Thomas Mullaney
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In telling a clear story about the emergence of ethnic categories in modern China, Tom Mullaney‘s Coming to Terms With the Nation: Ethnic Classification in Modern China (University of California Press, 2011) ranges across Saussurean linguistics, census reports, oral histories, and the historiography of laboratory science. Mullaney uses a careful, focused study of the practices of the Yunnan Province Ethnic Classification Research Team to open a much wider set of questions about the ways that key concepts (including ethnic potential, linguistic intelligibility, consent) both shaped and were produced by a project to create and map the 56 minzu of today’s China. In addition to being an inspiring model of what a truly trans-disciplinary study of Chinese history can look like, Coming to Terms With the Nation is also a darn good story and a fascinating read.
Give the interview a listen to learn more about the importance of language and linguists in shaping modern notions of ethnicity, the history of the 56-minzu model in China, and the idea behind Tom’s ideal bookstore.
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I forgot to mention that the original is in French: La province chinoise d Yun Nan.
Hi! I noticed that you do a lot of books on Yunnan! I’ve completed a translation of Emile Rocher’s 1880 account of Yunnan in the 1870s, including an eye-witness account of the Muslim Rebellion which raged in Yunnan from 1856-1873. It is being published by Caravan Press and should appear within the next 12 months. Do you review translations? Rocher’s account is very vivid and interesting. It would be a good companion to your other Yunnan books.