China inside out : : contemporary Chinese nationalism and transnationalism / / edited by Pal Nyiri and Joana Breidenbach.

• TeilnehmendeR: Nyiri, Pal.; Breidenbach, Joana.
• Year of Publication: 2005
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (367 pages) :; illustrations, maps.
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

The "war on terror" has generated a scramble for expertise on Islamic or Asian "culture" and revived support for area studies, but it has done so at the cost of reviving the kinds of dangerous generalizations that area studies have rightly been accused of. This book provides a much-needed perspective on area studies, a perspective that is attentive to both manifestations of "traditional culture" and the new global relationships in which they are being played out. The authors shake off the shackles of the orientalist legacy but retain a close reading of local processes. They challenge the boundaries of China and question its study from different perspectives, but believe that area studies have a role to play if their geographies are studied according to certain common problems.In the case of China, the book shows the diverse array of critical but solidly grounded research approaches that can be used in studying a society. Its approach neither trivializes nor dismisses the elusive effects of culture, and it pays attention to both the state and the multiplicity of voices that challenge it.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents; List of Maps and Figures; Overview; Chapters; Chapter 1 Anthropological Concepts for the Study of Nationalism; Chapter 2 The Legacy of Empires and Nations in East Asia; Chapter 3 Researching Chinese Nationalism: the Foreign Relations Dimension; Chapter 4 On the Periphery of the "Clash of Civilizations?" Discourse and Geopolitics in Russio-Chinese Relations; Chapter 5 Minorities, Homelands and Methods; Chapter 6 The "New Migrant": State and Market Constructions of Modernity and Patriotism; Chapter 7 Race in China; Chapter 8 Outside In: Sino-Burmese Encounters

Chapter 9 Alterity MotivesChapter 10 The Contemporary Intellectual Context of the China Inside Out Project; Contributors; Glossary; Main Chinese Dynasties; Literature; Index of Text Boxes; Index