Syllabus
1. Modernity – modernization theory – Westernization – non-Western modernity
2. “New” – “Western” – “Reformed” in turn of 19th/20th century discourse
3. Competing Western Modernities: Enlightenment – Pragmatism – Conservatism
4. War and Modernity, Part I: Spreading Modernity through Warfare
5. War and Modernity, Part II: Under the Shadow of Nuclear Annihilation
6. Discourse of Failure in 20th Century China
7. Modernity and Social Control: Towards Digital Leninism
Annotation
The course discusses in an integrated whole the modernization of Chinese society in the twentieth century and the political and social upheavals that accompanied it. Each seminar starts with an introduction to the topic covered by the assigned readings, which are then discussed in a structured way by the whole class.
Students are expected to produce brief written summaries after each seminar and an essay of 8-10 pages at the end of the course.