Religious Studies - Fall Quarter
Minority Peoples of China
Jacqueline Armijo-Hussein
Tuesdays 2:15 - 4:05, Building 70, Room 72A1
Office hours: Monday 2 - 4 and by appointment
phone: 723-2168
email: armijo@stanford.edu
Introduces China's minority population (numbering over 100 million, and divided into 55 officially recognized ethnic groups), their histories, cultures, religious practices and traditions. Addresses issues of traditional and contemporary prejudices regarding minority peoples, and present efforts at cultural survival during this period of rapid economic development and social change.
Main Texts
Required
Bai Hua, The Remote Country of Women
Dru Gladney, Ethnic Identity in China
Stevan Harrell (ed), Cultural Encounters on China's Ethnic Frontiers
Erik Mueggler, The Age of Wild Ghosts: Memory, Violence, and Place in Southwest China
Louisa Schein, Minority Rules: The Miao and the Feminine in China's Cultural Politics
Recommended
Stevan Harrell, Being Ethnic in Southwest China
Frank Dikötter, The Discourse of Race in Modern China
Mette Hansen, Lessons in Being Chinese: Minority Education and Ethnic Identity in Southwest China
Course Requirements:
Weekly essays/evaluations 25%
Class participation 25%
Class presentation 25%
Final paper 25%
Weekly essays/web pages/evaluations
Each week students will write a short (750 - 1,000 word) response to either the week's reading assignments and/or a documentary. These essays should be emailed to me by 9 am on Tuesday. Please bring a hard-copy of your essay to class as well. In addition, throughout this course individual students will be developing their own web pages. Each week student will be asked to identify web sites, articles, images, or other sources and post them on their web sites with a brief description. Towards the end of the class students will also be required to write short evaluations of the formal presentations made by their classmates.
Class participation
As such a large percentage of the final course grade will be based on class participation, it is essential that you come to class having completed the reading assignments and be prepared to share your views and actively participate in discussions. If for some reason you are unable to attend a class (due to illness or some other emergency) leave me a message before class informing me of your absence.
Class presentation
Students will each lead a presentation and discussion on the topic of their research paper. They will also need to select reading assignments for their classmates in preparation for their presentation, as well as prepare response essay questions. Classmates are required to both actively participate in the discussion as well as offer feedback to the presenter on their research topic.
Research Paper
Students will write a 15 to 20 page paper on a topic of their interest chosen in consultation with the instructor. A topic should be decided by Oct 22, and a brief description and preliminary bibliography turned in. An outline and expanded bibliography should be turned in on Nov 5, and a complete draft of the paper is due Nov 19. The drafts will then be copied and distributed to other students in the class. Students are required to read and comment on at least three other drafts and return them by Nov 26. The final paper is due Monday, December 9 at 5 pm in my office.
Week 1 - Oct 1 Introduction
Week 2 - Oct 8 Early Chinese imperial encounters with "barbarians"/the Mongols
Week 3 - Oct 15 The Hui
Week 4 - Oct 22 Cultural Encounters on China's Ethnic Frontiers, Stevan Harrell
Week 5 - Oct 29 The Age of Wild Ghosts
Week 6 - Nov 5 The Miao - Minority Rules
Week 7 - Nov 12 Current challenges facing minority peoples
Week 8 - Nov 19 Student presentations
Week 9 - Nov 26 Student presentations
Week 10 - Dec 3 Student presentations and conclusion