Approaches to History (393-0-24)
Topic
Shanghai: Modernity & Modernism in 20th-Century Ch
Instructors
Peter J Carroll
847/491-2753
Harris Hall - Room 216
https://history.northwestern.edu/people/faculty/core-faculty/peter-j-carroll.html
Peter J. Carroll specializes in the social and cultural history of 19th and 20th century China. His research interests include urban history, Chinese modernism, popular and material culture, gender/sexuality, and nationalism.
Meeting Info
Harris Hall L28: Tues, Thurs 3:30PM - 4:50PM
Overview of class
Topic: Shanghai: Modernity and Modernism in 20th-Century China
Shanghai: Paris of the East, Paradise of Adventurers, Birthplace of the Chinese Communist Party, City of Migrants, City of Capitalist Decadence and Debauchery, Nightmare City, Refugee City, Island Shanghai, China's Industrial City, Open Port. In the first part of the 20th century, Shanghai was known by many names and attributes, positive and negative. Each highlighted different aspects of Shanghai as a key site for the creation of modernity and modernism in China and greater East Asia. This class will examine various facets of Shanghai's complex bequest as the paradigmatic modern Chinese city due to its place as a colonial port city and center of industry, culture, and politics. This course will use fiction, historical studies, and films to explore the city and its place in modern nationalism, industrial capitalism and finance, feminism and gender/sexual politics, intellectual movements, and modern urban lifeways. [Students may take the class as a 395; they will be able to draw on a vast store of English-, Chinese-, Japanese-, and French-language newspapers, archival documents, films, and more (via NU Library databases) to write a research paper.]
Learning Objectives
1) Gain an understanding of the essential role of Shanghai as a center of modern urban culture, nationalist political ideologies, and shifting gender ideals, as well as the city's role as a colonial treaty port, national industrial and financial center, and global city.
2) The course provides opportunities for students to improve their capacity to discuss and analyze key events and course themes in speech and writing. What techniques can make writing more rhetorically powerful? What constitutes a good thesis/argument/point, and how might it be improved?
3) Students will consider how a complex understanding of early 20th c. Chinese history might alter their received sense of World history and modernity, as well as the histories of China, Taiwan, Japan, the USA, and other countries.
4) We will consider the analytical value and use of different types of historical, including contemporary newspaper and government documents, Republican-era films and books (fiction and non-fiction), and secondary scholarship, to make historical arguments.
Evaluation Method
Seminar discussion and Canvas discussion board (30%), analytical essay (30%) ,final paper (40%)
Class Materials (Required)
All the assigned readings will be uploaded on Canvas
Class Notes
History Area(s) of Concentration: Asia/Middle East
Class Attributes
Historical Studies Distro Area