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THE CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL & RELIGIOUS STUDIES MASTERS OF ARTS IN INTERCULTURAL STUDIES

Basic Issues in Intercultural Studies II CULS5211B

Rachel Litchfield (2011)

Lecturer: Roberto Castillo First day of teaching: Jan 9 2017 Contact: rocas@cuhk.edu.hk Last class: 10 April 2017 Time: Mondays 18:45 pm - 21:30 pm Paper submission: 22 April 2017 Venue: Room 308, Esther Lee Building

Course Description Basic Issues in Intercultural Studies II is an introductory postgraduate course that helps deepen students’ understanding of the ‘politics of culture’ through engaging with key concepts and debates in Cultural Studies. The major questions this course asks are: what is cultural identity and how it is represented/reproduced? What is hegemony? What is post-colonialism? What is the relationship between these concepts and nationalism? What is ‘power’ and how it is exerted/reproduced through identity and everyday life? And what

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are the possibilities for the future in a time of ecological, political and cultural ‘crises’? In order to be able to provide answers to these questions, this course takes you through a critical and interdisciplinary journey in which we will examine notions such as hegemony, essentialism, diaspora, hybridity, the global/local dichotomy, post-colonialism, the everyday, governmentality, biopolitics, technoculture, post-humanism and the Anthropocene, among others. Through these discussions and analyses, the course will show you how everyday life and identity constitute (and are constituted by) a complex and heterogeneous, yet fascinating, mix of practices and discourses. Through this course, students will gain important insights into major contemporary cultural transformations and the associated/emerging debates that are at the forefront of interdisciplinary studies of culture.

Learning Outcomes By the end of the course, students should be able to demonstrate:

A general knowledge of the major debates, themes, and concepts in inter/cultural studies (with concrete examples),

An ability to apply these concepts reflexively to their own experiences,

An ability to analyse and criticise local and global cultural and political practices,

A capacity to critically challenge the applicability of ‘western’ critical concepts in Chinese/Asian societies,

Critical reading, writing, and group working skills. Delivery: Lectures, class discussions, screenings.

Assessment Attendance 10% Course Participation 10% Group Presentation 30% Final Paper (individual written assignment) 50%

Attendance 10% In order to facilitate the class discussion, I will usually lecture during the first hour of each class. For the rest of our time, we will make use of film clips and class discussion to delve deeper into the complexities of the topic at hand. For your part, please complete the weekly readings before class. Please make sure you critically engage with the readings and bring your interpretations and perspectives to class, as I expect you to develop and employ critical and creative thinking skills to your best ability. You are expected to come to class prepared and on time, and to bring your readings with you. I will take the roll at the beginning of each class. You will be allowed one absence (without an excuse) over the course of the semester to accommodate any illness, family emergency, or other conflict that might arise. Any additional absence (without justification) will cause you to lose 2% of your attendance mark. Regardless of the reason for your absence, you are responsible for catching up on all material covered in class that day.

Please note that any changes in the syllabus and announcements of class activities will be made on Blackboard and/or via email.

Course Participation 10% Each of you represents a potential learning resource for everyone else in the class. As such, the questions and comments you make in class might help your classmates better

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understand the readings, deepen the experience of a lecture or panel discussion, and stimulate new lines of thought or inquiry. I value and will recognize the thoughtful and informed contributions each of you make to our class discussions. Students are to treat each other with civility and respect and to distinguish between criticism of ideas and personal attacks. The latter is neither appropriate nor acceptable in the classroom.

Group Presentation 30% Group working allows you to develop crucial skills for your professional life. For the Group Project/Presentation you have to bring in a case study that relates to the topics that we discuss from week 2 to week 13. Groups will be of 2 to 3 students (depending on the final enrolment number). You are expected to do research on a particular topic of your interest, frame it through the themes and theories we analyse throughout the term, and to produce a 15 to 20 minutes multimedia-based presentation (see the ‘Presentation Guidelines’ section at the end of this syllabus). You will have to submit a short written project proposal (abstract type - no more than 500w) at least one week before your presentation date. In the proposal you would have to define your case study, provide a sketch of your presentations argument, specify the relevance of the topic to the course, and provide a guideline of how do you intend to approach your research. The schedule of the Presentations will be defined by Week 3, once we have definitive enrolment figures.

Final Paper 50% (22 Apr) The Final Paper is a great opportunity for you to explore your particular interests in depth, and I encourage you to expand on the topics explored in your Presentations and in class discussions. Alternatively, you can select a new topic within the scope of the course. Please note that all topics must be approved by me. Your paper should be no less than 1800 words and no more than 2000 words (double-spaced, font size 12), with at least 5 academic sources (i.e. books, journal articles), and 5 non-academic sources (i.e. newspaper articles, blog posts).

You are required to submit an abstract/outline of your Final Paper by week 12 (3 Apr). This is a one-page plan where you introduce the general argument of your paper. This can be done in the form of an abstract, or as an ‘index’ in which you list the points/arguments that you intend to make. This assignment will be counted towards your final paper mark (at 5%), and I will provide general feedback on your intended argument by week 13 (if needed). Final papers should be submitted BOTH via hard-copy to my pigeon-hole (message box) in the Cultural Studies Department (LKK 3rd floor) and via soft-copy to my email by Apr 22, with no exceptions.

Accommodations for Students with Disabilities If you have specific physical, psychiatric, or learning disabilities and require accommodations, please let me know during the first week of class so that your learning needs may be appropriately met. All discussions will remain confidential.

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Reading List Specific readings and chapters are listed for each lecture below. As a minimum, you should plan to read the ‘required reading’ before each session.

COURSE SCHEDULE

I. INTRODUCTION

Week 1 – Jan 9: Introduction, main themes No readings

Week 2 – Jan 16: Community and Nation Required reading Benedict Anderson. Imagined Communities. Ch. 1-3 & 6. Partha Chatterjee. The Nation and Its Fragments: Colonial and Postcolonial Histories. Ch.1 & opening pages of Ch. 10.

Other sources Ulf Hannerz. ‘The Local and the Global: Continuity and Change’ in Transnational Connections: Culture, people, places. Pp. 17-29.

Keywords: #Community #globalization #Identity #nationalism

Week 3 – Jan 23: Questions of Cultural Identity Required reading

Stuart Hall. ‘Who Needs Identity’ in Questions of Cultural Identity. Zygmunt Bauman. ‘From Pilgrim to Tourist: a Short History of Identity’ in Questions of Cultural Identity.

Other sources Geraldine Pratt. ‘Grids of Difference: Place and Identity Formation’ in Cultural Studies: An Anthology. Pp. 154-169.

Keywords: #identity #difference #place #discourse

II. INTERCULTURAL ENCOUNTERS Week 4 – Feb 06: Orientalism and Hegemony

Required reading

Edward Said. ‘Introduction’ in Orientalism. Stuart Hall. ‘The West and the Rest: Discourse and Power’ in Formations of Modernity. Rey Chow. ‘On Chineseness as a Theoretical Problem’. Boundary 2.

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Other sources Louisa Schein. ‘Internal Orientalism’ in Minority Rules: the Miao and the Feminine in China's Cultural Politics.

Grace Yan and Carla Almedia Santos. ‘CHINA, FOREVER’: Tourism Discourse and Self-Orientalism. Hamid Dabashi. ‘Can Non-Europeans Think?’

Keywords: #orientalism #hegemony #essentialism #discourse #power

Week 5 – Feb 13: The Postcolonial Question: Diaspora & Migrancy

Required reading Stuart Hall. ‘Cultural Identity and Diaspora’. Framework 36. Sara Ahmed. ‘Home and Away: Narratives of Migration and Estrangement’ in Strange Encounters: Embodied Others in Post-Coloniality.

Other sources Ien Ang. ‘On Not Speaking Chinese: Diasporic Identifications and Postmodern Ethnicity’ in On Not Speaking Chinese: Living Between Asia and the West.

Ato Quayson. ‘Chapter 4: Postcolonialism and Postmodernism’ in A Companion to Postcolonial Studies. Arjun Appadurai. ‘Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy’ in Theorising Diaspora: A Reader.

Screening: TBA

Keywords: #diaspora #identity #strangers #postcolonial

III. MEANING AND POWER Week 6 – Feb 20: Symbolic Power: Ideology

Required reading Stuart Hall. ‘The Problem of Ideology: Marxism without Guarantees’ in Stuart Hall: Critical Dialogues in Cultural Studies. Judith Williamson. ‘Meaning and Ideology’ in Studying Culture: an Introductory Reader. Raymond Williams. ‘Base and Superstructure in Marxist Cultural Theory’ in Culture and Materialism.

Other sources John Storey. ‘Marxisms’ in Cultural Theory and Popular Culture.

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Keywords: #ideology #marxisms #meaning #culturaltheory

Week 7 – Feb 27: Symbolic Power: Culture

Required reading Thoedor Adorno & Max Horkheimer. ‘The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception’ in The Cultural Studies Reader. Frederic Jameson. ‘Reification and Utopia in Mass Culture’. Social Text 1.

Other sources Nick Couldry and Tim Markham. ‘Celebrity Culture and Public Connection: Bridge or Chasm?’ International Journal of Cultural Studies.

Keywords: #culturaltheory #massculture #power

Week 8 – Mar 06: Narrative and Everyday Life Required reading Michael de Certeau. ‘Spatial Stories’ in The Practice of Everyday Life. Rita Felski. ‘The Invention of Everyday Life’. New Formations 39. Claire Colebrook. ‘The Politics and Potential of Everyday Life: On the Very Concept of Everyday Life’. New Literary History 33(4).

Other sources Ben Highmore. Everyday Life and Cultural Theory: An Introduction, London and New York: Routledge.

Rosalind Gill. ‘Postfeminist Media Culture: Elements of a Sensibility’. European Journal of Cultural Studies 10.

Keywords: #everydaylife #power #consumption

Week 9 – Mar 13: Why Representation Matters?

Required reading Hall, Stuart (1997) ‘The Work of Representation’ in his Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. London: Sage & Open University Press, pp. 1-74.

Screening: The Grace Lee Project (Grace Lee, 2005)

Keywords: #representation #structuralism #signifyingpractices #semiotics

IV. IDENTITY AND DIFFERENCE

Week 10 – Mar 20: Identity and Difference Required reading

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David Oswell (2006) ‘Identity: Between Subject and Object’ in Culture and Society An Introduction to Cultural Studies. London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: Sage, pp. 103-130.

Pun Ngai (1999) ‘Becoming Dagongmei (Working Girls): The Politics of Identity and Difference in Reform China’ The China Journal 42, pp. 1-18.

Other sources ‘Identity Politics’ in Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, http://www.science.uva.nl/~seop/entries/identity-politics/

Fraser, Nancy (1995) ‘From Redistribution to Recognition? Dilemmas of Justice in a ‘Post-Socialist’ Age’ New Left Review 212, pp. 67-93.

West, Cornel (1994) ‘The New Cultural Politics of Difference’ in Simon During (ed) The Cultural Studies Reader, New York: Routledge, pp. 203-220.

Keywords: #identity #difference #performativity #essentialism #identitypolitics

Week 11 – Mar 27: The body

Required reading Cressida J. Heyes (2006) ‘Foucault Goes to Weight Watchers’ Hypatia 21, 2, pp. 126-149.

Barcan, Ruth (2008) ‘Alternative therapies as disciplinary practices: the uses and limitations of a Foucauldian approach’ in Nicole Anderson and Katrine Schlunke (eds) Cultural Theory in Everyday Practice, Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

Other sources Fisher, Jill A. (2002) ‘Tatooing the Body, Marking Culture’ Body & Society 8, 4, pp. 91-107.

Keywords: #thebody #governmentality #biopower #discipline.

Screening:

The Aggressives

V. TECHNOCULTURES

Week 12 – Apr 3: New (Techno)cultures of Production/Consumption Required reading Guy Debord. ‘The Commodity as Spectacle’ in Media and Cultural Studies: Keyworks.

John Cheney. ‘A New Algorithmic Identity: Soft Biopolitics and the Modulation of Control’. Theory, Culture and Society 28(6).

Nicholas Carah. ‘Breaking into The Bubble: Brand-building labour and ‘getting

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in’ to the culture industry’. Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies 25(3).

Other sources Walter Benjamin. ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction’.

Martin Heidegger. ‘The Question Concerning Technology’.

Keywords: #spectacle #commodification #technology #labour #biopower

Screening: TBA

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Final Paper’s abstract/outline due this week (week 12 - Apr 03) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Week 13 – Apr 10: Posthumanism and Ecology in the Anthropocene

Required reading Rosi Braidotti. ‘Posthuman Critical Theory’.

Dipesh Chakrabarty. ‘Postcolonial Studies and the Challenge of Climate Change’. New Literary History 43(1).

Elspeth Probyn. ‘The Cultural Politics of Fish and Humans: A More-Than-Human Habitus of Consumption. Cultural Politics 10.

Other sources

Rosi Braidotti - Keynote Lecture - Posthumanism and Society Conference, New York 9 May 2015 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3S3CulNbQ1M&t=426s

Rosi Braidotti. ‘Introduction Post-Humanism: Life beyond the Self’ in The Posthuman. Pp. 1-54.

Keywords: #More-than-human #posthuman #postcolonial #anthropocene #ecology

FINAL PAPER SUBMISSION: 22 April 2017

Other Resources Barthes, R. (1988). Image, Music, Text. 1977. Trans. Stephen Heath. New York: Macmillan. Baudrillard, J. (1994). Simulacra and simulation. University of Michigan Press. Butler, J. (2011). Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Routledge. Derrida, J., & Caputo, J. D. (1997). Deconstruction in a nutshell: A conversation with Jacques Derrida (No. 1). Fordham Univ Press.

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Docherty, T. (Ed.). (1993). Postmodernism: A reader. Columbia University Press. Guilbert, G. C. (2002). Madonna as Postmodern Myth: How One Star's Self-Construction Rewrites Sex, Gender, Hollywood and the American Dream. McFarland. Haber, H. F. (1994). Beyond Postmodern Politics: Lyotard, Rorty, Foucault. Psychology Press. Jameson, F. (1991). Postmodernism, or, the cultural logic of late capitalism. Duke University Press. Lyotard, J. F. (1984). The postmodern condition: A report on knowledge (Vol. 10). U of Minnesota Press. Powell, J. L., & Owen, T. (2007). Reconstructing Postmodernism: Critical Debates. Nova Publishers. Quayson, A. (2000). Postcolonialism and postmodernism. A companion to postcolonial studies. John Wiley and Sons. Redhead, S. (2008). The Jean Baudrillard Reader. Columbia University Press. Spargo, T. (1999). Foucault and queer theory. Cambridge: Icon books.

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Lectures: Mon 18.45 21.30 Venue: Room 308, Esther Lee Building First day of teaching: Jan 9th 2017 Last class: Apr 10th 2017

Date Week/Topic

09/01

Week 1: Introduction, main themes

16/01 Week 2: Community and Nation

23/01 Week 3: Questions of Cultural Identity

30/01 Lunar New Year Vacation

06/02

Week 4: Orientalism and Hegemony

13/02 Week 5: The Postcolonial Question: Diaspora & Migrancy

20/02 Week 6: Symbolic Power: Ideology

27/02 Week 7: Symbolic Power: Culture

06/03 Week 8: Narrative and Everyday Life

13/03 Week 9: Why Representation Matters?

20/03 Week 10: Identity and Difference

27/03 Week 11: The body

03/04 Week 12: New (Techno)cultures of Production & Consumption

10/04

Week 13: Posthumanism and Ecology in the Anthropocene

17/04

Easter Holiday – No Class

22/04

Final Paper Submission Deadline

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Plagiarism

Honesty in Academic Work: A Guide For Students and Teachers The Chinese University of Hong Kong places very high importance on honesty in academic work submitted by students, and adopts a policy of zero tolerance on cheating and plagiarism. Any related offence will lead to disciplinary action including termination of studies at the University. Students must submit their assignments via the Webpage of the Chinese University Plagiarism Identification Engine (CUPIDE) http://cupide.cse.cuhk.edu.hk/student . Although cases of cheating or plagiarism are rare at the University, everyone should make himself/herself familiar with the content of this website and thereby help avoid any practice that would not be acceptable. Section 1 What is plagiarism http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/Eng_htm_files_(2013-14)/p01.htm Section 2 Proper use of source material http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/Eng_htm_files_(2013-14)/p02.htm Section 3 Citation styles http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/Eng_htm_files_(2013-14)/p03.htm Section 4 Plagiarism and copyright violation http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/Eng_htm_files_(2013-14)/p04.htm Section 5 CUHK regulations on honesty in academic work http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/Eng_htm_files_(2013-14)/p05.htm Section 6 CUHK disciplinary guidelines and procedures http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/Eng_htm_files_(2013-14)/p06.htm Section 7 Guide for teachers and departments http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/Eng_htm_files_(2013-14)/p07.htm Section 8 Recommended material to be included in course outlines http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/Eng_htm_files_(2013-14)/p08.htm

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Presentation Guidelines (only for reference) Requirements Visual or aural aids (e.g. media clips, images, charts and graphs, music, etc.). Do not just show a YouTube clip or give us an image in the middle of your presentation then move on. You need to provide context and explain how the visual or aural aid relates to your research topic. You don’t need to use images and videos if you plan to analyse a work of literature. But you must have some kind of visual aid for your presentation; this can be just text, in the form of a powerpoint, keynote, or pdf file, or a printed handout (provide one for each student and one for the lecturer). A few tips: do not overcrowd your visual aid with text; highlight key points; use excerpts from the primary text and explain their significance; write down names and foreign words that the audience might not be familiar with and/or might be difficult to pronounce; strive for clarity rather than catchy effects. Assessment criteria (things I consider while marking your presentation): Your topic and research conducted (I realise that those who present earlier will have done less than those who present later and I will take this into account in my grading)

- How does the literary, filmic, journalistic, advertising text or socio-political phenomenon (i.e. your case study) that you have chosen fulfil (relate to) the course description and learning outcomes of Basic Issues in Intercultural Studies as outlined in the syllabus?

- The content and quality of the research you’ve done on your case study to support your thesis

Your thesis – do you address and answer a research question? How are you engaging with this question through your analysis of chosen text? Methodology – do you have a clear presentation/research design? Does your methodology fit your research question? Clarity of expression and engagement with audience Suggested format: Your presentation should be no less than 15 minutes and no more than 20. Visual aids should not take more than 3 or 4 minutes of your presentation time. Try to be clear and bring up any questions or problems you encountered while doing your research.

o Introduction

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Provide some background on the case study you have chosen

How is this text an example of the topic we are covering?

Who else has written about this and what have they said? (What kind of research has been done about this case or similar cases)

Why did you choose to examine/present this case? o Thesis

What is your argument?

Think of your thesis as a kind of hypothesis that you are testing and ultimately trying to prove with your analysis

o Methodology

Discuss/explain what aspects of the case study you are focusing on

How are you relating these aspects to your analysis?

Are you stuck on any problems or have any questions come up in the course of your research?

o Conclusion

What have you learned/are you learning? Was your thesis correct? How does your case study add to and/or contradict ideas from the readings and lectures on Basic Issues in Intercultural Studies?

Good luck! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch with me.