This seminar is an introduction to some dimension of the history of a nation, region, people, culture, institution, or historical phenomenon selected by the respective instructor. Students will come to understand, and develop an appreciation for: the origins and evolution of the people, cultures, and/or political, economic, and/or social institutions of a particular region(s) of the world. They may explore how human encounters shaped individual and collective identities and the political, economic, and social orders of the region/nation/communities under study. Instructors prioritize critical reading, engaged participation, and focused writing assignments.

This seminar introduces graduate and advanced undergraduate students to selected types of historical documents foundational to research projects in imperial and modern Chinese history. It pays attention to those institutions that produced and archived these materials and asks: How does information circulate in the various systems of communication? What are the salient features of the mutual constitution of knowledge and institutions? What are the transformative moments in the articulation of information needs? The emphasis of the seminar will be on critical readings of primary documents including palace memorials, county archives, local gazetteers, court cases, biographies, and officials’ handbooks. Students will also familiarize themselves with reference works, digital resources, and database collections. Class assignments will include translations exercises and bibliographical essays. This seminar is designed to lay the ground for a research paper by graduate students on a topic concerning late imperial and/or twentieth-century Chinese history, i.e. a topic concerning either the Qing, the Republic, or the People's Republic. It is open, with a reduced load of assignments, to advanced undergraduates who plan to write a senior thesis. Proficiency in modern Chinese and familiarity with classical Chinese is required for participation in this seminar. Class meetings will be held in the East Asian Library's Saul and Sherry Yeung Art History Seminar Room, room 341.

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