Franck Billé
Biographic Data
| ID | 82014 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Franck Billé |
| GIVEN NAMES | Franck |
| FAMILY NAME | Billé |
| SIGNATURE | BILLÉ F |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of California, Berkeley |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0007-2931 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 39 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 161 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 34 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 7 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
The Maritime Silk Road
Past Progress
Redacted
When it comes to the political, acts of redaction, erasure, and blacking out sit in awkward tension with the myth of transparent governance, borderless access, and frictionless communication. But should there be more than this brute juxtaposition of truth and secrecy? Redacted: Writing in the Negative Space of the State brings together essays, poems, artwork, and memes—a bricolage of media that conveys the experience of living in state-inflected …
Shifting spatial metaphors in Russia at a time of war
Russia's war with Ukraine is reshaping Russia's geopolitical orientation and transforming the ways the country relates to its immediate neighbours. In this article, rather than undertaking a geopolitical analysis of the consequences inside Russia of the ongoing war in Ukraine, we look at public discourse as one aspect of political activity. We describe how processes of a holistic kind are depicted in metaphors and how new spatial metaphors are em…
Nexus of Knowledge on the Silk Roads
Auratic Geographies
The concept of aura deployed in this article – a notion contained in inchoate form in the popular usage of “backyard” – evokes the tension between the apparent stable boundaries of the state and its much more ambiguous incarnation. It allows for a view of the state that is both unconfined to its physical boundaries and that melts into its contiguous neighbours. Building upon the recent work of philosophers on more-than-human entanglements and sym…
Travel Writing in Mongolia and Northern China, 1860-2020
Geopolitics at microscale
The Russia/China border
Franck Billé and Caroline Humphrey. On the edge: Life along the Russia-China border. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 2021
The Maritime Silk Road
Early exchange along the maritime Silk Road not only spanned immense distances, but was also subject to-among other things-seasonal weather systems, hazardous waters, arid and sparsely populated coastlines with few suitable harbours, and limits imposed by infrastructure and technology.Juxtaposing theoretical models for the spatial organisation of premodern exchange with the fragmentary record of experiences handed down in historical sources, and …
The Maritime Silk Road
The Maritime Silk Road foregrounds the numerous networks that have been woven across oceanic geographies, tying world regions together often far more extensively than land-based routes. On the strength of the new data which has emerged in the last two decades in the form of archaeological findings, as well as new techniques such as GIS modelling, the authors collectively demonstrate the existence of a very early global maritime trade. From archit…
Maritime Silk Road
Maritime Silk Road
Voluminous States
Voluminous States
Subterranea
Yellow Perils
China's meteoric rise and ever expanding economic and cultural footprint have been accompanied by widespread global disquiet. Whether admiring or alarmist, media discourse and representations of China often tap into the myths and prejudices that emerged through specific historical encounters. These deeply embedded anxieties have shown great resilience, as in recent media treatments of SARS and the H5N1 virus, which echoed past beliefs connecting …
Skinworlds
Over the last decade, anthropologists have drawn attention to the disconnect between a political imagination that conceptualizes nation-states' borders as unambiguous and linear, and the realities of borderlanders' experience where cultural and social space is frequently folded and overlapping. Through their very focus on hybridity and crossborder linkages, however, border ethnographies have unwittingly given even more weight to linear demarcatio…
Beyond the Amur
Bright Lights across the River
On China's Cartographic Embrace
Although relations between China and Mongolia are good, with no outstanding territorial disputes, Mongolia continues to view its southern neighbor with considerable anxiety. Numerous paranoid narratives circulate, hinting at China's alleged malevolent intentions, and many Mongols are convinced that China is intent on a takeover. This article argues that this anxiety is located in two particular cartographic gaps. The first is the misalignment bet…
Introduction to “Cartographic Anxieties”
Introduction to “Cartographic Anxieties” Franck Billé (bio) PREAMBLE Russia and China laid to rest their territorial disputes in 2004,1 after decades of hostility and the clashes in 1969 that led to the Sino-Soviet split (Sovietskokitaiskii raskol; Zhong-Su jiaowu 中苏交恶) and the hermetic closure of the border. As negotiations were proceeding apace, a rumor started circulating in Russia that some Chinese citizens were surreptitiously throwing rocks…
Yellow Perils
Handbook on the changing geographies of the state
With massive, and frequently expensive collections of this kind, value essentially boils down to the comprehensiveness of their theoretical and ethnographic remit, and to the quality of the lineup
Spectral Borders
Frontier Encounters
China and Russia are rising economic and political powers that share thousands of miles of border. Yet, despite their proximity, their practical, local interactions with each other - and with their third neighbour Mongolia - are rarely discussed. The three countries share a boundary, but their traditions, languages and worldviews are remarkably different. Frontier Encounters presents a wide range of views on how the borders between these unique c…
Territorial Phantom Pains (and other Cartographic Anxieties)
National loss of territory is commonly described in corporeal language of mutilation and dismemberment. In this paper I argue that this language is not simply poetic or metaphoric but that it reflects a genuine association between the individual body and the national contours, and that this identification has been greatly facilitated by the emergence of the national map. In revisiting the common trope of the nation-as-body through inclusion of in…
Skinworlds
Over the last decade, anthropologists have drawn attention to the disconnect between a political imagination that conceptualizes nation-states' borders as unambiguous and linear, and the realities of borderlanders' experience where cultural and social space is frequently folded and overlapping. Through their very focus on hybridity and crossborder linkages, however, border ethnographies have unwittingly given even more weight to linear demarcatio…
Sinophobia
This book is a timely and groundbreaking study of the anti-Chinese sentiments currently widespread in Mongolia. Graffiti calling for the removal of Chinese dot the urban landscape, songs about killing the Chinese are played in public spaces, and rumors concerning Chinese plans to take over the country and exterminate the Mongols are rife. Such violent anti-Chinese feelings are frequently explained as a consequence of China's meteoric economic dev…
Yellow Perils
China's meteoric rise and ever expanding economic and cultural footprint have been accompanied by widespread global disquiet. Whether admiring or alarmist, media discourse and representations of China often tap into the myths and prejudices that emerged through specific historical encounters. These deeply embedded anxieties have shown great resilience, as in recent media treatments of SARS and the H5N1 virus, which echoed past beliefs connecting …
Introduction to “Cartographic Anxieties”
Introduction to “Cartographic Anxieties” Franck Billé (bio) PREAMBLE Russia and China laid to rest their territorial disputes in 2004,1 after decades of hostility and the clashes in 1969 that led to the Sino-Soviet split (Sovietskokitaiskii raskol; Zhong-Su jiaowu 中苏交恶) and the hermetic closure of the border. As negotiations were proceeding apace, a rumor started circulating in Russia that some Chinese citizens were surreptitiously throwing rocks…
Cooking the Mongols/Feeding the Han
The aim of this paper is to draw attention to the changing practices and perceptions of the Han residing in Inner Mongolia. Arguing that studies of Inner Mongolia all too frequently focus exclusively on the Mongols, and that the few Han appearing in them tend to be portrayed as agents of modernization and acculturation, the article seeks to challenge this limiting framework and to propose a more integrative approach. Taking dietary practices as i…
Subterranea
Different Shades of Blue
The article seeks to challenge the implicit equation made between national autonomy and personal freedom. Post‐socialist Mongolian identity, articulated on a notion of resistance against Chinese territorial and biological encroachment, is accompanied by an explicit, often violent, anti‐Chinese discourse. This resistance against an external enemy also has a centripetal effect on Mongolian society, and contemporary notions of Mongolianness tend to …
Sounds and Scripts of Modernity
The change of script from the traditional bichig to Cyrillic that took place in Mongolia in the 1940s brought Mongols closer to the rest of the Soviet world and effected a break with ethnically and linguistically identical populations beyond the borders. While the political ramifications of this transition have been examined at length, much less attention has been given to the impact that the introduction of a new script has had on Mongolian phon…
Auratic Geographies
The concept of aura deployed in this article – a notion contained in inchoate form in the popular usage of “backyard” – evokes the tension between the apparent stable boundaries of the state and its much more ambiguous incarnation. It allows for a view of the state that is both unconfined to its physical boundaries and that melts into its contiguous neighbours. Building upon the recent work of philosophers on more-than-human entanglements and sym…
Indirect interpellations
This paper examines anti-Chinese hate speech in Mongolia, and argues that in spite of its prevalence and pervasiveness it remains limited to a Mongolian audience, essentially constituting a vector of social policing. Its violence is thus largely exerted on Mongolian citizens themselves, particularly those “bad subjects” whose personal and intimate aspirations do not dovetail with the “good of the nation.” Through an ethnographic focus on Mongolia…
Handbook on the changing geographies of the state
With massive, and frequently expensive collections of this kind, value essentially boils down to the comprehensiveness of their theoretical and ethnographic remit, and to the quality of the lineup
On China's Cartographic Embrace
Although relations between China and Mongolia are good, with no outstanding territorial disputes, Mongolia continues to view its southern neighbor with considerable anxiety. Numerous paranoid narratives circulate, hinting at China's alleged malevolent intentions, and many Mongols are convinced that China is intent on a takeover. This article argues that this anxiety is located in two particular cartographic gaps. The first is the misalignment bet…
Surface Modernities
This article was published in Ekonomicheskaya sotsiologia No. 15:2 (March), pp. 154-172. The published version is available at http://ecsoc.hse.ru/en/2014-15-2/118771984.html
Cooking the Mongols/Feeding the Han
The aim of this paper is to draw attention to the changing practices and perceptions of the Han residing in Inner Mongolia. Arguing that studies of Inner Mongolia all too frequently focus exclusively on the Mongols, and that the few Han appearing in them tend to be portrayed as agents of modernization and acculturation, the article seeks to challenge this limiting framework and to propose a more integrative approach. Taking dietary practices as i…
Different Shades of Blue
The article seeks to challenge the implicit equation made between national autonomy and personal freedom. Post‐socialist Mongolian identity, articulated on a notion of resistance against Chinese territorial and biological encroachment, is accompanied by an explicit, often violent, anti‐Chinese discourse. This resistance against an external enemy also has a centripetal effect on Mongolian society, and contemporary notions of Mongolianness tend to …
The horse-head fiddle and the cosmopolitan reimagination of tradition in Mongolia
Sounds and Scripts of Modernity
The change of script from the traditional bichig to Cyrillic that took place in Mongolia in the 1940s brought Mongols closer to the rest of the Soviet world and effected a break with ethnically and linguistically identical populations beyond the borders. While the political ramifications of this transition have been examined at length, much less attention has been given to the impact that the introduction of a new script has had on Mongolian phon…
On Ideas of the Border in the Russian and Chinese Social Imaginaries
China, Russia and Mongolia share thousands of miles of border, but their traditions, languages and worldviews are remarkably different. Presenting varied perspectives on how the borders between these unique countries are enacted, produced and crossed, this book illuminates global uncertainties: China’s search for energy resources and the employment of its huge population, Russia’s fear of Chinese migration, and the precarious economic independenc…
The spectacular state
Frontier Encounters
China and Russia are rising economic and political powers that share thousands of miles of border. Yet, despite their proximity, their practical, local interactions with each other - and with their third neighbour Mongolia - are rarely discussed. The three countries share a boundary, but their traditions, languages and worldviews are remarkably different. Frontier Encounters presents a wide range of views on how the borders between these unique c…
Chinese Walls in Time and Space
Indirect interpellations
This paper examines anti-Chinese hate speech in Mongolia, and argues that in spite of its prevalence and pervasiveness it remains limited to a Mongolian audience, essentially constituting a vector of social policing. Its violence is thus largely exerted on Mongolian citizens themselves, particularly those “bad subjects” whose personal and intimate aspirations do not dovetail with the “good of the nation.” Through an ethnographic focus on Mongolia…
Nationalism, sexuality and dissidence in Mongolia
In 2009, a video on YouTube went ‘viral’ in Mongolia. It showed a young woman’s hair being shorn, a culpable-looking man sitting by her side, his head in his hands. The centrality of women’s sexuality in matters of national security is not specific to Mongolia. The position of women in Mongolia also differs in significant ways from other post-socialist settings. Mongols are keen to emphasise that Mongolian women, unlike other Asian women, are ‘fr…
Sinophobia
This book is a timely and groundbreaking study of the anti-Chinese sentiments currently widespread in Mongolia. Graffiti calling for the removal of Chinese dot the urban landscape, songs about killing the Chinese are played in public spaces, and rumors concerning Chinese plans to take over the country and exterminate the Mongols are rife. Such violent anti-Chinese feelings are frequently explained as a consequence of China's meteoric economic dev…
Territorial Phantom Pains (and other Cartographic Anxieties)
National loss of territory is commonly described in corporeal language of mutilation and dismemberment. In this paper I argue that this language is not simply poetic or metaphoric but that it reflects a genuine association between the individual body and the national contours, and that this identification has been greatly facilitated by the emergence of the national map. In revisiting the common trope of the nation-as-body through inclusion of in…
Surface Modernities
This article was published in Ekonomicheskaya sotsiologia No. 15:2 (March), pp. 154-172. The published version is available at http://ecsoc.hse.ru/en/2014-15-2/118771984.html
Chanter, s’attacher et transmettre chez les Darhad de Mongolie, written by Laurent Legrain
Futurs non linéaires
Cet article analyse l’évolution de Heihe (Chine) et Blagovechtchensk (Russie), deux villes frontalières qui diffèrent radicalement l’une de l’autre en dépit de leur proximité. Tandis que Heihe s’est transformée, de simple hameau, en véritable ville en l’espace de vingt ans, Blagovechtchensk semble avoir stagné. La frontière sino-russe, fermée pendant plusieurs décennies, est aujourd’hui une interface cruciale d’échanges économiques sociaux et cul…
Bright Lights across the River
On China's Cartographic Embrace
Although relations between China and Mongolia are good, with no outstanding territorial disputes, Mongolia continues to view its southern neighbor with considerable anxiety. Numerous paranoid narratives circulate, hinting at China's alleged malevolent intentions, and many Mongols are convinced that China is intent on a takeover. This article argues that this anxiety is located in two particular cartographic gaps. The first is the misalignment bet…
Introduction to “Cartographic Anxieties”
Introduction to “Cartographic Anxieties” Franck Billé (bio) PREAMBLE Russia and China laid to rest their territorial disputes in 2004,1 after decades of hostility and the clashes in 1969 that led to the Sino-Soviet split (Sovietskokitaiskii raskol; Zhong-Su jiaowu 中苏交恶) and the hermetic closure of the border. As negotiations were proceeding apace, a rumor started circulating in Russia that some Chinese citizens were surreptitiously throwing rocks…
Eurasia 2.0
Skinworlds
Over the last decade, anthropologists have drawn attention to the disconnect between a political imagination that conceptualizes nation-states' borders as unambiguous and linear, and the realities of borderlanders' experience where cultural and social space is frequently folded and overlapping. Through their very focus on hybridity and crossborder linkages, however, border ethnographies have unwittingly given even more weight to linear demarcatio…
Beyond the Amur
Yellow Perils
China's meteoric rise and ever expanding economic and cultural footprint have been accompanied by widespread global disquiet. Whether admiring or alarmist, media discourse and representations of China often tap into the myths and prejudices that emerged through specific historical encounters. These deeply embedded anxieties have shown great resilience, as in recent media treatments of SARS and the H5N1 virus, which echoed past beliefs connecting …
Voluminous States
Voluminous States
Subterranea
Political science (21 works) · Law (16 works) · Geography (15 works) · Politics (15 works) · History (13 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Law (12 works) · China (11 works) · Chinese history and philosophy (11 works) · China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations (7 works)