HIST4180RH 平凡的聲音·不尋常的故事：紀錄片與傳記中的歷史與記憶

Those who control the past control the future; those who control the present control the past.

 ― George Orwell, 1984

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Memories of shared historical experiences serve as lessons for societies to learn from the past and inform the present. However, individual memories of ordinary people often become obscured behind the grand narratives of the official accounts of history. This is especially true in societies where history is not just an academic discipline, or a search for historical truth, but a powerful political weapon manipulated by state power to promote historical amnesia, and to impede critical examination of historical tragedies and injustice.

Citizens understand their responsibilities for the future by debating the moral meaning of history. While those in power can erase history or distort memories of past glories, traumas, and humiliation, the hijacking of history is followed by distortions of all kinds in politics, society, and identity. Public opinion pertaining to democracy and nationalism is inseparable from a collective memory of the nation’s past, be it truthful, selective, or manipulated.

This course will be an intellectual exploration of individual stories and voices, through the lenses of independent documentaries, memoires, biographies, and oral histories, in major historical events throughout the PRC period of modern Chinese history.  In parallel to the discussions of the narratives, we would also have the opportunity to speak to writers and documentary film makers who decided to document those stories that would otherwise be invisible and unheard. Milan Kundera describes the struggle of man against power as the struggle of memory against forgetting. An important element of this course will be the critical examination of the contemporary relevance of China’s past, the challenges of the ongoing contest between state-imposed interpretations of history and the independent pursuit of historical knowledge, and its implications on China’s future and its relationship with rest of the world.

COURSE OUTCOME

This course aims to help students to develop skills to think, write, and speak critically and analytically about the past. In particular, we will examine the state-sponsored version of history presented by the Chinese Communist party with our own critical minds based on evidence. We will work together as historians to evaluate historical evidence in primary and secondary sources, to think within historical contexts, to recognize the historical forces at work, to identify continuities and changes, and to understand the ethical dimension of historical interpretations as world citizens. One of the highlights of this course would be the opportunity to have conversations about the readings and documentaries with their authors/directors.

EVALUATION

• Class Performance (30%)
• News Presentation (10%)
• Final Project (60%)

Time: 5:30pm – 6:15pm

請注意大學有關學術著作誠信的政策和規則，及適用於犯規事例的紀律指引和程序。詳情可瀏覽網址：http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/。

學生遞交作業時，必須連同已簽署的聲明一併提交，表示他們知道有關政策、規則、指引及程序。

• 如屬小組習作，則所有組員均須簽署聲明；所有組員（不論有否簽署聲明及不論有否直接或間接撰寫有問題的內容）均須負上集體責任及受到懲處。
• 如作業以電腦製作、內容以文字為主，並經由大學「維誠」系統 (VeriGuide) 提交者，學生將作業的電子檔案上載到系統後，便會獲得收據，收據上已列明有關聲明。

未有夾附簽署妥當的聲明的作業，老師將不予批閱。

學生只須提交作業的最終版本。

學生將作業或作業的一部份用於超過一個用途（例如：同時符合兩科的要求）而沒有作出聲明會被視為未有聲明重覆使用作業。學生重覆使用其著作的措辭或某一、二句句子很常見，並可以接受，惟重覆使用全部內容則構成問題。在任何情況下，須先獲得相關老師同意方可提交作業。