Unstructuring Chinese Society

Unstructuring Chinese Society puts forth a fresh perspective in the field of historical anthropology, while addressing ongoing critical concerns in postcolonial theory and our understanding of tradition and modernity.

Auteur

Allen Chun is a Research Fellow in the institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan. He has held lectureships at the National University of Singapore, the University of California, Berkeley, USA and the Australian National University, and has published widely on nationalism, social theory and cultural identity in East Asia

Résumé
Unstructuring Chinese Society is a culmination of long term field work and archival research that challenges existing theories of social organisation and cultural change. The book makes new sense of historical contradictions, political conflicts and deep seated social transformations that have underlined the experience of colonial rule and the practices of local institutions in Hong Kong over the past century. By focusing on the ongoing interactions of discourse, practices and global-local relations in cultural terms, Unstructuring Chinese Society puts forth a fresh perspective in the field of historical anthropology, while addressing ongoing critical concerns in postcolonial theory and our understanding of tradition and modernity.

Contenu

Introduction: The Field of History in the Field 1. Earthbound Anthropologies in 'Structure' of Chinese Society 2. The Changing Meaning of Colonial Policy on Land in the New Territories of Hong Kong 3. The Changing Meaning of Land in Colonial Hong Kong 4. The Meaning of Tradition in a Progressive Society 5. Culture's Colonialism: The Future of Method