Cross-Offering Courses

AP7036    Narrative Strategies & Moving Images

This course presents an opportunity to explore and understand the connections for narrative strategies and moving images. Through guided readings, discussions and film screenings, students will investigate, explore and formulate their own ideas on narrative strategies in the filmmaker's works. From these investigations they may integrate this knowledge into their own research.

By the end of this course, students will have an enhanced appreciation of the topic and how it may be adapted to their own research. The advanced knowledge they attain will further consolidate their ability to integrate effective research questions and will inform their subsequent research methodology and analysis.

AP7046    Design – An Asian Perspective

This course presents an opportunity to discover a personal perspective, which may be expressed through a student's work, that has been illuminated by an informed study of Asia within a country in that continent.

Through lectures, discussions, field trips and hands-on tutorial exercises, students will investigate design as seen from an Asian perspective. This course is to be taken by graduate students under the direction of a faculty member.

By the end of this course, graduate students will have an enhanced appreciation of the topic and understand how it is essential to their research and future career. The advanced knowledge they attain will further consolidate their ability to formulate effective research questions and will inform their subsequent research methodology and analysis.

AP7055    Art in the Age of the Creative Machine

This graduate-level course introduces you to the most recent research and critical machine learning theories in creative fields such as media art, music, performance, and literature. You will review and analyse how machine learning has transformed art and culture by examining and comparing human-based and machine-based art practices and Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to enhance creativity and production. The course explores the future of creativity, the artist's role, and how machine learning will transform our understanding of what it means to be creative. You will explore cultural, historical, philosophical, and spiritual aspects of creativity and develop unique concepts and artistic prototypes utilising AI's uniquely visual, narrative, and performative potential. This course develops a foundation for students interested in exploring the creative possibilities of AI technologies and how they can assist artists with their creative process for new forms of storytelling, visual arts, and performance.

HC7003    Special Topics in Chinese Overseas & Their Relations with China

Over different periods of time, many towns and villages in China have evolved, socially and economically, as a result of changing relations with the Chinese working and living outside China. This course explores specifically the localities with past or present connections with Chinese diaspora, collectively and fashionably labeled as qiaoxiang areas. The aim is twofold. The first is to shed light on the changing landscape of these localities amidst the political and economic developments in China. The second is to identify the pattern and content of the relations Chinese diaspora have with their native and ancestral homelands in China. Course Evaluation: There will be no exam for this course. Final course grade will be based on the evaluation of writing assignments / oral presentation / research paper.

HC7012    Research & Methodology

This course explores different themes, research and methodology in the areas of Chinese culture, literature, language, history, and philosophy. The course comprises of a series of seminar presentations and discussions on selected topics or topics of special interest to the students. Topics chosen will vary from year to year, depending on student enrollment and the research areas of the scholars conducting the class. Students who complete this subject will gain familiarity with different research methods and experience diverse academic discourse in different subject areas. The course will be conducted in Chinese but English reading materials may be included.

HC7016    Chinese Cold War in Sinophone Literature, Film and Culture

This course explores the intersections of Cold War ideologies and Sinophone literary, cinematic, and cultural productions. By examining works produced in Chinese-speaking regions and diasporic communities, the course aims to uncover how Cold War narratives shaped, and were shaped by, the socio-political contexts of the Sinophone world. You will critically engage with key texts, films, and cultural artifacts to analyze themes such as identity, resistance, transnationalism, and cultural diplomacy during the Cold War period. This course invites you to think critically about the cultural dimensions of the Cold War and to appreciate the complexities of Sinophone histories and narratives in a global context. Advanced-level Chinese proficiency is essential, including the ability to speak, write, and comprehend Chinese fluently.

HC7888    Directed Reading

In this course students read extensively in their area of interest under the direction of a faculty member, most likely the supervisor. This course is taken by graduate students on a subject which is not otherwise offered as a course in the MA/PhD program modules in a given semester, but which accords with a member of the academic staff's research interests. The courses offer great flexibility in adapting to the individual academic interests of the student and the research interests of the teacher. Students wishing to take this course should obtain prior agreement of the teacher concerned and his/her Head of Division. Course Evaluation: Assessment is by course-work only. That is either (a) one 8,000–10,000 word essay delivered at the end of the semester, or (b) a series of two or more essays together amounting to 8,000–10,000 words produced over the period of one academic semester.

HH7101    Approaches to the Past

This course will offer an introduction on major theories, ideas, methods, practices and problematics associated with the transnational turn in the historical analysis (and the humanities in general). There are 3 main components to this course. The first, a critical review on the conventional nation-state history that emerged in the 19th century and has dominated much of historiography until recently. The second part examines the emergence and characteristics of the "transnational turn" and the key themes in transnational history. The third part will use cases from various world regions to show how transnational history has been applied to the study of globalization, regionalization, technological transformations and provide an alternative to national history. Students will: display a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the theories of recent historiography, particularly from the transnational perspective; offer constructive criticism of existing works; develop a new and fresh angle in approaching regions, especially the Asian region; and enhance critical thinking and analytical capacities.

HH7113    Advanced Directed Readings in History

This course is designed to provide a student with a more individualized course of reading that goes beyond the existing graduate courses. In this course, students are expected to read widely in their chosen field under the guidance of their supervisor/instructor. HH7113 is intended to provide students with a more advanced reading course than HH7888. Students whose research speaks to multiple audiences within and beyond history may also explore another sub-field or a differing approach to history. The content and requirements of each directed reading course are determined by the student in consultation with his/her supervisor/instructor. The reading list, written work, and meeting times will be negotiated between the supervisor/instructor and the student. The final detailed syllabus will be subject to the approval of the Head of Division, prior to the commencement of the course.

HH7888    Directed Reading in History

The course is designed to provide students with a more individualized course of reading that goes beyond the existing graduate courses. In this course, students are expected to read widely in their chosen field under the guidance of their supervisor. The content and requirements of each Directed Reading course are determined by the students in consultation with his/her supervisor. The reading list, written work and meeting times will be negotiated between the supervisor and the student.

HL7108    Graduate Seminar in Victorian Literature & Culture

This course provides a thematic, instead of a purely chronological, approach to a number of Victorian literary texts. The comparison of canonical nineteenth-century works and only recently reprinted material, including fiction by long-forgotten popular writers, will help us to understand the developments that engendered a plethora of controversies, both at the time and in its wake, engendered a versatility of works, and perhaps above all, created the novel genre as the Victorian era's most popular, critical, and representative form of literary expression. In covering a number of emergent subgenres as different as the sensational detective novel and the domestic family chronicle, the course thereby aims at once to offer a grounding in Victorian literary culture and to inspire research on new directions in recovery work as well as in aesthetic analysis.

HL7114    Graduate Seminar in Cultural Studies

Cultural studies is a broad phenomenon. This historically oriented seminar specifically explores cultural criticism, which examines the relationship of artistic culture to larger socio-political and economic developments. It begins with 'culture' during a machine-industrial era, with older notions of literary and artistic creation as realms of high culture that explored ultimate human meaning separate from the supposed debased values of industrial-capitalist society. We proceed to mass culture and the culture industry during this industrial era and the post-Second World War mass society linked to rapid communication and a new mass consumption. We also reflect on how the modernity associated with the colonial West affected the creation of modern culture in East Asia. The module concludes with culture in a post-industrial era, when services and finance capital add more 'value' than making things, and capitalism increasingly becomes globalised. We also ask: is the burst of an inter-Asian pop culture in the wake of an increasing regional middle class linked to this globalised capitalism? What is the nature of culture and the time we live in now?

HL7201    Graduate Seminar in Creative Writing: Directed Study

The Graduate Seminar in Creative Writing: Directed Study will provide graduate students with an opportunity to engage in independent research related to their proposed dissertation/thesis and to produce an appropriate example of written work arising from this.

HL7888    Directed Study in Literature

This course will provide graduate students with an opportunity to engage in independent research related to their proposed dissertation/thesis and to produce an appropriate example of written work arising from this. The content and requirements of each Directed Study module are to be determined by the student in conjunction with the appointed supervisor/thesis committee and the Programme Head.

Note: This course is reserved for PhD students. Exceptions for MA students are subject to the approval of the graduate studies committee.

HR7002    Directed Readings in Art History

This course is designed to provide graduate students with a more individualized course of reading that goes beyond existing graduate courses. The students are expected to read widely in their chosen field under the guidance of their supervisor/instructor. Students may also explore another subfield or a differing approach to art history. This course will expand the range of research possibilities for graduate students from other disciplines and schools, particularly for those who are interested in developing inter-disciplinary methodologies and approaches taken from art history. The content and individual requirements of each directed reading course are determined by the student in consultation with his/her supervisor/instructor. The reading list, written work, and meeting times will be negotiated between the supervisor/instructor and the student. The final detailed syllabus will be subject to the HOD's approval, prior to the course commencement.

HR7003    Advanced Studies in Southeast Asian Art Histories

In recent years, there has been a surge of interest in researching the histories of Southeast Asia’s modern and contemporary arts, including among students and scholars, artists and curators, within and beyond the region. What special skills are required for advanced studies in Southeast Asian art histories? What methodologies are most appropriate, and what theoretical and conceptual challenges must we grapple with when researching in this field? Addressing these and related questions, this course is designed for students with a solid background in Art History, and with some knowledge of and/or background in studying the art histories of Southeast Asia. The course centres on close, critical reading of advanced scholarly literature, in reading group-style seminar discussions. These discussions will be grounded in students’ own research projects, thus equipping students with the skills to apply close, critical readings of advanced scholarly literature to their own work outside the course. Students will discuss canonical works in Southeast Asian art histories, as well as more recent and cutting-edge scholarship. The course is open to MA, PhD and selected high-performing final-year undergraduate students who are completing their FYPs on a related Art History topic. The course builds on and extends from issues raised in HR3006 20th Century Southeast Asian Art and HR3009 19th Century Southeast Asian Art, however while these courses are strongly recommended for undergraduate students, they are not compulsory prerequisites, especially for postgraduate students whose prior studies have been completed elsewhere. 

HY7010    Graduate Proseminar in Philosophy

This pro-seminar is designed for incoming PhD students as a shared starting point for graduate study in philosophy. Rather than tracking each student's intended specialization, the course asks students to read broadly across major areas of the field—often well beyond their current interests—in order to build a common intellectual repertoire and a flexible set of philosophical skills. Through sustained engagement with texts from different traditions and subdisciplines, students will practice careful reading, charitable reconstruction, conceptual analysis, and rigorous argumentation; they will learn to identify what is at stake in unfamiliar debates, to ask fruitful questions, and to communicate with clarity to audiences outside their niche. The goal is to cultivate the habits of mind that support a flourishing research life: intellectual range, methodological adaptability, and the ability to make productive connections across philosophical domains.

HY7011    Directed Reading in Philosophy

This course is designed to provide students with an individualized course of reading that goes beyond the existing graduate courses. Specific contents of the course may vary depending on student needs and instructors. In this course, students are expected to read assigned material thoroughly under the guidance of their supervisor and to develop research projects.

HY7012    Independent Study for Thesis Preparation

This course provides students with an opportunity to engage in independent research related to their proposed thesis. The content and requirements of each Independent Study module are determined by the appointed supervisor and the student, depending on their area of interests. In this course, students are expected to develop a reading list under the guidance of their supervisor, to read widely both primary and secondary material, and to write a thesis outline as preparation for the thesis.

HY7013    Independent Study on Special Topics

This course allows students to engage in in-depth study of a philosophical subject chosen by the teaching faculty member. Assessment of this course includes reading reports, face-to-face discussion, and research papers.

HY7021    Directed Reading in Philosophy II

The Division of Philosophy proposes HY7021 Directed Reading in Philosophy II for our MA and PhD programme in Philosophy. The main purpose of this course is for graduate students to focus on a set of individualized readings on an advanced topic in philosophy. These readings will go beyond any existing graduate courses. Specific contents of the course may vary depending upon student needs and faculty areas of specialty. The secondary goal is for students to gain experience with independent research. Students will conduct readings on their own with support from faculty, and write up a significant research paper based upon those readings.

There is already a course HY7011 Directed Reading in Philosophy, but it can only be taken once for credit. At the graduate level, however, students who are interested in specific research topics that are not covered in existing graduate courses may need to do such a directed reading course more than once. This course is being proposed so that such students will be able to take a second Directed Reading course for credit.