Page 102 - HKSYU Prospectus 2018-19

Shue Yan University Prospectus 2018-19

Literature, to be delivered by a team of teaching staff. Students are assigned to read a core of
original articles written by established scholars in the fields. Each area will take up three
weeks and together they form a background of individual presentations starting from the tenth
week. Topics for presentation are chosen by students and all teachers and students will
engage in rigorous discussion, with specific attention given to the feasibility of the proposals,
their methodologies, conceptual framework and appropriateness, and the scope and breadth
of the projects. It is hoped that, instead of the teacher-to-students format, all participants in the
seminar will join in a structured discussion guided by a proposer-respondent platform.

ENG 504 Research Methodology for Liberal Studies
1 Term; 3 Credits

Research Methodology for Liberal Studies is a core course intended for students who
plan to enrol in ENG 513 M.A. Dissertation. The aims of the course are to introduce students
to the various stages of the research process and provide them with an understanding of the
different approaches and methods in research for liberal studies. Through the course,
students will learn to read critically, select relevant literature for their research, design,
implement and review their research plan and utilise their research findings to help their
understanding and problem-solving in the area of liberal studies.

ENG 505 City, Space and Culture
1 Term; 3 Credits

Since the year 2005, more than half of the world’s population has been living in cities.
Transnational urbanism, therefore, has become an important area of studies which moves
across disciplines including architecture, geography, anthropology, media and communication
studies and sociology. This course adopts a cultural studies approach by focusing on how the
modern and postmodern city can be related to issues of class, gender and race. By drawing
on a wide range of key theoretical debates by distinguished scholars, and by reading and
appreciating chosen cultural texts both in print culture (i.e. novels, poetry and other writings)
and media culture (i.e. films, TV, on-line materials), this course aims at providing students with
insights into how cultural identity is constructed for city dwellers. Students will tackle questions
of urban complexities by mapping and recognizing a variety of venues such as malls, heritage
sites, airports, casinos and theme parks, all forming a cityscape that illuminates the central
importance of place and space in urban culture. Concepts relating to, say, the postcolonial
city, the cosmopolitan city, the cinematic city, city for tourism, the festival/carnival city, the
techno city and green metropolis of the future will be explored in terms of sociocultural
dynamics and changes.

After the course, students are expected to have a comprehensive appreciation and un-
derstanding of how urban space, time, value, meaning, community all form a complex
structure of cultural forces that guide the very processes that fashion our built environment.
Such a recognition will help students in dealing with educational modules such as technology
and environment, personal growth and globalization as stipulated for liberal studies for
secondary school.

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