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Unit information: Hong Kong and the World in 2022/23

Please note: you are viewing unit and programme information for a past academic year. Please see the current academic year for up to date information.

Unit name Hong Kong and the World
Unit code HIST20135
Credit points 20
Level of study I/5
Teaching block(s) Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director Dr. Vivian Kong
Open unit status Not open
Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units)

None

Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units)

None

Units you may not take alongside this one

None

School/department Department of History (Historical Studies)
Faculty Faculty of Arts

Unit Information

Why is this unit important?

Our Special Fields give you the opportunity to work at an advanced level alongside a single academic and a specialist area of research. Intensively taught through seminars only, they are designed to provide you with hands-on experience of how knowledge is produced in the discipline of History.

How does this unit fit into your programme of study?

Our Special Fields involve the application of the full spectrum of core historical competencies within a narrower field of study. In this sense, they are designed to prepare you to undertake independent research for yourself by showing you how practicing historians work with sources, historiographies, methodologies, and concepts within a particular specialism.

Your learning on this unit

An overview of content:

Hong Kong has often been understood as an 'in-between' place at the edge of Britain and China, its past and present sovereigns. But can we understand this city beyond the edge of two empires, and as something more than an 'in-between' place? Exploring the history of Hong Kong from the early 1800s to the present day, this unit offers new avenues in understanding the city, by situating it within the frameworks of urban and global history. The overall aim of this unit is to understand key issues in the modern history of Hong Kong, and its place in the globalising world. We will analyse how international socio-political trends shaped the city's urban landscape, public debates, identity politics, economic development, and civil society. We will also examine how the city played a key role in global networks of migration, trade, and information, and the active agency of its multiracial population in such networks.

How will you be different as a result of this unit?

Special Field units will enhance your capacity to build arguments with primary sources, properly located within appropriate theories, concepts, methods, and historiographies.

Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:

  1. Identify and analyse key themes in the modern history of Hong Kong.
  2. Critically assess and use historical methods specific to the study of Hong Kong history.
  3. Discuss and evaluate the possibilities, tensions, and limits of approaching Hong Kong's past from a global perspective.
  4. Understand and interpret primary sources and select pertinent evidence in order to illustrate specific and general historical points.
  5. Present their research and judgements in written form and styles appropriate to the discipline and to level I.

How you will learn

Classes will involve a combination of class discussion, investigative activities, and practical activities. Students will be expected to engage with readings and participate on a weekly basis. This will be further supported with drop-in sessions.

How you will be assessed

Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):

  • One 3500-word essay (50%) [ILOs 1-5].
  • One Timed Assessment (50%) [ILOs 1-5].

When assessment does not go to plan:

When required by the Board of Examiners, you will normally complete reassessments in the same formats as those outlined above. However, the Board reserves the right to modify the format or number of reassessments required. Details of reassessments are confirmed by the School/Centre shortly after the notification of your results at the end of the year.

Resources

If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.

If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. HIST20135).

How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks, independent learning and assessment activity.

See the Faculty workload statement relating to this unit for more information.

Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit. The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. If you have self-certificated your absence from an assessment, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (this is usually in the next assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any extenuating circumstances and operates within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.

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