History 4030: Departmental Proseminar

Nationalism and Ethnicity in China

Wed: 3:10 – 5:40

Room 156 History Building

Michael C. Brose

History 360

Office phone: 766-5125

Email: mbrose@uwyo.edu

Office Hours: Tue & Thurs. 9:00 to 10:30, or by appointment

 

Course Description

What is "China" and who are the "Chinese"? These questions appear simple enough until one begins to probe beneath the surface and finds that answering them is no easy task. For example, are the people of Tibet part of "China"? What about Taiwan? This seminar uses China as a case study to examine how nationalism and ethnicity interrelate and are used to define a people and a nation. This seminar will attempt to unravel and define each of these categories, examining how each has been involved in constructing and maintaining the nation-state of China and Chinese identity.

 

Since this seminar is an advanced writing course in the University Studies Program ("WC"), students will devote a large portion of their time to writing that conforms to standards accepted in the discipline of History. This will include producing two practical pieces of writing useful for History majors, and producing and revising the various stages of a research paper acceptable within the History discipline. All students will also be expected to lead in-class discussion, which shall include a book review and a critique of a cohort's written work.

 

Required Readings:  (1) books to purchase and (2) reserve, online and handout readings.

Books required for purchase:

Henrietta Harrison, China (Arnold/Oxford UP, 2001); Umut Özkirimli, Theories of Nationalism (St. Martin's, 2000); and William Kelleher Storey, Writing History, 2nd ed. (Oxford UP, 2004).

Reserve Readings: see syllabus for schedule; available as electronic or hard copy in Coe.

On-line and Handout Readings: certain journal articles are available online via Coe e-journals. Other readings shall be handed out in class in hard copy. See class schedule for titles and dates.

Recommended: Kate Turabian, A Manual for Writers; D. Hacker, A Writer’s Reference

 

Course Requirements and Grading:

            Thesis & Annotated Bibliography =        10%        |        A = 90% or more of total points

            Book Analysis Paper                =        10%        |        B = 80% - 89% of total points

        1st Draft Research Paper        =        15%        |        C = 70% - 79% of total points

            Final Draft Research Paper        =        25%        |        D = 60% - 69% of total points

            Peer Review Oral Report        =        10%        |        F = 59% or fewer of total points

            CV & Application Letter        =        10% (5% each)

            Attendance/participation        =        20%

Commentator's Peer Review: Each student will be assigned to critique and comment on the first draft of another student's paper. The reviewer shall comment orally on the paper, and also provide a 1-2 page analysis of that paper. Response from the author will also be expected.

 

Discussion Leaders:  Each week, certain students will act as discussion leaders for assigned reading. On the day of the assigned reading, the student shall provide a 1-2 page analysis of the author's thesis, use of sources, strengths/weaknesses, etc., and shall also provide a minimum of five discussion questions which should frame the in-class discussion.

 

Book Analysis Paper: Each student will choose, in consultation with the instructor, one monograph that examines some aspect of nationalism or ethnicity in China. After reading the book you will present your analysis in a short paper, which should include discussion of the author's thesis, the main points of the book, and how it applies to your intended research. This paper should be no more than five pages in length. Each student will also be expected to discuss their paper project in light of this book.

 

CV and Letter: these exercises are designed to allow you to develop two documents that will be useful in your future.

 

Research Paper: A 20-30 page research paper is required. The choice of topic is yours, but should relate to the topic of the seminar. Your task is to write a well thought out and persuasively argued paper grounded in both theory and historiography. Primary and secondary sources are mandatory. Encyclopedia entries or textbooks are not eligible. Internet sources may be sparingly used but web addresses must be cited in your footnotes. Papers require footnotes and bibliography in Chicago style, and the paper should be produced in 12 inch font with 1-inch margins, double spaced, and single-sided (notes may be single spaced). Late Papers Will Not Be Accepted, thus you need to make sure you use your time wisely and take into account potential problems. University Policy on Plagiarism will also be strictly enforced, so be sure that you cite borrowed ideas as well as actual text. The various assignments such as the thesis & bibliography, and library resource paper are designed to help you get started on your paper. You should take them seriously.

 

Footnotes should follow Chicago style, containing the following information: For example, Alan Lightman, Einstein’s Dream (New York: Warner Books, 1994), 54 or for articles, E. P. Thompson, “Time, Work-Discipline, and Industrial Capitalism,” Past and Present 38 (December 1967): 95. For further information on footnote or bibliographic style see Kate Turabian, Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, & Dissertations.

 

NOTE:  Attendance and participation are mandatory to success in this seminar! All seminar members are expected to be on time, and to turn off all cell phones, pages, walkmen, etc during the seminar. Since this is a senior seminar, every member of the seminar is expected to participate actively in discussion. "A" work will consist of active contribution. On the other hand, if you simply show up and do not contribute to discussion, I shall consider that as equivalent of "D" work. Moreover, all members of this seminar will be expected to treat their cohorts with respect, even in the heat of lively discussion and disagreement.

 

All assigned exercises and papers, even those not assigned a grade, shall be turned in by class time of the date assigned. Since there is a heavy reading and writing load in this seminar, no late work will be accepted, except under certain cases of medical or other emergency that is acceptable by the Office of Student Affairs. You may submit work electronically or in hard copy.

 

Students with documented physical, learning, or psychological disabilities who require accommodations are required to notify the professor AFTER notifying and obtaining the proper documentation form University Disability Services.

Class Schedule:

 

Week 1 (1/12/05): Course and participants introduction.

 

Week 2 (1/19/05): read & discuss: Harrison, China

 

Week 3 (1/26/05): Coe Library Presentation 3:00-4:30, by Tami Hert re. history sources.

work due: curriculum vita (c.v.) (graded).

The c.v. should list your education, academic accomplishments, interests, and experiences. This document should be updated at least annually, and can be used to apply for departmental or university sponsored scholarships, etc.

 

read & discuss:  Eley & Suny, "Introduction" (Becoming National pp. 3-37, e-reserve); Sun, "The Principle of Nationalism" (handout); ; Dikötter, "Race in China":  http://cio.ceu.hu/courses/CIO/modules/Module08Dikoetter/Dikoetter_index.html

 

Week 4 (2/2/05): work due: two page paper proposal (not graded); library resource paper (not graded); fellowship/grad. school application (graded)

Paper proposal should outline your potential paper topic, its significance, sources, and suggests the direction your paper will take. Library resource paper should use three separate search "engines" (such as Historical Abstracts, First Search, etc...) to find titles of five journal articles and three monographs and/or collections of essays that will be applicable to your proposed paper. This exercise is meant to practice using resources discussed by Tami Hert last week. Fellowship or grad. school application letter will provide you with an opportunity to create a letter format that will be useful in applying for fellowships, grad. school programs, etc...

Read & Discuss: McCarthy, "Ethno-Religious Mobilization and Citizenship Discourse in the People's Republic of China," Asian Ethnicity 1.2 (2000): 107-116 (online); Mackerras, "What is China? Who is Chinese?" (e-reserve).

 

Week 5 (2/9/05): Xinjiang/East Turkestan.

Read & Discuss: Özkirimli ch. 1-2; Wang, "Ethnonyms and Nationalism in Xinjiang," (e-reserve); Gladney "Alterity Motives," http://cio.ceu.hu/courses/CIO/modules/Module07Gladney/Gladney_index.html

 

Week 6 (2/16/05): Taiwan and PRC.

work due: Thesis and Annotated Bibliography (graded).

The thesis should be a working thesis for your paper (i.e. you may amend it as you progress). The annotated bibliography should include most of the major primary and secondary sources that you have identified as essential for your research paper. This bibliography is not intended to be exhaustive and final, but should be viewed as the first step in serious research. You should provide a complete citation in Chicago style, followed with a few lines of annotation, explaining to the reader why this work will be essential to your research paper.

 

Read & Discuss: Özkirimli ch. 3; Ren, "Taiwan and the Impossibility of the Chinese" (e-reserves); Wei, "A Cultural Search for National Identity: The Evolution of the Nationalism of Taiwan," (e-reserves).

 

Week 7 (2/23/05): Read & discuss: Özkirimli ch. 4; Tapp, "In Defence of the Archaic,"

Asian Ethnicity 3.1 (2002): 63-84 (online); Deal, "Policy Toward Ethnic Minorities in SW China" (book reserve);

 

Week 8 (3/2/05): China and Tibet.

Work due: Book analysis papers. Short discussion of these papers and research projects will be done over the next few weeks.

 

Read & Discuss: Özkirimli ch. 5; Wang, "Toward a Synthesis of the Theories of Peripheral Nationalism," Asian Ethnicity 2.2 (2001): 177-195 (online); Diemberger, "The People of Porong and Concepts of Territory," (e-reserve); Wang, "The 'Tibetan Question': Nation and Religion," (e-reserve)

 

Week 9 (3/9/05): Read & Discuss: Özkirimli chs. 6-7; Fei, "Ethnic Identification in China," (handout); Hirata, "Leadership in China's Minority Nationalities..." (handout)

 

**Spring Break: 3/14-18/05

 

Week 10 (3/23/05): Work due: research paper first draft. Copies of all papers to all

seminar members. Assignment of commentators to papers and schedule of reports.

Read & Discuss: Balibar, "The Nation Form" (Becoming National pp. 132-149, e-reserve); Duara, "Historicizing National Identity," (Becoming National pp. 151-177, e-reserve).

 

Week 11 (3/30/05): Presentation of 5 first drafts in class (see weekly listserve for details)

 

Week 12 (4/6): Presentation of 5 first drafts (see listserve)

 

Week 13 (4/13): Presentation of 4 first drafts (see listserve)

 

Week 14 (4/20): Presentation of 4 first drafts (see listserve)

 

Week 15 (4/27): Final Paper Due in class on last day

            Seminar wrap-up

 

 

** WARNING: This syllabus is subject to change.  It's your responsibility to attend class and make sure you know what's going on.

Some useful internet sources:

 

White papers on PRC national minorities policies, etc. http://www.china.org.cn/e-white/

 

The Nationalism Project website is http://www.nationalismproject.org/index.htm. It includes a good many links, some of which will be useful.

 

“What is Nationalism?”, The Nationalism Project http://www.nationalismproject.org/what.htm

 

Ernest Gellner Defining "nation", The Nationalism Project, http://www.nationalismproject.org/what.htm

 

Benedict Anderson, “The Nation as Imagined Community”, The Nationalism Project, http://www.nationalismproject.org/what/anderson.htm

 

Eric Hobsbawm Nations and Nationalism since 1780, The Nationalism Project, http://www.nationalismproject.org/what.htm

 

Michael Hechter, “Types of Nationalism”, The Nationalism Project, http://www.nationalismproject.org/what.htm

 

Anthony D. Smith’s opening statement: “Nations and their pasts”, The Warwick Debates, http://members.tripod.com/GellnerPage/Warwick.html

 

Ernest Gellner’s reply, The Warwick Debates, http://members.tripod.com/GellnerPage/Warwick2.html

 

Dru C. Gladney, "Relational Alterity: Constructing Dungan (Hui), Uygur, and Kazakh Identities across China, Central Asia, and Turkey," History and Anthropology (1996) 9.2: 445-77. http://www.hawaii.edu/dru/tree.htm

 

Prasenjit Duara, "The Legacy of Nations and Empires in East Asia"

http://cio.ceu.hu/courses/CIO/modules/Modul03Duara/pd_index.html