National University of Singapore

Humans have always actively borrowed from other cultures. Such borrowing is a creative process which influences aspects of life ranging from basic material needs to aesthetic appreciation. Often, however, cultural borrowing is labelled as simple imitation. This results in cultural stereotypes that impede understanding of other cultures. Using Chinese and Japanese cultural borrowings as illustration, this course teaches how to analyze the creative process of cultural exchange. By developing theoretical perspectives from the study of China and Japan, the course teaches about exchanges among culture in general.

This course defines the scope of public administration in terms of its structures, functions, sectors, and institutions. Topics include basic concepts used in public administration including authority, organization, bureaucracy, accountability, meritocracy, representation, ethics, professionalism, leadership, and decision making. The course also examines major approaches in public administration and its distinction from private sector administration. 

This course surveys the major patterns and themes of Chinese migrations since 1400. From merchants under the tributary trade system, to indentured and free labour in the industrialising age, as well as the making of new citizens in multi-culturalist nation-states, students examine the social experience of long-distance migration through regional and global processes of political-economic change. In addition to academic texts, students read official documents, family letters, memoirs, and novels to address enduring questions in the history of human migration – why do people leave their homes, and what remains when they adapt to their lands of adoption?

This course examine the ways in which people tell stories, the kinds of stories they tell, and the meanings those stories generate. It focuses, in particular, upon the telling, and gives special attention to questions concerned with this process. The course studies a novel, a film, a play, short stories, and poems. Novel: The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison; Film: Raise the Red Lantern (dir. Zhang Yimou); Short Stories: Eileen Chang: Love in a Fallen City and other stories; Play: Athol Fugard: The Island; Poems: Selected Poetry of Derek Walcott.

This course explores the topic of death and dying in Southeast Asia from a multidisciplinary perspective. It looks into how various communities, medical institutions, commercial enterprises and religious groups in the region cope and understand death and dying in order to further understand Southeast Asia, one of the most complex regions in the world.