Response to Philip Huang’s “Biculturality in Modern China and in Chinese Studies
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7336499 |
|---|---|
| Authors | P Duara (0000-0002-3857-3571, University of Chicago, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2000 |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 32-37 |
| Publication date | 2000-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Modern China (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0097-7004 • E-ISSN: 1552-6836 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/009770040002600102 |
| OpenAlex | W2053660407 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 2 |
Philip Huang's essay is a welcome contribution to effort to think outside ideological categories of nation-state, categories in particular that reify an individual's identity as belonging to a national culture. He argues that while the ideologies of anti-imperialism and nationalism condition us to think in terms of either/or dichotomies, culture as of people themselves does not carry such dictates (Huang, 1999: 17). I am entirely sympathetic to this project and find much in essay that is both refreshing and useful. At same time, I want to show that nationalism is both crude and subtle; ideological categories of nation can run much deeper than we think. The cunning of nationalism, which raises its head to mock us just as we complete our deconstruction of it, has much to do with fact that we have been formed by one or another national pedagogy. Indeed, I believe that power of subjective or personal formation by nationalism is such that Huang's contrast between ideology and lived experience quoted above may be too facile for his own purposes. My goal is to strengthen thesis by showing how parts of Huang's arguments may still embed certain nationalist assumptions. For biculturality to be a truly useful concept, we need to push critique of nationalism further. Huang makes an interesting connection between biculturalism and bilingualism. He makes indisputable point that language cannot be severed from cultural understandings and adduces many good examples from Chinese language for words for public and private
Aesthetics · China · Deconstruction (building · Dichotomy · Epistemology · Identity (music · Ideology · National identity · Nationalism · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations · Chinese history and philosophy · Gender Studies · Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics · Law · Philosophy
| Citations per year | 0.06 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2009 - 2009 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |