Issues of contemporary politics and society are increasingly prominent in Asian studies, driven by policy and business demand for practical understanding of a region seen as increasingly important as well as by the maturing of interdisciplinary approaches arising at the crossroads of social sciences and humanities. Nationalism and transnationalism – as the identity and practice of being anchored in more than one nation or state have been dubbed – are central issues in the critical re-examination of the Western concept of ‘Asia’ and the understanding of the future of Asian nation-states (or their alternatives) and regional configurations. This course attempts to introduce the multifaceted debate on the nature and future of Chinese nationalism and transnationalism inside and outside China to Asianists in Eastern Europe and give participants the skills - including ability to find and critically read printed, audiovisual, and online narratives - to apply these theories to case studies. In so doing, it also intends to stimulate the study of contemporary Asia in Eastern Europe by introducing participants to the state of the art of scope, method and discourse in Asian studies in Anglo-Saxon scholarship. We hope that research proposals prepared by participants will not only whet their appetites but generate interest in instructors, leading to help with search for funding and research collaborations.

Course Level, Target Audience

The course is designed for young academics currently engaged in serious research on Asia in any discipline. Participants need not be specialists of China or familiar with issues of nationalism and transnationalism.

Syllabus

The course is composed of nine seminars looking at Chinese nationalism and transnationalism from different angles, in both disciplinary and geographical terms. At the beginning of the first day, Pál Nyíri will lead participants in defining the goals of and expectations from the course.

Prasenjit Duara

This seminar will be divided into two sessions, with a lecture followed by discussion in both sessions. While focusing on China, the discussion will cover global trends and trends in East, South, and Southeast Asia. The first session will deal with problems of "sovereignty" in empires and the transition to national sovereignty. On what principles did pre-modern East Asian and South Asian polities govern the communities they ruled and how did they legitimate themselves? What kinds of political identifications are produced in empires? What are the relationships between political and non-political forms of identification in these polities? What is the relationship between centers and frontiers?
Next we will examine the impact of the emergent nation-state system in the region in the 20th century, and the transformation, both of the principles of governance (the sovereignty question) and the nature of identification. Particular questions include: how do new citizens view their political identity in relation to a territorial "geo-body"? What happens to older frontier regions and peoples? What happens to the older universalist (often religious) aspirations and identities?

Zha Daojiong

This seminar will start with comparing Western and Chinese ideas of "Chinese nationalism". We will then analyse the rhetoric and the pragmatic policy behind the People’s Republic of China’s pursuit of unification with Taiwan and look at the policy of economic opening as a nationalistic project. Next we will take a look at the impact of Chinese nationalism on China-Southeast Asia relations since World War II. Finally, we will discuss implications for teaching and research on Chinese nationalism.

Alexandre V. Lomanov

In this seminar we will look at then development of interactions between post-Soviet Russia and China from a threefold perspective. First, we will examine the ambivalent role of Russia and China in the formulation of each other’s "national ideas" by various elites. Second, we will discuss the geopolitical realities of economy, migration, and regional/central power rivalries in the Far Eastern provinces of Russia and the northeastern provinces of China. Third, we will look at the emergence of ethnic and regional identities in that region. Finally we will analyse the tensions between the discourses at the centres and the agendas of the peripheries and raise the question whether and in what sense transnationalism does or can exist in the greater Russian-Chinese borderlands.

Louisa Schein

This seminar will start with a one-hour lecture introducing key topics and methods of transnationalism and diaspora research. It will be followed by a two-hour discussion of assigned readings both on the conceptual issues of transnationalism and diasporas and on cases of transnational economic behaviour, identity construction, and media by Asians in and out of Asia, and the response of nation-state politics. The next hour will be devoted to small-group discussions of the legitimacy of, and problems with, the conceptual and methodological apparatus of transnationalism studies. Results of these discussions will be presented and summarised in the last hour.

Pál Nyíri

Following a similar format to the preceding seminar, we will start with a one-hour lecture on the development of overseas Chinese and emigration policy in the PRC since 1949. This will be followed by a half-hour discussion of assigned readings, focusing on the changing relations of overseas Chinese with the PRC and the changing meaning of Chineseness as it is instrumentalised in these relations. The next hour will be a lecture on migration from China since 1978 and the policies and discourse of patriotism developed around it. After viewing excerpts from the Chinese soap opera Into Europe, there will be another half-hour lecture on the globalized world of media and organizations made for and by new Chinese migrants. A panel of Chinese newspaper editors and organization leaders from Hungary, as well as Chinese from Hungary who do not belong to organizations, will then discuss the meaning of being Chinese and living abroad, the role of Chinese organizations and media, and the notions of Chinese nation and "Chinese globalization", and answer questions. The final half hour will be a discussion of the impact of the official "new migrant" discourse on Chinese overseas and its possible reasons.

Aihwa Ong

This seminar, consisting of lecture and discussion, will return to how the mobile and modern Asian negotiates the barriers of nation and identity. It will examine how Asian nationalisms have changed in a world of accelerated globalization, how the changing forms of capitalism relate to the pluralization of flows, spaces, and cultural identities in the Asia-Pacific, and how transnational networks and global cities shape the everyday notion and practice of citizenship. In what ways have corporate globalization affected the ways Asian countries control their borders and shape their national identities? How do contemporary Asian migrants craft their new identities in transnational contexts? What are the limits to their mobility and flexibility as transmigrant subjects? In what ways are major Asian cities critical sites for studying changes in the notions of national identity and citizenship?

Frank Dikötter

This seminar will trace how "race" has been used at various stages of the 20^th century Chinese nationalist discourse to draw the boundaries of the Chinese nation and to rationalize real and imagined differences between population groups. It will examine racism and eugenic theories in contemporary China, contrast these with the culture-centered discourse of Chineseness commonly used by the state, and show how elements of both come together in high- and lowbrow narratives.

Penny Edwards

This seminar intends to familiarize participants with contemporary politics, governance and society in five countries of Southeast Asia and southern China (Yunnan), introduce them to print and online sources of English-language text and image from Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Burma, Vietnam, and Yunnan, and apply theory to critically analyze case studies narratives.

Module One: Fragmenting the GMS: National Identities/Cultural Frameworks

This introductory session will provide a brief overview of salient characteristics of modern national identity formation, modes of governance and dominant cultural paradigms in China (Yunnan), Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

Module Two: Cementing the GMS: The Infrastructure of Transnationalism

This session will explore overt, official attempts to build a "GMS"and so highlight the official and infrastructural underpinnings of transnational identity formation, namely bilateral and multilateral agreements, aid projects, road/rail schemes, ADB, World Bank, UN Drug Control Program, etc.

This session will explore the flows of intra-regional trade, telecommunications, television and tourism as shapers of transnational identities. It will then briefly map the darker side of transnational cross-border flows in illicit commodities (Drugs, Humans, AIDS, Weapons, Unprovenanced Antiquities).

Module Four: Subnational Identities, Cross-Border Cultures: Case Study: (e.g) Dai in Yunnan/Thai in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia

This participatory session will explore how Yunnan is using its Dai (Thai) ethnic group to expand its share of the global tourist trade, project itself as part of Southeast Asia, and to cement trade ties and cultural connections with Thailand in particular; and how Thailand is orchestrating a cultural dialogue capitalising on transnational communities in, and cultural similarities between, Yunnan, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand in various diplomatic initiatives.

Dru Gladney

This seminar will focus on the relationship between minority and majority nationalisms in China, in particular the impact of the changing nature of the construction of Chinese national identity on ethnic and religious minority identities of Muslims in China. It will also examine the impact of these competing constructions of identity on cross-border ethnic and security relations between China and the Central Asian states and on regional/transnational identity processes and migration in the region.

Frank Dikötter, Penny Edwards, Dru Gladney, Mikhail Karpov, Aihwa Ong

Application Requirements

Each participant will be asked to submit a two-page research proposal. It should be written as if applying for a grant and should contain sections on purpose, methodology, place of the project within the current state of research in the field and more broadly in Asian studies, expected output, and bibliography. The participant should retain and bring one copy of the proposal.

Teaching Methods

Each one-day seminar will combine lecture with discussion and interactive teaching methods. Because of the diverse content, it is crucial that readings for all classes be largely completed before the course begins.

Each seminar will end with a half-hour moderated discussion session that will link the day’s material with that presented in other seminars, clearing up questions about differences in terminology.

On the last day of the course, each participant will present a new, two-page research proposal subject to the same requirements, building on her actual interests and the ideas received during the course. The proposal can be either a revised version of the one submitted before the course or a different one. The proposals will be discussed by the class and instructors. Students’ performance will be evaluated based on the final proposals and their "defence". A "grant committee" of instructors will decide on the proposals and will attempt to help find funding or collaborators for the best of them.

Before presenting, each participant should discuss the proposal with one or several instructors (office hours will be announced). Participants are encouraged to look at instructors’ research fields before arrival and identify in advance instructors they will want to talk to.