Ethnicity is a highly politicized issue in contemporary China. Twentieth-century nation-building has been intimately involved with classification of ChinaOs fifty-five ethnic minorities and with fostering harmony and unity among nationalities. Officially sanctioned social science classifies the majority group, the so-called Han, at the pinnacle of modernization and civilization and most other groups as Oprimitive.O In post-socialist China, popular conceptions of self, person, and nation intersect with political and scholarly concerns with identity, sometimes contradicting them and sometimes reinforcing them. In Portraits of OPrimitives,O Susan D. Blum explores how Han in the city of Kunming, in southwest China, regard ethnic minorities and, by extension, themselves. She sketches Oportraits,O or cognitive prototypes, of ethnic groups in a variety of contexts, explaining the perceived visibility of each group (which almost never correlates with size of population). Ideas of OHannessO can be understood in part through Han desire to identify unique characteristics in ethnic minorities and also through Han celebration of the differences that distance minorities. The book considers questions of identity, alterity, and self in the context of a complex nation-state, employing methods from linguistic anthropology and psychological anthropology, as well as other forms of cultural analysis. Providing nuanced views of relationships among political, scholarly, and popular models of identity, this book will be an invaluable guide for those working in China studies, anthropology, and ethnic studies.

About the Author
Susan D. Blum is associate professsor of anthropology at the University of Notre Dame.

Reviews
...frequently both charming and insightful. * Journal Of The Royal Anthropological Institute *
The book's strength lies in its ethnographic material. Western scholars have often paid attention to how Han Chinese talk about ethnic minorities, but until Blum, no one bothered to systematically investigate Han views. * The China Journal *
Blum not only provides a unique study of majority Chinese attitudes towards minority groups, but also explains modern anthropological theories of ethnicity in a wonderfully readable way. This well-done and workmanlike study not only provides an excellent account of ethnic stereotyping in south China; it also would be an ideal case study to use in classes in ethnicity. Recommended for all levels, and for collections in contemporary China, ethnicity and identity, and stereotypes and the social construction of belief systems. * CHOICE *
For examining issues of difference, identity, stereotypes, and cognition, the book will prove useful to scholars and students alike. * Journal of Asian Studies *
Portraits of 'Primitives' tells a story with which we are in various ways familiar, but which has never yet been told with such clarity and thoroughness. * China Quarterly *
This is the first thoroughgoing study of Han perspectives about minorities. A very important contribution to our understanding of Chinese society and ethnicity in general. -- Dru Gladney, University of Hawai'i



Book Information
ISBN 9780742500921
Author Susan D. Blum
Format Paperback
Page Count 256
Imprint Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Publisher Rowman & Littlefield
Weight(grams) 340g
Dimensions(mm) 230mm * 146mm * 16mm