BASS Social Anthropology and Data Analytics

This course aims to examine the historical, political, social and cultural construction of borders in contemporary China (the focus is on the People’s Republic of China) from a critical perspective. A critical perspective in the context of this module means interrogating borders beyond their traditional territorial meaning. Students will engage with the recent research across a range of disciplinary and intellectual traditions, including Chinese Studies, International Relations, International Political Sociology, Cultural Studies, Anthropology, Sociology, and Migration Studies. The course will stimulate questioning the organisation of Chinese political and cultural space through familiarisation with and understanding of its bordering practices and the ways they create inequalities and impact identities, belonging and citizenship. Throughout the course the students will gain a greater understanding of how political power works to construct and shape borders around and within Chinese society, marginal sites and groups, the relations between majority and minority groups through the dialogical logic of exclusion and inclusion along the markers of ethnicity, gender, class, race, religion, and culture. In particular, the conceptual links between borders and identities, gender, race, family, population and citizenship, and the processes of migration, mobility, diasporic formations, border-crossing, and internal migration will be examined. 

On completion of this unit successful students will be able to:

• To understand, compare, and evaluate scholarly approaches to bordering practices, processes and discourses in contemporary China 

• To understand and discuss conceptual links between visual and text-based analyses of China’s border politics.  

• Outline and discuss how critically engaging with bordering practices is significant to understanding Chinese politics and society. 

• Have a robust knowledge and ability to critically analyse Chinese citizenship, majority-minority relations, the role of ethnicity, race and class 

• Develop an informed and independent view on how borders work to structure and organise Chinese politics and society. 

A variety of learning methods are used in the course, which include: 

• Interactive lectures and seminars; 

• Whole group, small group and individual teaching and learning; 

• Student-led and tutor-led session 

• Discussion-based and knowledge-based classes 

Teaching and learning methods are designed to: 

• Meet the aims and objectives of the course and degree programme; 

• Foster knowledge and enthusiasm for the subject

• Stimulate engagement and ownership of the learning process; 

• Encourage deep learning by students; 

• Develop a strong knowledge based course material through a wide range of methods including critical reading and analysis of text-based and visual materials; 

• Foster independent research using both primary and secondary sources; 

• Enable seminar-based discussion for communicating ideas and presenting ideas in a variety of formats; 

• Take proactive account of the different circumstances and needs of students, facilitating wider participation

Essay - 3,000 words 75%

Group Project (2-3 students per group, depending on the class size). – 25% (20 min presentation and a written copy 1000 words) will involve a critical analysis of a particular Chinese law/political campaign/policy/propaganda/film produced by the PRC government or a PRC citizen. The students will be asked to  
research and prepare an overview of their selected case by exploring the following  
questions: 

• What are the origins of your selected case?  

• Who is it aimed at?  

• What are its aims?  

• How is it implemented?  
  What are its effects?  

• What roles do gender, class, race, religion, ethnicity play in it?  

• What is the response of the public to this case?  

Students will receive written feedback on all assessed coursework and get face to face feedback in tutorials/seminars. Tutors and Course Convenors also have a dedicated office hour when you can meet with her/him to discuss course unit specific problems and questions.

Billé, Frank (2025) Somatic States: On Cartography, Geobodies, Bodily Integrity. Durham: Duke University Press

Barabantseva, Elena (2026) Post-Soviet Brides in the China Dream: Migration, Marriage, and Geopolitics across Borders. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

Information
Length of course: 11 weeks

Tuition fees for home students commencing their studies in September 2027 will be £10,050 per annum. Tuition fees for international students will be £29,200 per annum.

For general information please see the undergraduate finance pages.

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

Scholarships and bursaries, including the Manchester Bursary , are available to eligible home/EU students.

Some undergraduate UK students will receive bursaries of up to £2,000 per year, in addition to the government package of maintenance grants.

You can get information and advice on student finance to help you manage your money.