Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Fall 2017 - HIST 870 G100

Themes in Asian History (5)

Class Number: 5447

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Sep 5 – Dec 4, 2017: Tue, 9:30 a.m.–1:20 p.m.
    Vancouver

Description

COURSE DETAILS:

Preparing for the Archives: Locating, Reading, and Interpreting Archival and Grassroots Documents from the People’s Republic of China

This shared online graduate course, which was offered for the first time in 2016 by Jacob Eyferth at the University of Chicago, will be jointly hosted in Fall 2017 by Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia. It aims to prepare graduate students for research in China, teaching them to locate, read, and interpret archival documents from the People’s Republic of China. Our aim is to give students the linguistic skills and contextual information they need to read official and grassroots texts and understand how and why these texts were produced, to whom they were addressed, how they were filed, and more.

Most sessions will focus on a single document or group of documents, and will involve hands-on instruction from a prominent guest lecturer on how to read and analyze these sources. Themes to be explored include:

·         How Chinese archives work
·         Formats and conventions of official communications (公文)
·         Research strategies
·         Garbology
·         Oral history
·         Cultural Revolution documents
·         Family letters

The format will be a shared digital classroom, not a “webinar”: students and faculty in Vancouver, Chicago, and California meet in person in their regular classrooms, go online at the same time, and interact with one another and with guest lecturers via video conferencing. Vancouver-based students must attend class in person in HC1510 each week.

Grading

  • Attendance and participation 25%
  • 3 brief weekly exercises 15%
  • Paper proposal, approximately 3 double-spaced pages. 10%
  • Final paper, analysis and annotated translation of an archival document, or group of documents. Approximately 10 double-spaced pages of translation, plus 8-10 pages of analysis and commentary. 50%
  • For non-SFU/UBC students, these ratios can be adjusted to conform to their home institution requirements.

NOTES:

Students from Simon Fraser should enroll in History 870.  Students from other Canadian universities should enroll in History 870 at SFU via the Western Deans’ Agreement (https://www.sfu.ca/content/dam/ex/wcdgs/Western-Deans-Agreement.pdf) or Canadian Association for Graduate Studies (http://www.sfu.ca/content/dam/sfu/dean-gradstudies/futurestudents/CAGSvisitingform.pdf).

Students from non-Canadian universities wanting to take the course for credit should make arrangements with their home institutions; for example, their advisers could give them credit for a directed reading course.

Graduate Studies Notes:

Important dates and deadlines for graduate students are found here: http://www.sfu.ca/dean-gradstudies/current/important_dates/guidelines.html. The deadline to drop a course with a 100% refund is the end of week 2. The deadline to drop with no notation on your transcript is the end of week 3.

Registrar Notes:

SFU’s Academic Integrity web site http://students.sfu.ca/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating.  Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.

Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the University community.  Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the University. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the University. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS