ASCL 9.01 Urban Lives & Livelihoods in Contemporary China: Language, Culture and Narrative
This is the Director’s Course for the LSA program in Beijing. Having completed the prerequisites listed below, the program participants have established a foundational understanding of the language and culture of China.
In this course, students will learn about the lives of ordinary people in post-reform China. In keeping with the overall goals of this LSA program, we will be paying particular attention to “language”—a category that is broader than just the vocabulary and grammar which you will be learning in your Chinese language courses this summer. You will be learning how Chinese urban residents modulate their linguistic output (via accent, diction, or dialect) to navigate their world; you will also become familiar with common social discourses and narratives that people in China use to describe their experiences. In the course of conversations with people in Beijing and other cities, you will explore how “language” shapes everything from the names given to babies to decisions about studying a foreign language like English. In addition, you will discuss and contextualize the ways that book authors, filmmakers, poets, and everyday people use language to represent “lives in China,” whether their own or others’.
The final course project will involve conducting an interview with a local resident of Beijing. Early in the term, all students in the course will be placed into small teams, and each team will spend time with a local family that has volunteered to host our students a few times during the summer. Toward the end of the term, each team will arrange to interview one member of the family by asking them to respond to the essay the group composed and shared with the family member in advance (see the schedule for details).
Department-Specific Course Categories
Asian Societies, Cultures, and Languages