The Institutional Production And Cultural Politics Of Labour Literature

This thesis doesn't focus on the text of Labour Literature, but mainly discusses the producing process of the Labour Literature in a system aspect. Considering Labour Literature as a cultural politics practice of'let subaltern speak'and analyzing the system aspect, this paper tries to respond to the question'Whether subaltern can speak?'and'Can the underclass express themselves?'The first section starts from the discovery of Labour Literature and workers writing phenomenon in the mid-eighties, Shenzhen. Then, this part discusses the dispute on how to identify Labour Literature and introduces the significance gaining process though the discovery and identification.The next section discusses the production of Labour Literature under an institutional view. First, this part points out the direct effect of Shenzhen's cultural institution during the discovery of Labour Literature. Second, this part analyzes the difference and connection between workers and writers by the identified and modified functions of Chinese Writers Association under Labour Literature environment.The third section describes the trend that Labour Literature was expending to the whole nation and mainstream discourse in the 21st century by the kinds of publications and awards. The paper analyzes the strategy of being discussed in an underclass literature frame, and illustrates the driven reason of mainstreaming.The last section analyzes the paradox between'Labour'and'Literature', Chinese Writers Association and literary practice, Chinese intellectual and underclass expression with the theory of'Can the subaltern speak?'by Spivak. The paper figures out the disappearance on the possibility that subaltern can express themselves.