On The Problematic Of Chineseness In Sinophone Studies, 2007-2017

Sinophone(and Siniphone Literature)leads the frontier discussion of current field of modern Chinese literary and cultural studies in the North America in the past years.The concept of Sinophone that has attracted continuing discussion in the past decade was first proposed by Shu-mei Shih,a professor in comparative literature and Asian American studies at UCLA.Sinophone aims to relocate and call attention to alternative genealogies and histories of literary production,ranging from the global Chinese diaspora to ethnic minorities within China,and all over the world.The notion of Sinophone defines itself a brand-new space of discussion separating from those ever existed concepts such as Chinese literature,World Chinese language literature and Han language literature.The controversy over this concept has not been settled since its inception.This thesis argues that the problem of Chineseness continues to linger in the establishment and developments in this field.Often,arguments are raised in the core over discussions theoretically problematic conceptual frameworks such as how to locate "China" in the production of sinophone culture.It is particularly important to interpret the discourse of Sinophone objectively,logically from the perspective of mainland China,and participate more effectively and independently in the current field of world sinology.This thesis examines the current Sinophone studies from 2007 to 2017,looking into the way in which "Chineseness" are discussed,and analyzed from perspectives based on the context of mainland China.The thesis begins with the first chapter which,as an introduction,will explain the background and significance for the thesis,and explores the process of naming and construction in the concept of Sinophone.This chapter outlines the current development of Sinophone studies as a research field and review the existing discussions on the issue.In the second chapter,I will begin with discussing Shu-mei Shih's works,the first advocate and the most influenced leading scholar of Sinophone studies.Focusing on the Sinophone as a theoretical problem,Shu-mei Shih's arguments in this chapter will be analyzed in two parts.The first part is Against-Diaspora or De-Chineseness:A Theory as Strategy.The second section is Sinophone and Empire.The former part argues that despite it brings inspirations for current Chinese literary culture studies,Shih's main argument Against-Chineseness was inherited the de-constructionist context of post-colonial theory and ethnic politics in North America since the 1970s,in which her argument comes to de-Chinesness.The latter part analyzes the foundation of Shih's discussion on Sinophone,that is,how to understand China as an empire.This part argues that Shih's theory of Sinophone empire lacks historical analysis and its aim is to provide a political foundation for her points of de-Chineseness.Chapter ? then discusses another reprehensive scholar,David Der-wei Wang's arguments on Chineseness in Sinophone studies.From the academic genealogies,Wang and Shih can be seen as two opposing ends,but Wang expands the space for discussion of the Sinophone discourse to a certain extent.This chapter explores this distinction through two different parts:Post-loyalist and Huayi Feng(Sinophone),discusses the main argument of Wang's views on Sinophone and believes that it expands the meaning of Sinophone by using Chinese traditional literary criticism;Including into the Outside:the Politics of Roots and the Poetics of Trends,beginning with how Wang explain that positioning Chinese literature in the Sinophone world,this part is to analyzes Wang's another main argument,and points out that to a certain extent his argument shows a deliberate confusion in his discussion on literary culture.As the last part of this thesis,chapter ?,Chineseness in the Age of Globalization:Post-Colonial Discourse and Chinese Perspective,will explore global Chineseness in different aspects.Meanwhile,this chapter attempts to explain what is China under current discussion,which also seeks to trigger us on a more productive imagination on Sinophone and Chineseness.The first section discusses three scholars with different representations criticizing Sinophone and Chineseness beyond Shih and Wang.The second section discusses the pre-history of theoretical de-Chineseness and current critics.These two sections together brings different perspectives to understand Chineseness as a theoretical problem.The third section called Positioning Chineseness back in the world,which attempts to give critical analysis on discipline of area studies in North American academia,and explains the significance of Chineseness today.At the same time,to rethink the theoretical power between Sinophone and world literature.This thesis argues that the problem of Chineseness has been constructed in the post-Cold War academic politics since the 1990s as a strategic tool to cope with the rising China.To those researches on diaspora Chinese and Sinophone culture,however,we are forced to realize clearly that there is an undeniable,multifaceted China existing.In this context,the discussion on Chineseness should be separated from the post-colonial discourse as soon as possible,and to establish a truly objective and effective consciousness to answer the historical question of What is China.