EALC1339 - Chinese Popular Culture

In Chinese Popular Culture, students will investigate the fundamental concepts of "Chinese," "popular,” and “culture”— considering what the class thinks they mean, what others think they mean, where and why these understandings dovetail or diverge—and then examine how these concepts are articulated in historical and contemporary media. In this sense, the class is as much a history of popular culture in China as it is a class on contemporary popular culture. The course will investigate questions such as: How might classical poetry be considered popular culture? How might rubbings help us understand the way information spreads in the modern world? How do we understand the role of technologies like photography, film, and radio in creating ideas about “China,” both locally and globally? To answer the above questions and more, the course will engage with a wide range of materials, including literature, scholarly and theoretical writing, visual art, film, television, music, dance, and the vast world of the internet. The course will explore topics including folklore and nationalism, labor and capitalism, race and ethnicity, feminism and masculinity, food and medicine. In addition to gaining a more nuanced understanding of key concepts, students will develop skills in historical and textual analysis, archival research, and writing.