Floating on uncertain waters: navigating ‘sensitivity’ while teaching politics and international relations in Mainland China

Abstract

This article gives autoethnographic sketch of teaching International Relations in Mainland China. Attention is given to the issue of ‘sensitivity’, a phenomenon typically associated with Chinese State censorship. The article will however argue that sensitivity is much more complex than a top-down State prohibition on certain topics, arguing instead that it is an opaque and continually in flux phenomenon produced by multiple actors within society. The article will further argue that the surest means of navigating this phenomenon for an academic is to listen to students and use insights gained from them as a means of navigating sensitivity. These insights can provide both further knowledge of how sensitivities are constructed as well as how to safely discuss them – an awareness that can serve as inspiration for critical discussions on political issues. In completing this sketch, the article fills the notable gap in pedagogical literature on Higher Education in China concerning both politics as a challenge to teaching in mainland China, most studies almost exclusively concerning themselves with the challenges posed by cultural Confucianism, and as content, previous studies being almost completely contained within disciplines such as Business Management and Foreign Languages.