Course Code and Course Title
Unofficial China
Time and Venue
Mondays 1:30-3:15pm
Instructor
Dr. Lynn Sun
Course Description
What is it like to live as a child, a gay, a migrant, a non-Han, a disabled, or an online celebrity in today’s China? How do we decode the Chinese society and culture beyond cannons and official records? This English-taught course moves beyond state ideologies and official accounts by exploring the multiplicity of Chinese livelihoods and their underlying sociocultural meanings and implications. It adopts an interdisciplinary approach to offer a survey of Chinese cultures and societies as expressed and experienced at the grassroots level. Students will be guided to engage with both textual and non-textual materials produced by Chinese individuals and groups to appreciate the multiplicity of social lives and form critical understanding of Chinese social norms, cultural patterns and their deviations. This Faculty Package course serves as an introduction to Chinese Studies.
Course Outline
Sept. 5 Course Introduction
Sept. 12 No Class (Public Holiday)
Sept. 19 Making Official: Ethnic Classification in PRC
Sept. 26 Making “Strangers”
Oct. 3 Missing Voices: Memory and Politics
Oct. 10 Desire and Disability
Oct. 17 Migrant Labor and Love
Oct. 24 “Disappeared” Daughters
Oct. 31 Presentation Day
Nov. 7 Courtship on Screen
Nov. 14 The Internet, Censorship and Resistance
Nov. 21 Civil Engagement and Its Limit
Nov. 28 Student Group Screening and Presentation