Linguistic and Cultural Diversity in Contemporary China

ANT 380/HST 380/TUR 380/EAS 512/TUR 775

Spring 2024 Course Syllabus

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity in Contemporary China:

From Beijing to Xinjiang

Instructor: Ujin Kim (u.kim@nu.edu.kz)

General Description

This seminar is an overview of the sociolinguistic and anthropological study of contemporary China, with a special focus on the speakers of Turkic languages in Xinjiang – mainly Uyghur and Kazak. How have diverse populations in China, including Turkic speakers, experienced and responded to dramatic social change in what is often called the “reform era” – around 1978 to the present? In the last few years, a rich anthropological and sociolinguistic literature has begun to answer this question in detail. In this seminar, we explore some of this literature, as we take a “bottom-up” approach to social change in the reform era, focusing on language issues and cultural politics among diverse populations, from Mandarin speakers in Beijing to Turkic speakers in Xinjiang.

After an overview of linguistic diversity in China, we begin with the urban residents of Dashalar, a working-class enclave in Beijing, in the process of being cleansed away along its residents while our author was researching it. We then move to transformations of family, love, intimacy, and ethics in rural areas. Next, we follow rural migrants to the cities, where new hierarchies dividing permanent urban residents and migrants have developed, and then we examine the emergence of Cosmopolitan Mandarin. We study recent religious revivals, and then move to “other Chinas,” especially language issues and cultural politics in Xinjiang. We conclude with a discussion of multilingualism and globalization.

The first goal of this course is to build a multifaceted understanding of daily life for China’s diverse population – especially Turkic speakers in Xinjiang – throughout this period. A second and related goal is to learn to identify and compare the different methodological and theoretical approaches that anthropologists and sociolinguists have developed to study social change in ordinary life. Students will develop a hypothetical research project of their own, a proposal to study an aspect of social change that they find of particular interest.  

Learning Goals

• A survey and overview of sociolinguistic and anthropological scholarship on China
• An understanding of theoretical and methodological tools for empirical research on China
• An introduction of the major research themes and key scholarly works in the sociolinguistics and anthropology of China

Learning Outcomes

• Students will be able to distinguish and assess different trends in the modern anthropological and sociolinguistic study of China.
• Students will be able to articulate the linguistic and cultural diversity of China.
• Students will be able to formulate their own views on fruitful areas for future research on China.
• Students will be able to apply theoretical and methodological tools learned in the class to design their own empirical research on China.

Course Format

We will meet once a week for a shared conversation about the weekly reading. These discussions will be the heart of the course. For this reason, attendance is mandatory: you must be present at, and fully prepared for, every class meeting. I emphasize the shared nature of our conversations: each student is responsible for leading a number of class sessions, and all participants will be, in effect, teaching everyone else about the texts. Learning will occur through vigorous collective conversation and spirited interaction as colleagues.

Assessment Categories

Active class participation. This course is a seminar. Its success depends on your doing the readings, reflecting upon them, and participating actively in class.

One-page questions and commentary on the readings each week. What did you learn from each reading? What did you think of the author’s argument and approach? How might you relate the readings to each other? What discussion questions did the readings bring to mind that you would like the class to pursue. One informal page in which you note down some of your thoughts on the readings will help prepare you for class discussion each week. Commentaries must be emailed to the instructor at least 48 hours before the class meeting. (For the weeks when you are leading discussion, you can delay and submit your weekly commentary by the midnight (23:59) of the following day.

Discussion leadership. Each student has formal responsibly for leading assigned class sessions, but as already noted, all students share an informal responsibility for every class. As a discussion leader, you are encouraged to use PowerPoint slides to maximize the effectiveness of your presentation of the materials, and to ensure that everyone is “on the same page,” both literally and metaphorically. Rather than merely summarizing the readings, you should describe some of the analytical arguments made by the authors and reflect on how these readings related to other readings or themes covered in class. You should also be prepared to comment on how future research might extend or reframe our knowledge of this theme.

Critical essay. For this essay you will draw on class readings and outside texts to discuss a specific aspect – linguistic or cultural – of social change in China of interest to you. The essay should be 400-500 words (for MA students, 700-1000 words). This is not for Ph.D. students (Due Week 8).

Research prospectus. In this prospectus, you will propose to investigate, from a defined perspective, a specific aspect of social transformation in China. You will draw on course readings and outside texts to ground your proposed investigation in the literature on this aspect of social change in China. And you will identify a research methodology that would both appeal to you and be effective for examining this linguistic/cultural aspect of social transformation. For undergraduates and MA students, the research prospectus should be between 1500 and 2000 words long. Each Ph.D. student will write a longer (5000-6000 words) research prospectus (Due Week 14).  

Grading

Assessment Criteria