Contestation and Adaptation: The Politics of National Identity in China

Dr. Enze Han explores the influence of ethnic minority groups on Chinese national identity.

Simmering grievances and occasional outbursts of social unrest among ethnic minority populations in China challenge not only the ruling party's legitimacy and governance, but also contemporary Chinese national identity and the territorial integrity of the Chinese state. However, of the fifty-five ethnic minority groups in China, only the Tibetans and Uyghurs have forcefully contested the idea of a Chinese national identity. Tackling this question, Dr. Han compares the way five major ethnic minority groups in China negotiate their national identities with the Chinese nation-state: Uyghurs, Chinese Koreans, Dai, Mongols, and Tibetans. The talk hopes to shed light on the nation-building processes in China over the past six decades and the ways that different groups have resisted or acquiesced in their dealings with the Chinese state and majority Han Chinese society.

Dr. Enze Han is a Lecturer at the Department of Politics and International Studies, SOAS, University of London. His research interests include ethnic politics in China and China's relations with Southeast Asia. His recent publications include Contestation and Adapation: The Politics of National Identity in China (OUP, 2013), and with various articles appearing in The Journal of Contemporary China, The China Quarterly, Nationalities Papers, Security Studies, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, among others. Previously, Dr. Han was a postdoctoral fellow in the China and the World Program, Princeton University. He received a Ph.D in Political Science from the George Washington University.

RSVP at go.gwu.edu/chinaminorities.