twentieth century. For various reasons, including the highly-contested nature of the decade and the difficulty of pursuing serious scholarship on the issue in the PRC, studies of the CR have, until very recently, remained partial and highly polemical. Nevertheless, there has been an explosion of new work on the topic in recent years, the most intriguing of which seeks to rethink the CR in heretofore unexplored ways. Intended for students who have at least some background in modern Chinese history, cultural studies, literature and/or film, this course will exploit and engage with these new ways of thinking about this hugely consequential period. Through careful reading, discussion, and research, this class will explore different dimensions of the CR: what did it mean to those who participated at the time of their participation? What did it mean in its aftermath? Why and how did such a utopian movement devolve into its opposite? How can we think about the CR today and what should our ethical considerations be in doing so? Students will be asked to check their prejudices at the door, to come in with fresh minds and fresh ideas, so as to explore how such a monumental movement could have taken hold in China for a decade. We will not start with any pre-judgements about the CR, its politics, its meaning, or its afterlives. Rather, these will be the objects of our discovery."