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Roundtable: Teaching Early China in the Undergraduate Curriculum: Challenges, Innovations, and Future Prospects - Sponsored by the Society for Study of Early China
Organizer: Robin D. S. Yates, McGill University, Canada
Discussants: Constance A. Cook, Lehigh University; Rowan K. Flad, Harvard University; Anne Behnke Kinney, University of Virginia; Wen Xing, Trinity University; Griet M. Vankeerberghen, McGill University, Canada
As a result of the spectacular and ongoing archaeological discoveries of numerous texts, artifacts, sites, and material remains in the last 30 years and more, Early China studies is one of the fastest moving and challenging areas to teach in the undergraduate curriculum. It is inevitably interdisciplinary and it requires unusual specialized knowledge in technical disciplines, such as epigraphy, that cannot be easily taught to freshmen and sophomores. The new discoveries have revolutionized knowledge about the origins of Chinese civilization and, in all disciplines, require us to fundamentally rethink how we present the foundations of Chinese culture. The standard textbooks generally are either woefully out of date, place heavy emphasis on late imperial and modern China, or merely repeat the traditional interpretation of the creation of Chinese culture promoted by the May 4th iconoclasts. This interdisciplinary panel will, for the first time, bring college educators together to discuss ways in which they have met the challenges of integrating new knowledge in a multi-disciplinary fashion and from a cross-cultural perspective in ways that have excited the interest of students and encouraged new forms of learning. Each of the panelists has either produced or participated in a film, written a textbook, integrated visits to archaeological sites and museums or team-taught in innovative courses that compare China or other early civilizations, such as Rome, Greece, the Middle East and Meso-America. The panel will encourage active input from the audience to share experiences and suggest ways to improve the undergraduate curriculum.