Imperial China

Catalog description

This survey introduces the history of imperial China, from the first emperor of a unified China (200 BCE) to the collapse of the last dynasty in 1912. In addition to stories about great men and political changes, this course guides students to understand social changes and cultural identities through the experience of people from different classes. This course will introduce entry-level theories about the history of technology, gender, material culture, and basic debates about modernity. It aims to show how cultural interactions, trade, and exchanges of technologies with surrounding cultures contributed to the configuration of Chinese culture. Primary and secondary sources are supplemented by visual materials and film screenings. There are approximately three billion people online across the globe. They may be checking their email, sending a Tweet, messaging on WhatsApp, reposting a news article on their Facebook page, talking on Zoom, watching or uploading a video on YouTube or TikTok, participating in one of many multi-player gaming worlds, or simply shopping. In the last decade or so anthropologists and media studies scholars have grown increasingly interested in the ways the internet and its participatory promise has embedded itself in our everyday lives. In this course we will read ethnographic and selected theoretical texts as well as scrutinize our own practices to engage with ongoing debates in anthropology and cognate disciplines around the growing global significance of the internet and its mediating technologies. History Major Requirements Fulfilled by this Course: Pre-1800s and Non-west