Societies of East Asia draws on sociology, as well as social and cultural anthropology, to critically examine issues such as kinship (family, marriage, gender, fertility, LGBTQI…), inequalities (work, education, rural–urban life, ethnic minorities), beliefs (religion, folklore, festivities) and the mass media in contemporary China.

The main goal is not to review every topic regarding Chinese society, but to understand the complexities of today's China and acquire the tools to study, independently, issues not covered in class. We are dealing with an object of study in permanent transformation, so a lot of attention goes into developing the theoretical, methodological and practical skills that let students critically evaluate social phenomena in China — current, past or future. The course combines lectures, in-class discussions and practical work.