Methods in Practice: The State and Digital Transformation in China

Please note that classes will be held at both HU and FU Berlin. Please only enroll in this course if you are prepared to attend classes in both locations.

Content: This course focuses on the development of students’ skills in interpreting and producing academic argument with an empirical foundation. Extending Burke’s metaphor of scholarship as an “unending conversation,” we focus on honing students’ abilities to grasp and engage in academic debate in the social sciences. To ground our inquiries in close reading of scholarly debate within one literature, this seminar is enfolded in a lecture series offered by the Berlin Contemporary China Network on “The State and Digital Transformation in China.” The leading scholars from around the globe featured in this series will not only present the findings of their projects but also reflect on their individual research processes and the nature of their interventions in this particular unending conversation. While the debate featured in this seminar focuses on contemporary China, the broader lessons are applicable to any students interested in empirical research rooted in social science approaches.