Gendering China Studies

Peripheral Perspectives, Central Questions

Bibliographic Data

ID3839281
AuthorsJeroen De Kloet (0000-0003-2314-5424, Department of Media Studies at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, corresponding author)
Year2008
Volume22
Issue2
Pages195-219
Publication date2008-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueChina Information (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0920-203X • E-ISSN: 1741-590X
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0920203x08091544
OpenAlexW2134219737
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited46

This article explores the connections between the field of China studies and the field of gender and sexuality studies. It engages with three questions. First, why is it that theoretical, conceptual and methodological cross-fertilization between China studies and cultural studies remains quite scarce? Second, why are popular culture and art important domains of academic inquiry? Third, why is it crucial to theorize and problematize "Chineseness"? Drawing on the debates surrounding the translation of alleged "Western" theories related to the sex-gender distinction, feminism, and queer studies to a "Chinese" context, it is argued that the call for local knowledges runs the danger of becoming an essentializing, hegemonic discourse on its own. The article concludes with a plea for an interdisciplinary approach that combines theoretical and empirical insights from area studies and cultural studies, and an intersectional take in which gender is analyzed in conjunction with other parameters of difference, such as ethnicity, class or age, and, finally, a multisited, comparative research agenda as to avoid a sino-centric or Han-centric analysis. This may help to identify, understand, and hopefully resist the seduction of both cultural essentialism and cultural relativism

China · Context (archaeology · Epistemology · Essentialism · Feminism · Field (mathematics · Hegemony · Human sexuality · Plea · Political science · Politics · Queer · Queer theory · Social science · Sociology · Anthropology · Chinese history and philosophy · Cultural Studies · Gender Studies · Japanese History and Culture · Law · Philippine History and Culture

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub