150126 SE Introduction to Hong Kong Culture: the elements, juxtapositions and transformations (2022S)

The seminar aims at identifying the elements which constitute Hong Kong culture. A British colony from 1841 until 1997 then ceded to the Communist China since 1997, Hong Kong has been the showcase of its unique cultural and historical conditions. In this seminar, we will investigate the ways in which cultures have been formed and used as effective tools – on the one hand, for (post-)colonial authorities to exert control on Hong Kong; on the other, for Hongkongers to reflect on and articulate who they really are while responding to such controls. How did/do the unique colonial past and post-colonial present shape Hong Kong in the cultural sense? How has the notion of (post-)colonialism been reified in the shape of culture: language, food, religion, cityscape, films, music and more? We will enter various fields of study such as policies, foodway, anthropology, urban studies and cultural studies to adopt the essential methods to observe and understand Hong Kong culture.