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Syllabus for the SUN 2004 course
Rewriting
History: Emerging Identities and Nationalism in Central Asia
go to session(s) no. [1] [2]
[3] [4-6] [HB Paksoy's
lectures for downloading] [7-9] [10-11]
[12] [13] [14] [15]
[16] [17] [18] [19]
[20-21] [writing ]
Week 1-2
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Session 1 |
Teachers’ Name |
Colin Mackerras |
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Topic |
Nationalism and History |
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Teaching Mode |
Seminar and discussion |
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Summary |
The session maps the scope of problems related to the relationship
between Nationalism and a History writing process. It provides the
theoretical basis for the phenomenon of rewriting and revising History in
Central Asia, especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It will
consider several different major theories of nations and nationalism,
including those of Ernest Gellner, E.J. Hobsbawm, Anthony Smith and
others. What precisely do the terms "nation" and
"nationalism" mean and what do they imply? When and in which
conditions did the term "nation" come into use? Is a
"nation" as old as history of human societies? Is nationalism a
positive or negative force in the writing of history? The session gives
some attention to Benedict Anderson’s notion of nations as
"imagined communities" and the role of historiography in
construction of national identities. |
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Reading Assignments |
Before the course
Elie Kedourie, Nationalism, Hutchinson University
library, London, 1960, second revised edition 1961, pp. 74–9.
James G. Kellas, The Politics of Nationalism and
Ethnicity, Second Edition, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1998, pp. 1–9,
43–64.
Anthony D. Smith, Nations and Nationalism in a Global
Era, Polity Press, Cambridge, 1995, 58–67.
Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, Reflections
on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, Verso, London and New York,
1983, revised edition 1991, pp. 37–46.
On the Internet:
The Nationalism Project
website is http://www.nationalismproject.org/index.htm.
It includes a good many links, some of which will be useful.
"What is Nationalism?", The Nationalism
Project http://www.nationalismproject.org/what.htm
Ernest Gellner Defining "nation", The
Nationalism Project, http://www.nationalismproject.org/what.htm
Benedict Anderson, "The Nation as Imagined
Community", The Nationalism Project, http://www.nationalismproject.org/what/anderson.htm
Eric Hobsbawm Nations and Nationalism since 1780, The
Nationalism Project, http://www.nationalismproject.org/what.htm
Michael Hechter, "Types of Nationalism", The
Nationalism Project, http://www.nationalismproject.org/what.htm
Anthony D. Smith’s opening statement: "Nations
and their pasts", The Warwick Debates, http://members.tripod.com/GellnerPage/Warwick.html
Ernest Gellner’s reply, The Warwick Debates, http://members.tripod.com/GellnerPage/Warwick2.html
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Writing Assignments |
During the course
Begin drafting your research proposal. Check the office
hours of those faculty members you want to consult with in its
preparation. |
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Session 2 |
Teachers’ Name |
Colin Mackerras |
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Topic |
State, Politics and the writing of History in
China |
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Teaching Mode |
Lecture and discussion |
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Summary |
The session will trace how history-writing has developed
in China. It will consider the nature of the relationship of the state and
politics to history-writing in imperial China, giving attention to the
late imperial period. It will move on to consider how
"modernity", the May Fourth Movement (1919) and the impact of
the West affected the writing of history in China, especially the changing
role of nationalism and how the state tried to influence this, but failed
to prevent the rise of leftist historical theories. The discussion of the
early twentieth century will include Prasenjit Duara’s theory of
"rescuing history from the nation", which critiques the nation
as the subject of history.
The session will give considerable space to the People’s
Republic, analyzing how history writing has been greatly affected by state
policy and ideology. It will show differences among the periods when Mao
Zedong was in control, mentioning the Cultural Revolution, and give some
attention also to the changes in the relationship between the writers of
history, the state and politics during the reform period since 1978. |
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Reading Assignments |
Before the course
Arif Dirlik, Revolution and History, The Origins of
Marxist Historiography in China, 1919–1937, University of California
Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, 1978, pp. 259–68.
Prasenjit Duara, Rescuing History from the Nation,
Questioning Narratives of Modern China, University of Chicago Press,
Chicago and London, 1995, pp. 3–16, 229–36.
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Session 3 |
Teachers’ Name |
Colin Mackerras |
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Topic |
History, Identity and Nationalism in Chinese Central
Asia |
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Teaching Mode |
Lecture |
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Summary |
The session will take up the concepts of cultural
autonomy and the relationship between identity and history writing in
Chinese Central Asia, especially Xinjiang and Tibet. It will interrogate
the concept of ‘Chinese Central Asia’, raising questions over
precisely what it implies. It also examines the concept of identity and
implications and discusses the rights of minority cultures, especially as
discussed by Will Kymlicka.
The session next turns to consider the boundaries of
China, how they have shifted and what that might mean for understanding
the history of China. It raises the question of what is China, giving
specific attention to Mongolia, Xinjiang and Tibet. It considers the
histories of several particular ethnic groups in terms of identity and
nationalism. Finally, it takes up two case studies in the study of
history, identity and nationalism: ancient archaeological finds in
Xinjiang and the Uygur state lasting from 744 to 840. |
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Reading Assignments |
Colin Mackerras, ‘Introduction’, in Colin Mackerras,
ed., Ethnicity in Asia, Routledge Curzon, London and New York,
2003, chapter 1, pp. 1–15.
Colin Mackerras, ‘What Is China? Who Is Chinese?
Han-Minorities Relations, Legitimacy, and the State’, in Peter Hays
Gries and Stanley Rosen, eds, State and Society in 21st
Century China: Crisis, Contention, and Legitimation, Routledge Curzon,
London and New York, 2004, Ch.11.
On the Internet:
Erkin Alptekin, "The Uighurs", http://www.taklamakan.org/history/uighur_update_1.html |
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Sessions 4-6 |
Teachers’ Name |
H. B. Paksoy |
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Topic |
Identities: How Governed, Who Pays? |
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Teaching Mode |
Lecture, discussion new
download lectures (.rtf) [1]
[2] [3]
[4] [5] |
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Summary |
Is there a set of universal principles governing identity? Most
identities in existence today have successfully transformed themselves
from their origins by means of organization, necessity and diligence. This
adaptation or new formation is the result of conscious choices and methods
created, borrowed, or adapted for the purpose. Not all identities traveled
through the same journey to reach their positions. The seminar focuses on
such aspects of Identities as official Identity, leavening of identity,
identity of Governance, interaction of identities, corporate identities,
identity of belief system, mosaic identity, technological and future
identities, and secret identities. These problems are looked at in the
context of new emerging identities in Central Asia. |
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Reading Assignments |
Before the course
On the Internet:
H. B. Paxoy, Identities: How Governed, Who Pays?
Princeton, 2001 http://www.ukans.edu/carrie/texts/carrie_books/paksoy-7/ |
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Sessions 7-9 |
Teachers’ Name |
Dru C. Gladney |
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Topic |
Islam and Ethnicity in China: Making Majorities and
Minorities |
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Teaching Mode |
Lecture, discussion |
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Summary |
Taking China as the main country of focus, this course
will survey the minority peoples who live primarily on its border areas
and interact with neighboring Inner Asian countries as well as the Han
Chinese majority. Though China is generally thought to be a
culturally homogeneous society, the contribution of minorities to the
construction of Chinese society and identity will be explored,
illustrating the importance of diversity and multi-culturalism to a
well-rounded understanding of Chinese culture and society.
There has been a growing use of national symbols as
indicators of loyalty and of ethnic paradigms as a guide to behavior and
the shaping of institutions. While minority peoples are generally
relegated to the margins of study in surveys of contemporary
civilizations, this course will seek to demonstrate the central role they
have played, and continue to exert, in the construction of the Chinese and
Inner Asian nation-states. This course suggests that many aspects of
contemporary societies can only be fully understood from an
interdisciplinary study of the ethnic peoples who inhabit these modern
states, viewed transregionally, comparatively, and in historical
depth.
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Reading Assignments |
Before the course
On the Internet:
Dru C Gladney, ‘Alterity Motives’, In Pál Nyíri,
editor. China Inside Out, 2003, On-line journal http://cio.ceu.hu
Dru C Gladney, ‘Internal Colonialism and China’s
Uyghur Muslim Minority’, International Institute for the Study of Islam
in the Modern, World Newsletter, 1998, October, No 1: 20- 28
http://isim.leidenuniv.nl/newsletter/1/regional/01AC23.html
Dorian, James P., Brett Wigdortz, and Dru C. Gladney.
"China and Central Asia: A Volatile Mix?", Asia Pacific
Issues, No. 31, May 1997, pp. 1-24.
http://www.eastwestcenter.org/res-rp-publicationdetails.asp?pub_ID=30&SearchString=Gladney
Dru C. Gladney, ‘Relational Alterity: Constructing
Dungan (Hui), Uygur, and Kazakh Identities across China, Central Asia, and
Turkey’, History and Anthropology, Vol. 9, No. 2, 1996: 445-77. http://www.hawaii.edu/dru/tree.htm
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Sessions 10-11 |
Teachers’ Name |
Touraj Atabaki |
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Topic |
Ethno-nationalism and territorial nationalism in Central
Asia |
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Teaching Mode |
Lecture, discussions |
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Summary |
The complex interplay between ethno-nationalism, which
is a direct outcome of the peculiar type of Soviet ethno-federalist
administration, and territorial nationalism, which is refashioned to
introduce a sense of territorial attachment for all citizens of the new
states, including the non-indigenous and non-titular ethnic groups.
Dichotomy between the new states, identified by new
citizens, and the titular ethnic groups in the context of the processes of
transition of these countries, which are contested by local
ethno-religious conflicts. History and justification of territorial
claims. |
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Reading Assignments |
Before the Course
‘Russification and Sovietisation of Central Asia’,
In: Encyclopedia of modern Asia, Levinson, David and Karen
Christensen, et al., Eds. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons: 2002
Touraj Atabaki & Sanjyot Mehendale, ‘Trans-nationalism
and Diaspora in Central Asia and the Caucasus’, Routledge Curzon Press,
London & New York, 2004, (Forthcoming).
Bert G. Fragner, ‘Soviet nationalism’: An
Ideological Legacy to the Independent Republics of Central Asia’, in:
E.J. Zurcher and W. van Schendel (eds), Identity Politics in Central Asia
and Muslim World, London, I.B. Tauris, 2001, pp. 13-33.
Geoffrey Wheeler, The Modern History of
Soviet Central Asia London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1964, pp.
31-47.
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Sessions 12 |
Teachers’ Name |
Touraj Atabaki |
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Topic |
State building in Central Asia: invention of historical
traditions and reinterpretation of history |
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Teaching Mode |
Lecture, seminar, discussion |
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Summary |
This seminar studies the formation of a series of
national and territorial identities in Central Asia following the demise
of the Soviet Union. It outlines the process if state building, where a
collective identity often is formulated and disseminated in order to
foster the collective memoirs amongst the citizens of the new states. It
also examines the practice of collective imagination, the reconstruction
and reinterpretation of history, the invention of necessary historical
traditions, which intend to justify and give coherence to the emerging
modern state by bringing groups of peoples together and strengthening or
even forming their common sense of identity and political solidarity. |
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Reading Assignments |
Before the course
Douglas Northrop, Veiled Empire, Gender and Politics
in Stalinist Central Asia Ithaca and London, Cornell University, 2004, pp.
69-101.
Touraj Atabaki, ‘Beyond Essentialism.
Who writes whose Past in the Middle East and Central Asia?’, Amsterdam,
Aksant, 2003.
Nick Megoran, ‘Theorizing gender,
ethnicity and the nation-state in Central Asia’, Central Asia Survey,
Vol. 18, No, 1, 1999, pp. 99-110.
A.Sarsembayev, ’"Imagined
Communities: Kazak nationalism and Kazakification in the 1990s’, Central
Asia Survey, Vol. 18, No, 3, 1999, pp. 319-346.
Anthony Hyman, ‘Turkestan and
Pan-Turkism revisited’, Central Asia Survey,Vol. 16, No, 3, 1997, pp.
339-351.
Shahram Akbarzadeh, ‘The Political
shape of Central Asia’, Central Asia Survey, Vol. 16, No, 4, 1997, pp.
517-542.
Shahram Akbarzadeh, ‘Nation-building
in Uzbekistan’, Central Asia Survey, Vol. 15, No, 1, 1996, Pp.
23-32. |
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Session 13 |
Teachers’ Name |
Ablet Kamalov |
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Topic |
Uyghur Studies in the Soviet Union: Stateless nation and
International Relations
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Teaching Mode |
Lecture, film screening, discussion |
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Summary |
The seminar examines how international relations affect
the rise of Nationalism of peoples inhabiting neighboring countries. The
rise of Uyghur Nationalism in both Soviet and Chinese Central Asia was a
result of the natural process of the forming of modern nations in Central
Asia, but also was influenced by the Soviet policy towards Xinjiang.
Soviet-Chinese relations shaped Uyghur Nationalism on both sides of state
borders. Historical studies on Uyghurs how the History of a stateless
Nation is constructed in different states, but the interests of those
states cannot keep the Uyghurs from constructing their own view on their
history. Demonstration of the film on the Uyghur Community in Central Asia
and Uyghur-transnationalism. |
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Reading Assignments |
Before the course
J. Jon Ruselson, ‘Uighur
Historiography and Uighur Ethnic Nationalism’, in: Ethnicity, Minorities
and Cultural Encounters. Ed. by I. Svanberg, Uppsala;Uppsala Univeristy
Press, 1991, pp. 64-82. |
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Session 14 |
Teachers’ Name |
Ablet Kamalov |
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Topic |
Tarim mummies and Uyghur nationalism: continuity between
ancient and modern peoples
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Teaching Mode |
Lecture, film screening, discussion |
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Summary |
The seminar also discusses the role of ancient cultures
and civilizations in shaping modern national identities and nationalism on
the example of ‘Tarim Mummies’ of East Turkistan/Xinjiang. It will
discuss how the images of the past are used in ‘individualization’ of
a nation and for justification of political rights of peoples to their
territories.
How is it important to demonstrate continuity between
the ancient inhabitants and modern nationalities? The role of Archeology
and Cultural Anthropology in construction of national identity.
Film-screening: Riddle Desert Mummies |
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Reading Assignments |
Before the course
J. Jon Ruselson, ‘The Xinjiang Mummies
and Foreign Angels: Art, Archaeology and Uyghur Muslim Nationalism in
Chinese Central Asia’, Toronto Studies in Central and Inner Asia,
2 (1996), pp.
The Taklamakan Mummies:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/chinamum/taklamakan.html |
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Session 15 |
Teachers’ Name |
Ablet Kamalov |
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Topic |
Contested
Histories of the Uyghurs: the Chinese and Uyghur perspectives |
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Teaching Mode |
Lecture, discussion |
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Summary |
The Seminar is devoted to the role of the State in
constructing historical concepts of minorities on the example of
differences between official version of the Uyghur History in China and
Uyghur Nationalist interpretation of the Uyghur history. The Chinese
Nationalist ideas and chauvinist concepts on History of China and
exclusiveness of the Han civilization produced formation of alternative
views on history representing the local Nationalist feelings of the
non-Han peoples. The Seminar will trace the roots of Uyghur Nationalism
and determine the role of Historiography and Literature, especially
historical novels, in shaping Uyghur nationalism and aspirations to
independence from China. |
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Reading Assignments |
Before the course
L. Benson, ‘Contested History:
Issues in the Historiography of Inner Asia’s Uighurs’, in Toronto
Studies in Central and Inner Asia, 2 (1996), pp. 87-113.
G. Bovington, Nabijan Tursun, ‘Contested
Histories’, in: Xinjiang. China’s Muslim borderlands. Ed. S.
Fredderick Starr, Armonk, New York, London, 2004, pp. 353-374. |
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Session 16 |
Teachers’ Name |
Agnes Birtalan |
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Topic |
From ‘Secret History’ to Mongol National
Historiography |
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Teaching Mode |
The session examines the evolution of the Mongolian
Historiography and growth of Mongol Nationalism. The example of the native
Mongolian Historiography is the ‘Secret History’ of the Mongols, but
after Buddhist conversion the Mongolian chronicles (starting from the 17th
century) became influenced by the Indo-Tibetan narratives, which
particularly transformed the original empire ideology. This combination of
Buddhist and original nomadic native historiography presented the
ideological basis even for the Theocratic Mongolian State at the beginning
of the 20th century and traces of it can be found in the
ideology and historiography of socialist Mongolia. |
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Summary |
Lecture, seminar, discussion |
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Reading Assignments |
Before the course
Ayuudai Ochir, ‘A Brief History of Mongolian
Historical Research 1921-1996’, in: Facets of Transformation of the
Northeast Asian Countries II. Ed. by Hiroki Oka. Center for Northeast
Asian Studies, Tohoku University 1999. pp. 191-215. |
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Session 17 |
Teachers’ Name |
Agnes Birtalan |
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Topic |
The trends of the formation of an Inner-Asian Empire.
The example of the Great Mongolian Empire |
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Teaching Mode |
The 13th century history of the Mongols became the
ideological example for the following centuries in the vast territories of
the North-Eurasia. Main historical trends of the formation of nomadic
empires will be reviewed. Various sources on the Mongol History will be
described. |
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Summary |
Lecture |
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Reading Assignments |
Before the course
Tsogt-Ochir Ishdorj, ‘The Mongolain Reconception of
Chinggis Khan’, in: Facets of Transformation of the Northeast Asian
Countries II. Ed. by Hiroki Oka. Center for Northeast Asian Studies,
Tohoku University 1999. pp. 217-228 |
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Session 18 |
Teachers’ Name |
Agnes Birtalan |
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Topic |
Revisiting the history during the time of socialism and after the
political changes |
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Teaching Mode |
The 20th century historical view changed several times
and the principles of pan mongolism and Nationalism
used the Chingisid ideology, while depending on the
ideology of the neighboring countries (USSR, China) even the national
history became interpreted as a "shame" for the Mongols. However
after the political changes this situation changed and as it is usual it
went somehow from one extreme to the other.
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Summary |
Lecture, discussion |
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Reading Assignments |
Before the course
Bulag, Uradyn E., 'The Creation of Ethnicity and
Nationalism in Twentieth-Century Mongolia’, in: Nationalism and
Hibridity in Mongolia. Clarendon Pres Oxford 1998. pp. 215- 258. |
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Session 19 |
Teachers’ Name |
Anuar Galiev |
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Topic |
Who gets the past? Soviet Historical and Ethnological theories and
construction of Central Asian History |
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Teaching Mode |
Lecture |
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Summary |
The seminar will look at the historical theories worked out by the
Soviet scholarship in reconstructing the history Central Asian peoples.
The core conception here was a theory of ethnogenesis, or origin of modern
peoples based on the Stalin’s definition of a Nation. Each titular
nationality’s history was conceptualized and outlined in the Official
versions of the Republic’s Histories, which were created by a special
Commission with a Party Secretary on Ideology at the head. Among the
Soviet historical theories also are those of Bromley and Gumilev.
Eurasianism as an attempt to create a Slavic and Turkic union. |
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Reading Assignments |
Before the course
V. A. Shnirelman, Who Gets the Past?
Competition for Ancestors among Non-Russian Intellectuals in Russia.
Washington: The Woodrow Wilson Center Press, Baltimore and London: The
John Hopkins University Press, 1996, pp. 1-21, 50-61.
Uyama Tomohiko, ‘Two Attempts at
Building a Qazaq State: The Revolt of 1916 and the Alash Movement’, in: Islam
in politics in Russia and Central Asia (early 18th to late 19th
centuries). Ed. by S. A. Dudoingnon and K. Hisao, Kegan Paul: London,
New York, Bahrain, 2001, pp. 77-98. |
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Sessions 20-21 |
Teachers’ Name |
Anuar Galiev |
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Topic |
Mythologization of History in Central Asia |
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Teaching Mode |
Lecture, discussion |
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Summary |
This seminar discusses why and how the History of the Turkic peoples of
Central Asia is being mythologizied. How the Soviet politics and ideology
conduced to creation of ethnic and national historical myths? Russian/
Soviet concepts on Nations and theory of ‘ethnogenesis’ and
construction of local histories in Central Asia. The modern theory of V.
Shnirelman on the role of mythologized History in politics and that of M.
Gulogbo on ‘de’-infantilization of ethnicity’ and the role of
leaders and ‘ethnic mobilizators’ in this process. The problems to be
discussed here also include: the elements of mythologization
(glorification of ‘Golden ages’, creation of genealogical myths of the
state-founders’ origin, creation of national heroes, making
ethnic/national histories ancient); the role of historical myths in
legitimization and sacralization of power in new independent states.
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Reading Assignments |
Before the course
Obiya Chika, ‘When Faizulla Khodjaev
Decided to Be an Uzbek’, in: Islam in politics in Russia and Central
Asia (early 18th to late 19th centuries). Ed. by
S. A. Dudoingnon and K. Hisao, Kegan Paul: London, New York, Bahrain,
2001, pp.99-118.
Anuar Galiev, ‘Mithologisation of the
History of the Turkic peoples at the beginning if the third millennium,
Acta Etnografica Hungarica, 47(3-4), 2002, pp.383-395. |
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Participants’ presentations |
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Writing Assignments
top
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During the course
Submit your 2- 5-page research proposals containing
description of topics and concrete research questions, place in existing
research, methodology, and expect outcome. Present your main points in ten
minutes strictly and be prepared to answer questions. |
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