Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 00:12:15 -0400 (EDT)
From: Howard Hastings <hhasting-AT-osf1.gmu.edu>
Subject: PLC: China?



As I write this, my wife, Mary, is wending her way down the Yangtze river
towards Shanghai.  She is in China for a month conducting voice master
classes at Chengdou, Shanghai, and Beijing universities.   So far she has
impressed her hosts, who want her back next year, if possible.  

She has enjoyed this trip so much that we have been discussing (via
fax) the possibility of teaching for six months or a year in China.  I
would, of course, teach literature and cultural studies, not voice. And
I would  love to learn more about Chinese culture, while mediating
American culture to Chinese.  Though I am no expert on China, I am very
interested comparative cultural studies, postcolonial theory, and Marxism,
and would probably learn a lot there, making my teaching activities
relevant to my CS field.

But I am also wondering how this sort of adventure would help
or hinder my efforts to get an academic job in the U.S.--e.g. with an
English dept. somewhere.  

Has anyone out there in Phillitcrit land ever taught or lived in China?   
If so, I would appreciate hearing about the experience.  

Also I wouldn't mind hearing from those who have not been to China but
have some idea of how teaching there might be regarded by a search
committee here in the states.
I fear it might not be highly regarded at all by people looking 
to fulfill a more traditional position, though it might be a plus
where familiarity with cultural studies or multicultural issues is
desired.  (I am assuming here that I would actually be teaching a
subject in a university with some kind of rank, and not just, say,
tutoring students in English or something.)
 
hh

PS  Of course, I would not do this until after I got my PhD. 
.....................................................................



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