Keywords of Chinese Modernity (P02495)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 11 ? Acronym : LLC-P-P02495

Raymond Williams small pocket dictionary Keywords, A Vocabulary of Culture and Society has continuously played a pivotal role in Cultural Studies. Through etymological research of changing meanings of seemingly familiar words, Williams shaped new understandings of the relations between ideology, culture and society, in that language is not reflecting social change, but important social and historical processes occur within language.

On the basis of this assumption the study of “keywords of modernity” in China is crucial for understanding the processes of formation of “modern China”. From the 19th century onwards China’s agenda of modernization was informed by modern European (Western) discourses, which engendered the displacement of pre-modern discourses and discursive modes and the formation of new taxonomies, terms, and terminologies, mainly through translation and transnational cooperation.

However, the possibility of linear cultural translation of keywords and concepts was at the same time always undermined by complex indigenous orders of knowledge, personal constellation, and institutional frameworks. Within the process of appropriating new Western ideas, pre-modern conceptual modes merged with foreign and new linguistic import into cultural hybrids which started their own careers as Chinese concepts shaping the modern Chinese world.

The seminar will look at key concepts in Cultural Studies which had stirred academic debates in Chinese Studies. After introductions to the origins and backgrounds of these concepts, we will discuss articles, which try their application to the Chinese case.

? Keywords : China, cultural studies, key concepts

Entry Requirements

none

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Asian Studies, (School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, Schedule G)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : Postgraduate

? Delivery Period : Semester 1 (Blocks 1-2)

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 10 weeks

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Tutorial	Thursday	11:10	13:00	Central

? Additional Class Information : Location in 8 Buccleuch Place, Basement, Class Libary

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

- to understand key concepts of Cultural Studies which shaped and informed the field of Chinese Studies
- to understand and reflect on problems and possibilities arising with the application of concepts from one culture in another cultural context
- to understand changing perceptions of key concepts in different historical and cultural context
- to critically reflect on methodological and theoretical questions in relation to his/her own academic writing