FF:KSCA606 Constructing Identity in China - Course Information

KSCA606 Constructing Identity in Modern China

Extent and Intensity

1/1/0. 5 credit(s) (plus 1 credit for an exam). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
In-person direct teaching

Teacher(s)

Mgr. et Mgr. Dušan Vávra, Ph.D. (lecturer)

Guaranteed by

Mgr. et Mgr. Dušan Vávra, Ph.D.
Department of Chinese Studies – Asia Studies Centre – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Mgr. et Mgr. Dušan Vávra, Ph.D.
Supplier department: Department of Chinese Studies – Asia Studies Centre – Faculty of Arts

Timetable

Mon 16:00–17:40 B2.21, except Mon 18. 11. to Sun 24. 11.

Course Enrolment Limitations

The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with

• Chinese Studies (programme FF, N-CS_) (2)
• Culture Studies of China (programme FF, N-MS)

Course objectives

Basic compulsory course in the master's program of Cultural Studies of China. Students will gain knowledge of key identity discourses in contemporary China (including Taiwan and other foreign Chinese communities). The aim is to gain an in-depth understanding of the persistence of these discourses from the end of the 19th century to the present - the Chinese (surprisingly) approach the question of their own identity in essentially the same way, despite the enormous economic and geopolitical boom that China has undergone in recent decades.

The course is divided into three blocks. Lessons 1-2 are an introduction to the issue. Lessons 3-8 present individual discourses on examples of materials from various fields (politics, journalism, academia, literature, popular culture). Lessons 9-12 present selected cases of Chinese identity construction and the role of the studied discourses in their formation.

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student will be able to:
- identify typical discourses in any type of document from modern and contemporary China
- understand the significance of these discourses in contemporary Chinese discussions of national identity
- to clarify the origins of these discourses in the period of the first conflict and the coping with the influence of the West in the period of the end of the Qing dynasty and in the republican period

Syllabus

• 1. Introductory lesson: narrative "100 years of humiliation"
• 2. Discourse of modernization in 20th-21st century China
• 3. The discourse of self-loathing
• 4. Discourse of Chinese exceptionalism
• 5. Discourse of Chinese Marxism
• 6. Constructing Han Identity in Modern China
• 7. Ethnic politics in modern China and identity construction in Taiwan
• 8. Contemporary Chinese political thought (New Left and conservatism)
• 9. Contemporary Chinese political thought (liberalism)
• 10. Wuxia as a specific case of Chinese identity construction
• 11. Images of China in science fiction literature

Literature

• CALLAHAN, William A. China dreams : 20 visions of the future. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013, 212 stran. ISBN 9780199896400. info
• CALLAHAN, W. A. and Elena BARABANTSEVA. China Orders the World: Normative Soft Power and Foreign Policy. 2012. info
• BARABANTSEVA, Elena. Overseas Chinese, ethnic minorities and nationalism : de-centering China. First published. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2011, xviii, 202. ISBN 9780415579506. info
• CALLAHAN, William A. China : the pessoptimist nation. First published. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010, xvi, 266. ISBN 9780199549955. info
• Worrying about Chinathe language of Chinese critical inquiry. Edited by Gloria Davies. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007, x, 312 p. ISBN 0674026217. info
• BARMÉ, Geremie. In the red : on contemporary Chinese culture. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999, xxii, 512. ISBN 0231106149. info

Teaching methods

The course is conducted in the form of lectures and requires intensive preparation - for each lesson it is necessary to read several texts, mostly in English, and for most of them also watch at least one Chinese (Taiwanese, Hong Kong) film (or videos of other genres). The lectures end with a discussion on the topic.

Assessment methods

Course completion requirements:
1) Compulsory attendance (1 unexcused absence per semester allowed)
2) active participation in class
3) final seminar paper and its defence
4) oral examination - discussion of the seminar paper

Language of instruction

Czech

Further comments (probably available only in Czech)

Study Materials
Information on completion of the course: Posluchači Kulturních studií Číny povinně ukončují zkouškou.
The course is taught annually.

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