54
STORIA DELL'ASIA ORIENTALE E SUD-ORIENTALE
Dati Generali
Periodo di attivitÃ
Syllabus
Obiettivi Formativi
Knowledge of the foundations of Chinese imperial political thought of the imperial age. In-depth knowledge of the protagonists and themes of the Chinese public debate of the 19th-21st centuries, with particular attention to the connection between philosophy of history and political philosophy and to the global perspective (circulation of models, concepts and texts and their influence on internal discourse).
ABILITY TO APPLY KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
The student must demonstrate familiarity with the methodologies of intellectual history and the history of concepts, both in the global and Chinese context. He/she must also be able to observe and critically comment on the legacies of the debates addressed during the course, managing to analyze contemporary Chinese political discourse with a historical perspective and with a contextualization capacity capable of dismantling "essentialist" and "orientalist" paradigms.
FURTHER EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES
Autonomy of judgment:
-ability to evaluate secondary sources related to the topics covered during the course
-ability to independently and critically evaluate long-term historical processes and their connection with the present
Communication skills:
-ability to use specialized language (both orally and in writing) adequate to communicate the contents learned during the course
-ability to translate and analyze modern and contemporary Chinese original texts
-ability to participate in group discussions
-ability to illustrate, defend and support one's ideas, using both the tools of formal logical argumentation and rhetoric.
Prerequisiti
A sufficient knowledge of written Chinese is required to analyze (with the help of the teacher) original texts. In exceptional cases, it will be possible to adapt the exam program taking into account specific study plans that do not include the study of Chinese language.
Metodi didattici
The first part of the course (methodological introduction and history of classical Chinese political thought) will consist of traditional lectures. In the remaining classes, each participant will examine a specific author, selecting one of his/her texts with the help of the teacher and presenting it in class.
Verifica Apprendimento
Students who actively and frequently attend classes, will be required to select and translate a text, and then present it in class to their colleagues. For them, the final exam will be an expansion of their class presentation, to cover other thinkers and periods mostly based on what was done in class.
Students who are unable to attend classes regularly, are required to contact the teacher in advance in order to define their exam program.
Testi
- Y. Kim, A History of Chinese Political Thought. Polity Press, 2018
- S. Ambrogio e D. Rogacz (eds), Chinese Philosophy from the Eighteenth Century to the Present. Bloomsbury, 2024. CHAPTERS 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 15, 19
- A. Xu, From Culturalist Nationalism to Conservatism. Origins and Diversification of Conservative Ideas in Republican China. De Gruyter, 2021.
Original texts in Chinese will be provided during the lessons.
Students unable to attend classes are required to contact the teacher in order to outline their exam program.
Contenuti
Reform/Revolution/Restoration: Conceptualizing "Change" in Modern and Contemporary Chinese Political Thought
The course aims to look at the Chinese intellectual debate from the 19th century to the beginning of the 21st century using as a specific observation point the different conceptualizations of "historical change" and the political recipes that have been articulated on the basis of such philosophical visions. To the classic polarity between "reform" and "revolution", "restoration" - or "nostalgia" - will be added. The various forms of Chinese conservatism will be analyzed and positioned along the tradition/innovation axis, studying their global connections, and verifying their legacies in the post-Maoist debate.
After a methodological introduction and a historical overview of the cornerstones of imperial political thought, the course will use individual thinkers as the main reference for each class. Their list will include Wei Yuan, Kang Youwei, Huang Zunxian. Liang Qichao, Hu Shi, Chen Duxiu, Mao Zedong, Zhang Junmai, Wang Huning, but also "minor" yet equally representative intellectuals. Their works (in Chinese) will be analyzed, contextualized, and related to each other against the backdrop of the course's conceptual trajectory (reform, revolution, restoration).
Topics covered:
- Intellectual history and history of political thought: methodological observations for the Chinese and global contexts
- A short outline of imperial Chinese thought
- The crisis of the 19th century: cyclical time vs. linear time
- Confucian reformists
- Kang Youwei
- Liang Qichao
- Hu Shi and the brief season of Chinese liberalism
- Chinese Conservatism in the Republican era
- Mao Zedong and the sinicization of Marxism
- Reformism and conservatism in the post-Maoist era
Lingua Insegnamento
English