Colloquy on Asia in the Era of Globalization (CAEG)
BOUNDARIES
A TWO-YEAR GENERATIVE PROGRAM FUNDED BY THE INSTITUTE FOR THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES
Presents...
Islam's Orient: Islam, Nationalism, and Ethnic Violence in China
HIST 597C / CMLIT 597C / RL ST 597C
Dr. David Atwill, professor of History
email: dga11@psu.edu Office: Weaver 304 Office Hours: Th. 1-2 pm (and by appt.)
Tuesdays 6 - 9 pm, Life Science Building, room 008
Despite the fact that China has a Muslim population larger than Iraq, Saudi Arabia, or Malaysia, Muslim Chinese culture and society is often dismissed as peripheral to the concerns of both the Islamic World and China. Through lecture, readings, films, and discussion, this course will survey and analyze the diverse religious, ethnic and political identities found among China’s Muslim communities. Focusing on those ethnic groups who practice Islam – the Uyghur, Kazaks, and Hui – the emphasis of this seminar will be on challenging the misleading perception of China as a cultural and ethnically homogenous society, on the one hand, and the Middle Eastern notion of those Muslims who live outside Dar-al-Islam as less Muslim on the other. The complex inter-ethnic and transnational relations of the Muslim groups living inside China have resulted in the emergence of an ethno-religious identity that challenges the most common modern categories of classification: nation, ethnicity or religion. With an eye to the central role the Muslim Chinese have exerted in the construction of the Chinese and Inner Asian nation-states, this seminar will examine the religious beliefs, persistent resistance to assimilation, and their evolving ethnic identities.
Class requirements:
Participation (30%), Reaction Papers (30%), Paper proposal (10%)
Paper
(30%): An 8-10 page paper discussing a
topic of your choice is due by May 2. The topic can be either thematic/topical
or more of a bibliographic review (examining the evolution and or controversies
surrounding a subject) that relates to Islam in China. Each member of the class
will present their findings in a 20 minute presentation during the final seminar
meeting (April 26). You may use the readings from class as a basis for further
research on the subject.
Required Books:
Title: Muslim Chinese: Ethnic Nationalism in the Peoples Republic Author: Dru C. Gladney Edition: 2nd Edition (1996) Publisher: Harvard University Press ISBN: 0674594975
Title: Familiar Strangers: A History of Muslims in Northwest China Author: Jonathan Lipman Publisher: University of Washington Press (1998) ISBN: 0295976446
Title: Holy War in China: The Muslim Rebellion and State in Chinese Central Asia Author: Hodong Kim Publisher: Stanford University Press (2004) ISBN: 0804748845
Title: Beyond the Pass: Economy, Ethnicity, and Empire in Qing Central Asia, 1759-1864 Author: James Millward Publisher: Stanford Univ Pr (1998) ISBN: 0804729336
Title: Between Mecca and Beijing: Modernization and Consumption among Urban Chinese Muslims Author: Maris Gillette Publisher: Stanford Univ. Press (2000) ISBN: 0804746850
Title: Xinjiang: China's Muslim Borderland (Studies of Central Asia and the Caucasus) Author: S. Frederick Starr Publisher: M E Sharpe (2004) ISBN: 0765613182
Required
Reading: In addition to the above
monographs we will be reading a variety of articles. These will generally be
available via e-reserve.
Tentative Seminar Schedule:
Unit I – Introduction to Islam in China
January 11 - Introductory Meeting Reading: No Reading
January 18* - Conceptualizing Islam in China Reading: Gladney, Muslim Chinese: Ethnic Nationalism in the People’s Republic
January 25* - Islam and Northwest China Reading: Starr, Xinjiang: China’s Muslim Borderlands
Unit II – Imperial China and Islam
February 1* - Guest Speaker: James Millward Reading: Millward, Beyond the Pass: Economy, Ethnicity, and Empire in Qing Central Asia
February 8 - New Trends and Emerging Orthodoxy Reading: Lipman, "Sufism in the Chinese Courts: Islam and Qing Law in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century." In de Jong and Radtke eds., Islamic Mysticism Contested: Thirteen Centuries of Controversies and Polemics 253-275.
February 15* - Yakub Beg Reading: Kim, Holy War in China: The Muslim Rebellion and State in Chinese Central Asia
February 22 - Muslim Chinese: Which Hui? Reading: Atwill, “Blinkered Visions: Islamic Identity, Hui Ethnicity, and the Panthay Rebellion,” Journal of Asian Studies 62(4) November 2003, 1079-1102.
March 1* - Betwixt and Between: Muslim Chinese of Northwest China Reading: Lipman, Familiar Strangers: A History of Muslims in Northwest China
March 7-11: Spring Break
Unit III – Islam in 20th Century China
March 15* - Forging a New Identity Reading: Gillette, Between Mecca and Beijing
March 22 - Making Minorities: the Muslim Chinese in PR China Reading: Gladney, “Educating China’s Others,” in Dislocating China: Muslims, Minorities and Other Subaltern Groups, 260-281.
March 29 - No Class (Paper topics & Bibliographies due) Reading: No Reading April 5* - No Class (Schedule Conference with Prof) Reading: No Reading
April 12 - No Class (Schedule Conference with Prof) Reading: No Reading
April 19 - No Class (Schedule Conference with Prof) Reading: No Reading
April
26 - Presentations: Bibliographies and Papers due Reading: No
Reading
This course is offered in conjunction with the interdepartmental initiative called Colloquy on Asia in the Era of Globalization, which is funded by Penn State's Institute for the Arts and Humanities.
This website has been supported by a grant from the Institute for the Arts and Humanities.
Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this website do not necessarily reflect those of the Institute for the Arts and Humanities.