Study Of Ethnic Minority Literature Of The P.R.China Since 1949,in A Perspective Of The Literary History

The research subject of this dissertation is the ethnic minority literature studies of China which centered in the writing of literary history.First,through using the genealogical methodology of Michel Foucault,the author will put the ethnic minority literature studies in a context of building a"multi-nationality" state after the founding of New China at 1949.As an imported concept,the Chinese word "Minzu" was derived from the modern western idealism of nation-state.From late Qing then on,the modern nation-state pattern was introduced into China.The form of the state was gradually changed from an ancient"Tianxia-empire" pattern to a modern nation-state pattern,and finally to a multi-nationality state pattern of the New China after 1949.Thus "Minzu" came to be the keyword of the centenary transition of the national discourse of China.It is under this discourse,a series of concepts like minority literature,minority literary history and studies of minority literature came into being,which severed as one part of the literary construction of a multi-nationality state.In the context of the construction of a multi-nationality state,the dissertation will first discuss the literary image construction of the state in minority literature and the historical consciousness construction of the state in the minority literary history writings.At the same time,a dynamic study of the minority literature among a changing process from the state-running studies of the Seventeen Year Era(1949-1956)to the academe-running studies after mid 1980s.The key point of this dissertation is to disclose the marginalization of the ethnic minority literature(along with its history and study),and the result of this situation:the problem of how can it to "be written in" the literary history of China.There are two written systems of the New China’s literary history after 1949.One is the system of China Contemporary Literary History,and another is the system of the Ethnic Minority Literary History.The former is authoritative mainstream discourse used as textbooks among colleges and universities,which is taking part in the construction of modern knowledge discourses of China.For many reasons,the latter was produced among only in colleges of minority regions or university for ethnic minority civics.Since the system of the ethnic minority literary history is an additional and marginalized discourse,its studies and the writing of its history will no doubt a marginal one.From 1949 to 1956,during the Seventeen-year Period,the ethnic literature were allowed to be written in the contemporary literary history of China.But its role was to express the national identity of the borderlands and its ethnic subjectivity was hidden.After 1990s,with a few exceptions,most of rewritten texts of contemporary literary history have got rid of ethnic issues.The problem being faced with is that the ethnic minority literature can not "be written in" the literary history and will be marginalized more and more.This dissertation will deal with this issue by attempting to afford a new interpretation from the paradigm concept from Thomas Kuhn,and to provide new perspective through terms like marginalization and minority-discourse.The topics of this dissertation will include:(1)The discussion of the context of the construction of a multi-nationality state after 1949.In order to form such an idealist state,the Party and its government launched a multi-nationality construction from politics and culture,which attached with the construction of the ethnic minority literature and the multi-nationality literature.(2)The emerging of a two discourses system opposed by the mainstream contemporary literary history and the marginal ethnic literary history after 1950s.(3)The ethnic literary history as marginal discourse.Though written in literary histories of late 1950s,the marginalization of the ethnic literature was indicating by the absence of subjectivity.After the re-writing tide of literary histories during 1990s,the situation of the ethnic literature was marginalized more and more.Otherwise,a consciousness of resistance was indicated through the emergence of ethos among literature.(4)The ethnic literary narrative among the contemporary literary history.It is a question relating to the paradigm of the literary history that the ethnic minority literature will or will not "be written in".Under the former paradigm governing by Marxism,the ethnic literature was "written in" because the ethnic issues were seen as parts of the Class Matters.While the paradigm changed to a modern Enlightening one,things seemed to be changed.(5)The possibility and approach of which the ethnic minority literature can break through under a perspective of literary history.There are two approaches:one is the concept of the historical view of a multi-nationality literature revealing an idea of cultural pluralism;the other is the concept of the minority discourse indicating a perspective from marginal critics.