HIST 118(F) "Ten Years of Madness": The Chinese Cultural Revolution (Same as Asian Studies 118) (W)*
In 1966 Mao Zedong launched the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in an
attempt to restore revolutionary purity to the Chinese Communist Party and society. The Cultural Revolution decade (1966-1976) is remembered most often as
a period of political violence and intense struggle, over which Mao reigned as
supreme leader. In this course, we will complicate this standard interpretation by
examining the Cultural Revolution in a variety of ways: as an elite political
struggle, an attempt to proletarianize culture and the arts, a social movement,
and a youth movement. The course will address themes of participation and
complicity, new gender roles, impact on different social groups, and differences
between rural and urban experience. In addition to relevant historiographical
works, the course will use memoirs, fiction, films, and ethnographies.
Format: seminar. Evaluation will be based on class participation, several short
papers, and a final research paper.
No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 19 (expected: 19). Preference will be given to
first-year students, and then sophomores, who have not previously taken a
100-level seminar.
Group C