Teaching Plan Information

Presentation

Languages and writing systems are a core element of the cultures of the Asia-Pacific region. We will analyze the role that languages have played and still play in East Asian societies in order to deepen in East Asian cultures and understand their mutual interactions and evolution. Students will explore a series of phenomena such as ethnic and linguistic diversity, language classifications, the history of languages and writing systems, the connections between language and politics, the relationship between language, culture and art, or the Western views on Asian languages.

The course will incorporate a gender perspective that will be particulary important in the selection of authors and topics to be read and discussed across the different units.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course, students should be able to: 

• show an ability to convey their conclusions and knowledge and the underlying reasons behind them to expert and layman’s audiences in a clear, unambiguous manner; 
• possess the learning skills needed to continue studying in a largely self-directed, independent fashion;
• display elementary knowledge of a third language;
• analyze the process of interaction between the different cultures of the Asia-Pacific area;
• recognize and describe contemporary and modern Asia-Pacific history. 

Sustainable Development Goals

Quality education
Gender equality
Reduced inequalities

Prerequisites

The course has been designed for students in an Area Studies program who have no intensive background in Asian languages and cultures. Knowledge of Chinese, Japanese or any other Asian language is not required (all the assigned texts will be in translation), although specific references to relevant issues of language will be made occasionally for students who are familiar with these languages. In any case, these references will not be part of the evaluation. The course will be taught in English. 

Contents

Major topics and issues to be covered are: 

• Languages and contexts
• Language and politics 
• Language and history
• Language and location 
• Translingual practices 
• Western views on Asian languages 

Teaching Methods

Evaluation

The instructor assumes that students will attend at least 70% of the lectures (or follow their virtual equivalent through readings and materials) and actively participate in the class discussions as part of the process of achieving the learning outcomes of the course. 

The final grade of the course will be calculated by combining the following aspects:

Participation: 30% 
This includes attendance and participation in debates and discussions (either in-class or virtual) and, in general, a proactive attitude in all aspects of the course. This also includes possible questionnaires or one-minute papers written during the units on a specific topic selected by the instructor. Students who keep a reading journal are very much welcome to share it with the instructor at any time or at the end of the quarter.

Synthesis exercise: 40% 
Short exercise to be completed in class during the wrap-up session. It will include one or two general, thematic, open questions for critical reflection. Students will be allowed to consult notes and readings. The main purpose of this short exercise is to help students organize and consolidate the concepts, ideas and reflections previously discussed throughout the course.

Case study: 30% 
A short individual writing (3-5 pages) about one potential case study of analysis related to any of the aspects covered in the course: relations between language and geography or history or politics or translation, etc. Students will be asked to give a preliminary version of their selected case study in session 10 and will receive comments and feedback from the instructor and their peers, which they will be able to incorporate in the final written version. These preliminary presentations will be posted and discussed online at Aula Global. The instructor will provide more details about this assignment. DEADLINE: Students must submit the final written version of the case study by the end of the first week of the following term. 

Note: Students who fail the course will be allowed to retake the final exercise in a longer, more comprehensive form. In this case, the grade of this second exercise will represent 100% of the final grade. This exercise will have to be taken during the last week of the following term. Please contact the instructor for further details.

Bibliography and information resources

For each thematic unit, the instructor will indicate specific relevant bibliography. General references are: 

Chen, Ping. Modern Chinese: History and Sociolinguistics. Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Comrie, Bernard, ed. The Major Languages of East and South-East Asia. Routledge, 1990.
Gottlieb, Nanette. Language and Society in Japan. Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Hodge, Bob, and Kam Louie. The Politics of Chinese Language and Culture: The Art of Reading Dragons.
Routledge, 2012.
Liu, Lydia. Translingual Practice: Literature, National Culture, and Translated Modernity, China 1900-1937. Stanford University Press, 1995. 
Martínez-Robles, David. La lengua china: historia, signo y contexto: una aproximación
sociocultural. Editorial UOC, 2007.
Mullaney, Thomas. The Chinese Typewriter: A History. MIT Press, 2017.
Shih, Shu-mei, Brian Bernards, and Chien-hsin Tsai, eds. Sinophone Studies: A Critical Reader. Columbia University Press, 2013.

Teaching Plan Information

Presentation

Languages and writing systems are a core element of the cultures of the Asia-Pacific region. We will analyze the role that languages have played and still play in East Asian societies in order to deepen in East Asian cultures and understand their mutual interactions and evolution. Students will explore a series of phenomena such as ethnic and linguistic diversity, language classifications, the history of languages and writing systems, the connections between language and politics, the relationship between language, culture and art, or the Western views on Asian languages.

The course will incorporate a gender perspective that will be particulary important in the selection of authors and topics to be read and discussed across the different units.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course, students should be able to: 

• show an ability to convey their conclusions and knowledge and the underlying reasons behind them to expert and layman’s audiences in a clear, unambiguous manner; 
• possess the learning skills needed to continue studying in a largely self-directed, independent fashion;
• display elementary knowledge of a third language;
• analyze the process of interaction between the different cultures of the Asia-Pacific area;
• recognize and describe contemporary and modern Asia-Pacific history. 

Sustainable Development Goals

Quality education
Gender equality
Reduced inequalities

Prerequisites

The course has been designed for students in an Area Studies program who have no intensive background in Asian languages and cultures. Knowledge of Chinese, Japanese or any other Asian language is not required (all the assigned texts will be in translation), although specific references to relevant issues of language will be made occasionally for students who are familiar with these languages. In any case, these references will not be part of the evaluation. The course will be taught in English. 

Contents

Major topics and issues to be covered are: 

• Languages and contexts
• Language and politics 
• Language and history
• Language and location 
• Translingual practices 
• Western views on Asian languages 

Teaching Methods

Evaluation

The instructor assumes that students will attend at least 70% of the lectures (or follow their virtual equivalent through readings and materials) and actively participate in the class discussions as part of the process of achieving the learning outcomes of the course. 

The final grade of the course will be calculated by combining the following aspects:

Participation: 30% 
This includes attendance and participation in debates and discussions (either in-class or virtual) and, in general, a proactive attitude in all aspects of the course. This also includes possible questionnaires or one-minute papers written during the units on a specific topic selected by the instructor. Students who keep a reading journal are very much welcome to share it with the instructor at any time or at the end of the quarter.

Synthesis exercise: 40% 
Short exercise to be completed in class during the wrap-up session. It will include one or two general, thematic, open questions for critical reflection. Students will be allowed to consult notes and readings. The main purpose of this short exercise is to help students organize and consolidate the concepts, ideas and reflections previously discussed throughout the course.

Case study: 30% 
A short individual writing (3-5 pages) about one potential case study of analysis related to any of the aspects covered in the course: relations between language and geography or history or politics or translation, etc. Students will be asked to give a preliminary version of their selected case study in session 10 and will receive comments and feedback from the instructor and their peers, which they will be able to incorporate in the final written version. These preliminary presentations will be posted and discussed online at Aula Global. The instructor will provide more details about this assignment. DEADLINE: Students must submit the final written version of the case study by the end of the first week of the following term. 

Note: Students who fail the course will be allowed to retake the final exercise in a longer, more comprehensive form. In this case, the grade of this second exercise will represent 100% of the final grade. This exercise will have to be taken during the last week of the following term. Please contact the instructor for further details.

Bibliography and information resources

For each thematic unit, the instructor will indicate specific relevant bibliography. General references are: 

Chen, Ping. Modern Chinese: History and Sociolinguistics. Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Comrie, Bernard, ed. The Major Languages of East and South-East Asia. Routledge, 1990.
Gottlieb, Nanette. Language and Society in Japan. Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Hodge, Bob, and Kam Louie. The Politics of Chinese Language and Culture: The Art of Reading Dragons.
Routledge, 2012.
Liu, Lydia. Translingual Practice: Literature, National Culture, and Translated Modernity, China 1900-1937. Stanford University Press, 1995. 
Martínez-Robles, David. La lengua china: historia, signo y contexto: una aproximación
sociocultural. Editorial UOC, 2007.
Mullaney, Thomas. The Chinese Typewriter: A History. MIT Press, 2017.
Shih, Shu-mei, Brian Bernards, and Chien-hsin Tsai, eds. Sinophone Studies: A Critical Reader. Columbia University Press, 2013.