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School of Humanities
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Hong Kong, SAR
- Politics and Post-Colonial Theory, Political Theory, China studies, Sociology of Knowledge, Social Theory, Orientalism, and 88 moreCulture and Politics, Critical Theory, Nationalism, Political Sociology, International Political Economy, Development Studies, Political Philosophy, International Relations, Structuralism (Philosophy), Cultural Revolution, Politics, Culture, Chinese Politics, Colonialism, Class, Comparative Politics, Marxism, Communism, Philosophy, Cultural Politics, International Politics, Communism (Revolutions), Cultural Theory, Vietnam, Cultural Memory, Global Studies, Neoliberalism, Soviet History, Intellectual History, Michel Foucault, British Empire, Contemporary China, Continental Philosophy, History of Ideas, Liberalism, Cultural Studies, Pan-Asianism, Imperialism, Feminist Theory, Globalization, Democracy, Maoist Discourse, Political Economy, South-East Asia, French Empire, Discourse Analysis, Chinese Philosophy, Vietnamese studies, The Malay World, Hong Kong, Hong Kong & Singapore Comparative Studies, Revolutions, Cold War, Social Sciences, Political Science, Democratization, Protest, Globalization And Postcolonial Studies, China, Convergence, Media Studies, Post-Colonialism, Political History, Critical Discourse Analysis, Postcolonial Theory, Gayatri Spivak, Posthumanism, Chinese Studies, International Studies, Film Studies, Cultural Sociology, Media and Cultural Studies, Comparative Literature, Area Studies, Cultural History, History, Sinology, Historiography, Cold War and Culture, Global media, Contemporary History, Marxist theory, China Going Global, Interpretation, Modern Chinese History, Sociology, Queer Studies, and Postcolonial Studiesedit
- Professor Daniel Vukovich (胡德) Other Appointments: Advisory Research Fellow (2020–2023), Southeast University, Nan... moreProfessor Daniel Vukovich (胡德)
Other Appointments:
Advisory Research Fellow (2020–2023), Southeast University, Nanjing (东南大学)
Adjunct Professor, Department of Politics, East China Normal University ( 华东师范大学]), 2021-2022.
Professor Daniel Vukovich (胡德) has worked at Hong Kong University since Fall 2006, after earlier years as regular faculty in communications at Hocking Technical College in rural Ohio and as lecturer at UC Santa Cruz.
He is the author of three widely-read monographs: China and Orientalism: Western Knowledge Production and the PRC (Routledge 2012); Illiberal China: The Ideological Challenge of the P.R.C. (Palgrave 2019); and After Autonomy: A Post-Mortem for Hong Kong’s first Handover, 1997–2019 (Palgrave, 2022). He has also published numerous scholarly essays as well as occasional pieces for more general audiences. He serves on the editorial board of three interntional journals and is a part of research networks in the mainland and elsewhere.
In addition to servising as Chair and Undergraduate coordinator for the Comp Lit program, he teaches a range of classes in cultural, literary, and theoretical studies for the BA.edit - Gao Moboedit
This book offers a sharp, critical analysis of the rise and fall of the 2019 antiextradition bill movement in Hong Kong, including prior events like Occupy Central and the Mongkok Fishball Revolution, as well as their aftermaths in light... more
This book offers a sharp, critical analysis of the rise and fall of the 2019 antiextradition bill movement in Hong Kong, including prior events like Occupy Central and the Mongkok Fishball Revolution, as well as their aftermaths in light of the re-assertion of mainland sovereignty over the SAR. Reading the conflict against the grain of those who would romanticize it or simply condemn it in nationalistic fashion, Vukovich goes beyond mediatized discourse to disentangle its roots in the Basic Law system as well as in the colonial and insufficiently postcolonial contexts and dynamics of Hong Kong. He examines the question of localist identity and its discontents, the problems of nativism, violence, and liberalism, the impossibility of autonomy, and what forms a genuine decolonization can and might yet take in the city. A concluding chapter examines Hong Kong’s need for state capacity and proper, livelihood development, in the light of the Omicron wave of the Covid pandemic, as the SAR goes forward into a second handover era.
Research Interests: Cultural Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Political Science, Cold War, Identity (Culture), and 15 moreFascism, Identity politics, Nationalism, Colonialism, Post-Colonialism, Media, Social movements and revolution, Democracy, China studies, Hong Kong, Authoritarianism, Imperialism, Nativism, Mediatization (Communication Studies), and Xenophobia
This book analyzes the 'intellectual political culture' of post-Tiananmen China in comparison to and in conflict with liberalism inside and outside the P.R.C. How do mainland politics and discourses challenge ‘our’ own, chiefly liberal... more
This book analyzes the 'intellectual political culture' of post-Tiananmen China in comparison to and in conflict with liberalism inside and outside the P.R.C. How do mainland politics and discourses challenge ‘our’ own, chiefly liberal and anti-‘statist’ political frameworks? To what extent is China paradoxically intertwined with a liberal economism? How can one understand its general refusal of liberalism, as well as its frequent, direct responses to electoral democracy, universalism, Western media, and other normative forces? Vukovich argues that the Party-state poses a challenge to our understandings of politics, globalization, and even progress. To be illiberal is not necessarily to be reactionary and vulgar but, more interestingly, to be anti-liberal and to seek alternatives to a degraded liberalism. In this way Chinese politics illuminate the global conjuncture, and may have lessons in otherwise bleak times.
*********************************************************
Illiberal China: The Ideological Challenge of the P.R.C.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
1. On Illiberalism & Seeing Like An Other State
2. The New Left & the Old Politics of Knowledge: Battling for Chinese Political Discourse
3. From Making Revolution to Making Charters: Liberalism and Economism in the Late Cold War.
4. No Country, No System: Liberalism, Autonomy, and Depoliticization in Hong Kong
5. Wukan!: Democracy, Illiberalism, and their Vicissitudes
6. The Ills of Liberalism: Thinking Through the P.R.C & the Political
Index
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
BLURBS:
“Illiberal China, from its punning title forwards, reveals how China is the objectified "other" of the West, but is also an actually existing subject with its own intrinsic logic full of paradoxes and tensions. It examines the political-economic and cultural narratives surrounding the different representations of "China," as well as their logical boundaries and interrelationships. The book intertwines external and internal, global and domestic perspectives. At the same time, Vukovich tries to reflects critically on Western liberalism by presenting "China as a problem." Vukovich deals frankly with many complex and sensitive topics, although this style is not an end in itself but serves to open up a new discursive space. He believes "China" challenges previous theoretical and historical narratives, especially those attached to political theory and concepts such as liberalism or democracy. This is a powerful, subtle book that challenges Chinese research from a different paradigm and theoretical system. It deserves serious attention indeed.”
--- (Lu Xinyu, East China Normal University, China)
“Understanding today’s China is an intellectual and moral challenge. Vukovich takes it head on and makes a paradoxical case that “illiberal China” may be the best hope in this bleak moment in history. China may or may not deliver on the hope, but I am sure everyone will benefit from reading this well informed and thought provoking study on the contemporary Chinese ideological struggle in its global context.”
--- (Zhiyuan Cui, Tsinghua University, China)
“Liberal values and practices are supposed to be universal and China seemed to be going in the "right" direction. Until recently, that is. It now seems clear that the Chinese political system will evolve based on its own "illiberal" foundations. Vukovich's original book argues that what he terms "progressive illiberalism" not only fits China's political context, it is also defensible from a normative point of view. Whatever we think of his controversial argument, it will generate much needed discussion.”
--- (Daniel A. Bell, Shandong University and Tsinghua University,
China)
*********************************************************
Illiberal China: The Ideological Challenge of the P.R.C.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
1. On Illiberalism & Seeing Like An Other State
2. The New Left & the Old Politics of Knowledge: Battling for Chinese Political Discourse
3. From Making Revolution to Making Charters: Liberalism and Economism in the Late Cold War.
4. No Country, No System: Liberalism, Autonomy, and Depoliticization in Hong Kong
5. Wukan!: Democracy, Illiberalism, and their Vicissitudes
6. The Ills of Liberalism: Thinking Through the P.R.C & the Political
Index
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
BLURBS:
“Illiberal China, from its punning title forwards, reveals how China is the objectified "other" of the West, but is also an actually existing subject with its own intrinsic logic full of paradoxes and tensions. It examines the political-economic and cultural narratives surrounding the different representations of "China," as well as their logical boundaries and interrelationships. The book intertwines external and internal, global and domestic perspectives. At the same time, Vukovich tries to reflects critically on Western liberalism by presenting "China as a problem." Vukovich deals frankly with many complex and sensitive topics, although this style is not an end in itself but serves to open up a new discursive space. He believes "China" challenges previous theoretical and historical narratives, especially those attached to political theory and concepts such as liberalism or democracy. This is a powerful, subtle book that challenges Chinese research from a different paradigm and theoretical system. It deserves serious attention indeed.”
--- (Lu Xinyu, East China Normal University, China)
“Understanding today’s China is an intellectual and moral challenge. Vukovich takes it head on and makes a paradoxical case that “illiberal China” may be the best hope in this bleak moment in history. China may or may not deliver on the hope, but I am sure everyone will benefit from reading this well informed and thought provoking study on the contemporary Chinese ideological struggle in its global context.”
--- (Zhiyuan Cui, Tsinghua University, China)
“Liberal values and practices are supposed to be universal and China seemed to be going in the "right" direction. Until recently, that is. It now seems clear that the Chinese political system will evolve based on its own "illiberal" foundations. Vukovich's original book argues that what he terms "progressive illiberalism" not only fits China's political context, it is also defensible from a normative point of view. Whatever we think of his controversial argument, it will generate much needed discussion.”
--- (Daniel A. Bell, Shandong University and Tsinghua University,
China)
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Intellectual History, Sociology, Cultural Studies, Comparative Politics, and 15 moreInternational Relations, Globalization, Political Theory, Marxism, Postcolonial Studies, Global Governance, Political Science, Liberalism, Global Studies, China, Neoliberalism, Democracy, Hong Kong, Orientalism, and Protest Movements
Paperback available via Routledge and elsewhere: https://www.routledge.com/China-and-Orientalism-Western-Knowledge-Production-and-the-PRC/Vukovich/p/book/9780415592208 You can see some reviews in section listed on left.... more
Paperback available via Routledge and elsewhere: https://www.routledge.com/China-and-Orientalism-Western-Knowledge-Production-and-the-PRC/Vukovich/p/book/9780415592208
You can see some reviews in section listed on left. https://hku-hk.academia.edu/DanielVukovich/reviews-of-%22China-and-Orientalism%22-(selected)
'It is a pointed and spirited book that incorporates a remarkably transdisciplinary range of approaches and texts.'
Carla Nappi, East Asian Studies, July 2012
'A book of startling honesty and conviction. Writing from Hong Kong but not as a Sinologist, Vukovich presents an erudite case for re-thinking the lessons of Tiananmen, reassessing the legacy of Mao, and questioning the idea that China needs to be saved by becoming like "us." As a revisionist reading of post-war China, the book brims with antinomian vignettes on everything from Chinese cinema to the novels of De Lillo and the philosophy of Arendt.Vukovich blasts the new Orientalism that seeks to free China from its supposedly Borg-like past. A rare voice, and a welcome one.'
Timothy Brennan, University of Minnesota, USA
'This is a unique critique of orientalism in contemporary Chinese studies. Daniel Vukovich argues that there is a new form of orientalism, which does not project China as an ‘'other'’ as many traditional Sinologists did, but emphasizes ‘'sameness'’ or general equivalence of China to the US-West. From this basic observation, the author highlights the cultural logic of capitalism in the new Orientalistic interpretation of China. A sharp, inspiring and timely book!'
Wang Hui, Tsinghua University, author of The Rise of Modern Chinese Thought, China's New Order, and The Politics of Imagining Asia.
‘Vukovich's tenacious critique of the China Studies field is by itself worth the price of admission. But the bonus for readers is his remarkable history of the complexities of post-liberation China. As timely as could be, and guaranteed to spark debate.’
Andrew Ross, New York University, USA, author of Fast Boat to China: Corporate Flight and the Consequences of Free Trade; Lessons from Shanghai.
‘An important intervention into the battle for China's past and present . At its heart is a wide ranging, strong critique of the bulk of China studies scholarship on the P.R.C since the 1980s. But it also draws extensively on revisionist, new leftist, and other Chinese scholarship to argue for what is being erased by Sinological-orientalism." Its framing of this knowledge as orientalist and 'post-colonial' should cause a sensation. It may even finally trigger a sorely needed debate in the field.’
Mobo Gao, Chair of Chinese Studies & Director, Confucius Institute, University of Adelaide, Australia.
'This slim, sharply-argued volume should be a mandatory reading for all of us who work on post-1949 China. China and Orientalism is a refreshing and often eye-opening analysis on how knowledge of the object called "China" has been constructed in the West since the end of Maoism…China and Orientalism is an essential contribution to our self-awareness as producers of knowledge and offers a welcome and indispensable criticism of the field.'
Fabio Lanza, The China Beat, Twentieth Century China.
***************************************************************************
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Preface and Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Sinological-Orientalism Now: ‘China’ and the New Era
Chapter 2: Uncivil Society, or, Orientalism and Tiananmen, 1989
Chapter 3: Maoist Discourse and Its Demonization
Chapter 4: Accounting for the Great Leap Forward: Missing Millions, Excess Deaths, And A Crisis of Chinese Proportions
Chapter 5: DeLillo, Warhol, and the Specter of Mao: The ‘Sinologization’ of Global Thought
Chapter 6: Screening Sinology: On the Western Study of Chinese Film
Chapter 7: The China-Reference And Orientalism in the Global Economy
Bibliography & Index
You can see some reviews in section listed on left. https://hku-hk.academia.edu/DanielVukovich/reviews-of-%22China-and-Orientalism%22-(selected)
'It is a pointed and spirited book that incorporates a remarkably transdisciplinary range of approaches and texts.'
Carla Nappi, East Asian Studies, July 2012
'A book of startling honesty and conviction. Writing from Hong Kong but not as a Sinologist, Vukovich presents an erudite case for re-thinking the lessons of Tiananmen, reassessing the legacy of Mao, and questioning the idea that China needs to be saved by becoming like "us." As a revisionist reading of post-war China, the book brims with antinomian vignettes on everything from Chinese cinema to the novels of De Lillo and the philosophy of Arendt.Vukovich blasts the new Orientalism that seeks to free China from its supposedly Borg-like past. A rare voice, and a welcome one.'
Timothy Brennan, University of Minnesota, USA
'This is a unique critique of orientalism in contemporary Chinese studies. Daniel Vukovich argues that there is a new form of orientalism, which does not project China as an ‘'other'’ as many traditional Sinologists did, but emphasizes ‘'sameness'’ or general equivalence of China to the US-West. From this basic observation, the author highlights the cultural logic of capitalism in the new Orientalistic interpretation of China. A sharp, inspiring and timely book!'
Wang Hui, Tsinghua University, author of The Rise of Modern Chinese Thought, China's New Order, and The Politics of Imagining Asia.
‘Vukovich's tenacious critique of the China Studies field is by itself worth the price of admission. But the bonus for readers is his remarkable history of the complexities of post-liberation China. As timely as could be, and guaranteed to spark debate.’
Andrew Ross, New York University, USA, author of Fast Boat to China: Corporate Flight and the Consequences of Free Trade; Lessons from Shanghai.
‘An important intervention into the battle for China's past and present . At its heart is a wide ranging, strong critique of the bulk of China studies scholarship on the P.R.C since the 1980s. But it also draws extensively on revisionist, new leftist, and other Chinese scholarship to argue for what is being erased by Sinological-orientalism." Its framing of this knowledge as orientalist and 'post-colonial' should cause a sensation. It may even finally trigger a sorely needed debate in the field.’
Mobo Gao, Chair of Chinese Studies & Director, Confucius Institute, University of Adelaide, Australia.
'This slim, sharply-argued volume should be a mandatory reading for all of us who work on post-1949 China. China and Orientalism is a refreshing and often eye-opening analysis on how knowledge of the object called "China" has been constructed in the West since the end of Maoism…China and Orientalism is an essential contribution to our self-awareness as producers of knowledge and offers a welcome and indispensable criticism of the field.'
Fabio Lanza, The China Beat, Twentieth Century China.
***************************************************************************
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Preface and Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Sinological-Orientalism Now: ‘China’ and the New Era
Chapter 2: Uncivil Society, or, Orientalism and Tiananmen, 1989
Chapter 3: Maoist Discourse and Its Demonization
Chapter 4: Accounting for the Great Leap Forward: Missing Millions, Excess Deaths, And A Crisis of Chinese Proportions
Chapter 5: DeLillo, Warhol, and the Specter of Mao: The ‘Sinologization’ of Global Thought
Chapter 6: Screening Sinology: On the Western Study of Chinese Film
Chapter 7: The China-Reference And Orientalism in the Global Economy
Bibliography & Index
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Discourse Analysis, History, Intellectual History, Cultural History, and 105 moreCultural Studies, Political Sociology, Social Theory, Area Studies, Asian Studies, American Studies, World Literatures, Comparative Literature, American Politics, Comparative Politics, International Relations, Political Economy, Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Education, Media and Cultural Studies, Critical Discourse Studies, Cultural Sociology, Feminist Theory, Social Sciences, Globalization, Corporate Social Responsibility, Film Studies, Film Theory, Political Theory, Marxism, International Studies, Chinese Studies, International Law, Human Rights, Sinology, Postcolonial Studies, Democratic Theory, Sociology of Knowledge, Race and Racism, Poststructuralism, Virtue Ethics, Political Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Contemporary History, Historiography, Cold War and Culture, Global media, Cultural Theory, Political Science, Liberalism, Democratization, Critical Race Theory, Race and Ethnicity, Discourse, Political Culture, Politics, Ideology, Postsocialism, Colonialism, Cultural Politics, Gender, Culture, Political communication, Communism, Political History, East Asian Studies, Civil Society and the Public Sphere, Post-Colonialism, International Politics, Postmodernism, Critical Discourse Analysis, Marxist theory, Michel Foucault, China, History of Political Thought, China Going Global, Modern Chinese History, Postcolonial Theory, Structuralism/Post-Structuralism, Social History, Postcolonial Literature, Chinese Politics, China studies, Interpretation, Social and Political Philosophy, Frankfurt School, Contemporary China, Chinese history (History), Empire, Post-Colonial Theory, Edward Said, Ethics and economics, China-West Comparative Studies, Orientalism, Colonial Discourse, Imperialism, History of Communism, Maoism, Mao Zedong, Chinese New Left, Tiananmen, International Strategy, Theories of Socialism, Post Colonial Theory, Global Economic Governance, Antiglobalization Social Movements, Third world Marxisms/Tricontinental Marxisms (Mao, Colonialism and Imperialism, and Understanding China
'Sinologia Hoje' é um esforço inédito em trazer, ao público universitário brasileiro, uma atualização necessária sobre o campo dos estudos chineses. Nesse sentido, pensamos a produção de um trabalho que discutisse algumas visões sobre os... more
'Sinologia Hoje' é um esforço inédito em trazer, ao público universitário brasileiro, uma atualização necessária sobre o campo dos estudos chineses. Nesse sentido, pensamos a produção de um trabalho que discutisse algumas visões sobre os estudos da China. Até mesmo o uso dos termos ‘Sinologia’ ou ‘Estudos Chineses’ tem implicações específicas, como veremos adiante. Fato é que esse livro pretende trazer alguns subsídios para essa nova área de pesquisa a se desenvolver no país – e desejamos que, dessa vez, o empreendimento dê certo. Para a realização desse livro, convidamos especialistas de diversas áreas, que trazem suas visões sobre os estudos da China, e os cuidados teóricos e metodológicos que devem ser levados em conta no desenvolvimento desse campo de pesquisa. Alguns desses ensaios foram traduzidos, outros são originais; todos, porém, são estudos atualizados e calcados em amplas experiências sobre os mais diversos aspectos culturais, históricos e literários dessa civilização multifacetada.
Research Interests:
This article examines the massive protests and global media event known as the "anti-extradition protests" in Hong Kong during 2019. The protests became the most live-streamed movement ever, and were narrated globally, though not in... more
This article examines the massive protests and global media event known as the "anti-extradition protests" in Hong Kong during 2019. The protests became the most live-streamed movement ever, and were narrated globally, though not in China, as an exemplary, brave demand for democracy and freedom against the P.R.C.'s intrusions. I argue that the event and movement can also be read as an apt example of mediatisation, or the media direction if not command of the geo-political sphere. From one perspective the movement was a spectacular success in garnering media sympathy and attention, even generating American legislation in support of Hong Kong's "freedom." And yet the mainland's refusal to intervene into or pacify the conflict, despite deliberate, extreme provocations to make it do so, also suggest strong limits to global mediatisation. The movement may have triggered a new approach for Chinese resistance to mediatisation.
Research Interests:
now out at Critical Asian Studies. Article on Hong Kong protests and politics and de-colonization, i.e. on the anti-extradition bill and anti-government movement of 2019--present. ABSTRACT: The 2019 protests in Hong Kong have been a... more
now out at Critical Asian Studies. Article on Hong Kong protests and politics and de-colonization, i.e. on the anti-extradition bill and anti-government movement of 2019--present.
ABSTRACT:
The 2019 protests in Hong Kong have been a watershed moment for the city, both politically and socially. These protests have, for some residents, transformed the police–society relationship into one of open antagonism, fully exposed people’s fear and loathing of the mainland and their local government, and divided some families and large segments of society. These events have also caused an ordinarily quiet and civil society to become violent, enraged (at the police and government), openly racist/xenophobic, and emotionally traumatized. And yet it is highly unlikely that the outcome will be the direct nomination and election of the city’s chief executive, let alone either de facto independence or full autonomy from the mainland. But this reality will not stop demands by the pan-democrats and other opposition members directly involved in this protest movement. This is becoming a chronic, painful condition of stasis for Hong Kong as a political entity and society. There has to be compromise and yet none is forthcoming.
KEYWORDS: Hong Kong, 2019 protests, colonialism, pan-democrats, localists
ABSTRACT:
The 2019 protests in Hong Kong have been a watershed moment for the city, both politically and socially. These protests have, for some residents, transformed the police–society relationship into one of open antagonism, fully exposed people’s fear and loathing of the mainland and their local government, and divided some families and large segments of society. These events have also caused an ordinarily quiet and civil society to become violent, enraged (at the police and government), openly racist/xenophobic, and emotionally traumatized. And yet it is highly unlikely that the outcome will be the direct nomination and election of the city’s chief executive, let alone either de facto independence or full autonomy from the mainland. But this reality will not stop demands by the pan-democrats and other opposition members directly involved in this protest movement. This is becoming a chronic, painful condition of stasis for Hong Kong as a political entity and society. There has to be compromise and yet none is forthcoming.
KEYWORDS: Hong Kong, 2019 protests, colonialism, pan-democrats, localists
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Cultural Studies, Media Studies, Political Theory, Marxism, and 15 morePostcolonial Studies, Political Science, Liberalism, Politics, Fascism, Spectacle, Protest, China, Democracy, Hong Kong, Orientalism, Protest Movements, Decolonization, anti-extradition protests, and anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill 2019 (anti-ELAB) protests
the post-colonial in history and theory; the PRC; the social sciences.
Research Interests:
Lightly revised, Chinese translation [rough draft of that] of a chapter from _China and Orientalism_ for a book on the Great Leap Forward and Rural Development in the PRC, edited by Prof. He Xuefeng (Huazhong UST, Wuhan)... more
Lightly revised, Chinese translation [rough draft of that] of a chapter from _China and Orientalism_ for a book on the Great Leap Forward and Rural Development in the PRC, edited by Prof. He Xuefeng (Huazhong UST, Wuhan) forthcoming..... some day, I think, perhaps not in the Xi Jinping era however.
Research Interests:
This article examines the applicability of convergence thinking via two protests in South China: the Wukan ‘Uprising’ and the ‘Umbrella Revolution’. They failed to usher in ‘democracy’ in an unnamed, ‘Western’ procedural sense. Yet the... more
This article examines the applicability of convergence thinking via two protests in South China: the Wukan ‘Uprising’ and the ‘Umbrella Revolution’. They failed to usher in ‘democracy’ in an unnamed, ‘Western’ procedural sense. Yet the global media events expose the limits of convergence thinking, both official/PRC and Western/liberal. In so far as convergence is also about hegemony and rivalry, the events also show the fading of the latter, liberal one and the rise of the Chinese state as something which must be reckoned with analytically. It is not that the Chinese version is more true but that its relative legitimacy and actuality must be used to further citizens’ ends. The challenge is to re-politicize the state and bureaucracy, and in this the villagers have a lesson for Hong Kong.
摘要: 本文从趋同思想的适用性角度考察发生在中国南方的两次抗议：乌坎起义和“雨伞革命”；并认为这两者都未能在一个未命名的、“西方”过程化的程度上引进“民主”。
然而全球新闻事件却同时暴露了趋同思想的局限性，无论是从官方的/中国或是西方的/自由的角度。迄今为止，如同趋同也与争夺霸权、敌对力量的抗衡有关，这些事件同样显示了后者、自由的一方的衰弱和中国国家的崛起——这是必须分析性地考虑在内的。然而这并不是说中国的版本更为真实，而是趋同的相关合法性与实际性必须被用于推进公民们的目标。而挑战正在于如何将国家与官僚体制再政治化；在这个层面上，乌坎村的村民们给香港上了生动的一课。
摘要: 本文从趋同思想的适用性角度考察发生在中国南方的两次抗议：乌坎起义和“雨伞革命”；并认为这两者都未能在一个未命名的、“西方”过程化的程度上引进“民主”。
然而全球新闻事件却同时暴露了趋同思想的局限性，无论是从官方的/中国或是西方的/自由的角度。迄今为止，如同趋同也与争夺霸权、敌对力量的抗衡有关，这些事件同样显示了后者、自由的一方的衰弱和中国国家的崛起——这是必须分析性地考虑在内的。然而这并不是说中国的版本更为真实，而是趋同的相关合法性与实际性必须被用于推进公民们的目标。而挑战正在于如何将国家与官僚体制再政治化；在这个层面上，乌坎村的村民们给香港上了生动的一课。
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Cultural Studies, International Relations, Political Philosophy, Media Studies, and 19 moreMedia and Cultural Studies, Development Studies, Social Sciences, Globalization, Political Theory, Marxism, Postcolonial Studies, Cultural Theory, Political Science, Liberalism, Democratization, Politics, Global Studies, Protest, Globalization And Postcolonial Studies, China, Convergence, Democracy, and Hong Kong
China -- the PRC -- from imperialism to revolution and beyond, for post-colonial studies and theory; an orientation. A short 'theoretical' history.
Research Interests: Critical Theory, History, Cultural History, Cultural Studies, Social Theory, and 18 moreAsian Studies, Political Philosophy, Chinese Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Critical Pedagogy, Historiography, Cultural Theory, Political Science, Revolutions, Politics, Culture, Communism, China, Postcolonial Theory, Social History, Social movements and revolution, Imperialism, and Theories of Socialism
Brief biography on the life and meaning of Mao Zedong and Maoism, for post-colonial study and thought; an orientation.
Research Interests: History, Cultural Studies, Social Theory, Personality Psychology, Asian Studies, and 15 morePolitical Philosophy, Reference, Political Theory, Postcolonial Studies, Historiography, Political Science, Revolutions, Politics, Biography, Post-Colonialism, China, Postcolonial Theory, China studies, Third world Marxisms/Tricontinental Marxisms (Mao, and Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
"How to make sense of ‘Asia’––an impossible object of study––and what it means today in light of the rise of China after the age of opium wars and full-on imperialism. To what extent, the chapter asks, is Asia today best understood as a... more
"How to make sense of ‘Asia’––an impossible object of study––and what it means today in light of the rise of China after the age of opium wars and full-on imperialism. To what extent, the chapter asks, is Asia today best understood as a China-centred global system, as also suggested by ASEAN+3? Certainly, the PRC poses a number of challenges to current theories about colonialism, sovereignty and the alleged end of the Cold War. Equally clear is that, although sometimes designated as ‘non-colonized’ or outside the problematic of postcolonialism, the PRC is deeply influenced by modern imperialism and neoliberalism. The chapter picks up on the ‘missed opportunity’ between postcolonial and China studies and the relative non-engagement with the PRC in inter-Asian cultural studies, offering a series of reflections on overlaps between them––e.g. in terms of modernization theory, Orientalism and Occidentalism, totalitarianism––as well as opening up avenues for further debate.
Keywords: Asia; China; Orientalism; Occidentalism; modernization; neoliberalism; Tibet; Cold War; revolution"
Keywords: Asia; China; Orientalism; Occidentalism; modernization; neoliberalism; Tibet; Cold War; revolution"
Research Interests: Intellectual History, Cultural Studies, Political Sociology, Social Theory, Asian Studies, and 32 moreComparative Politics, Political Philosophy, Southeast Asian Studies, Globalization, Political Theory, Marxism, Chinese Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Poststructuralism, Contemporary History, Cold War and Culture, Political Science, Revolutions, Liberalism, Race and Ethnicity, East Asia, Politics, East Asian Studies, Post-Colonialism, China, Neoliberalism, Postcolonial Theory, Structuralism/Post-Structuralism, Postcolonial Literature, Occidentalism, China studies, Contemporary China, Empire, ASEAN, Orientalism, Eurocentrism, and Inter-Asian studies
Daniel Vukovich's article focuses on the rise of a global "neo-liberalism with Chinese characteristics" and how we should understand this. The author analyzes the "triumph" of a particular liberal discourse and politics in China, as... more
Daniel Vukovich's article focuses on the rise of a global "neo-liberalism with Chinese characteristics" and how we should understand this. The author analyzes the "triumph" of a particular liberal discourse and politics in China, as well as globally, since the post-Mao and late or residual Cold War era. In response to the common, erroneous equating of "liberal" with "democracy," Vukovich draws in part on Roberto Esposito, Dominic Lusordo, and the 'examples' of modern colonialism as well as recent Chinese politics to remind us that for all its universalistic and humane pretensions, liberalism has historically been if not the very opposite of democracy (understood as mass rule and participation, the general will) then something quite different. The historical articulations between liberalism and colonialism or imperialism, let alone to an economic 'freedom' that obfuscates exploitation and class division, should forever give us pause. Against the clear preference of many, Vukovich argues that there is no good reason this reservation should not apply to China either. Moreover the rise of liberal and conservative China discourse (about the recent Chinese past) reveals less the Truth finally coming to light than a political and discursive shift in how we frame the world, a shift that stems from the intellectual political culture of the modern colonial/imperial era. Depoliticized politics are the order of the day and can be seen in documents like the famous/infamous Charter 2008.
Research Interests: Intellectual History, Cultural Studies, Political Sociology, Social Change, Social Theory, and 44 moreArea Studies, Asian Studies, Comparative Politics, International Relations, Political Philosophy, Globalization, Political Theory, Marxism, Chinese Studies, Human Rights, Postcolonial Studies, Contemporary History, Global Governance, Cultural Theory, Political Science, Liberalism, Democratization, Political Culture, Politics, Ideology, Cultural Politics, Banking, Corporate Finance, Political History, Post-Colonialism, Capitalism, Globalization And Postcolonial Studies, China, Neoliberalism, Chinese Politics, Globalization and Governance, Democracy, Contemporary China, Orientalism, Imperialism, Maoism, Cultural Globalization, Chinese New Left, Dissidence, Liu Xiaobo, Liberalization, Dissident Literature, Liu Xiaobo, Charter 08, China's rule of law, and Nobel Peace Prize
ABSTRACT: An analysis of the rise of the Chinese New left as an academic and intellectual movement, involved in a struggle over the legitimacy of Chinese/revolutionary/Maoist discourse as well as Chinese history and specificity. It is... more
ABSTRACT:
An analysis of the rise of the Chinese New left as an academic and intellectual movement, involved in a struggle over the legitimacy of Chinese/revolutionary/Maoist discourse as well as Chinese history and specificity. It is not the failure or "selling-out" but rather the very significance of the CNL that it is an academic and intellectual 'movement.' Whether explicitly or implicitly, the CNL is 'writing back' against Sinological-orientalist as well as liberal-universalist discourse about the PRC, from within and outside of the mainland. Work done by Cui Zhiyuan, Wang Hui, Wang Shaoguang, Han Deqiang, Han Yuhai, and others is surveyed."""
An analysis of the rise of the Chinese New left as an academic and intellectual movement, involved in a struggle over the legitimacy of Chinese/revolutionary/Maoist discourse as well as Chinese history and specificity. It is not the failure or "selling-out" but rather the very significance of the CNL that it is an academic and intellectual 'movement.' Whether explicitly or implicitly, the CNL is 'writing back' against Sinological-orientalist as well as liberal-universalist discourse about the PRC, from within and outside of the mainland. Work done by Cui Zhiyuan, Wang Hui, Wang Shaoguang, Han Deqiang, Han Yuhai, and others is surveyed."""
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Discourse Analysis, Intellectual History, Cultural History, Cultural Studies, and 32 morePolitical Sociology, Social Theory, Asian Studies, Law, Comparative Politics, International Relations, Political Philosophy, Media Studies, Critical Discourse Studies, Globalization, Political Theory, Marxism, Chinese Studies, Human Rights, Postcolonial Studies, Democratic Theory, Cold War and Culture, Cultural Theory, Political Science, Discourse, Politics, Post-Colonialism, Critical Discourse Analysis, China, Postcolonial Theory, Structuralism/Post-Structuralism, China studies, Contemporary China, Orientalism, Chinese New Left, Public Administration and Policy, and Political Economy and History
"""This essay addresses the ‘demand for humanism, with a nod towards Asia’ (Spivak) within current theory and global intellectual political culture. I argue that using humanism as a way to understand China (a habit inside and especially... more
"""This essay addresses the ‘demand for humanism, with a nod towards Asia’ (Spivak) within current theory and global intellectual political culture. I argue that using humanism as a way to understand China (a habit inside and especially outside the PRC) keeps us within the orientalist tradition. It is also at odds with China's attempted/failed/ongoing revolution and trajectory since 1949, which was a theoretical anti-humanism in then mold of Lenin, Mao, Fanon, and Cesaire.
I offer an interdisciplinary analysis of area studies' and other representations of China, especially in regard to Tiananmen and the Cultural Revolution. I then contrast this with current intellectual debates in China as well as with an older Maoist or revolutionary discourse. The resurgence or ‘demand’ for humanism is rendered as part of an intellectual and political backlash or de-politicization.
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Keywords:
Orientalism; China; humanism; Maoism; theory; de-politicization; post-structuralism; American studies; academe; backlash;
Note:
""
I offer an interdisciplinary analysis of area studies' and other representations of China, especially in regard to Tiananmen and the Cultural Revolution. I then contrast this with current intellectual debates in China as well as with an older Maoist or revolutionary discourse. The resurgence or ‘demand’ for humanism is rendered as part of an intellectual and political backlash or de-politicization.
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Keywords:
Orientalism; China; humanism; Maoism; theory; de-politicization; post-structuralism; American studies; academe; backlash;
Note:
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Research Interests: Critical Theory, Business, Finance, Intellectual History, Cultural History, and 72 moreSociology, Cultural Studies, Political Sociology, Social Theory, Area Studies, American Studies, Political Philosophy, Media and Cultural Studies, Humanities, Peace and Conflict Studies, Social Sciences, Globalization, Political Theory, Marxism, Human Rights Law, Chinese Studies, Human Rights, Postcolonial Studies, Democratic Theory, Religion and Politics, Posthumanism, Race and Racism, Poststructuralism, Political Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Cultural Theory, Political Science, Civic Education, Liberalism, Democratization, Critical Race Theory, Identity (Culture), International Human Rights Law, Race and Ethnicity, Politics, Identity politics, Conservative Revolution, Colonialism, Global Justice, Banking, Culture, Communism, Comparative Constitutional Law, Political History, Post-Colonialism, Chinese Language and Culture, Love, Postmodernism, Critical Discourse Analysis, Marxist theory, Philosophy of Criminal Law, China, Neoliberalism, History of Political Thought, Global Leadership, Postcolonial Theory, British Imperial and Colonial History (1600 - ), Structuralism/Post-Structuralism, China studies, Contemporary China, Critical Theory in China, Empire, Humanism, Anti-Humanism, and Post-Humanism, Orientalism, Oriental Studies, Imperialism, Maoism, Liberal arts, Gayatri Spivak, Contemporary Liberalism, Ethics of Humanitarian Intervention, and Early Modern English Political Philosophy
"The place and use of "China" or 'the China reference' in current, humanities/social/cultural theory about globalization and the new 'state of the world.' Zizek, Hardt-Negri, Agamben, and the "Sinography" of Haun Saussy and Eric Hayot are... more
"The place and use of "China" or 'the China reference' in current, humanities/social/cultural theory about globalization and the new 'state of the world.' Zizek, Hardt-Negri, Agamben, and the "Sinography" of Haun Saussy and Eric Hayot are interrogated in terms of how they represent China and how they represent 'theory' or theoretical practice as well as intellectual labor. Each critiqued as a type of Cold War orientalist thought and 'positional superiority' about the PRC, esp. of the Mao era and Tiananmen, 1989. China, in short, is the "new" object of orientalism in intellectual political culture in the US-West.
This reflects not bad faith on the part of the otherwise heterodox and accomplished theorists, but a change in intellectual labor and the pactice of theory. By this I mean increasing commodification and 'real abstraction' as a by product of corporatization of the university. Theory has become a labor-saving operation. The increasing presence of this Cold War-orientalized "China" in Western minds reflects the rise of the PRC as something that one cannot not think about. It reflects as well these global economic changes within the realm and forms of thought."
This reflects not bad faith on the part of the otherwise heterodox and accomplished theorists, but a change in intellectual labor and the pactice of theory. By this I mean increasing commodification and 'real abstraction' as a by product of corporatization of the university. Theory has become a labor-saving operation. The increasing presence of this Cold War-orientalized "China" in Western minds reflects the rise of the PRC as something that one cannot not think about. It reflects as well these global economic changes within the realm and forms of thought."
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Discourse Analysis, Intellectual History, Cultural History, Cultural Studies, and 47 morePolitical Sociology, Political Economy, Political Philosophy, Critical Discourse Studies, Feminist Theory, Globalization, Political Theory, Marxism, Chinese Studies, Abstract Interpretation, Human Rights, Postcolonial Studies, Sociology of Knowledge, Qualitative methodology, Poststructuralism, Historiography, Feminist Philosophy, Cultural Theory, Political Science, Critical Race Theory, Race and Ethnicity, Colonialism, Securitization, Communism, Post-Colonialism, Giorgio Agamben, Capitalism, Michel Foucault, China, Alain Badiou, Giorgio Agamben, and Slavoj Zizek, Political Economies of Capitalism, Imperialism/Colonialism, Racism, and Patriarchy, Slavoj Zizek, Cultural Political Economy, Biopolitics, China studies, Abstraction, Politics and Post-Colonial Theory, Frankfurt School, Theories of Sovereignty, Empire, Cultures of Capital and Capitalism, Anthropology of Capitalism, Agamben, Orientalism, Imperialism, Reification, and Negri
Hong Kong studies often argue that 1997— a key moment of globalization— marked not re-unification and an end of colonialism but a “recolonization” at the hands of Beijing. This essay refutes this claim on several grounds and situates it... more
Hong Kong studies often argue that 1997— a key moment of globalization— marked not re-unification and an end of colonialism but a “recolonization” at the hands of Beijing. This essay refutes this claim on several grounds and situates it in the context of global knowledge production about China. When we interrogate the historiographic and cultural studies claims for a re-colonization we see that this is more often announced than substantiated. The claim is intellectually problematic on legal, historical and popular opinion grounds, though I focus here on theoretical ones. "Re-colonization" rhetoric moreover indicates a continuing contradiction dating from the colonial/Cold War era in how knowledge about China, and China–Hong Kong is produced. Such work does not engage mainland perspectives but rather tends to “other” or orientalize the P.R.C. Globalization has not altered this academic/knowledge imbalance. But this may be changing in the commercial and "popular" realms. This essay’s final section analyzes the emergence of a Hong Kong–P.R.C. hybrid identity as seen in the design work of G.O.D, a local chain that sells home-goods, clothes, and the like with an avowed emphasis on both local and P.R.C. culture (e.g. Mao era things). All of this taken together suggests an end to the claim of re-colonization. Hong Kong has moved on and is now part of China’s globalization; the realm of knowledge production will, one should think, eventually catch up.
Research Interests: Marketing, Discourse Analysis, Intellectual History, Cultural Studies, Design, and 15 moreGlobalization, Postcolonial Studies, Sociology of Knowledge, Advertising, Colonialism, Urban Studies, Post-Colonialism, National Identity, China, Postcolonial Theory, Politics and Post-Colonial Theory, Hong Kong, Marketing & Advertising, Hong Kong-China Relations, and Hong Kong Society
"NOTE: This was slated to appear in "Frontiers of Literary Studies in China" (Brill Press but controlled/owned by HEP in China/Beijing; edited by Zhang Xudong). But was cut/censored at the last minute by a wise Party editor for mentioning... more
"NOTE: This was slated to appear in "Frontiers of Literary Studies in China" (Brill Press but controlled/owned by HEP in China/Beijing; edited by Zhang Xudong). But was cut/censored at the last minute by a wise Party editor for mentioning Mao and the Cultural Revolution too much [which it doesn't really do, but I digress]. It now finds a happy home in a longer-standing, bilingual, Shanghai-based journal instead. Such are the vagaries of publishing in China-- not that speech is so free elsewhere either.
Abstract: With a few exceptions much of the knowledge of modern China produced in the world either ignores or demonizes the Mao era. On the cultural front things are not much better, whether we are speaking of the “Seventeen-year’s Literature” or the culture of the 1960s and 1970s. The negation of the Mao or radical era is, in short, a crucial part of contemporary Sinological-orientalism. There is however a recovery and reorientation project underway that seeks to restore the complexity of the Mao decades and its pursuit of an alternative, agrarian, and socialist modernity. As part of this project I offer an appropriately Foucaultian and Marxist notion of Maoist discourse. By framing that era in terms of its past Maoist discourse we can at least begin to take the revolution and its culture more seriously in its own terms and self-understanding. This has the added advantage of explaining the productive power and subjectivity of Chinese Maoism and its culture without recourse to the Cold War/colonial notion of “totalitarianism.” Yet Maoist discourse, like China’s “alternative modernity,” remains concepts more often announced than substantiated. The rich, challenging work of the rural writer Zhao Shuli offers us an ideal case study of what Maoist discourse was in cultural-philosophical terms. The second part of this essay offers a reading of selected short fiction from Zhao in terms of how it draws on and illuminates Maoist discourse, resulting in a literary art of remarkable political complexity and contextual detail. With Zhao it is “politics in command” in a genuine sense; this is not a flaw but its entire point.
KEYWORDS : Zhao Shuli orientalism left-wing literature rural labor Marxism
Daniel Vukovich (胡德) works at Hong Kong University in the School of Humanities, where he teaches post-colonial, literary, and cultural studies with an emphasis on the PRC and “China-West” issues.
标题：对毛泽东时代话语的一种厚重描述：以赵树理为例
摘要：在当今世界对现代中国的知识生产中，毛泽东时代要么被忽视要么被妖魔化；而在文化领域内，提起“十七年文学”或上世纪六七十年代的文学时，事态也不见更好。对这激进时代的否定可谓是当代东方主义式汉学的关键内容，但当下学界也有一种试图恢复并重建的努力，将毛泽东时代的追求作为一种另类的农业社会的现代性，对其复杂性加以探讨。本文试图从福柯理论与马克思主义的角度研读毛泽东时代的话语方式，将所述时代置于其自身的语境阐释其生产力与主体性，以区别于当下将这一时代置于冷战-殖民观念之下的阐释视野。赵树理小说创作为我们从文化哲学层面阐释这个时代提供了理想的个案，本文第二部分即以赵树理的短篇小说为例。作者认为赵树理的小说，以其具有高度政治复杂性的艺术自觉，达到了真正意义上的“政治挂帅”的文学。
关键词：赵树理 东方主义 左翼文学 农民 马克思主义
作者：胡德（Daniel Vukovich），香港大学人文学院副教授，主要从事后殖民、文学、文化等领域的教研工作。电邮：vukovich@hku.hk
"
Abstract: With a few exceptions much of the knowledge of modern China produced in the world either ignores or demonizes the Mao era. On the cultural front things are not much better, whether we are speaking of the “Seventeen-year’s Literature” or the culture of the 1960s and 1970s. The negation of the Mao or radical era is, in short, a crucial part of contemporary Sinological-orientalism. There is however a recovery and reorientation project underway that seeks to restore the complexity of the Mao decades and its pursuit of an alternative, agrarian, and socialist modernity. As part of this project I offer an appropriately Foucaultian and Marxist notion of Maoist discourse. By framing that era in terms of its past Maoist discourse we can at least begin to take the revolution and its culture more seriously in its own terms and self-understanding. This has the added advantage of explaining the productive power and subjectivity of Chinese Maoism and its culture without recourse to the Cold War/colonial notion of “totalitarianism.” Yet Maoist discourse, like China’s “alternative modernity,” remains concepts more often announced than substantiated. The rich, challenging work of the rural writer Zhao Shuli offers us an ideal case study of what Maoist discourse was in cultural-philosophical terms. The second part of this essay offers a reading of selected short fiction from Zhao in terms of how it draws on and illuminates Maoist discourse, resulting in a literary art of remarkable political complexity and contextual detail. With Zhao it is “politics in command” in a genuine sense; this is not a flaw but its entire point.
KEYWORDS : Zhao Shuli orientalism left-wing literature rural labor Marxism
Daniel Vukovich (胡德) works at Hong Kong University in the School of Humanities, where he teaches post-colonial, literary, and cultural studies with an emphasis on the PRC and “China-West” issues.
标题：对毛泽东时代话语的一种厚重描述：以赵树理为例
摘要：在当今世界对现代中国的知识生产中，毛泽东时代要么被忽视要么被妖魔化；而在文化领域内，提起“十七年文学”或上世纪六七十年代的文学时，事态也不见更好。对这激进时代的否定可谓是当代东方主义式汉学的关键内容，但当下学界也有一种试图恢复并重建的努力，将毛泽东时代的追求作为一种另类的农业社会的现代性，对其复杂性加以探讨。本文试图从福柯理论与马克思主义的角度研读毛泽东时代的话语方式，将所述时代置于其自身的语境阐释其生产力与主体性，以区别于当下将这一时代置于冷战-殖民观念之下的阐释视野。赵树理小说创作为我们从文化哲学层面阐释这个时代提供了理想的个案，本文第二部分即以赵树理的短篇小说为例。作者认为赵树理的小说，以其具有高度政治复杂性的艺术自觉，达到了真正意义上的“政治挂帅”的文学。
关键词：赵树理 东方主义 左翼文学 农民 马克思主义
作者：胡德（Daniel Vukovich），香港大学人文学院副教授，主要从事后殖民、文学、文化等领域的教研工作。电邮：vukovich@hku.hk
"
Research Interests: Discourse Analysis, Cultural Studies, World Literatures, Comparative Literature, Comparative Politics, and 17 morePolitical Theory, Marxism, Postcolonial Studies, Propaganda, Cultural Theory, Revolutions, Hermeneutics, Communism, Literary Theory, Cross-Cultural Studies, Michel Foucault, China, World Literature, China studies, Chinese literature, Socialist Realism, and Leftist Politics and Art
Introductory essay to a special issue of "positions" entitled "What's Left of Asia?." This is an inter-asian studies or critical asian studies collection on the history and concept of "asia" within intellectual and cultural history as... more
Introductory essay to a special issue of "positions" entitled "What's Left of Asia?." This is an inter-asian studies or critical asian studies collection on the history and concept of "asia" within intellectual and cultural history as well as political economy (it features Spivak and Han Yuhai as well as the sorely missed Gunder Frank and Giovanni Arrigihi). Our intro essay also tries to make an argument for re-articulating the "Asia" concept towards the global South.
Table of Contents for the special issue:
Andre Gunder Frank
No Civilization/s: Unity and Continuity in Diversity; or, Multilateral and Entropic Paradigms for the World Today and Tomorrow
Giovanni Arrighi
States, Markets, and Capitalism, East and West
Tani E. Barlow
Asian Women in Reregionalization
Yiman Wang
Screening Asia: Passing, Performative Translation, and Reconfiguration
Urs Matthias Zachmann
Blowing Up a Double Portrait in Black and White: The Concept of Asia in the Writings of Fukuzawa Yukichi and Okakura Tenshin
Han Yuhai
Speech without Words
Tobias Hübinette
Asia as a Topos of Fear and Desire for Nazis and Extreme Rightists: The Case of Asian Studies in Sweden
Yan Hairong
Position without Identity: An Interview with Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
Table of Contents for the special issue:
Andre Gunder Frank
No Civilization/s: Unity and Continuity in Diversity; or, Multilateral and Entropic Paradigms for the World Today and Tomorrow
Giovanni Arrighi
States, Markets, and Capitalism, East and West
Tani E. Barlow
Asian Women in Reregionalization
Yiman Wang
Screening Asia: Passing, Performative Translation, and Reconfiguration
Urs Matthias Zachmann
Blowing Up a Double Portrait in Black and White: The Concept of Asia in the Writings of Fukuzawa Yukichi and Okakura Tenshin
Han Yuhai
Speech without Words
Tobias Hübinette
Asia as a Topos of Fear and Desire for Nazis and Extreme Rightists: The Case of Asian Studies in Sweden
Yan Hairong
Position without Identity: An Interview with Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
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The Tiananmen Incident (as it is known in China) of 1989 as a watershed moment in the Western social imaginary about China. The "new" orientalism centered on post-Mao China, with the latter now no longer being essentially different but... more
The Tiananmen Incident (as it is known in China) of 1989 as a watershed moment in the Western social imaginary about China. The "new" orientalism centered on post-Mao China, with the latter now no longer being essentially different but becoming-the-same as the normative US-West. A critique of China studies work on the "democracy movement" and the Cold War-colonial, civil society narrative. But -- moreover -- this essay also presents an alternative, worker-focused or class-based account of the meaning and history of the protests of 1989, via an analysis of select documents, posters, and poems from the square.
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Intellectual History, Cultural Studies, Political Sociology, Comparative Politics, and 51 morePolitical Economy, Political Philosophy, Ethics, Media and Cultural Studies, Humanities, Cultural Sociology, Globalization, Political Theory, Marxism, Chinese Studies, Human Rights, Postcolonial Studies, Democratic Theory, Global media, Cultural Theory, Political Science, Democratization, Class, Race and Ethnicity, Political Culture, Politics, Identity politics, Global Justice, Cultural Politics, Political History, Cross-Cultural Studies, Sigmund Freud, Civil Society and the Public Sphere, Post-Colonialism, Protest, Media and Democracy, Globalization And Postcolonial Studies, Memory Studies, China, Sociology of Literature, Work and Labour, Chinese Politics, Democracy, Participatory Democracy, Labor History and Studies, China studies, Governance and Civil Society, Politics and Post-Colonial Theory, Social and Political Philosophy, Modern Political Philosophy, Orientalism, Democracy and Citizenship Education, Theories of Socialism, Tiananmen Square Protest in 1989, Antiglobalization Social Movements, and Student Protest
I begin this paper by offering a brief definition of the concept of Maoist discourse, as it is this which has been either demonized or simply denied in much Western (and Chinese) historiography of the socialist and post-socialist or... more
I begin this paper by offering a brief definition of the concept of Maoist discourse, as it is this which has been either demonized or simply denied in much Western (and Chinese) historiography of the socialist and post-socialist or post-Mao period. Drawing on Foucault, Gao Mobo and others I argue that there are three fundamental aspects of Maoist discourse: one, the non-discursive apparatuses of Maoist governance beyond liberal, state-phobic notions of an all-powerful despotic state; two, the self-understanding of Mao era subjects; and thirdly, the knowledge, ‘statements’ or content that Maoist discourse offered. Put another way, to restore the complexity of the Mao era we need to deal with its own self-understanding: what it did and what it said, or what it said it did. We should allow this to mediate our retrospective production of knowledge about this most radical of eras.
What this concept allows us to do is to see that the shift to the post-Mao era has not simply revealed the truth – the so-called awful truth – about the radical years. What has happened has been a shift in the framework or discourse that people inevitably rely on to make sense of themselves and their world. This shift arises from de-Maoification in China and the shift to what can be described as an essentially liberal-humanist if not “Dengist” discourse. The new discourse can be read as liberalism’s vengeance after its suppression during the radical eras. It strives to depoliticize Chinese and global politics by explaining away the irrevocably antagonistic nature (the friend/enemy criterion) of Chinese politics from the late 1920s through the 1970s.
What this concept allows us to do is to see that the shift to the post-Mao era has not simply revealed the truth – the so-called awful truth – about the radical years. What has happened has been a shift in the framework or discourse that people inevitably rely on to make sense of themselves and their world. This shift arises from de-Maoification in China and the shift to what can be described as an essentially liberal-humanist if not “Dengist” discourse. The new discourse can be read as liberalism’s vengeance after its suppression during the radical eras. It strives to depoliticize Chinese and global politics by explaining away the irrevocably antagonistic nature (the friend/enemy criterion) of Chinese politics from the late 1920s through the 1970s.
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Discourse Analysis, Political Philosophy, History of Ideas, Globalization, and 19 morePolitical Theory, Marxism, Chinese Studies, Cultural Theory, Political Science, Liberalism, Populism, Communism, Michel Foucault, China, Chinese Communism and Left-wing Movement, Media and Politics, Socialist and Post-Socialist Area Studies, History of Communism, Maoism, Left and Right Political Culture Model, Adorno/Horkheimer, Transition in Central and Eastern Europe, and European political cultures
obit and encomium for William Hinton, one of the most important English language (popular) writers on China from the 1940s through the early 1990s. An internationalist who wrote "Fanshen" and "Shenfan," vivid and grass-rooted studies of... more
obit and encomium for William Hinton, one of the most important English language (popular) writers on China from the 1940s through the early 1990s. An internationalist who wrote "Fanshen" and "Shenfan," vivid and grass-rooted studies of land reform, revolution, and rural development in the PRC.
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A critique of Benetton's ad-art campaigns but also of a certain, far too typical and moralist-puritan type of ideological critique. A Baudrillardian critique of others' responses to Benetton's progressiveness as false consciousness. It is... more
A critique of Benetton's ad-art campaigns but also of a certain, far too typical and moralist-puritan type of ideological critique. A Baudrillardian critique of others' responses to Benetton's progressiveness as false consciousness. It is too easy to 'critique' this type of commodity-art, which is less a scandal than a 'genuine' index of the late/global capitalist times.
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A review of the famed William Hinton's final, posthumous book, which is itself a remarkably detailed and strongly critical study of the volume "Chinese Village, Socialist State," edited by Edward Friedman, Paul G. Pickowicz, Mark Selden,... more
A review of the famed William Hinton's final, posthumous book, which is itself a remarkably detailed and strongly critical study of the volume "Chinese Village, Socialist State," edited by Edward Friedman, Paul G. Pickowicz, Mark Selden, and Kay Ann Johnson.
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Interview with Prof Carla Nappi about the book, China and Orientalism (Routledge, 2012).
July 17, 2012
July 17, 2012
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Reviewed By Jonathan Ferguson, in English
DOI 10.1007/s40636-014-0007-5
DOI 10.1007/s40636-014-0007-5
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Review by Josef Gregory Mahoney
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Discussed in a review essay by Liu Shan. in Foreign Social Sciences [China, CASS]. in Chinese
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China’s illiberalism and liberalism’s ills
Illiberal China: the ideological challenge of the People’s Republic of China, by Daniel F. Vukovich, Singapore, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, i–xv, 1–250 pp.,
Illiberal China: the ideological challenge of the People’s Republic of China, by Daniel F. Vukovich, Singapore, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, i–xv, 1–250 pp.,
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This is a review of Daniel Vokovich's Illiberal China. In it I contextualize and discuss a number of the book's key arguments. This is followed by a a series of questions that Daniel Vokuvich addresses at the end of the review.
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Gabriele de Seta’s review of the book in MCLC
https://u.osu.edu/mclc/2020/06/04/illiberal-china-review/
https://u.osu.edu/mclc/2020/06/04/illiberal-china-review/
Research Interests:
Review of "Illiberal China" by Prof. Jay Ke-Schutte, with response by author. snip: "But vis-à-vis China we have another bad thing to deal with, which is The Vortex. I mean in terms of “debate” and academic and intellectual politics.... more
Review of "Illiberal China" by Prof. Jay Ke-Schutte, with response by author.
snip:
"But vis-à-vis China we have another bad thing to deal with, which is The Vortex. I mean in terms of “debate” and academic and intellectual politics. In my own experience the real problem comes from academics and intellectuals who fancy themselves on the left or at least as some type of self-professed ‘radical’ liberals or democrats and freedom-lovers. It’s like Twitter and social media have poisoned academic or reasoned discourse. The China field, if I may say so, has always been literally and metaphorically very close to the media sphere and its terms and discourses. This isn’t a bad thing but it behooves us to not reproduce media discourse. I had an interesting experience getting mobbed/cyberattacked on Facebook by some liberal anti-communist or anti-regime type colleagues because I wrote a local newspaper editorial saying we needed to have more, better, and not one-sided conversations about mainland politics and HK-mainland relations, on campuses. Teach the problem, in short. I was called everything from a “shill for the CCP for years now” by Rebecca Karl to “an ideologue currying favor with the new regime” by Shih Shu Mei. I have no idea what new regime she meant but it was probably that of the new HKU president Zhang Xiang, a China-born but American citizen by the way, and one whom some people are convinced is all but a Chinese spy....."
snip:
"But vis-à-vis China we have another bad thing to deal with, which is The Vortex. I mean in terms of “debate” and academic and intellectual politics. In my own experience the real problem comes from academics and intellectuals who fancy themselves on the left or at least as some type of self-professed ‘radical’ liberals or democrats and freedom-lovers. It’s like Twitter and social media have poisoned academic or reasoned discourse. The China field, if I may say so, has always been literally and metaphorically very close to the media sphere and its terms and discourses. This isn’t a bad thing but it behooves us to not reproduce media discourse. I had an interesting experience getting mobbed/cyberattacked on Facebook by some liberal anti-communist or anti-regime type colleagues because I wrote a local newspaper editorial saying we needed to have more, better, and not one-sided conversations about mainland politics and HK-mainland relations, on campuses. Teach the problem, in short. I was called everything from a “shill for the CCP for years now” by Rebecca Karl to “an ideologue currying favor with the new regime” by Shih Shu Mei. I have no idea what new regime she meant but it was probably that of the new HKU president Zhang Xiang, a China-born but American citizen by the way, and one whom some people are convinced is all but a Chinese spy....."
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Given our intellectual differences and different "takes" on the issues and the PRC/West problem, I'm impressed by the fair-mindedness and insight into my book, in Josh Freedman's critical but sympathetic review here. (It also reviews a... more
Given our intellectual differences and different "takes" on the issues and the PRC/West problem, I'm impressed by the fair-mindedness and insight into my book, in Josh Freedman's critical but sympathetic review here. (It also reviews a recent Xu Jilin book in translation).
Debate 1, Ad Hominem 0. 😉
https://hkrbooks.com/2019/09/09/illiberal-china/
Debate 1, Ad Hominem 0. 😉
https://hkrbooks.com/2019/09/09/illiberal-china/
Research Interests:
https://hkrbooks.com/2019/09/09/illiberal-china/ Happy, and grateful, to see this review of my recent book, in the Hong Kong Review of Books "Offering a historical and practical analysis of contemporary Chinese political culture,... more
https://hkrbooks.com/2019/09/09/illiberal-china/
Happy, and grateful, to see this review of my recent book, in the Hong Kong Review of Books
"Offering a historical and practical analysis of contemporary Chinese political culture, Vukovich’s book is an informative and extremely interesting read, especially for its consistent challenging of liberalist presumptions. While the book presents a striking argument as a whole, it also leaves some minor yet important questions unanswered. For example, how could the Wukan model be adopted in a new, more anti-protest era in China to generate real, practical social change? What strategies would be effective for Hong Kong to retain its “cultural autonomy” (159) if it were to move on from liberalist politics? These questions are pivotal to a practical understanding of Chinese illiberalism and merit further discussion and unpacking. On the whole, Illiberal China is an important contribution to the fields of China studies and critical theory, and a must-read for anyone interested in contemporary Chinese political culture."
Happy, and grateful, to see this review of my recent book, in the Hong Kong Review of Books
"Offering a historical and practical analysis of contemporary Chinese political culture, Vukovich’s book is an informative and extremely interesting read, especially for its consistent challenging of liberalist presumptions. While the book presents a striking argument as a whole, it also leaves some minor yet important questions unanswered. For example, how could the Wukan model be adopted in a new, more anti-protest era in China to generate real, practical social change? What strategies would be effective for Hong Kong to retain its “cultural autonomy” (159) if it were to move on from liberalist politics? These questions are pivotal to a practical understanding of Chinese illiberalism and merit further discussion and unpacking. On the whole, Illiberal China is an important contribution to the fields of China studies and critical theory, and a must-read for anyone interested in contemporary Chinese political culture."
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Interview about *Illiberal China: The Ideological Challenge of the PRC* as well as about recent events in Hong Kong and future research.
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Interview with Prof. Christian Sorace about this book and some more recent issues around Hong Kong and the/our evaluation of the PRC.
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- Reviewed book: After Autonomy: A Post-Mortem for Hong Kong’s first Handover, 1997-2019 / Daniel F. Vukovich. - Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore, 2022. 1
- By Andrea Schüler,
- By Andrea Schüler,
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LINK: https://www.facebook.com/LSESEAC/videos/509173414460848 Roundtable: After Autonomy: A Post-Mortem for Hong Kong's first Handover, 1997–2019 Monday 30 January 2023 12.00pm to 1.30pm Hosted by the Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia... more
LINK: https://www.facebook.com/LSESEAC/videos/509173414460848
Roundtable: After Autonomy: A Post-Mortem for Hong Kong's first
Handover, 1997–2019
Monday 30 January 2023 12.00pm to 1.30pm
Hosted by the Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre
Prof Bingchun Meng
Prof Edmund W Cheng
Roundtable: After Autonomy: A Post-Mortem for Hong Kong's first
Handover, 1997–2019
Monday 30 January 2023 12.00pm to 1.30pm
Hosted by the Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre
Prof Bingchun Meng
Prof Edmund W Cheng
Research Interests:
Roundtable at HKU. May 2023. Link provided (youtube)
Research Interests:
Professor Daniel Vukovich’s book (2022), After Autonomy: A Post-Mortem for Hong Kong's First Handover, 1997-2019, "offers a sharp, critical analysis of the rise and fall of the 2019 anti-extradition bill movement in Hong Kong, including... more
Professor Daniel Vukovich’s book (2022), After Autonomy: A Post-Mortem for Hong Kong's First Handover, 1997-2019, "offers a sharp, critical analysis of the rise and fall of the 2019 anti-extradition bill movement in Hong Kong, including prior events like Occupy Central and the Mongkok Fishball Revolution, as well as their aftermaths in light of the re-assertion of mainland sovereignty over the SAR. Reading the conflict against the grain of those who would romanticize it or simply condemn it in nationalistic fashion, Vukovich goes beyond mediatized discourse to disentangle its roots in the Basic Law system as well as in the colonial and insufficiently post-colonial contexts and dynamics of Hong Kong. He examines the question of localist identity and its discontents, the problems of nativism, violence, and liberalism, the impossibility of autonomy, and what forms a genuine de-colonization can and might yet take in the city. A concluding chapter examines Hong Kong’s need for state capacity and proper, livelihood development, in the light of the Omicron wave of the Covid pandemic, as the SAR goes forward into a second handover era.” (Amazon.com)
Daniel Vukovich, Chair of the Comparative Literature Department at the Hong Kong University, will be in conversation with Carole Petersen, Professor of Law at UHM, and Tim Summers, who teaches about international relations and the political economy of contemporary China at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Co-sponsored by the UHM School of Law.
Daniel Vukovich, Chair of the Comparative Literature Department at the Hong Kong University, will be in conversation with Carole Petersen, Professor of Law at UHM, and Tim Summers, who teaches about international relations and the political economy of contemporary China at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Co-sponsored by the UHM School of Law.
Research Interests:
Lau China Institute presents an online discussion with Dr Daniel Vukovich, University of Hong Kong about his latest book, 'After Autonomy: A Post-Mortem for Hong Kong’s First Handover, 1997-2019.' In this book presentation, Vukovich is... more
Lau China Institute presents an online discussion with Dr Daniel Vukovich, University of Hong Kong about his latest book, 'After Autonomy: A Post-Mortem for Hong Kong’s First Handover, 1997-2019.'
In this book presentation, Vukovich is joined by Professor Kerry Brown, Director of the Lau China Institute and Dr Xin Fan, Director of Studies in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Cambridge University, to discuss Hong Kong, the ‘second handover’ and post-colonial dynamics.
In this book presentation, Vukovich is joined by Professor Kerry Brown, Director of the Lau China Institute and Dr Xin Fan, Director of Studies in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Cambridge University, to discuss Hong Kong, the ‘second handover’ and post-colonial dynamics.
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The world is told a simplistic black and white tale about Hong Kong's troubles in 2019, with heroic "pro-democracy" activists crushed by Beijing. What really happened was very different and far more complex, says a detailed new book by... more
The world is told a simplistic black and white tale about Hong Kong's troubles in 2019, with heroic "pro-democracy" activists crushed by Beijing. What really happened was very different and far more complex, says a detailed new book by top Hong Kong academic Daniel F. Vukovich. A daily hail of petrol bombs, scores of destroyed metro stations, and an unwanted new image in the world's newspapers-what the people of Hong Kong suffered in 2019 will not forgotten by
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The ORIGINAL title of this is as above (and it appeared that way in print). For the online paper, the title was rewitten into CLICKBAIT and made far more sensationalist. (It was a polemic /opinion column to begin with). This caused much... more
The ORIGINAL title of this is as above (and it appeared that way in print). For the online paper, the title was rewitten into CLICKBAIT and made far more sensationalist. (It was a polemic /opinion column to begin with). This caused much consternation and defamation / ad hominem from the "yellow" and anti-China faculty and social media justice warriors. To be sure ppl mostly read titles and sub-headings on social media, yes?
All signs of the times! :-)
To be fair I could have worded parts of this better (as always: that's writing). But I did run it by a couple colleagues who teach China stuff , like I do sometimes as well. No one was offended. But none of them were American either.
All signs of the times! :-)
To be fair I could have worded parts of this better (as always: that's writing). But I did run it by a couple colleagues who teach China stuff , like I do sometimes as well. No one was offended. But none of them were American either.
Research Interests:
The real issue underlying the Hong Kong discussion today is decolonization.