Page 214 - SYU Prospectus

Shue Yan University Prospectus 2018-19

analytical skills for reflecting upon the rising Chinese civic activism from within and advancing
the meaning of Chinese citizenship they live with.

SOC 508 Collective Memories in Chinese Societies
1 Term; 3 Credits
This course examines how remembrance of the past is related to the self-understanding
of ordinary people and their shared experiences in the present. It also investigates how
narratives about the past, both histories and memories, play an important role within nations,
social movements, and personal lives. It interrogates how the past is created or displayed in
images, stories, legends, oral histories, landscapes, places, films, architectures, foods,
museums, memorials, commemorative practices. What are the social and political conditions
of remembering and forgetting in various Chinese societies, such as China, Taiwan, and Hong
Kong? How are colonial memories remembered? In what ways have traumatic events been
remembered or forgotten and how do they help shape identities?

SOC 509 Heritage, Governance and Nationalism
1 Term; 3 Credits
This course aims to investigate heritage as a process of contestation which is defined,
created, displayed and manipulated by various groups of people at different levels. Foucault’s
theories on governmentality and power will also be adopted to analyse the role of heritage in
the cultural policies of Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Taiwan. Through examining the
contestations of heritage, the economic and political aspects of heritage will be explored.
Students are encouraged to examine the ways through which people, market and state have
shaped heritage in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan.

SOC 510 Taste and Consumption
1 Term; 3 Credits
Sociologists see consumption to be a more complex matter than simply the buying and
selling of goods. Rather, consumption can be seen as a cultural practice which involves social
interaction, communication, classification and competition. Moreover, the specific social world,
especially the social class that consumers belong to, greatly influences how they perform in
consumption behaviours. This course aims to provide students with an opportunity to get
exposure to recent academic debates about consumption cultures and practices, with a
special emphasis on the interconnections between social class, tastes and consumption. Real
cases and empirical studies in different Chinese societies will be adopted as illustration. Upon
the completion of the course, students are expected to understand major academic theories
about modern consumption cultures, and have the ability to apply those approaches to
analyse preferences, choices and tastes in their everyday consumption experiences.

SOC 511 Tourism in Chinese Societies
1 Term; 3 Credits
Tourism has become a popular leisure activity in transforming Chinese societies for the

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