Electronically submit this course form and attachments to the Chair of the CCC by October 1.
Please submit a separate proposal for each desired learning goal.
1.
Name of Proposer: E. Elena Songster
2.
Email address: ees4@stmarys-ca.edu
3.
Department/Program of Proposer: HISTORY
4.
Name of Department/Program housing the course: HISTORY
5.
Name(s) of Program Director/Department Chair (if not the proposer):
Myrna Santiago
6.
Course Acronym, Number and Title: HIST 163: Ethnic Identity and Conflict in China
7.
Proposal is for All Sections of the course: __Yes___
Proposal is for instructor’s section(s) (Pathways to Knowledge only): _____
8.
Course Prerequisites (if any): None
9.
Unit Value of Course: 1
10.
Mark with an X the Learning Goal for which the course is being proposed. (Please submit a separate proposal for each desired goal.)
Pathways to Knowledge (at most one)
Artistic Understanding – Artistic Analysis only: ____
Artistic Understanding – Creative Practice only: ____
Artistic Understanding – Both Artistic Analysis and Creative Practice: ____
Mathematical Understanding: ____
Scientific Understanding: ____
Social, Historical, Cultural Understanding: _X___
Christian Foundations: ____
Theological Explorations: ____
Engaging the World (as appropriate, generally zero to two)
American Diversity: ____
Common Good: ____
Community Engagement: ____
Global Perspectives: ____
Teaching and Learning:
This class, HIST 163: Ethnic Identity and Conflict in China, is an upper-division thematic history course that examines the ways that peoples in and around the area of China grouped and distinguished each other in different historical periods. I call it a thematic course because it does not attempt to trace a broad historical narrative of a place but rather examines the issue of “ethnicity” as a concept over a broad range of time. While “ethnicity” is a modern concept, ancient peoples had systematic ways of dividing and distinguishing groups of people that in some cases were similar to modern notions of ethnicity and in other cases were very different
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from them. The purpose of this class is to examine how people categorized themselves and others as distinct societies and how these systems of categorization reflected their historical contexts and influenced their actions from the ancient to the modern periods. In this regard, the course is designed specifically to “examine human activity [human categorization and activities associated with such categorization] in particular periods from a …historical perspective” (Social, Historical, and Cultural Understanding Learning Outcomes). By looking at case studies in different eras beginning as far back as the second century BCE , students are given an opportunity to see differences in the ways that peoples categorized themselves and others that reflected both distinct perspectives and the contexts of the historical era in which they existed. As such, students learn to examine the ways that historical context affects perspective. For instance, during the ancient period, Chinese writings indicate that their society determined another societie’s level civilization according to a group’s achievement in agriculture, the construction of walled cities, adoption of a religion or philosophical ideology, and use of a written script. The degree to which a group satisfied these criteria had a profound effect on how Chinese society viewed and interacted with that group. These criteria themselves as well as the ways that Chinese and other groups negotiated their relationship around these criteria reflected their historical context in part because they were constrained by the technologies available during that period.
In this course students will also “demonstrate an understanding of historical causation and change” (Social, Historical, and Cultural Understanding Learning Outcomes) through their study and reflection on the ways that human categorization differed from group to group and shifted dramatically within a group from era to era. Because the course traces interactions between Chinese and surrounding groups from the ancient period to the present, students can trace the diachronic change in perceived self-identity and the categorization of other groups and examine the causes of these shifts. For instance, just as students study the criteria for determining the level of civilization a given society had achieved during the ancient period, they will be able to compare this to China’s employment of Stalin’s standards of ethnic categorization during the communist period and discuss how and why broader historical trends impacted this particular aspect of Chinese society.
A close examination of the syllabus and readings will reveal that students will be exposed to scholarly writings by historians and anthropologists, primary documents, folklore, and autobiographical studies, as well as newspaper articles. In addition to these various sources we examine many maps, images of artifacts, clothes, and use film clips to evaluate various types of representation and their relationship to a given historical period. Students are required to analyze each of these sources and utilize them to better understand a particular group or its approach to human categorization historically. For instance, although the readings for this course necessarily include the writings of several anthropologists, the course does not attempt to teach anthropological theory; instead, it examines how the insights of these scholars reflect and enhance our understanding of these people in the historical context to which the studies pertain. Students are expected to be able to distinguish which type of source they are reading and understand the different types of information one can gain from each type of source.
The papers and exams are designed to measure the degree to which a student can demonstrate her or his achievement of these learning outcomes. The second paper requires
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that students analyze one of the groups we study and the way that that particular categorized itself with respect to the Han (Chinese) during the PRE-MODERN era. This is a direct reflection of the first learning outcome. The third paper requires students to choose a different group and either focus on it in the context of the twentieth century (and beyond) or examine how this particular group’s identity changed from the pre-modern period to the present day. In this way the students demonstrate their understanding not only of historical perspectives on human categorization, but also how these perspectives change over time and why. In this regard students are asked specifically to reflect on the second learning outcome that focuses on causation and change. Exams similarly require that students analyze specific aspects of these understandings by asking them to respond to such questions as: To what degree is religion an essential component of Tibetan and Hui (Muslim Chinese) identity after the founding of the
People’s Republic of China (1949)? In what ways did the Xiongnu [a nomadic people on the northern steppe during the first and second centuries BCE ] both exemplify and counter Chinese perceptions of a civilized society at the time? Why did ethnic markers for the Manchus change from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century? The third paper also requires students to practice historical research because they are required to find scholarly writing and primary documents to support their analysis of either twentieth century ethnic identity or a diachronic shift in the self-identity of a specific group.
Notes:

I am the only person who teaches this course. It therefore does not have any other sections, nor is there the possibility of it being taught in a different manner or with a different focus.

The second and third papers are designed to demonstrate student understanding of historical perspectives, as are the essay questions on either of the exams.

Please see attached syllabus for further details on readings, topics, and assignments.
Songster/HIST 163/SHCU