Representing China
ANTH 311
Fall 2012 not offered
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| Crosslisting:
EAST 311 |
| Certificates: International Relations |
This course will introduce perspectives that anthropologists, ethnographers, writers, filmmakers, artists, and photographers have taken to understand contemporary social life in China. Students will learn to differentiate the strengths and weaknesses of each perspective and, at the same time, will develop their own nuanced appreciation for Chinese culture and recent Chinese history. Beginning with basic concepts of family and family relationships, we will survey giftgiving and banqueting, changes in the role and status of women, education, organization of the workplace, rituals, festivals, and changes since the beginning of the reform and opening up in the early 1980s. Anthropological essays and ethnographies will be supplemented by short stories, first-person narratives, and class presentations of films, photographs, and art works to illuminate the different ways that natives and foreigners represent Chinese culture. Lectures will provide cultural and historical context for these materials. No previous knowledge of China or Chinese is required for this class. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS ANTH |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (CEAS-MN)(CEAS-Arcp/Hist)(CEAS-Polit Econ) |
Major Readings:
Jun Jing, THE TEMPLE OF MEMORIES: HISTORY, POWER AND MORALITY IN A CHINESE VILLAGE, Stanford: Stanford Univ. 1996.
Yan Yunxiang, THE FLOW OF GIFTS: RECIPROCITY AND SOCIAL NETWORKS IN A CHINESE VILLAGE, Stanford: Stanford 1996.
We will also be reading selections from the following:
Bruun, Ole, BUSINESS AND BUREAUCRACY IN A CHINESE CITY: AN ENTHOGRAPHY OF PRIVATE BUSINESS HOUSEHOLDS IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA, (China Research Monograph, 43), New York: Institute of East Asian Studies 1993.
Fei Xiaotong, FROM THE SOIL: THE FOUNDATIONS OF CHINESE SOCIETY, Berkeley: California 1992 (1947).
Flower, John and Pamela Leonard, "Defining Cultural Life in the Chinese Countryside: The Case of the Chuan Zhu Temple," in E.B. Vesmeer, Frank Pieke and Woei-lian Chang, eds., COOPERATIVE AND COLLECTIVE IN CHINA'S RURAL DEVELOPMENT: BETWEEN STATE AND PRIVATE INTERESTS, Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, c1998, pp.273-290; Freedman, Maurice, THE STUDY OF CHINESE SOCIETY.
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Examinations and Assignments:
Final paper, midterm exam. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
Participation in web-based discussion board, journals on weekly readings. |
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