Online Seminar Series Ways of State-Building in Contemporary China
Ottobre 23 ore 16:00 – Dicembre 4 ore 13:00
The seminar series Ways of State-Building in Contemporary China explores the multifaceted processes of state-building in contemporary China, focusing on the interplay between policies of economic development, infrastructure expansion, bordering and (im)mobility, and language and education reforms as key mechanisms through which power is spatially and symbolically consolidated. The talks examine how state visions are articulated through both discourse and material practices in everyday life, particularly in areas directly or indirectly governed by state power, such as tourism, education, and urbanisation. Special attention is dedicated to China’s peripheries, often marginalised in mainstream analyses but central to long-standing strategies of governance and national integration. These include state campaigns such as Open Up the West, the Belt and Road Initiative, the promotion of Standard Mandarin in ethnic minority regions, and targeted poverty alleviation policies.
Drawing on interdisciplinary perspectives ranging from political and human geography to sociolinguistics and development studies, the series offers a nuanced understanding of how state-building intersects with identity formation, spatial politics, and the everyday reproduction of authority across China’s diverse ethnolinguistic and sociopolitical landscapes.
–> Please register here to access Zoom: https://unive.zoom.us/meeting/register/iCoBjzvlQz6eJgaZxUjHVQ
The first lecture by Prof. Andrew Grant of the University of Tampa was titled Unstable Bordering: Chinese Development at Two Nepalese Border Sites.
Upcoming lectures by
Dr. Gegentuul Baioud, Uppsala University (OCT 30, 4 PM CET), Linguistic Hauntings at the Margins of China
Dr. Ryanne Flock, Universität Würzburg (NOV 20, 4 PM CET), Understanding China Through the Lens of Everyday Street Life, and How Dealing With Peddlers Translated Into Efforts of State-Building
Dr. Yan Huang, South China Normal University (NOV 27, 11 AM CET), Cruising A Disputed Sea: The Geopolitics of Tourism in the South China Sea
Prof. Dr. Dezheng William Feng, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (DEC 4, 11 AM CET), Multimodal Discursive Governance and State-Building in Digital China
Please see the attached poster for abstract details and the schedule.
Lectures will last 45 minutes, followed by up to 30 minutes of discussion. Lectures will start on time (no academic quarter).
Poster_overall programme_compressed (1)