67711 - Sociology of Asiatic Countries

Course contents

ASIA ON THE MOVE: PEOPLE, CAPITAL AND CULTURAL PROCESSES

The course consists of two parts: the first one focuses on research methodologies in social sciences; the second one deals with migration involving Asian countries.

1. Social Science Field Research

This part of the course is an introduction to some research methodologies in social sciences. The course will address research design, some outstanding methodologies for fieldwork, the value of combining methods and tools to strengthen research design. Students will be encouraged to experiment fieldwork.

2. Migrants and the city

This part will first deal with the reconceptualization of international migration taking place in the last decades. It will then discuss outmigration and immigration involving China and Japan. In particular, i twill focus on the role of China and Japan in the so-called ‘global land grabbing’, the effects of the Chinese and Japanese presence in Africa, and some outstanding socio-cultural shifts in China and Japan linked to migration.

Video-clips and movies (in English) will be analyzed.

 

Readings/Bibliography

* Handouts will be provided by the instructor

Teaching methods

Classroom teaching;

ppt presentations, video clips watching and commenting

Assessment methods

Written exam with four open questions based on the course program. The student will be evaluated for their comprehension of the relevant issues and their ability to answer the questions using the proper register. For each question an answer of about one page is expected. Answers are marked from 0 to 7,5. The duration of the exam will be two hours and a half. 

The written exam can be reduced for those students that will do one or more of the followings:

1: a presentation followed by discussion with the class of academic paper/s chosen by the instructor (written exam: 3 questions instead of four).

2. a presentation followed by discussion with the class of video/s different from those already included in the program (written exam: 3 questions instead of four).

3. an interview (at least one hour) with persons knowledgeable in the subject on issues discussed in class. The interview/s should be transcribed, commented in a written form and presented to the class (written exam: 3 questions instead of four).

Teaching tools

multi media tools

Office hours

See the website of Antonella Ceccagno