Admission requirements
This course is intended for students of BA Chinastudies and will take precedence over non-major Chinastudies students. No prior knowledge is required.
Description
This course introduces novel ways of thinking about China’s digital relations and China’s digital relationship with the rest of the world, through ideas around space – territory, place, mobility – and digitality – aesthetics, discourses, and materialities. A key principle of this course is that space matters! We will consider how the spatial realities of China’s internet - borders, infrastructure, territory - influence the world within and outside of the Chinese internet. Students will; learn about the history of digital technologies and geography; consider the role of digital borders and the production of territories; explore how states, private companies, and regular citizens interact with bordered internets.
The first half of the course considers how China and the world has arrived at the current stage of digital development. In the second half of the course we use our digital-spatial framework to consider the role digital territory has on everyday life, examining topics such as urbanism, censorship, activism, and internet celebrity. We finish the course by considering the relationship between the Chinese internet and the rest of the world.
Course objectives
Participants in the course will acquire the following:
Establish a sound understanding of China through the lenses of human and political geography as well as media and communication studies;
Identify relevant sources, theories and methods to carry out independent research;
Use this knowledge to perform research on China’s digital development, governance and everyday realities from a spatial perspective;
Reflect on the current state of digital relations around the world;
Engage in group project work;
Develop writing skills, with a focus on producing literature reviews.
Timetable
The timetables are avalable through My Timetable.
Mode of instruction
Seminar
Assessment method
Assessment
In order to pass this course, the following will be required of participants:
Group project (30%)
Literature review draft (10%)
Final essay (60%)
Late submissions will be subject to grade deduction.
Regular, punctual attendance, thorough preparation of reading material, and continuous participation in discussions are expected.
Weighing
See above.
Resit
There will be no resit for the course work, but individual submissions can compensate each other.
For the term paper, only a previous submission for the first attempt qualifies students for the resit, and only if that submission scored a failing grade. First attempts that received a passing mark (5.5 or higher) cannot be improved through further revision.
Grading of the resit will incorporate part of the grade for the first attempt. The grade for each component after a resit will be calculated as follows:
25% of the first attempt, plus
75% of the second attempt.
Inspection and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Reading list
There is no mandatory textbook for this course. All required readings will be announced on Brightspace and will be available through the Asian Studies library.
Registration
Enrolment through My Studymap is mandatory.
General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website.
Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.
General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website.
Registration À la carte education, Contract teaching and Exchange
For the registration of exchange students contact Humanities International Office.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office Herta Mohr
Remarks
None.