DECENTERING THE CHINESE NARRATIVE
This course moves beyond the conventional image of Modern China as a politically and culturally homogenous entity governed by a singular, centralized authority. We begin by interrogating the deep-seated assumption that "China" represents a unified experience, whether economic, social, or historical. Instead, we treat China as a landscape defined by perpetual, high-stakes internal negotiations.
Our study is fundamentally concerned with the friction points—where plural identities (ethnic, linguistic, economic, religious) clash with the central drive for power consolidation. We explore how power operates not just top-down, but also through networked resistance and the formation of unrecognized publics. Understanding this tension between uniformity and fragmentation is key to decoding the modern Chinese experience.
- Unitary State Orthodoxy: The central government’s persistent ideological claim that national cohesion and stability are dependent upon unified leadership and the subordination of regional/ethnic differences.
- Situated Identity Politics: The theoretical focus on how localized, contextual factors (e.g., urban vs. rural, historical memory, specific dialect) shape how individuals experience and challenge state power.
- The Multiplicity Thesis: The argument that Modern China's political and social reality is defined by irreducible, competing regional, ethnic, and class interests that actively shape policy outcomes.
Hegemony
The ideological dominance of a ruling group, achieved through consent and normalized practices rather than overt force alone.
Internal Orientalism
The practice by the central state or dominant Han group of stereotyping, exoticizing, or simplifying internal minority regions or subcultures for political or cultural ends.
Unrecognized Publics
Groups who share common grievances or interests but lack official state recognition or representation, often communicating and organizing through alternative, decentralized channels.
Tolerated Pluralism?
Is "pluralism" merely tolerated by the central Chinese government as a functional necessity, or is it fundamentally incompatible with the Party's claim to total political authority?
Regionalized Identities
How does the centralization of media control interact with highly regionalized linguistic and historical identities (e.g., Cantonese, Uyghur, or Tibetan)?
Cultural Resistance
Provide an example of how a localized identity group navigates state power using cultural resources (e.g., folk religion, historical monuments) rather than overt political challenge.
A Cartography of Contestation
This conceptual map illustrates the official administrative boundaries overlaid with the distribution of China's recognized ethnic minority groups. It highlights the complex spatial relationship between the state’s desire for control and deep ethnic and regional diversity.