AIS2801 - Asia in the World: A Critical Appreciation through Film | ||||||||||
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| * The offering term is subject to change without prior notice | ||||||||||
Course Aims | ||||||||||
This course aims to introduce students to the study of Asia in the contemporary world via a number of core themes that will be addressed through lectures/discussion and related movies or documentary screenings. Each theme will bring together a designated film or a number of shorter documentaries and key concepts, context, and debates related to the film. The themes to be covered are as follows: 1) family and care; 2) postcolonial imagination; 3) technology and dystopia; 4) the political economy of food; 5) rapid environmental change; 6) the global illicit economy and the wildlife trade; 7)Asia and the fashion industry; and, 8) corporate and political transgressions in Asian political economy. Asia in the World: A Critical Appreciation Through Film is an interdisciplinary course drawing on Anthropology, Political Science and Sociology. It adopts a pedagogical strategy that emphasizes exploration and discovery through various modes of learning and critical inquiry, and in particular via reading ‘film languages’ of both documentaries and feature films. The course also serves to demonstrate the value and relevance of social scientific and humanistic study and research in understanding Asia, and the world more broadly. The course covers various aspects of Asian cultures and societies and will be of interest and value to all CLASS students. While there will be small group learning in this course, particularly using Zoom’s breakout room feature, the assessment in this course is based on individual work given COVID-19 restrictions. Team-based activities will return to this course in the 2021-2022 academic year. Notionally, the film screenings are listed below: 1) family and care: The Farewell 2) postcolonial imagination: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel 3) technology and dystopia: Ghost in the Shell 4) the political economy of food: Okja 5) rapid environmental change: The Last Glaciers 6) the global illicit economy and the wildlife trade: The Last Animals 7) Asia and the fashion industry: Frontline Fashion; Planet Money’s t-shirt project 8) corporate and political transgressions in Asian political economy: The Man at the Top (Nexflix’s Dirty Money documentary series) | ||||||||||
Assessment (Indicative only, please check the detailed course information) | ||||||||||
Continuous Assessment: 100% | ||||||||||
Detailed Course Information | ||||||||||
| AIS2801.pdf | ||||||||||
Useful Links | ||||||||||
| Department of Asian and International Studies | ||||||||||
