150095 UE Working with Academic Literature (Social Sciences) (2024S)

China recently announced that in 2022 its population declined, the first such decline in over sixty years. Many observers say the decline is the result of China’s One-Child Policy. Is this, in fact, the case? What does scholarly research tell us about the effects of the One-Child Policy on China’s population growth? If the scholarly research is not in agreement (often it is not), then why not? What gaps exist in knowledge on this issue?

The aim of this course is to teach students how to find, understand, critically evaluate, and discuss social science research on historical topics relevant to contemporary developments in China. Students will learn these skills through the exploration of scholarly research on questions related to China’s One-Child Policy. Such research questions include: What is the historical, cultural and demographic background to this policy? When and how was the policy implemented? Do we see variation in the policy across time, location, or population groups, and if so, why? What have been its consequences, e.g., for demographic change, families, women, governance, and the economy? The class will examine the range of questions in the literature and the different scientific and methodological approaches used to answer these questions.

Students will engage in class discussions, give presentations, submit written assignments, and write a literature review paper. Through these activities they will gain skills in reading scholarly work, identifying a research question, finding relevant scholarly literature, and reviewing that literature so as to process the state of knowledge and identify debates, gaps in knowledge, and open questions. As well, students will learn standard practices for scholarly discussion, presentation, and writing.