Page 97 - SYU Prospectus

English Language & Literature

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
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 506 Fabrications of Identity
1 Term; 3 Credits
This course explores the formations of identity from different perspectives, for example,
national, cultural, psychoanalysis, postmodern, postcolonial, and gender studies. In
recognizing the influence of technology and visual culture in the 21st century, it particularly
emphasizes the fabrication of identity in the disciplines of technoscience, consumer culture,
fashion design, media culture and ecology. It examines the representation of identity and
difference in various local, national, and global settings. Drawing upon theoretical writings of
nationalism, psychoanalysis, postcolonialism, postmodernity, gender studies, technoscience
culture, media culture and ecology, and cultural texts from different countries, the course aims
to examine the fabrication of identity from an interdisciplinary and intercultural approach.
Students are encouraged to engage local and global cultural texts in their oral presentation and
written works.

ENG 507 Modern China through Films
1 Term; 3 Credits
This course aims at introducing aspects of the history, politics, society and culture of
Modern China to students through films. The films chosen cover the major historical events in
modern China, starting from the pre-1949 era, the Three-Anti and Five-Anti Movements, the
Cultural Revolution, to the Open Door Policy in 1980s. In addition to considering the historical
contexts, we will also critically analyse issues like environmental problems, sexuality, marriage,
education, one-child policy, economic boom, modernization, etc. Films produced in Mongolia,
the United States and Taiwan are also included as texts for discussion of issues such as

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