The localization of the Chinese throughout the Americas within Chinatown precincts was also subject to representational imaginings that were negotiated through the lens of civic planning. This course will study the often-fraught negotiation between representation and planning. The hyper-urbanization of China over the past several decades has radically altered traditional conceptions of public space in China. Mass migration from rural to urban areas has meant very high population densities in Chinese cities.
This course will tackle the topic of embodiment and the Chinese body from different angles. No singular approach will be followed. The methodology will be constellational and fluid. The course will be part public art course studying the nature of representation, part cultural studies course examining identity politics through the prisms of cinema and popular forms of printed media, and part city planning course examining the structuration of the ethnic enclave of Chinatowns.