KIN4650 – Research Topics in Chinese Culture and Society II
Course content
This course is a continuation and an elaboration of KIN4550 – Research Topics in Chinese Culture and Society I. At a more advanced level, it introduces you to a new specific research topic within the study of Chinese culture and society and provides you with a set of tools for your own research development. You will, as in KIN4550, engage with cutting-edge research literature and debates in the relevant field, and you will experience how one topic may be approached from different academic angles and with different methodologies. Additionally, there will be an explicit emphasis on theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of China, for instance social stratification, democratisation, state-society relationship, ethnography, oral history, cultural analysis, discourse analysis. The course is taught by teachers with different research backgrounds, and the specific topic of the course may change each time the course is offered.
The course should be taken together with EAST4610 – Voices from East Asia: How to Communicate Research Results and KIN4010 – Research Methodologies in China studies.
Topic 2023: Chinese Domestic Politics: The Many Levels of Power
Since 2012 we have become more and more used to seeing Xi Jinping as a representative for all of Chinese politics. This module aims to explore nuances in Chinese domestic politics by discussing different levels of political power in contemporary China.
Some of the main questions we are going to discuss include: What are the different actors, institutions, rules and practices that together make up the different power levels in domestic Chinese politics? How powerful are levels below the centre and how are these power dynamics changing under Xi Jinping as general secretary of the CCP? How personally powerful is Xi Jinping today?
Previous topics:
Learning outcome
- You will develop, formulate, and refine your own term paper through practice and supervision, and you will learn how to work with various forms of sources relevant for your paper
- You will learn how to identify and integrate a theoretical and/or methodological framework into your research paper
- You will further develop your skills in presenting and discussing academic knowledge in oral and written form
Admission to the course
Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.
Students enrolled in other Master`s Degree Programmes can, on application, be admitted to the course if this is cleared by their own study programme.
If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures.
Formal prerequisite knowledge
Admission to the MA programme option Chinese Culture and Society.
The course presupposes competence in modern Chinese language, and basic reading competence in classical Chinese.
Teaching
The teaching is organized as 10 classes of 2 hours each throughout the semester. Each session will be a combination of a lecture and a discussion/presentation seminar.
Compulsory activities
Participate in class discussions
Contribute to a group work session related to the class presentations
Hand in a term paper proposal in the first half of the term (deadline will be given at the introduction seminar)
Approved compulsory activities are only valid for one semester.
All compulsory activities must be approved in order to qualify for the exam. It is the student’s responsibility to check whether or not the compulsory activities are approved. This is how you apply for valid absence from compulsory activities/compulsory attendance.
Examination
Term paper (70% of the final grade)
Class presentation (30% of final grade)
A term paper on a subject developed by the student and approved by the teacher, 3200 - 3500 words plus list of references. The term paper should be based on both primary sources in Chinese, and secondary source readings in Chinese and/or English.
Grading guidelines:
Language of examination
The examination text is given in English, and you submit your response in English.
Grading scale
Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F is a fail. Read more about the grading system.
Resit an examination
More about examinations at UiO
- Use of sources and citations
- Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
- Withdrawal from an exam
- Illness at exams / postponed exams
- Explanation of grades and appeals
- Resitting an exam
- Cheating/attempted cheating
You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.