China Beyond China

Catalog description

Study of modern and contemporary Chinese culture in its diversity and its intercultural contexts. CHNS 415 China Beyond China (3) (IL) In order to begin to understand Chinese culture, we cannot treat it as a monolithic, unified whole. This course will give an introduction to modern and contemporary Chinese culture (focusing on the 20th and 21st centuries) by paying special attention to China's inner diversity, as well as the continuous shaping of Chinese culture in contact, dialogue, and tension with other cultures. Through the study of literary texts, films, and other cultural material - as well as a small number of theoretical essays - this course will focus on: 1) Chinese culture in its variety by focusing on Chinese cultural spheres beyond the People's Republic (Taiwan, Hong Kong), the Chinese diaspora, as well as other ethnicities and cultures within Mainland China; and 2) the ways in which Chinese modernity was impacted by intercultural impulses, as well as the recent self-representation of China in the context of globalization. Course Objectives include: 1. Understand modern and contemporary China in its cultural diversity, as well as shaped by intercultural and global processes. 2. Critically analyze processes of cultural contact and the representations of cultural differences. 3. Think critically about globalization with its impact on such categories as the local and the national. 4. Question your assumptions about the world, re-examine your own points of view, and understand cultures and value systems that may different from (or be shared with) your own.