Singapore

This course examines the influence and impact that magic and myth have in Southeast Asian society. Students examine the duality of magic as a norm and a taboo, and explore magic’s role in righting injustices, recording denied history, and gender inequality. Students conduct a comparative study between aspects of magic and mythmaking between Southeast Asia and other regions in the world. The course applies themes and theories from academic material to the real world. 

This course introduces Asian, European, and American material from the late nineteenth century to nearly the present day, concentrating on social and cultural themes such as industrialization, colonialism, science and race, technology and war, computers and global telecommunications and biotechnology and the human genome project. It is taught as a series of cases illustrating important events and multiple themes. The proposition that modern science and technology have been 'socially constructed', reflecting political and cultural values as well as the state of nature, is examined closely. The course includes theoretical material and an empirical focus.

This elementary Chinese course is for beginners with no previous knowledge of the language. It aims to introduce Chinese language and culture through practical use of the language to students. The learning activities develop students’ listening, speaking, reading and writing skills and gradually build up students’ confidence in using Putonghua for daily communication. In order to establish a solid foundation for long-term study, the learning of Chinese characters is an essential part of this course.

This course introduces the diversity of crime fiction and film, with a dedicated focus on the linkages among different geographical regions and cultural traditions. By examining common or similar plot elements and artistic techniques, the course conveys how authors and filmmakers employ them in tales about crime to arouse audience interest. Students sample Western detective fiction and Chinese court-case fiction, as well as their adaptations in Japan and Latin America. The emphasis on grasping the tenets of adaptation will also be imparted through analyzing the relations between print media and moving images.

This course examines various historical networks that flow across the Malay world from the 11th to the 21st centuries. It introduces students to the evolution, characteristics, and impact of commercial, diasporic, political, religious, educational, and media networks on the lives of Malays and other communities in the region. The three themes that recur throughout the course are: how networks are formed and sustained; how they interact with one another; how insights from different disciplines can aid in a more holistic study of these networks.

In this course, students examine various important positions on the nature of consciousness including physicalism, dualism, eliminativism, and idealism. Students review both sides of various philosophers’ opinions on whether consciousness can be explained solely in terms of brain activity and if consciousness can arise from the purely physical. The course requires students to take prerequisites.

In this course, students are taught how to critically read, appreciate and analyze texts in classical Chinese in their specific historical, literary and philosophical contexts. Translating the original texts into modern Chinese is an integral part of the course. This is a compulsory course for students majoring in Chinese Studies. Readings include representative works of prose and rhyme-prose from the pre-Qin to the Qing period. The course requires students to take prerequisites.

This course takes an in-depth view of organic chemistry using structures and reactivities exhibited by important molecules in everyday life. Students learn, refresh and cement key concepts in organic chemistry, particularly reactions involving polar mechanisms, and acquire knowledge and hands-on experience in molecular and structural characterization, while at the same time appreciating the intrinsic relevance of organic chemistry in existence and daily lives. The course requires students to take prerequisites.

This course explores the lives of empresses and concubines in Qing China, some of whom wielded tremendous power during their lifetime and have inspired numerous literary and media renditions of their words and deeds in the present. By critically assessing and deploying the concepts of gender, power, and media representation, the course highlights the curious connections between the Qing harem and other cultures, polities, and societies. It establishes connections between Qing empresses and concubines and those elsewhere in the world, contextualizing their lives and activities in global history.

The course helps students from diverse backgrounds to understand modern China and its historical roots. Focusing on topical aspects of China's past and history, this course provides a bird's-eye view of China's modern transformations. Topics include political regimes, industrialization, economic structures, languages, urban development, rural society, family and population, environmental protection, and climate change. Through a variety of textual and visual learning materials, students acquire the basic conceptual and comparative tools to appreciate the rise of China within historical and global contexts.