rural modernity AAS panel--cfp

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Tina Chen <Tina.Chen at umanitoba.ca>
Subject: rural modernity AAS panel--cfp
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Hi all,

Mark McGonaghy (Phd Candidate, U. of Toronto) and I are organising an AAS
panel on "Rural Modernity and Cultural Form in 20th Century China". If
you're interested in joining us, please send a paper abstract to me
(tina.chen at ad.umanitoba.ca) and Mark (markmcconaghy6 at gmail.com) as soon as
possible (we're working against the looming deadline, as I'm sure you all
know!).  The panel abstract is below. If you have any questions or
thoughts, feel free to get in touch with us.

Thanks,
Tina Chen (History, University of Manitoba)

Proposed AAS Panel
Rural Modernity and Cultural Form in 20th Century China

A critical aspect of political modernity in twentieth century China was
the mobilization of rural society towards first nationalist and then
socialist revolutionary goals. In a country that was overwhelmingly rural,
political movements struggled with a crucial issue that cut across
ideological lines: what cultural forms were best suited for communication
with rural populations who were being asked to adopt novel forms of
political consciousness?

At key sites of rural reconstruction in the Republican period,
intellectuals thus experimented with a variety of aesthetic forms, from
spoken drama to pictorial newspapers to mass reading societies, in order
to “reach” the people. Such experimentation continued well into the
socialist period, becoming an integral element of Maoist approaches to
aesthetic form.

While academic scholarship has long recognized the role peasant
populations played in the Chinese revolution, there has been relatively
little attention payed to the on-the-ground interactions between
modernizing elites and the rural populations they sought to lead. This
panel seeks to redress this gap by examining how modernizing leaders
communicated with rural populations, with a particular emphasis on the
cultural forms which emerged out of this complex process.

As this was a constituent aspect of politics throughout the 20th century,
the panel has invited presentations on this topic as it was found in the
Republican, Maoist, and Post-Maoist periods. It is hoped that such
historical perspective will highlight both the shared challenges and
divergent responses that rural mobilization entailed over the course of
China’s transformative 20th century.

Tina Chen
Head and Associate Professor, Department of History
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, MB
Canada R3T 2NT
phone: 204-474-6386 / 204-474-9149
Tina.Chen at ad.umanitoba.ca