150070 SE The fishing village, the metropolis, the in-between and the within (2022S)

A British colony from 1841 until 1997, Hong Kong has been since then retroceded to the Communist China. For decades since the colonial era, a simplified narrative of ‘a Barren rock island turned fishing village then a world metropolitan’ had been prevailing in describing Hong Kong. Such narrative has but omitted the several milestones which were essential attributes for the city’s successful development in the past. These milestones have been involving waves of social unrests and struggles, which Hong Kong people were the protagonists. The story of Hong Kong has been told by, or with the subjects being either the British or Chinese – despite the essential roles played by Hongkongers. In this seminar, we will explore and elaborate the social history of Hong Kong to contextualise the reasons and elements which lead to the Hong Kong nowadays. The seminar aims at illuminating the obscured pivotal points which brought the city where it is. The city did not, in fact, all of a sudden turn into the city of protest in 2014 (Umbrella Movement) and in 2019 (the Movement of Anti-extradition Law Amendment Bill).
Through investigating Hong Kong in the areas relating to the recent (post-)colonial era, we scrutinise the way in which the colonial past shape Hong Kong’s post-colonial present. How has the notion of colonialism been reified, in various forms of control, on the subalterns’ body and mind, in the shape of language policies, history education, identity formation, public space and so on? Has the end of ‘colonisation period’ actually ceased the various forms of oppressions to the people in Hong Kong – and if not, why and how?