EAST ASIAN STUDIES 321 L01

INTRODUCTION TO THE CALGARY CHINESE COMMUNITY

FALL 2008 L01 BLOCK COURSE SEPT. 2-6

TWRF 9:00-12:30, 13:30-17:00; S 15:00-18:00, 19:00-22:30.

Instructor:	Lloyd Sciban
Office Location:	SS 316
Office Phone:	403-289-3495
E-Mail:	sciban@ucalgry.ca
Web Page:	http://www.ucalgary.ca/~sciban
Office Hours:	After Sept. 8, MW 11:30-12:30, or by appointment.

Course Description

This course provides direct experience and learning of important aspects of the Calgary Chinese community. These include its history, future development, commercial sector, and cultural, social, and religious organizations. Note: Course requires off-campus attendance and a considerable amount of walking. Generally, each day will begin with a lecture on the day's topics. This will be followed by a field trip into the community to observe places and events related to the topic. Lectures will be held in the Calgary Chinese Cultural Centre and field trips will normally start from there. Participants might incur activity-related expenses, but these should not exceed $20.00. Participants will also have the opportunity to take lunch or supper together in different Chinese restaurants. Attendance at this latter activity is not required.

Objectives of the Course

Course goals are to increase participants' awareness of Calgary's Chinese community, to acquire knowledge of some of its important characteristics, to understand the history of relations between Chinese Canadians and the Canadian mainstream, and to understand some of the values of Chinese culture.

Textbooks

Moon Cakes in Gold Mountain: From China to the Canadian Plains, J. Brian Dawson (Calgary: Detselig Enterprises Ltd., 1991); and Chinatown: An Illustrated History of the Chinese Communities of Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax, Paul Yee (Toronto: J. Lorimer, 2005).

Assignments and Evaluation

1. Participation, 20%.

2. Take-home final exam, 35%, to be distributed Sept. 6 and due Sept. 24 by 16:00 in SS 316. Penalty: deduction of an absolute 4% for each day late. Submit exams and essays directly to the instructor. If it is not possible to do so, a daytime drop box is available in the office of the Faculty of Communication and Culture, SS 110, during office hours 8:30-4:30; a date stamp is provided for your use. A night drop box is also available for after-hours submission beside the doors of SS 110. Assignments will be removed the following morning, stamped with the previous day's date, and placed in the instructor's mailbox. No electronic submissions will be accepted.

3. Essay, 45%, due Oct. 15 by 4:30 p.m. at SS 316. Topic: student's choice with prior notification of instructor; may be derived from take home exam questions. Notification of topic should be given to instructor on submission of take home exam. The essay should be 3000 words, about 12 pages typed and double-spaced.

4. Option, 20%; students may participate as a volunteer in one of the organizations in Calgary's Chinese community and be assigned a grade based on written submissions and performance as a volunteer. This grade will be substituted for 20% of the grade in another category.

5.There is no component of the course for which a passing grade is required in order to pass the course.

It is the student's responsibility to keep a copy of each submitted assignment.

Registrar-scheduled Final Examination: NO

Please note: If your class is held in the evening, the Registrar's Office will make every attempt to schedule the final exam during the evening; however, there is NO guarantee that the exam will NOT be scheduled during the day.

Policy for Late Assignments

Assignments submitted after the deadline may be penalized with the loss of a grade (e.g.: A- to B+) for each day late.

Writing Skills Statement

Faculty policy directs that all written assignments (including, although to a lesser extent, written exam responses) will be assessed at least partly on writing skills. For details see www.comcul.ucalgary.ca/info. Writing skills include not only surface correctness (grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, etc) but also general clarity and organization. Research papers must be properly documented.

If you need help with your writing, you may use the Writing Centre. Visit the website for more details: www.efwr.ucalgary.ca

Grading System

The following grading system is used in the Faculty of Communication and Culture:

(Revised, effective September 2008)

	Grading Scale
A+	96-100
A	90-95.99
A -	85-89.99
B+	80-84.99
B	75-79.99
B-	70-74.99
C+	65-69.99
C	60-64.99
C-	55-59.99
D+	53-54.99
D	50-52.99
F	0-49

 

Where a grade on a particular assignment is expressed as a letter grade, it will normally be converted to a number using the midpoint of the scale.  That is, A- would be converted to 87.5 for calculation purposes.  F will be converted to zero.

 

Plagiarism

Using any source whatsoever without clearly documenting it is a serious academic offense. Consequences include failure on the assignment, failure in the course and possibly suspension or expulsion from the university.

You must document not only direct quotations but also paraphrases and ideas where they appear in your text. A reference list at the end is insufficient by itself. Readers must be able to tell exactly where your words and ideas end and other people's words and ideas begin. This includes assignments submitted in non-traditional formats such as Web pages or visual media, and material taken from such sources.

Please consult your instructor or the Writing Centre (SS 106, efwr.ucalgary.ca) if you have any questions regarding how to document sources.

Students with Disabilities

If you are a student with a disability who may require academic accommodation, it is your responsibility to register with the Disability Resource Centre (220-8237) and discuss your needs with your instructor no later than fourteen (14) days after the start of the course.

Students' Union

For details about the current Students' Union contacts for the Faculty of Communication and Culture see www.comcul.ucalgary.ca/su

"SAFEWALK" Program -- 220-5333

Campus Security will escort individuals day or night -- call 220-5333 for assistance. Use any campus phone, emergency phone or the yellow phone located at most parking lot booths.

Ethics

Whenever you perform research with human participants (i.e. surveys, interviews, observation) as part of your university studies, you are responsible for following university research ethics guidelines. Your instructor must review and approve of your research plans and supervise your research. For more information about your research ethics responsibilities, see

The Faculty of Communication and Culture Research Ethics site: http://www.comcul.ucalgary.ca/ethics

or the University of Calgary Research Ethics site: http://www.ucalgary.ca/research/compliance/ethics/info/undergrad/

Schedule of Lectures and Readings