Coming to terms with the nation : ethnic classification in modern China
31 Dec 2019-
TL;DR: In this article, a history of the future of post-imperial China is discussed, and the consent of the Categorized 5 is discussed in the context of ethnic identity crisis in post-Imperial China.
Abstract: List of Illustrations List of Tables Foreword Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Identity Crisis in Postimperial China 2. Ethnicity as Language 3. Plausible Communities 4. The Consent of the Categorized 5. Counting to Fifty-Six Conclusion: A History of the Future Appendix A: Ethnotaxonomy of Yunnan, 1951, According to the Yunnan Nationalities Affairs Commission Appendix B: Ethnotaxonomy of Yunnan, 1953, According to the Yunnan Nationalities Affairs Commission Appendix C: Minzu Entries, 1953--1954 Census, by Population Appendix D: Classification Squads, Phases One and Two Appendix E: Population Sizes of Groups Researched during Phase One and Phase Two Notes Character Glossary Bibliography Index
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Book•
15 Feb 2012TL;DR: Critical Han Studies as mentioned in this paper is a collection of trenchant, penetrating essays interrogating what it means to be "Han" in China, both historically and today, both by examining the social construction of hierarchy and in-group favoritism.
Abstract: Addressing the problem of the ‘Han’ ethnos from a variety of relevant perspectives—historical, geographical, racial, political, literary, anthropological, and linguistic—Critical Han Studies offers a responsible, informative deconstruction of this monumental yet murky category. It is certain to have an enormous impact on the entire field of China studies.” Victor H. Mair, University of Pennsylvania “This deeply historical, multidisciplinary volume consistently and fruitfully employs insights from critical race and whiteness studies in a new arena. In doing so it illuminates brightly how and when ideas about race and ethnicity change in the service of shifting configurations of power.” David Roediger, author of How Race Survived U.S. History “A great book. By examining the social construction of hierarchy in China,Critical Han Studiessheds light on broad issues of cultural dominance and in-group favoritism.” Richard Delgado, author of Critical Race Theory: An Introduction “A powerful, probing account of the idea of the ‘Han Chinese’—that deceptive category which, like ‘American,’ is so often presented as a natural default, even though it really is of recent vintage. . . . A feast for both Sinologists and comparativists everywhere.” Magnus Fiskesjo, Cornell University “This collection of trenchant, penetrating essays interrogates what it means to be ‘Han’ in China, both historically and today. It will make a valuable and enduring contribution to our understanding of the uniqueness and complexity of Chinese history and culture. Dru Gladney, Pomona College Constituting over ninety percent of China's population, Han is not only the largest ethnonational group in that country but also one of the largest categories of human identity in world history. In this pathbreaking volume, a multidisciplinary group of scholars examine this ambiguous identity, one that shares features with, but cannot be subsumed under, existing notions of ethnicity, culture, race, nationality, and civilization. Thomas S. Mullaney is a professor of history at Stanford University. James Leibold is senior lecturer and Asian studies program convenor at La Trobe University. Stephane Gros is a research fellow at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. Eric Vanden Bussche is a Ph.D. candidate at Stanford University. Contributors: Uradyn E. Bulag, Kevin Carrico, Zhihong Chen, Tamara Chin, Mark Elliott, C. Patterson Giersch, James Leibold, Thomas S. Mullaney, Nicholas Tapp, Emma J. Teng, Chris Vasantkumar, and Xu Jieshun Series: New Perspectives on Chinese Culture and Society, vol. 4
114 citations
DOI•
01 Jan 2012TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a Table of Table of Contents of the Table of contents of the table. [2] and [3]... [4].
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114 citations
01 Sep 2016
TL;DR: Wang et al. as mentioned in this paper examined the intersection of two critical issues of the contemporary world: Islamic revival and an assertive China, questioning the assumption that Islamic law is incompatible with state law and found that both Hui and the Party-State invoke, interpret, and make arguments based on Islamic law, a minjian (unofficial) law in China, to pursue their respective visions of 'the good'.
Abstract: China and Islam examines the intersection of two critical issues of the contemporary world: Islamic revival and an assertive China, questioning the assumption that Islamic law is incompatible with state law. It finds that both Hui and the Party-State invoke, interpret, and make arguments based on Islamic law, a minjian (unofficial) law in China, to pursue their respective visions of 'the good'. Based on fieldwork in Linxia, 'China's Little Mecca', this study follows Hui clerics, youthful translators on the 'New Silk Road', female educators who reform traditional madrasas, and Party cadres as they reconcile Islamic and socialist laws in the course of the everyday. The first study of Islamic law in China and one of the first ethnographic accounts of law in postsocialist China, China and Islam unsettles unidimensional perceptions of extremist Islam and authoritarian China through Hui minjian practices of law.
58 citations
Dissertation•
01 Jan 2015
TL;DR: The authors analyzed the contribution of economics and statistics in the transformation of Ghana from colonial dependency to a one-party state by constructing a series of microhistories of public institutions, social scientists, statistical enquiries and development plans.
Abstract: This thesis analyses the contribution of economics and statistics in the transformation of Ghana from colonial dependency to socialist one-party state. The narrative begins in 1948, extending through the years of decolonization, and ends in 1966, when the first postcolonial government led by Kwame Nkrumah was overthrown by a military coup d’etat.
Drawing on insights from political economy, the history of economics and the sociology of science, the study is constructed as a series of microhistories of public institutions, social scientists, statistical enquiries and development plans. In the period under consideration economics and statistics underwent a radical transformation in their political use. This transformation is epitomised by the two extremes mentioned in the title: the ‘scattered data’ of 1950s household budget surveys were expression of the limited will and capacity of the colonial state to exercise control over different areas of the country. In contrast, the 1960s dream of a monolithic one-party state led the political rulers to use Marxist-Leninist political economy as a cornerstone of the ideological education aiming at creating the ideal citizen of the socialist regime. Based on research in British and Ghanaian archives, the study claims that economists and statisticians provided important cognitive tools to imagine competing alternatives to the postcolonial nation state, finding its most extreme version in the attempt to fashion a new type of economics supporting Nkrumah’s dream of a Pan-African political and economic union.
At a more general level, the thesis provides a step towards a deeper incorporation of Sub-Saharan Africa in the history of economics and statistics, by depicting it not simply as an importer of ideas and scientific practices, but as a site in which the interaction of local and foreign political and scientific visions turned economics and statistics into powerful tools of social engineering. These tools created new spaces for political support and dissent, and shifted the boundaries between the possible and the utopian.
54 citations
Book•
27 Oct 2016TL;DR: Guyot-Rechard as discussed by the authors unpack Sino-Indian tensions from the angle of competitive state-building through a study of their simultaneous attempts to win the approval and support of the Himalayan people.
Abstract: Since the mid-twentieth century China and India have entertained a difficult relationship, erupting into open war in 1962. Shadow States is the first book to unpack Sino-Indian tensions from the angle of competitive state-building - through a study of their simultaneous attempts to win the approval and support of the Himalayan people. When China and India tried to expand into the Himalayas in the twentieth century, their lack of strong ties to the region and the absence of an easily enforceable border made their proximity threatening - observing China and India's state-making efforts, local inhabitants were in a position to compare and potentially choose between them. Using rich and original archival research, Berenice Guyot-Rechard shows how India and China became each other's 'shadow states'. Understanding these recent, competing processes of state formation in the Himalayas is fundamental to understanding the roots of tensions in Sino-Indian relations.
53 citations
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TL;DR: The PRC-era Ethnic Classification Project, or minzu shibie, was an inventive process of social engineering, not simply an attempt at neutrally reflecting primordial qualities of the non-Han social sphere.
Abstract: Like other forms of state-led demographic enterprises, the PRC-era Ethnic Classification Project, or minzu shibie, was an inventive process of social engineering, not simply an attempt at neutrally reflecting primordial qualities of the non-Han social sphere. The engineering of the categories depended upon three main factors. First, it required a particular form of taxonomic enthusiasm — a “will to classify” — committed to the division of the non-Han social realm into mutually exclusive categories of identity. Second, it required a taxonomic methodology with which to undertake this division. Finally, it required the power necessary to calibrate the social world with newly formed theoretical categories — to make these new categories “stick” at the local level.The first two of these factors were holdovers from the Republican period, whereas the final factor was something unique to the PRC. PRC researchers inherited a distinct brand of nation-statist, taxonomic enthusiasm from their Republican predecessors, ...
31 citations
18 citations