内容简介
The Bai is one of the 55 ethnic minority groups (shaoshu
minzu) officially
demarcated in China between the 1950s and 1979. This study
analyses the
growth of Bai identity since the 1950s and the constructed or
imagined
difference with other peoples, and how the Bai have embraced the
state-
granted label, acted on it and experienced it emotionally,
practically
and politically. This book explores how Bai identities are
produced and
reproduced in-between the social-historical layerings of
Bai/state, Bai/Han
and Bai/Yi relationships.
Many writers have examined the relationship between the state
and
ethnic minorities in southwest China. They argued convincingly
against
the portrayal of ethnic minorities as passive victims in the
state enterprise
of representation (Tapp 1986, 1995, 2002; Schein 1989, 2000;
Harrell
1990, 1995, 1996, 2001; Litzinger 1995; Cheung Siu-woo 1996; Oaks
1998; Jonsson 2000; Bradley 2001 and Mueggler 2002). Others warn
that
emphasising resistance may fall prey to false dichotomising the
state and
the society (e.g. Sara Davis 1999, Mackerras 2004). My work
extends such
literature in the ethnography of self-representation and self-
definition of Bai
Identity. In line with these writers, I shall illustrate how the
making of Bai
ethnicity expresses the Bai identities, manipulates and reifies
the Bai
ethnic label designated by the NECP in daily life.
Regarding representations of the Bai in Dali, Beth Nortar's
(1999)
dissertation provides an excellent starting point, yet her focus
on historical
Chinese representations undermines the subjectivity of the people
under
study. Nortar's later articles (2000, 2008) convincingly teased
out the
constructive nature of Bai identity by various parties (see also
Mackerras
1988 and D. Wu 1989, 199411991]). My study builds on their
studies
through bringing together a broader range of subject matters
where
identity and ethnic labels interact by drawing on my extensive
fieldwork
in Dali between 1999 and 2005. I have "maintained a balanced yet
critical
attitude" (Examiner's comments) towards sources. I have also
shown
"sensitivity towards the actions and views of the various
relevant parties,
and abstaining from extremist dichotomies one finds in some of
the literature
about China, especially in that about its ethnic minorities."
(Examiner's comments).
This book challenges a hegemonic and unilateral view of
Chinese
minzu by contextualising how the Bai people use the state-granted
label to
conceptualise Bai identities through historical studies, recent
memories,
religious practices and an annual social event. Most significant
among my
findings is the role of the legitimate name Baizu, which fits
well into a China
context by being politically correct, economically valuable, and
historically
embedded in local social life. The label Baizu has become a
symbolic
diacritic, which sets the basis for the sustainable reproduction
of Bai
identities based on features which are not necessarily ethnically
distinctive
but become so due to the legitimate label. And the Bai have
utilised it as
a manageable social and political entity for the expression of
personal or
collective identities under a projected monolithic and homogenous
Bai
Identity.
This book concludes that Bai identity is a new form of group
affiliation,
new in the sense that the Bai have entered the new world of a
clear-cut Baizu
category, but it is not completely unfamiliar to them.
作者简介
BAI Zhihong, PhD (ANU), associate professor in the Research School of Ethnic Minority Studies and Centre for Southwest Borderland Ethnic Minority Studies at Yunnan University. Since 1996, she has conducted extensive fieldwork among the Yi, Bai, Zang (Tibetan) and Wa communities in Yunnan. She has published in prestigious journals both in Chinese and English.Her research interests include ethnicity and ethnic identity, economic development among indigenous peoples, gender, and social policy.
目录
List of Tables and Figures
Illustrations of Bai Social Life
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Abbreviations
Chapter One Contextualising the Bai and the Research
Chapter Two The Making of Minzu and its Conceptual Implications
Chapter Three The Politics of Local Scholarly Making of the Bai
Chapter Four Partial Identity and the Different Degrees of Bai-ness
Chapter Five Identity Manifested in Religious Practices
Chapter Six Negotiating Interpretations and Identity-Making in an Annual Social Event: Gua sa na
Chapter Seven Ethnic Identities under the Tourist Gaze
Chapter Eight Becoming Ethnically Distinctive
Glossary
Tables and Figures
Illustrations of Bai Social Life
Appendix 1: Bai Characters on Unearthed Tiles
Appendix 2: Poster for gua sa na west Town, 2005
Appendix 3: Web Sources and Printed Publications for gua sa na stories
Appendix 4: Gua sa na Income in Sunshine Village Temple, 2005
Bibliography
