Time Schedule:
Tani E. Barlow
HSTAS 459
Seattle Campus
Emergence of modernist social, political, intellectual gender formations in social activism, revolutionary writing, scientific ideologies, economic globalization. Stresses gender difference in colonial modernity, revolutionary movement, communism, post-socialist market society. Relates modern Chinese women to global flows, new division of labor, local and regional experience. Offered: jointly with WOMEN 459.
Class description
Emergence of modern social, political, intellectual gender formations in state crisis, social militancy, national consolidation, revolutionary thought, scientific ideologies, economic globalization. Stresses gender and sexuality in colonial modernity, social revolution, in Maoist and in post-socialist market society. Relates personal experience to work, politics, law and visual representation. Offered: jointly with WOMEN 459.
Student learning goals
Absorbing the history of Chinese society through the lenses of gender and sexuality.
Focusing on the relationship of large scale social changes to the intimate lives of friends, networks, families and social classes.
Defining how the technologies of gender are part of everyday social life in the 18th through the 21st centuries in Chinese "tradition" and "modernity."
Appreciating how objects, material life, media and other expressions of everyday culture are evidence of how people in the past lived and understood themselves.
Mastering the art of the short, analytic history essay.
General method of instruction
Lecture and discussion. Because this course leans heavily on media (films, documentaries, images, literature, etc,) discussion is an important element of the course.
Recommended preparation
No prerequisites, no background is necessary for success in this course.
Class assignments and grading
Short analytic essays on topics that arise in the course of the lectures and discussions. No term paper required.
Grades assigned on the basis of written assignments and participation in the discussions. Ability to analyze problems, understand new ideas, connect evidence to larger generalization are all criteria of evaluation.
