Narrating Southern Chinese Minority Nationalities: Politics, Disciplines, and Public History
Author(s)
Abstract
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.
Table of contents
1 The Chinese Nation and Nationalities as a Process of Collaborative Knowledge Production1--2 "Big Family of Fifty-Six Nationalities:" The ChineseCommunist Conceptualization of Minzu (1921-1951)13--1 Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist Discourses on the National Question14--2 The Chinese Conceptualization of Minzu and Zhonghua Minzu15--3 Construction of the Chinese Communist Ideology of Nationality 4 How the Chinese Communists Departed from the Soviet18--22Model in Nationality Question 5 The Communist Party vs. The Nationalist Party 6 Broad Nationalism vs. Narrow Nationalism29--7 Conclusion 32--3 Disciplines and Politics: From Malinowski to "People''Anthropology"43--1 Western Anthropology and Its Spread in China44--2 The Rise of Modern Chinese Anthropology and Ethnology as Disciplines47--3. Chinese Anthropologists' Search for Indigenization51--VI CONTENTS 61--4 Between the Self and the Other64--5 Between Academic Disciplines and Politics61--6 Etimology vs. Historical Materialism in the PRC64--7 Conclusion66--4 Inventing Primitive Society in Chinese Historiography and Ethnology75--1 High Antiquity in Non-Marxist Chinese Historiography75-- 2 Narrating "Primitive Society" in Modern China76--3 Marxist Historiography and Chinese Primitive Society: The Case of Li Zhenyи (1900-1980)84--4 Minority Nationalities and "Primitiveness": The Case of Cen Jiawu (1912-1966)86--5 Popularizing the Knowledge of Primitive Society to the Public89--6 Conclusion95--5 Investigating Southern Minority Nationalities 103--1 Investigation as a Modern Empirical Tradition 104--2 Minority Nationality Identification and Investigation of Their Society and History107--3 Representing Minority Society115--4 Brief Histories of Miao, Zhuang, and Buyi 120--5 Conclusion125--6 Collaboration and Resistance of Minority Elite: Huang Xianfan's Struggle 139--1 The Career of Huang Xianfan as a Zhuang StudiesScholar and Etimographer140-- 2 Huang Xianfan as a Historian3 Was the Zhuang Created?4 Conclusion153--7 Telling Southern Minority Nationalities to the Public 161--1 The Role of Anthropologists in Building Minority 162--2 Ethnology vs. Enography: A University Museum of Etimology in Wuhan162--CONTENTS vii165--3 Yunnan: Ancient Texts of Minority Nationalities168--4 Guizhou: Crisis of Minority Cultural Phenomena and Dilemma of Buyi Ecomuseum170--5 Guangxi: The "Na Cultural Circle and Bronze Drum174--6 Conclusion179--Epilogue: "Ghost Master" at Langde: Encountering Miao Shamanism187--Bibliography201--Index227