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| Semester | Frühjahrsemester 2020 |
| Angebotsmuster | einmalig |
| Dozierende | Philippe Major (philippe.major@unibas.ch, BeurteilerIn) |
| Inhalt | This course provides an in-depth discussion of the various (political) ways in which modernity, tradition, and the relation between the two have been construed and repeatedly reassessed during the twentieth century in China, to the extent that it formed one of the main concerns of the Chinese intellectual elite throughout the last century. The course will focus on the close reading of Chinese texts on modernity and tradition (with a particular focus on Confucianism), texts that will be put in parallel with discourses on the topic that circulated, in the twentieth century, in the hegemonic centers of knowledge production (the United States and Western Europe), such as that of modernization theory. The course is not intended, however, as a comparative analysis of modernity itself. Rather, the main object of our attention will remain the discourses on modernity, tradition, and the relation between the two. Of particular interest will be the question of how authority is constituted by such discourses, notably by making of particular traditions (such as Confucianism) an authoritative source from which intellectuals could draw, or by making of the telos of modern history a source of emancipatory authority that could be claimed by an intellectual avant-garde purportedly capable of leading humanity in the direction of the “end of history.” Given our interest in discourses, the assigned texts will not be read for what they can tell us about (Chinese) modernity and its relation to the past (at least this will not be our main focus); that is, we will not assume that the texts are only meant to describe the state of affairs as it is or as it should be. Rather, we will assume that texts are written for particular (political, social, religious, etc.) purposes, and as such we will pay attention to how the notions of “modernity” and “tradition” have been continuously constructed, redefined, and repositioned within historical metanarratives in order to serve the implicit (or explicit) purposes of the authors. The course is designed with the hope of fostering the close-reading and (English) writing skills of the students. The classes will be discussion-oriented, meaning that the students are expected to actively participate in classroom discussions on the readings of the week. No prior knowledge of modern Chinese history is required, although openness and curiosity will be important assets. |
| Lernziele | The course is designed around a number of goals. First and foremost, the course is intended to provide students with a number of tools to read texts closely and recognize how authority is constituted discursively. Second, the course will also provide students with an overview of some of the ways in which discourses that originated in the hegemonic centers of knowledge production and that were historically often employed to legitimize colonialism and imperialism, such as those on modernity and tradition, were translated, adapted, and reshaped in locales situated at the periphery or the outskirts of the hegemonic centers. The course, in short, is intended to give the students an example of the global circulation of discourses. Third, the course is also designed to foster the English-writing skills of the students, through short written assignments that will be reviewed by the instructor on a weekly basis. |
| Literatur | The following is not a list of the assigned readings for the course, but an inexhaustive and incomplete list of important secondary sources on the topic of the course. The assigned reading list will be provided at the beginning of the course. de Bary, Wm. Theodore. Asian Values and Human Rights. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998. Jenco, Leigh K.. Changing Referents: Learning Across Space and Time in China and the West. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015. Levenson, Joseph R. Confucian China and Its Modern Fate: A Trilogy. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972. Lin Yü-sheng. The Crisis of Chinese Consciousness: Radical Antitraditionalism in the May Fourth Era. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1979. Lincoln, Bruce. Authority: Construction and Corrosion. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994. Liu, Lydia H. Translingual Practice: Literature, National Culture, and Translated Modernity—China, 1900-1936. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1995. Louie, Kam. Critiques of Confucius in Contemporary China. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1980. Makeham, John. Lost Soul: “Confucianism” in Contemporary Chinese Academic Discourse. Cambridge: Harvard University Asia Center, 2008. Shih Shu-mei. The Lure of the Modern: Writing Modernism in Semicolonial China, 1817-1937. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2001. Taylor, Charles. “Two Theories of Modernity.” The Hastings Center Report 25, no. 2 (1995): 24-33. |
| Weblink | Europainstitut |
| Unterrichtssprache | Englisch |
| Einsatz digitaler Medien | kein spezifischer Einsatz |
| HörerInnen willkommen |
| Intervall | Wochentag | Zeit | Raum |
|---|
Keine Einzeltermine verfügbar, bitte informieren Sie sich direkt bei den Dozierenden.
| Module |
Modul: Europäisierung und Globalisierung (Masterstudium: European Global Studies) Modul: Transfer: Europa interdisziplinär (Master Studiengang: Europäische Geschichte in globaler Perspektive ) |
| Leistungsüberprüfung | Lehrveranst.-begleitend |
| Hinweise zur Leistungsüberprüfung | Weekly short written assignments; presentation(s); participation in class. Further details will be provided at the beginning of the course. |
| An-/Abmeldung zur Leistungsüberprüfung | Anmelden: Belegen; Abmelden: nicht erforderlich |
| Wiederholungsprüfung | keine Wiederholungsprüfung |
| Skala | 1-6 0,5 |
| Wiederholtes Belegen | nicht wiederholbar |
| Zuständige Fakultät | Universität Basel |
| Anbietende Organisationseinheit | Europainstitut |