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The Mongols at China's Edge. History and the Politics of National Unity.
Uradyn E. Bulag
€ 183.40
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Description for The Mongols at China's Edge. History and the Politics of National Unity.
Hardback. An exploration of the multifaceted Mongol experience in China, past and present. Charting the interface between a state-centred multinational Chinese polity and a primordial nationalist multiculturalism, it explores Mongol ethnopolitical strategies to preserve their heritage. Series: Asia/Pacific/Perspectives. Num Pages: 320 pages, bibliography, index. BIC Classification: 1FPC; 1FPM; HBJF; HBTB; JFSL; JHM; JP. Category: (P) Professional & Vocational; (UP) Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly; (UU) Undergraduate. Dimension: 232 x 158 x 22. Weight in Grams: 567.
This important study explores the multifaceted Mongol experience in China, past and present. Combining insights from anthropology, history, and postcolonial criticism, Uradyn Bulag avoids romanticizing Mongols either as pacified primitive Other or as gallant resistance fighters. Rather, he portrays them as a people whose communist background and standing in China's northern borderlands has informed their political efforts to harness or confront Chinese nationalistic and political hegemony. Breaking new ground in the study of Chinese and Mongol history and ethnicity, the author offers a fresh interpretation of China viewed from the perspective of its peripheries, and of minority nationalities in relation to the study of Chinese representation and minority self-representation. The author interrogates received wisdom about Chinese and minority nationalism by unraveling the Chinese discourse and practice of "national unity." He shows how the discourse was constructed over time through political rituals and sexuality in relation to Mongols and other non-Chinese peoples that hark back to Chinese-Xiongnu confrontations two millennia ago and Manchu conquest in the 17th and 18th centuries. Titular rulers of an autonomous region in which they constitute a minority, Mongols face enormous barriers in building and maintaining a socialist Mongolian nationality and a Mongolian language and culture. Acknowledging these difficulties, Bulag discusses a range of sensitive issues including the imbrication of nation, class, and ethnicity in the context of Mongol-Chinese relations, tensions inherent in writing a postrevolutionary history for a socialist nationality, and the moral dilemma of building a socialist model with Mongol characteristics. Charting the interface between a state-centered multinational Chinese polity and a primordial nationalist multiculturalism that aims to manage minority nationalities as "cultures," he explores Mongol ethnopolitical strategies to preserve their heritage.
Product Details
Format
Hardback
Publication date
2002
Publisher
Rowman & Littlefield United States
Number of pages
320
Condition
New
Series
Asia/Pacific/Perspectives
Number of Pages
320
Place of Publication
Lanham, MD, United States
ISBN
9780742511439
SKU
V9780742511439
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 15 to 20 working days
Ref
99-15
About Uradyn E. Bulag
Uradyn E. Bulag is associate professor of anthropology at Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He is the author of Nationalism and Hybridity in Mongolia.
Reviews for The Mongols at China's Edge. History and the Politics of National Unity.
The Mongols at China's Edge will interest readers interested in nationalism, autonomy, Tibet and Xinjiang (by analogy and contrast), China, twentieth-century history, and issues of representation.
Pacific Affairs
Most valuable for the broad historical perspective it places on modern problems faced by one of China's most visible national minorities.
CHOICE
An essential read for anyone working on minorities in China, or for that matter in any region.
Central Eurasian Studies Review
Learned, thoughtful, and beautifully written.
Booknews
Bulag's passionate, historically-grounded exposition of the complexities of ethnic reconstruction make this book one of the best recent studies of China's ethnic minorities. Through his ethnic lens, he analyses not just Mongols, but the evolution of China's national identity. Anthropologists, historians and many other scholars should incorporate his powerful critique into their teaching and research.
Peter Perdue, Yale University
China Quarterly
This is an insightful detailed study of ethnic identity and nationalism in China. Combining analyses of a wide range of topics, ranging through poetry, sexuality, children's stories, and historiography, Uradyn Bulag takes the reader on a journey through the evolution of Mongolian identity in China and shows how such identities are woven into the fabric of Chinese national identity.
The China Journal
The book is a welcome addition to the relatively scarce body of literature that seeks to generate greater understanding of history and culture from the Mongols' point of view.
Nationalities Papers
[This book] is likely to remain a major source both on the Mongols of China and the tortuous process of their absorption into the Chinese nation and may well become a model for studies of other national minorities of China.
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies
Old and thorny questions of ethnicity, nation, nationhood, nationality, national minority, national unity, ethinic or national identity, ways of imagery, national iconography and hagiography as weell as morals of ethnic policy receive in this book a vivid and fresh presentation in the mirror of changing luck of the Mongols of China's Inner Mongolia and Qinghai in the twentieth century.
Journal Of The Mongolia Society
Bulag offers a textured and sophisticated discussion of the Inner Mongol's efforts to affect their own degree of integration and distinction in the People's Republic of China. This book is a significant contribution not only to the field of Chinese Area Studies, but also to the more general literature of political anthropology and cultural geography.
Alexander C. Diener, Pepperdine University Old and thorny questions of ethnicity, nation, nationhood, nationality, national minority, national unity, ethnic or national identity, ways of imagery, national iconography and hagiography as well as morals of ethnic policy receive in theis book a vivid and fresh presentation in the mirror of the changing luck of the Mongols of China's Innter Mongolia and Qinghai in the twentieth century.
Mongolian Studies
This book is highly recommended for all who wish to gain an understanding of the complexities of Mongol identity in modern-day China and the achievements and compromisees of Ulanhu. More generally, the book should be of interest to scholars of Chinese minority nationality policy and indeed all those with an interest in multi-culturalism and nation building in ethnically complex societies.
Journal of Asian Studies
Pacific Affairs
Most valuable for the broad historical perspective it places on modern problems faced by one of China's most visible national minorities.
CHOICE
An essential read for anyone working on minorities in China, or for that matter in any region.
Central Eurasian Studies Review
Learned, thoughtful, and beautifully written.
Booknews
Bulag's passionate, historically-grounded exposition of the complexities of ethnic reconstruction make this book one of the best recent studies of China's ethnic minorities. Through his ethnic lens, he analyses not just Mongols, but the evolution of China's national identity. Anthropologists, historians and many other scholars should incorporate his powerful critique into their teaching and research.
Peter Perdue, Yale University
China Quarterly
This is an insightful detailed study of ethnic identity and nationalism in China. Combining analyses of a wide range of topics, ranging through poetry, sexuality, children's stories, and historiography, Uradyn Bulag takes the reader on a journey through the evolution of Mongolian identity in China and shows how such identities are woven into the fabric of Chinese national identity.
The China Journal
The book is a welcome addition to the relatively scarce body of literature that seeks to generate greater understanding of history and culture from the Mongols' point of view.
Nationalities Papers
[This book] is likely to remain a major source both on the Mongols of China and the tortuous process of their absorption into the Chinese nation and may well become a model for studies of other national minorities of China.
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies
Old and thorny questions of ethnicity, nation, nationhood, nationality, national minority, national unity, ethinic or national identity, ways of imagery, national iconography and hagiography as weell as morals of ethnic policy receive in this book a vivid and fresh presentation in the mirror of changing luck of the Mongols of China's Inner Mongolia and Qinghai in the twentieth century.
Journal Of The Mongolia Society
Bulag offers a textured and sophisticated discussion of the Inner Mongol's efforts to affect their own degree of integration and distinction in the People's Republic of China. This book is a significant contribution not only to the field of Chinese Area Studies, but also to the more general literature of political anthropology and cultural geography.
Alexander C. Diener, Pepperdine University Old and thorny questions of ethnicity, nation, nationhood, nationality, national minority, national unity, ethnic or national identity, ways of imagery, national iconography and hagiography as well as morals of ethnic policy receive in theis book a vivid and fresh presentation in the mirror of the changing luck of the Mongols of China's Innter Mongolia and Qinghai in the twentieth century.
Mongolian Studies
This book is highly recommended for all who wish to gain an understanding of the complexities of Mongol identity in modern-day China and the achievements and compromisees of Ulanhu. More generally, the book should be of interest to scholars of Chinese minority nationality policy and indeed all those with an interest in multi-culturalism and nation building in ethnically complex societies.
Journal of Asian Studies