自資學士學位課程

This course aims to introduce the different approaches in understanding different civilizations, their encounter, interaction and conflicts. It will first introduce the different theories of understanding world civilizations, e.g. their characteristics, strength and weakness, and their grandeur and decline. It will also discuss, with illustration of literary work and films examples, interaction and conflict between civilizations, e.g. China and the West, Christian and Muslim, and the “discovery” of America. It will serve as an introductory course for cultural studies by providing basic knowledge and methods in the study of culture and civilization.

This course aims to provide students with a foundational understanding of gender and sexuality from an inter-disciplinary perspective. It equips students with a basic understanding of concepts, theories of gender and sexuality, and debates of related issues in the contemporary world. Upon completion of the course, students are expected to have a general and critical understanding of the political, cultural and social aspects of gender and sexuality and can participate in specialized discussions of related topics.

The course is divided into three parts. The first part focuses on some of the key theoretical perspectives on everyday life. This constitutes a theoretical toolkit tailor-made for a critical evaluation of the topic areas presented in the second and third parts. In the second part, a progression of individual practices and familiar routines will be examined, from the most private to the social. Part three spotlights the roles individuals play in re-creating society through acts of defiance, social movements as well as daily interactions.

This course introduces a variety of personal writings to students. Starting with the form, content and structure, the course will go on to give a historical overview of major pieces of personal narratives of different types, and examine the significant role played by memory in the construction of personal narratives. The course will also discuss the interesting mixture of fact and fiction in any personal writing, as well as the intriguing relationship between the subject and object of the narrative. In the course of the semester, students will also have a chance to create their own personal narratives and be guided to recognize the power of this writing in relation to their personal growth.

The Liberal and Cultural Studies Internship (Propose: Cultural Studies and Creative Industries Internship) is offered both during term-time and the summer. Its aim is to enrich students’ education by expanding their horizons and enabling them to integrate academic knowledge with first-hand practical experience in the cultural and creative sector. It is specially designed to encourage students to go beyond the confines of the campus and their own academic disciplines through a multidisciplinary and practice-oriented approach. The internship is also characterised by engaging students to expand social awareness and develop close connections through working with the course instructor and community partners.

The Liberal and Cultural Studies Internship (Propose: Cultural Studies and Creative Industries Internship) is offered both during term-time and the summer. Its aim is to enrich students’ education by expanding their horizons and enabling them to integrate academic knowledge with first-hand practical experience in the cultural and creative sector. It is specially designed to encourage students to go beyond the confines of the campus and their own academic disciplines through a multidisciplinary and practice-oriented approach. The internship is also characterised by engaging students to expand social awareness and develop close connections through working with the course instructor and community partners.

This course provides both the theoretical knowledge and the opportunity for practical experience to students who are interested in discovering their creativity and exercising it in writing. An introduction to the creative process and the basic approaches to creativity are given at the beginning of the course, before students are taken through selected types of creative work. The course focuses equally on careful guidance in students’ appreciation of creative works, as well as in their own creative practice.

This course aims to study the social, cultural and historical reasons for the appearance of the fiction of detection, and to provide an overview of its development from the mid-19th century to the present. Examples of detective fiction which mark important points in its historical development will be studied to understand how this genre changes according to changing social, cultural and historical environment in our world.

This course aims to enhance students’ understanding of the city. While cities are diverse and exciting, they also pose challenging problems. Through the examination of classic and contemporary texts on the city, students will acquire an in-depth understanding of key developments in the study of the city. Case studies will also be used to develop the analytical techniques of the students.

This course aims to guide students towards a study of the fairy tales including the basic narrative structure, major components, main themes and features, and some of the cultural and historical transformations in recent centuries. Special attention would be given to the various possible interpretations of fairy tales in our society regarding the domains of gender, race, class, culture and other factors of identity formation.

This course aims to promote students’ reflection on existential questions about life and its values by introducing them to philosophical thoughts of classical and modern thinkers of both the Chinese and the Western cultures. The focus will be on the meaning of human life. It will provide students with inspiring intellectual discourses of the selected thinkers and their self exploration and speculation process. The course will analyse philosophical texts written by these thinkers and the answers they offer on the issue of the meaning of life. Finally, it will encourage students to examine their own value systems and living attitudes to life, and to relate them to the human conditions discussed by the thinkers. This course is also designed to introduce philosophical thinking.

This course aims to enhance students’ understanding of how Hong Kong cinema have been shaping and shaped by the local society and the global context of film-making. To this end, students will also learn a wide range of general approaches to film studies and the question of appropriate approaches to different periods of Hong Kong film development will be fully examined.

This course aims to introduce students to a comprehensive overview of the traditions of horror tales and cinematic genre of horror. Always berated and frequently overlooked in academic study, horror serves a significant social function to signal the indescribable anxiety of the society. Horror inherently deals with some forbidden topics or disturbing course matters, thus it might be the most socially revealing genre. We do not only look into the history of horror but also examine the definition of horror. The course investigates the cultural function, representation of horror and what pleasure we derive from it.

This course aims to introduce students to the popularity of Japanese animation (anime) and comics (manga) in Hong Kong by considering anime and manga as medium, art, culture, and industry. It examines the reasons why these forms of popular culture from Japan can appeal to Hong Kong youths and investigates their historical developments in the city. This course is relevant to all realms of academic inquiry, and should attract students who share interests in media studies, in communications, in industrial structures, in art and visual form, in gender treatment, and in Japanese fan culture, and cross-cultural studies.

This course aims to enhance students’ knowledge of popular music and its relation to society at large. It will also develop students’ critical understanding of the academic study of popular music. Students will have to examine popular music studies and apply them to analyse popular music in the special context of Hong Kong society.

This course aims to demonstrate the interrelationship between creativity and the critical spirit through the examination and discussion of the historical fiction. While it is generally believed that creativity and the critical spirit are two separate and sometimes even opposite approaches and qualities, this course hopes to show that they are two sides of the same coin. Through a study of the historical fiction, students will see the creative aspects of a critical research, and how being critical is an important step towards creativity.

This course aims to introduce the major forms in theatre from the West to the East. It discusses the relation between different theatre aesthetics and forms, and its relation to reality, and the historical and social background. It helps students to analyse and appreciate different styles and genres of theatre, their aesthetic principle, and their relation with their time and culture. It will also show examples of theatre forms with the help of original texts, and videos or live performances. Students will have the opportunity to see live theatre performances and have discussion with theatre artists.

This course aims to introduce students to the social functions and ideological meanings of leisure institutions, from museums, fairs, gardens to amusement parks, movie theaters, world expo and other themed spaces. We focus on the notion of leisure and play, and investigate the wide world of themed entertainment. While looking at particular case studies and particular leisure spaces, ranging from Disneyland to ethnic villages and Imax theaters, we look into the connection between play and modern life, the utopian elements of leisure spaces, the impacts of the increasingly global and lucrative contemporary tourist industry on the production of historical knowledge and the invention of traditions, and other issues related to cultural politics and management.

This course aims to introduce the complex issues, theories, and methods involved in understanding contemporary mediascape. Through reading classic and contemporary texts on the media, students will learn various theories of the media, the issues raised by these theories, the strengths and weaknesses of these theories, and the diverse methods of studying the media.

This course aims, first, to provide an overview and a critical examination of key themes, concepts, theories and issues in youth studies. Central issues such as inequality, underachievement, crime and deviant behaviours, political and civic (dis)engagements will be examined and they are discussed under the weekly thematic focus of class, race/ethnicity, gender & sexuality, governmentality, political and civic (dis)engagements, values and beliefs, and (sub)cultures and lifestyles. Existing theories and literature about youth transitions and youth cultures tend to take the “Western” experiences that are based on the global North for granted. Living in an ever-more interconnected age, it is not only encouraged but also urgent to think and engage with cross-national and comparative youth research. The second aim of this course is to inspire students to think beyond traditional national boundaries and to understand youth studies from different geo-political localities and cross-cultural comparative perspectives. The course seeks to diversify and broaden our understanding of youth issues by bringing in empirical examples from a wide array of countries of different socio-, cultural and political settings, ranging from countries in Europe to Africa, and from Asia to Australia.

This course aims to introduce the idea of modernity in the Western world, its genesis, development and its spread to the world. It will discuss the challenge of modernity and China’s response, thus achieving and understanding of how Chinese modernity came into shape. It discusses the historical, cultural, literary and artistic trends in China from the end of the 19th century to the 1980s as an expression of Chinese modernity.

In an era of globalization, capitalism has strengthened its important role in the world economy. It not only serves as an economic force that shapes our economic life, but also serves as a cultural force that shapes our cultural life. In recent years, there is an increasing research literature on the emotional dimension of capitalism which focuses on how the emotions are shaped, managed, manipulated, and distributed in the consumer culture and creative industries as well as the tremendous impacts of emotional culture, emotional consumption, emotional labor and emotional management. This course will explore the emotional dimension of consumer culture and creative industries. It will focus on how emotions are experienced, represented and produced in the industries. Drawing on different types of consumer cultures and creative industries, this course will examine various kinds of emotions such as pleasure, fear, grief, hate or terror in the construction of individual and social life. The course will also discuss how emotions are deployed in current philosophical, social and political debates.

This course explores the production, circulation, products and practices of Asian popular culture (television drama, film, popular music, animation, comics, game, fashion, celebrity culture, digital culture, etc.) in a transnational context; and how Asian popular culture as a diverse creative force influences people and societies within and outside of Asia. It offers an introduction to the development of Asian popular culture industries and their impacts to the regional and global markets. It introduces to students the characteristics of Asian popular cultures, and the social, cultural and political environments of major production sites. Major theoretical approaches to popular culture and Asian societies will be studied. Upon completion, students will be familiar with the various critical approaches used in the study of popular culture and industries, and the social, political and economic contexts of Asian popular culture.

This course aims to introduce students to a comprehensive overview of theories of digital media in contemporary culture. Based on a historical understanding of digital media developments, the course explores the role of new media in a globally networked world. It also examines the social, political and economic influences of new digital technologies on culture, industry, creativity and community from cross-disciplinary perspectives.

This course aims to help students comprehend major theories of culture of the 20th century from an interdisciplinary perspective. Students will familiarize themselves with seminal debates and how they are or are not relevant to contemporary Hong Kong society. They will also acquire a global and critical sensibility with respect to culture as manifested in both material and symbolic realms. Students will engage with issues and acquire knowledge and skills in identifying, profiling and discussing them. In brief, the course will act as a capstone of the programme where the culmination of inter-disciplinary knowledge can be actualized.

This course aims to introduce students to the representations of sexuality and notions of gender in mass media. Topics that will be discussed include sexual image, sexual language and gender behaviour in entertainment television and commercial films, effects of pornography on the Internet, sex and violence in movies, sex and music videos, and the film and TV content ratings system. The course also examines the social, political and economic influences of sexuality in mass media on ethics, industry and community from cross-disciplinary perspectives.

The overall goal of this course is to enhance students’ understanding of traditional and especially contemporary Chinese Culture. The course also aims to open a window into Chinese cultural philosophy and to enlighten students about the profound historical backgrounds, problems and development of the seemingly chaotic Chinese culture since the last century. Some important schools of contemporary cultural philosophy will be introduced to deepen students’ theoretical understanding of Chinese cultural transformation up until the present-day.

This course provides a broad understanding of human mobility, culture and patterns of migration in our contemporary social world. The movement of people, culture, capital, commodities, information and ideas has become a central theme in contemporary life. The course invites students to understand human mobility in a global context from different disciplinary perspectives and diverse theoretical backgrounds. It introduces to students different forms of contemporary human mobility and a wide range of topics and issues that are related to human mobility in contemporary world. They range from issues and debates surrounding contemporary migration, migrant cultures and communities, tourism in a globalized world, how human mobility is patterned by education, job opportunities and intimate relationship to how mobile technologies inspire new forms of mobile life or relationship. Upon completion, students will able to possess the essential theoretical and empirical knowledge to understand how human mobility works to organize our social world and private life, and how our mobility or immobility is defined and confined by numerous private and public factors.