Regional studies (ethnography): East Asia

Study Course Description

Course Description Statuss:Approved

Course Description Version:1.00

Study Course Accepted:19.08.2021 16:32:37

Study Course Information
Course Code:		KSK_037		LQF level:		Level 7
Credit Points:		4.00		ECTS:		0.00
Branch of Science:		Sociology; Social Anthropology		Target Audience:		Sociology
Study Course Supervisor
Course Supervisor:
Study Course Implementer
Structural Unit:		Faculty of Communication
The Head of Structural Unit:
Contacts:		Rīga, Dzirciema iela 16, kfkorsu[pnkts]lv, kfkorsu[pnkts]lv, +371 67409183
Study Course Planning
Full-Time - Semester No.1
Lectures (count)		6	Lecture Length (academic hours)		2	Total Contact Hours of Lectures		12
Classes (count)		18	Class Length (academic hours)		2	Total Contact Hours of Classes		36
Total Contact Hours								48
Study course description
Preliminary Knowledge:
N/A
Objective:
The foremost aim of the course is to provide students with an understanding of the ways in which anthropological research in East Asia is contributing to the broader anthropological debates. The second aim of the course is to provide the students with tools to analyse how the emerging bodies of literature continue to build on the seminal works of the region. The third aim is to develop the students’ understanding of the applicability of various ethnographic methodologies to different topics and knowledges sought by the researcher. The fourth aim of the course is to develop students’ academic presentation skills of communicating their arguments, questions, and feedback in a confident, coherent, and constructive manner.
Topic Layout (Full-Time)
No.	Topic			Type of Implementation		Number	Venue
1	Introduction and course outline			Lectures		1.00	E-Studies platform
				Classes		1.00	E-Studies platform
2	Gender, kinship, and sexuality			Lectures		1.00	E-Studies platform
				Classes		3.00	E-Studies platform
3	Environmental anthropology and history			Lectures		1.00	E-Studies platform
				Classes		2.00	E-Studies platform
4	Cosmologies and ontologies			Lectures		1.00	E-Studies platform
				Classes		2.00	E-Studies platform
5	States, economies, and governance			Lectures		1.00	E-Studies platform
				Classes		2.00	E-Studies platform
6	Medicine, disease, and risk			Lectures		1.00	E-Studies platform
				Classes		3.00	E-Studies platform
7	The city			Classes		1.00	E-Studies platform
8	Civil society and social movements			Classes		1.00	E-Studies platform
9	Digital worlds and transnationalism			Classes		1.00	E-Studies platform
10	Student presentations			Classes		2.00	E-Studies platform
Assessment
Unaided Work:
Reading of assigned texts, class participation, final presentation, final essay
Assessment Criteria:
- Final essay 2000-2500 words – 50% - Conference style presentation (15 min presentation, 5 min answering questions) – 30% - Presenting weekly readings and participation in class – 20%
Final Examination (Full-Time):		Exam (Written)
Final Examination (Part-Time):
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge:		Describe and explain the main topics in the anthropology of East Asia. Compare topics of the course with those studied in other courses of the program and draw connections between them.
Skills:		Interpret and analyse data and information on East Asia from an anthropological perspective. Organise and present one's thoughts on the course material.
Competencies:		Assess critically information on East Asia. Apply the theoretical and practical and theoretical knowledge gained in the course in one's own research process.
Bibliography
No.	Reference
Required Reading
1	Gupta, A., & Ferguson, J., 1977. 1. Discipline and Practice: "The Field" as Site, Method, and Location in Anthropology (pp. 1-46). University of California Press
2	Lederman, R., 2008. Anthropological regionalism. A new history of anthropology, 311-325.
3	Humphrey, C., 1998. Marx went away–but Karl stayed behind. University of Michigan Press. Chapter 6. Domestic production and changes in the Soviet Buryat family, pp. 267-299
4	Valdur, M., 2020. Chapter 5. Contraceptive Knowledge: Making Sexuality for YouTube. In M. Valdur, 2020. Life and Abortion: The Post-Biopolitics of Reproductive Health in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Ph.D. Unigrafia: University of Helsinki, pp. 124-155.
5	Linden, Kenneth. “Animals, Socialism, and Continuity: Wolf Hunting in the Mongolian People’s Republic.” Inner Asia, 2021. Coming out in November.
6	Pedersen, M. A., 2011. Chapter 1. Shamanic states. Not quite shamans. Cornell University Press, pp. 42-80.
7	Jensen, C. B., & Morita, A., 2012. Anthropology as critique of reality: A Japanese turn. Hau: Journal of Ethnographic Theory, 2(2), 358-370.
8	Smith, M. J. (2020). Power of the People’s Parties and a post-Soviet Parliament: Regional infrastructural, economic, and ethnic networks of power in contemporary Mongolia. Journal of Eurasian Studies, 11(2), 107-116.
9	Yang, M. M. H. (1989). The gift economy and state power in China. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 31(1), 25-54.
10	Greenhalgh, S. (2003). Planned births, unplanned persons: "Population" in the making of Chinese modernity. American ethnologist, 30(2), 196-215.
11	Kleinman, A. (1980). Patients and healers in the context of culture. University of California press.
12	Ong, A. (1999). Flexible citizenship: The cultural logics of transnationality. Duke University Press.
13	Ikeuchi, S., 2020. Jesus Loves Japan. Stanford University Press.