AN/OTHER CHINA: POSTCOLONIAL CONCERNS, POSTMODERN THEORY 16.7 4th year Michael Dutton. While not a prerequisite, the lectures in the subject An/Other China: Theorising Everyday Life offer background on themes discussed in the seminars. Therefore students who have not done this subject will be required to attend an additional two hours of lectures that will set the themes for the seminar discussions. First semester One 2-hour seminar and an additional two hours of lectures per week. Students who complete this subject should be able to:
  • Understand the usefulness and importance of postmodern and postcolonial concerns;
  • Discuss questions of social transition in a broader more theoretically informed manner;
  • Understand the limits of area studies and applied theory approaches to the construction of knowledge;
  • Analyse the limits to a select body of recent social, political and cultural theory
  • Advance an alternative way of formulating the idea of mainstreaming Asian Studies.
The subject highlights a range of postcolonial concerns (such as, hybridity, alterity and subalterity etc) and utilises a wide body of postmodern theory (Foucault, Derrida, de Certeau etc. ) to examine certain specific issues of social, cultural and economic development in China. Essay work or equivalent totalling 6,000 words. An/Other China (a reading pack of translations edited by Michael Dutton and available from the Department) AN/OTHER CHINA: POST-COLONIAL CONCERNS, POSTMODERN THEORY 16.7 4th year Michael Dutton. Second semester One 2 hour seminar per week. While not a prerequisite, the lectures in the subject An/Other China: Theorising Everyday Life (formally called Human Rights and Democracy in China) offer background on themes discussed in the seminars. Therefore students who have not done this subject will be required to attend an additional two hours of lectures that will set the themes for the seminar discussions. Student who complete this subject should be able to:
  • understand the usefulness and importance of postmodern and postcolonial concerns;
  • discuss questions of social transition in a broader more theoretically informed manner;
  • understand the limits of 'area studies' and 'applied theory' approaches to the construction of knowledge;
  • analyse the limits to a select body of recent social, political and cultural theory;
  • advance an alternative way of formulating the idea of 'mainstreaming' Asian Studies
One two hour seminar and an additional two hours of lectures One 6,000 word essay or the equivalent thereof.