HIST-2424 Global China: a History of Migration

Today, overseas Chinese comprise the fourth-largest diaspora in the world, with millions of Chinese citizens creating communities in nearly every country in the world. The purpose of this class is to explore the history of these overseas communities, taking note of how migration has shaped the identities, cultures, and lived experiences of people who claim some connection to the space that today we call China. Our class will begin in the sixteenth century, which saw the first sustained migrations of peoples from China into Southeast Asia following the Ming dynasty's removal of a ban on maritime trade, and continue to the present day. (Offered every other year.)