The beginning of China's ethnicity challenge

24th Wertheim Lecture by Dr Xiang Biao.

The lecture

China is quietly changing its ethnicity policy. The current Regional Nationality Autonomy paradigm is criticized for risking consolidating ethnic groups into nations, and an assimilationist approach is increasingly evident in recent policies. Instead of providing solutions, this shift can be the beginning of China’s ethnicity challenge – the challenge of widespread identity-based entitlements. Prof. Xiang Biao, Oxford University, examines the current position in relation to major historical debates since the 1910s, and especially to the changing nature of the Chinese State since the 1990s.

The speaker

Dr Xiang Biao is a lecturer in anthropology and migration studies at Oxford. He is the author of The Intermediary Trap (Princeton University Press, forthcoming), Global Bodyshopping (Princeton University Press, 2007; winner of 2008 Anthony Leeds Prize; Chinese by Peking University Press 2012),Transcending Boundaries (Chinese by Sanlian Press, 2000, to be reprinted as a “Classics in Chinese Sociology in 2016; English by Brill 2005), and Return: Nationalizing Transnational Mobility in Asia (co-edited with Brenda Yeoh and Mika Toyota, Duke University Press, 2013). He published about 60 articles, including the one awarded the 2012 William L. Holland Prize for outstanding article in Pacific Affairs.

The Wertheim Lecture 

Honoring the legacy of Prof. Wim Wertheim, the founding father of Asian studies at the UvA, the annual Wertheim Lecture is co-organized by the Moving Matters programme group of the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR, University of Amsterdam), and the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS).

Registration

Please register in advance via email address aissr@uva.nl or telephone +31 (0) 20 525 2262. There are limited seats available.