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Based on fieldwork, archival research, and interviews, this book critically examines the building of modern Chinese discourse on a unified yet diverse Chinese nation on various sites of knowledge production. It argues that Chinese ideology on minority nationalities is rooted in modern China's quest for national integration and political authority. However, it also highlights the fact that the complex process of conceptualizing, investigating, classifying, curating, and writing minority history has been fraught with disputes and contradictions. As such, the book offers a timely contribution to the current debate in the fields of twentieth-century Chinese nationalism, minority policy, and anthropological practice.
List of contents
The Chinese Nation and Nationalities as a Process of Collaborative Knowledge Production.- "Big Family of Fifty-Six Nationalities:" The Chinese Communist Conceptualization of Minzu (1921-1951).- Disciplines and Politics: From Malinowski to "People's Anthropology".- Inventing Primitive Society in Chinese Historiography and Ethnology.- Investigating Southern Minority Nationalities.- Collaboration and Resistance of Minority Elite: Huang Xianfan's Struggle.- Telling Southern Minority Nationalities to the Public.- Epilogue: "Ghost Master" at Langde: Encountering Miao Shamanism.
About the author
Guo Wu is Associate Professor of History at Allegheny College, USA. He obtained his PhD in history in 2006 from the State University of New York at Albany and has been teaching at Allegheny College. His publications include one research monograph and multiple articles focusing on late imperial and 20th century China.
Summary
Based on fieldwork, archival research, and interviews, this book critically examines the building of modern Chinese discourse on a unified yet diverse Chinese nation on various sites of knowledge production. It argues that Chinese ideology on minority nationalities is rooted in modern China's quest for national integration and political authority. However, it also highlights the fact that the complex process of conceptualizing, investigating, classifying, curating, and writing minority history has been fraught with disputes and contradictions. As such, the book offers a timely contribution to the current debate in the fields of twentieth-century Chinese nationalism, minority policy, and anthropological practice.
Report
"The book is clearly written, well researched and documented (based on fieldwork, archival research and interviews). This makes Guo Wu's study a fundamental contribution to historiography on its subject and an enriching reading for both scholars and advanced students of Asian Politics, China Politics and International Relations, in general. ... the work is timely in light of some recent events. Here it suffices to refer to the so-called Xinjiang Papers, a 400-page report, possibly leaked from a high level source within the Chinese Communist Party ... ." (Barbara Onnis, Asia Maior, asiamaior.org, Vol. 30, 2019)
