Critical Han Studies [Paperback]

Constituting over ninety percent of China's population, Han is not only the largest ethnonational group in that country but also one of the largest categories of human identity in world history. In this pathbreaking volume, a multidisciplinary group of scholars examine this ambiguous identity, one that shares features with, but cannot be subsumed under, existing notions of ethnicity, culture, race, nationality, and civilization.

Thomas S. Mullaneyis a professor of history at Stanford University.James Leiboldis senior lecturer and Asian studies program convenor at La Trobe University.St?phane Grosis a research fellow at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.Eric Vanden Busscheis a Ph.D. candidate at Stanford University.

Addressing the problem of the Han ethnos from a variety of relevant perspectiveshistorical, geographical, racial, political, literary, anthropological, and linguisticCritical Han Studiesoffers a responsible, informative deconstruction of this monumental yet murky category. It is certain to have an enormous impact on the entire field of China studies.

Victor H. Mair, University of Pennsylvania

This deeply historical, multidisciplinary volume consistently and fruitfully employs insights from critical race and whiteness studies in a new arena. In doing so it illuminates brightly how and when ideas about race and ethnicity change in the service of shifting configurations of power. David Roediger, author ofHow Race Survived U.S. History



A great book. By examining the social construction of hierarchy in China, Critical Han Studies sheds light on broad issues of cultural dominance and in-group favoritism. Richard Delgado, author ofCritical Race Theory: An Introduction



A powerful, probing account of the idea of the Han Chinesethat deceptive category which, like American, is so often presl�