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Minor Events and Grand DreamsEthnic Outsiders in China’s Postcolonial World Order

Minor Events and Grand DreamsEthnic Outsiders in China’s Postcolonial World Order The official China Dream of the Great revival tells a story of China reversing “humiliation” by Western powers and returning to its premodern, rightful place at the center of world affairs. However, since ethnically targeted violence in Ürümqi in 2009, leading thinkers and policy makers ask how they can avoid a “nightmare” of frontier insecurity derailing dreams of international power. This article uses a postcolonial approach to critically analyze tensions between ethnic inclusion and exclusion in visual and textual narratives from a Xinjiang regional exhibition that celebrated the PRC’s sixtieth anniversary. It asks who is included and excluded in these visions of China’s rise? How does China domestically refract insecurity from experiences of a colonial world order that constructs it as inferior? The event tells a story of the history and future of a powerful rising state but expresses deep insecurities that domestic cultural difference is an obstacle to China’s global power. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png positions: asia critique Duke University Press

Minor Events and Grand DreamsEthnic Outsiders in China’s Postcolonial World Order

Tobin, David
positions: asia critique , Volume 27 (4) – Nov 1, 2019
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33 pages

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Copyright 2019 by Duke University Press
eISSN
1527-8271
DOI
10.1215/10679847-7726968
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Abstract

The official China Dream of the Great revival tells a story of China reversing “humiliation” by Western powers and returning to its premodern, rightful place at the center of world affairs. However, since ethnically targeted violence in Ürümqi in 2009, leading thinkers and policy makers ask how they can avoid a “nightmare” of frontier insecurity derailing dreams of international power. This article uses a postcolonial approach to critically analyze tensions between ethnic inclusion and exclusion in visual and textual narratives from a Xinjiang regional exhibition that celebrated the PRC’s sixtieth anniversary. It asks who is included and excluded in these visions of China’s rise? How does China domestically refract insecurity from experiences of a colonial world order that constructs it as inferior? The event tells a story of the history and future of a powerful rising state but expresses deep insecurities that domestic cultural difference is an obstacle to China’s global power.

Journal

positions: asia critique – Duke University Press

Published: Nov 1, 2019

References

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    Baike,
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  • The Subaltern Talks Back: Reflections on Subaltern Theory and Chinese History
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    Angang, Hu; Lianhe, Hu
  • Guojia Minwei Zhuren Li Dezhu Zai Quanguo Minwei Zhuren Huiyis-hang de Jianghua” 国家民委主任李德洙在全国民委主任会议上的讲话 (“National Commission for Ethnic Affairs Chair Li Dezhu’s Speech at the 2007 National Commission for Ethnic Affairs Conference”)
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  • A New Perspective in Guiding Ethnic Relations in the Twenty-First Century: ‘Depoliticization’ of Ethnicity in China
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    Rong, Ma
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  • Positioning Xinjiang in Eurasian and Chinese History
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  • Space for the Future: Exhibiting China in the World at the Shanghai Expo
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  • The Tenacious Tributary System
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  • Containment or Engagement of China? Calculating Beijing’s Responses
    Shambaugh, David
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  • President Xi Jinping Vows Peace
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    Suzuki, Shogo
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  • Ye Tan zai Wo Guo Minzu Wenti shang de Fansi he ‘Shishiqiqushi’ yu Ma Rong Jiaoshou de Jidian Shangque” 也谈在我国民族问题上的反思和实事求是与 马戎教授的几点商榷 (“Reflections on China’s Ethnic Problems and Ma Rong’s Contribution”)
    Wang, Xi’en
  • Xinhua Insight: China Never to Copy a Western System
    Xinhua,
  • Thoroughly Reforming Them Towards a Healthy Heart Attitude
    Zenz, Adrian
  • Dui dangqian minzu lingyu wenti de jidian sikao” 对当年民族领域 问题的几点思考 (“A Few Thoughts on Current Problems in the Field of Ethnicity”)
    Zhu, Weiqun
  • Kuerban Tulumu” 库尔班·吐鲁木 (“Kurban Tulum”)
    Baike,
  • Ye tan zhongguo ke jinyibu wanshan minzu zhengce” 也谈中国可进一 步完善民族政策 (“Discussion on Progressing the Perfection of Minzu Policy”)
    Bao, Shengli
  • Development as Localization: Ethnic Minorities in China’s Official Discourse on the Western Development Project
    Barabantseva, Elena
  • Making the Oil Fragrant: Dealings with the Supernatural among the Uyghurs in Xinjiang
    Bellér-Hann, Ildikó
  • On the Concept of History
    Benjamin, Walter
  • DissemiNation: Time, Narrative, and the Margins of the Modern Nation
    Bhabha, Homi Bhabha, Homi
  • Historical Sociology, IR, and Connected Histories
    Bhambra, Gurminder
  • The Cartography of ‘National Humiliation’ and the Emergence of China’s Geobody
    Callahan, William A.
  • Shanghai’s Alternative Futures
    Callahan, William A.
  • Xinjiang Is a Good Place
    CCTV
  • Narrating the Nation, Race, and National Culture
    Chow, Kai-Wing Kai-Wing, Chow
  • Introduction: Power in a Postcolonial World
    Chowdhry, Geeta; Nair, Sheila Chowdhry, Geeta; Nair, Sheila
  • The Legacy of the Chinese Empires: Beyond ‘the West and the Rest’
    Fiskesjö, Magnus
  • The Politics of the West: Equality, Nation-Building, and Colonisation
    Goodman, David
  • Zhongguo minzu zhengce de hexin yuanze bu rong gaibian” 中 国民族政策的核心原则不容改变 (“China’s Ethnic Minority Policies Are not Easy to Improve”)
    Hao, Shiyuan
  • Ethnicity, Local Interests, and the State
    Harrell, Stevan
  • The Subaltern Talks Back: Reflections on Subaltern Theory and Chinese History
    Hershatter, Gail
  • The Emergence of the Campaign to Open Up the West
    Holbig, Heike
  • Di Er Dai Minzu Zhengce: Cujin Minzu Jiaorong Yiti he Fanhua Yiti” 第二代民族政策:促进民族交融一体和繁华一体 (“The Second Generation of Minzu Policies: Promoting Minzu Fusion and Prosperity in an Organic Whole”)
    Angang, Hu; Lianhe, Hu
  • Guojia Minwei Zhuren Li Dezhu Zai Quanguo Minwei Zhuren Huiyis-hang de Jianghua” 国家民委主任李德洙在全国民委主任会议上的讲话 (“National Commission for Ethnic Affairs Chair Li Dezhu’s Speech at the 2007 National Commission for Ethnic Affairs Conference”)
    Dezhu, Li
  • A New Perspective in Guiding Ethnic Relations in the Twenty-First Century: ‘Depoliticization’ of Ethnicity in China
    Rong, Ma
  • Dangqian Zhongguo de Minzu Wenti de Zhengjie yu Chulu” 当年中国的 民族问题的整洁与出路 (“The Crux and Solution to the Ethnic Problem in Contemporary China”)
    Rong, Ma
  • The Gathering Storm: China’s Challenge to US Power in Asia
    Mearsheimer, John J.
  • Positioning Xinjiang in Eurasian and Chinese History
    Millward, James Mackerras, Colin; Clarke, Michael
  • Space for the Future: Exhibiting China in the World at the Shanghai Expo
    Nordin, Astrid
  • The Tenacious Tributary System
    Perdue, Peter
  • The Biopolitics of China’s ‘War on Terror’ and the Exclusion of the Uyghurs
    Roberts, Sean
  • Containment or Engagement of China? Calculating Beijing’s Responses
    Shambaugh, David
  • Bixu Bawo Minzu Wenti de Jieji Shizhi” 必须把握民族问题的阶级实质 (“We Must Grasp the Class Essence of Minzu Problems”)
    Shijian, Bianjibu 实践》编辑部 Jiao, Pan
  • President Xi Jinping Vows Peace
  • China Putting Muslims in ‘Concentration Camps,’ US Says
    Stewart, Phil
  • Seeking ‘Legitimate’ Great Power Status in Post–Cold War International Society: China and Japan’s Participation in UNPKO
    Suzuki, Shogo
  • Jingdian Tupian: Kuerban Dashu Jiandaole Mao Zhuxi” 经典图片:库 尔班大叔见到了毛主席 (“Classic Photograph: Uncle Kuerban Meets Chair Mao”)
    Tianshan.net
  • Ye Tan zai Wo Guo Minzu Wenti shang de Fansi he ‘Shishiqiqushi’ yu Ma Rong Jiaoshou de Jidian Shangque” 也谈在我国民族问题上的反思和实事求是与 马戎教授的几点商榷 (“Reflections on China’s Ethnic Problems and Ma Rong’s Contribution”)
    Wang, Xi’en
  • Xinhua Insight: China Never to Copy a Western System
    Xinhua,
  • Thoroughly Reforming Them Towards a Healthy Heart Attitude
    Zenz, Adrian
  • Dui dangqian minzu lingyu wenti de jidian sikao” 对当年民族领域 问题的几点思考 (“A Few Thoughts on Current Problems in the Field of Ethnicity”)
    Zhu, Weiqun