Anthropology 369 - Media and Popular Culture in Post-Mao China

Institution:

Reed College

Subject:

Description:

Full course for one semester. China's open-door policies and economic reforms since the death of Mao Zedong and the end of the Cultural Revolution have radically altered the state's ability to control the mass media and popular cultural production. This course examines the implications of this process for national, ethnic, and gender identities among diverse citizens of the Chinese state on one hand, and for CCP efforts to maintain its political hegemony on the other. Through readings, film and video clips, and discussions we will explore different genres of cultural production in contemporary China in their sociohistorical contexts and in relation to recent Marxist and feminist debates about the production, interpretation, and subversion of dominant ideologies in mass media. This perspective will shed light on the actually complex processes through which popular and elite, state, and local contexts are constructed in China, and allow us to interrogate recent assumptions about "globalization," "Westernization," "sinicization," or "modernization" as inevitable homogenizing and leveling forces. Prerequisite: Anthropology 211 or consent of the instructor. Conference. Not offered

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.reed.edu

Phone Number:

(503) 771-1112

Regional Accreditation:

Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities

Calendar System:

Semester

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