REQUIREMENTS
Summary of course requirements
Late assignment policy: Late assignments will be accepted, but will be reduced one grade and will not receive any comments (note that blog enties may not receive comments in any case). The final date to submit an assignment is the last day of class, December 3.
Note: If you are not in conference the day papers are returned (please review attendance policy below), you will be able to pick them up in the mailbox outside Lisa's office (Lib 321).
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Conference Attendance and Participation: All students are expected to do the weekly readings and participate regularly and rigorously in the conference discussion. If you miss a conference, you will be responsible to turn in summaries of texts that were discussed on the day of your absence (these summaries will not be returned to you until the end of the semester). More than three unexcused absences will result in no credit for the course. Acceptable excuses are illness and serious emergencies.
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Leading Docent Teaching Session . During the semester, you and one other student will work together to facilitate the discussion of fashion or everyday objects in Shanghai that will be displayed in the "China Design Now" exhibition for the Portland Art Museum docents. We will work together as conference for two weeks prior to the teaching sessions to pull them together. In the meantime, for an extended set of suggestions on how to lead a good discussion, click here.
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Research blog of images/essays: Your blog entries will be image- as well as text-based. Posting is mainly free-form (that is to say, you can be as creative as you like in how you want to put together text and image). Please select one image per class meeting (it can be drawn from images in the readings, image databases, or relevant web pages) to write about in relation to theoretical or historical issues raised in class; each entry must, however, include a formal analysis, ideally integrated into an interpretation or leading to a question. The portfolio is intended to help you with your research project and to deepen the class discussion. The course blog is http://www.shanghaimodern.blogspot.com
One Research Project in Four Acts.
- Formulation of a question about a visual object dating from roughly 1842 (conclusion of the Opium Wars) to 1949 (the end of the Republican era and establishment of the People's Republic of China in mainland China and the Republic of China in Taiwan). You can choose to write about anything visual--from ink paintings to comic strips, embassy architecture to movie theaters, embroidered shoes to high heels. Consult course image databases, books on reserve, and books listed in the "further reading" links. Browse. Look for objects or pictures that strike you as absorbingly ambiguous. Spend some serious time mulling over what you see. And then, having selected a visual object that engages you (one object is recommended, though the number can be expanded for comparative purposes), what I would like you to do is to carefully think through and develop a meaningful, provocative question that you wish to pose of it. The work should suggest the question, and not the other way around. In your short essay, detail the process you used in devising the question, the problems you foresee in answering it, and why you think it is meaningful in relationship to Chinese visual modernity. That is to say, do not simply draft a generalized, simple statement of the question; I want to see evidence of your deliberate and reasoned approach to evolving a good question. Why are you asking this question? Do NOT attempt to essay uninformed, generalized (and therefore uncompelling) answers to your own question. One lengthy paragraph or two, posted to the blog, due Tuesday October 27 by 8 am (double-spaced, 12-point font, include images following format set forth on course resources page, linked below).
- Brainstorming questions and images with conference members during week of October 27.
- Redraft your question into a 2-3 PAGE project precis and turn it in along with an annotated bibliography of 6 sources, minimum (only one can be a textbook). Due Tuesday, November 10.
- Research project due DECEMBER 14. 9-12 pages (or more, I am actually indifferent to the number of pages as long as the paper is well-argued and well-researched and written), double-spaced, 12-point font, with image citations following format set forth on course resources page. Email your paper to me in Word .doc format, not a PDF format. Please remember that I will not be on campus to collect hard copies. I will text-edit my comments on your paper and email them to you in January at the start of the spring semester.
Course resources
Click here for an extensive list of electronic resources and PDF files on citations, digital image databases and archives, the Chinese language, museum collections, time chart of periods and dynasties.
Click here for a bibliography of books related to the course (also linked as further reading).
My office hours are after conference and by appointment.
Office location: Library 321.
Telephone: x7364
Email: claypool@reed.edu