It’s seems okay so far, a nice small class size and my professor seems nice. Though he did make me pause a few times. I couldn’t gauge where he lies politically as he seems to see Trump as a joke while also making neutral comments/examples on the likes of Danielle Smith. It is the first class so I’m not going to make quick judgements of his stances. What did make me slightly uneasy is his sprinkled comments about China here and there.
By comments I mean him using China as an example for a few of the terms we were learning about. The first comment that came up was China using ”soft power” to influence African countries and to push Chinese culture on said countries. He gave the example of the push for learning the Chinese language.
The next time he brought up China was when we discussed Jus Soli and Jus Sanguinis, this sparked the conversation about the idea of dual-citizenship and how China is very against it. You can only be Chinese, nothing else.
The last time he brought up China was in regards to Taiwan. We were learning about what the definition of “State” was:
- building blocks of politics
- legal entity
- sovereignty—absolute control
- territoriality
- population
- government
- external recognition (UN)
Taiwan was brought up as an example of a place wanting to become sovereign, a state of its own, but China having absolute power to veto their request.
At this point I put a little star in my notebook that my Professor seems to be very focused on China. He never had anything good to say but so far he hasn’t said anything explicitly negative.
Anyway that was my first day of PoliSci, by the end of it I sent in a request to join the model UN club lol.
If anyone has some great resources on China to dispel any misinformation, both common and obscure, I would appreciate it very much. Even just pointing me in the direction of certain books and/or historical events would be incredibly helpful.
If any of you would like me to share more of my experiences in, not only my Political Science class, but also Psychology, let me know!
I’m wary of people that fixate on China too, especially people that consider themselves educated about it. More often than not, their understanding of Chinese politics begins and ends with what gets publicized in western media. A similar thing happened a decade ago where there was a surge of Iraq and Afghanistan experts whose knowledge about those countries didn’t extend past the daily headlines.
Your professor may or may not be one of these people, but it certainly doesn’t inspire confidence that all 3 of the things he mentioned about China have been corporate news talking points. And that everything he used China as an example for has better western analogues.
I don’t have any book recommendations for you, but I can tell you that Taiwan is what it is because of the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War between the CPC and the KMT. And afaik, the KMT doesn’t want independence for Taiwan, it wants sovereignty over the whole of China.
Btw I’m interested in hearing more about your political science class because I’ve heard nothing but terrible things about them. I especially wanna know if Marx is mentioned at all because he does get name dropped a lot in sociology.
Apparently Marxism will be discussed, as it is listed in our course outline! I’m nervous for when it comes up because I’m super sensitive lol
It’s weird that he’s in the outline, but you weren’t given the Marxist definition of “state”
We were not. We haven’t gotten to the Marxist section yet, so we’ll see. I’ll continue to post about my experiences and what is generally being taught.
Let’s hope it isn’t a caricaturized portrayal that’s breezed through in a week 🙏
dual citizenship
Plenty of countries have the same rule. For example German citizenship requires that you forego other citizenships.
In my limited experience, most poli sci teachers/professors are idealists and liberals.
Yes. This is historically the norm, to only allow one citizenship. The fact that the teacher did not know this is very bad.
Citizenship involves various duties which can sometimes conflict if you have dual such as military service and loyalty pledges etc.
Granted a lot of those requirements can be voided, as neither military generally wants a technical “foreign national” serving with them. For example for a person with dual Russian-US citizenship, Russia voids their standard conscription and the person does not need to serve. All the person needs to do is receive the proper documents from both the local military office, and consulate.
Germany allows dual citizenship for EU citizens. For example, a lot of polish descended Germans flocked Poland after 2004.
And speaking of Poland, it is excellent example why this should not be allowed and why China is completely right about it. Poland allow for dual citizenship even for people who never lived in Poland because, especially those people living in USA and Germany, are very conservative and their numbers are boosting the conservatives.
Not yet it doesn’t (for Germany). There’s discussion about allowing it, but it hasn’t gone through yet, except in cases of people born in Germany to extranational parents.
Or claiming german descent which like half of Poland did, fucking volksdeutsch wannabees.
He actually brought up Germany’s citizenship thing but he put it in the past tense.
It’s certainly not past tense yet. I know first hand.
From the sound of it, simply using different resources to dispel misinformation may not be enough. There’s a whole lot of warped philosophy underlying it all
I believe the colloquial term is “brainwashing” or to be a bit more general, “reinforced bias”.
I’m up against quite the foe, it seems. I’ll continue to take notes on not only the course material, but some off colour comments I hear. Definitely need to do a deep dive into China and other “enemy states” to at the very least create a strong buffer for my sanity.
What do you plan to do with your degree in the future? Since I’m guessing your major is political science correct? But hearing more of your experiences sounds interesting!
My Major is actually in Psychology while my Minor is in Political Science! So far both are actually incredibly linked as in psychology we are learning about how the industry affects mental health. I’m working towards getting my PhD and combating the decades of red scare propaganda. Getting into local politics is my goal for now and then work upward. The Model UN club could help me get some leverage in terms of being familiar with what I’ll be up against.
That’s cool! I wish you luck with your endeavors!
I do see how the two field could be easily linked however and intertwined, so parallels between the two fields seem like they would be fun to find and connect!
Would it also be ok if I ask what year of college you are in? I’m just trying to plot out my own path, so hearing about experiences from others that may be further down the line then me is always helpful!
I’ll answer whatever questions you or anyone else have, I’m an open book! I would say I’m in first year, but before I actually took two semesters at a different university straight out of high school. I was able to transfer the credits I made there to this other university so I was able to skip over the required first year courses because of that.
So essentially after high school I went straight to uni, took two semesters, then dropped out because of burn out and mental health stuff. Took a few years to figure myself out and now I’m back to school at a different uni, transferring credits over so I can skip. You could say I’m in “second year” even though all my classes this semester are 100 level. By second semester (fall) I’ll be in 200 level.
Hope this makes sense! If you’re not in university/college already I’ll give you the best piece of advice: don’t have a full schedule. If your school will allow it, try to only take maybe three courses. For the schools here five courses are the max per semester. I had to drop out the first time because I overdid it. Now I’m taking things easy to better get situated into the uni life.
“Oh, just like <country the person likes>?” is one of my favourite things to say.
I bet he doesn’t speak a single word of chinese.
I wouldn’t wait very hard for him to be explicitly negative, those quips speak volumes, even just the fact that he’d choose them instead of the dozens of better examples.
Its always interesting to see what is being taught, though I hope you aren’t paying too much for this, haha.
also what is Danielle Smith?
Alberta premier
Does your uni have a Marxist society? If not you should consider putting feelers out about getting one set up :)
I’m definitely going to see if there is some sort of club. If there isn’t I don’t know if I have the guts to make my own lol
