t lt, (;l(,I\tl in lhe Lo.

ol

rrr,rrhavcbcen,but t ithin tbe contextof rvhrt rvasto fblklv, its nostalgiafor the
l,,rrl cornnrunityilppearsas sometltingnrore than a nrer.eftbrrlltion of r pasl
rrrcvocably lost;asa nostalgiathat becolnesan activeingredientitr thc lirlnrirtiorr
,'l .l cout€mporatydiscourscon the local rvhich has rescued"lirllulirtion"itsclf
lr('rr thc opprobriunrof a nrore"realistic"tirne to renrlcrit irrto a principlc lirr
tlr(,r-fconstruction ofthe local.' It rvould seentb,vtlre errrl,vnineticsthat local
The Globalin the Local rrovcnlents,or lrrovctnents to saveand reconstructlocalsocicties,
rr tlrc prinrary(if not the otrly)expressions
hitr,e'cntc't.getl
of resisttrnceto tlotninalion; fronr tlre
l', ( hugging$()tlen ofthe Chipko Inovenlelltin Northern Incliato the lvorrrc'tr
r', rrlicrsoI the naquiladoririndtrstriesof the UnitctlStatesNlexicirnbortlcr., frorrr
rrrrligcnous people'surovementsseekingsecession flonr cokrnillist stiltcsto thc
Al)outtcn yearsago,a moviecalledLocnlHero(dircctedby llill Forsyth)appearerl \\{ \tcrn Kansnscolrntiesrvhichu,ishto seccdcfrom Kansasarrdlhe Unitc(lStiltes
on the screens of artsiermovic theatcrsin the UnitedStates. 'fhe movie narrarcrl l',r,rtrsethey t-eel abusetlby thcir governnrents,local nroventents havecnrcrgccl as
the sturly of a tiiendly confrontationbetweena global oil companylocatetlirr , l'. r'vlsivcphenorlenonofthe contenrporarv lvorlcl.'These nrovcnrcnts llrrrlres-
Ijouston, 'fexas,and a small town on the Scottishcoast,which the corporatiorl ,,rr,rncc in radicalsocialtheory in the increasingflerlucncvrvith rvhiclrthc tcrrn
plansto buy out anclto razeso that it rnaybuild a complexfor its North Seaoil l,rt,rl"appca|sitr considerations of the presentand the firtureol societvgloblllv.
operations.l'hc corporationseeksto bargainthe townspeopleout of their pro|- lr tllis thcorizingthe "local" retainsthe concrcteassocinlions ol'thc locitlcorrr
erty-since, we are told, they are not mereThird World peoplcwho may sinrply nrrrrritl,-asin LocnlHerc but rnoreasrefcrencethirnls spccific(lcscriptiolt(or.
be pushedout of thc way.The locals,though excitcdby the promiscof unirnag 1,r,'.r'iption); the meirning(the very scope)of the local is subicctothclrlist to
incd wealth,not only prove to bc crafty negotiators, but in the end manageto rr,llrliatiorr irr accordance rvith thoscconsiderltions.
hunranizcthe initiallyvery urban young companyexccutivesentthereto do thc I rcflccton tbe "local" belorvas a site both of lTroniseanrl plcrliclnrcnt.lrlv
negotiating,as well as the bugh but spacyowncr of the company(playedbeau l,rrrnry conccn'lis rvith the localassiteof promise,irntl the socialrrntlitlco|rgi-
tifully by llurt Lancastcr), both of whonr end up fallingin lovervitlrthe placeantl ,,rl rlrrnges€tloballythat haved,vnanrizeri a ratlicalre-thinkingof thc locirtovcr
its inhibitants.lhe filnr enclswith the O!)O scrappingthe plannedoilcomplexil| tlr, l.rstclccade. I all inlercstedespeciallv in the relationshiPbetrvcenllrc c'rrrer-
favorof builtling a rcscarchlaboratorywhererefineriesand dockswcrc to hflv(, , , rrccol a (i l obal(l apit alisDaDdt he em er geuce of concer nr vilht he locllr r sa sit c
been.'lhc locrlswin, the town wins,the cnvironmentwins,and the corl'oratiol "l rcsistirnce anci Iibclation. Consirleratiol of this relltionshiPis crLrcial, it secnts
is happy-except for the young executivewho is shippedback mercilesslyto t,, rrrc,to clistinguishing a "criticallocalisrn"fion localisn asltr iricoloeictlilrtic
Houskrn,and the jLrnglcof urban life and globalcorporateoperations, with only Il rtiorr of capitalismin its curreDtphasc. lhroughout, holve\'er,I try illso to
mernoriesof wlrat might havebcen. r, rrr.rincogrrizirntof the local as a site of plcdicrr'tcltt.In its pr.onriscof libcln-
'the fllrn in its executionconvcyedall the warrnth of its message, whrt t r,'n. localisnrrray llso serveto dis€(uisc
but oppressionantl Prrochialisnr. lt is intleetl
seemcdmost renrorkable nbout it at the time was its romantic nostaleiafor thc r,rri. that the local should emergeas a site of prontiseitt a historicnlulon]enl
concretely(arrd,thele[ore,hurnanely)lrrcalagainstthe abstractly(and;thereforc,, ,'lrlrr krca]isrrrof the rnost conventionulkind hls reentergccl os thc sorrrccof
clehumanizingly) global.In hincisightit seemsromanticstill, but somewhatlcss 11, rrotitlalconflict alound the rvorld.The latter,kx), nrusl surclyentcr rtnvcon-
nostalgic.We know thnt the humanizationof one corporateCEO doesnot .(l(l r,i r'.rtiorrof thc locll as siteof resistance to antl liberationfr.ornopPrcslilon, In
up to the humanizationof capital,anclare cvenmore awarethan beforcthat thc , tl r(r cl se,the l ocn lt hat is at issueher eis not t he "local"in alt vconvcnt ionill {) r
salvagingof onc local conmunity from the rava6les of capitaldoesnot stop thc tr.r,lrtionalsense,bllt a very coutemporary"local" tltnt servesils il sitc fi)r tlrc
onslaughtof crpitalon comntunity.We havelearned,if anything,that to saveonc r', li irrgout of the nrostfundamentalcontrlclictionsof the agc.
'r
cornmunityit may bc necessary to destroyanother.
What makesLoralHeroseentlessnostalgicis the emergcnce in the intervcnirrg
decadeofa concernwith the localasthe siteof rcsistance Rethinkingthe Local
to carrital.and thc locu
tion for inraginingalternativepossibilitiesfirr the future. Il()rrrrnticthc nr()vir 1 \ l (' r)cl rl t,l )tc\a nllv,l( ) s( ) r l( ) r r t he l; lct of slhilt hin'econt r ibt r t cclt ( ) t hcilsacn
,l rrrrl ol rrt,rrrrcl r r r 'it ht hc lo. al or <. rt hc llr slt [ . ear lt ,ar r r l. t nl sr r eltur r r ler t ir kir r {
 \

TheGlobnlin the Lortl

' ,1,'lulitt the Locnl

must of necessitybe highly speculative.What the "local" implies in different colt. ,"', \Loc to be marginalized for their insistence on the continueclrelevance of the
texts is highly uncertain. Sufficeit to say here that a concern for the local secnu l,,l lrr the immediatedecades afterWorlclWar I I, the modernizationist reputli-
to appearin the foregroundin connectionwith certainsocialmovements(chicl ,rr,,rrol the localprevailedin both bourgeoisand Marxistsocialscience.
among them ecological,women's, ethnic and indigenous people'smovemenrr; It rr not surprising,therefore,that the local should appearin contenrperary
and the intellectualrepudiationof past ideologies(chief among them, for tlto lr ,,,rrrsr.'hand'inhand with the repudiationof modentistteleology,the rejec-
sakeof brevity here, the intellectual developmentsassociatedwith, or that hirvr r,"r, .r' irleologyof the "metanarratives" which haveframedtlre history of ntod
goneinto the makingof, "postmodernism"). , rrrrz,rliorr, ivhether capitalistor socialist."Postntodernism," which has been
Why thereshouldbe a connectionbetweenthe repudiationof pastideologicr
' l, ., r ilretlas"incredulitytorvardmetanarratives;' providesa convenientif loose
and the reemergenceof the local as a concern is not very mysterious.Localismnr r' r rrrlrrl characlerizing the variouschallenges to nroderlist tele()logy,rrotbeciluse
an orientationin eithera "traditional"or a modern sensehasneverdisappearca, r1,,,,,n,hodo so think of themselves as"postmoclernists," but becausceverysucll
but ratherhasbeensuppressed or, at best,marginalizedin variousideologies ol ' lr rll,rrqcin its own rvaycontributesto the makingof a postnrodcrnconsciotts-
modernity.Localismdoes not speakof an incurablesocialdiseasethat murl ,,, ... l!f that as it may,the repucliationof modernistteleologyimpliesthirt lhere
sooneror laterbring about its naturaldemise;and thereis nothing about it thrl r rr,'tlrirrgnalural or inherentlydesirableabout modernizatiol (in capitalistor
is inherently undesirable.What makesit seemso is a historical consciousness thfll ,, rrlist lirrm). and that the narrativeof rnodernizationis a narrativeof conr-
identifiescivilizationand progresswith political,socialand cultural homogc" 'l'hiscri-
t', ll||r'l into nrodernitythosewho did not necessarily rvishto lre rnoclern.
nization, and justifies the suppressionof the local in the name of the generalantl r,,tr( , lrx)ris not necessarily novel,but long hasbeenfundamentalto lhe ra<lical
the universal.Modernist teleology has gone the farthest of all in stamping upol , | ,rr,r\nr ()[ capitalism;from Marx and Engelsto Kropotkin,radicalsin the nine-
the local its derogatoryimage:as enclavesofbackwardnessleft out of progress,ls r,, r rlr (cntury rejecterlthe "naturalness" of capitalistdevelopmeltanclpointed
the realmof rural stagnationagainstthe dynamismof the urban,industrialcivi- r,, , , '11rio|rx5ksy 1(.) the globalsuccess of capitalisnr.lr4arx,horvever, vierverlit as
lization of capitalism,as the realm of particularistic culture againstuniversalsci- , 1'r,,1ilcssive developnrent whereasKropotkinviewedcomplicityin clevelopntent
entific rationality and, perhaps most importantly, as the obstacleto full realizl- ,', rtlrsPecificreference to the nation-state)asthe consequence of "brainrvashing
tion of that political form of modernity, the nation-state.r tlr.rrls to ... educationdefornredand vitiatedby the state,and our statepreju-
This teleologyhasbeenresistednot only in the nameof"traditional" localisnr
'1r,,, -+vhichmay be one reasonamon8othersthat anarchismhasmadesomc-
that sought to preservereceivcdforms of local society,but by radical critics ol tlrrrrliol ir comebackarnongradicalsin recentyearsas Marxisrnlrassufleredfor
modernity as well. Anti-modernism renderedthe local into a refugefrom thc r .,r\\()ciiltionwith modernization.'
ravagesof modernity. Socialists,while not resistingmodernity per se,hava llrc lcpudiationof the metanarrative of moclernization, and its rcdirectionof
sought to localizemodernity so as to render it more manageable-begrnnrn6 rr, nlion to coercionover teleologyin developnretrt, have hacltrvo itnmediate
with the socialexperimentsof the utopian socialists, and culminatingin petcr , ,,n\1(lucrlces, First,it rescues from invisibilitythosewho wereeirtlicrviewedas
Kropotkin'splans for "industrial villages"as the foundation for anarchistsoci- r,t,rrvrrys from history,whosesocialard culturalforntsofexistenccaPpcoril the
ety.' Karl Marx and FriedrichEngels,who reiected"utopian" in favorof"scien- rrrrr,rtivcof modernizationat bestasirrelcvancies, at worstits minor ollstacles to
tific" socialismnevertheless saw in "abolishingthe contrastbetweentown anrl 1,, , rtirrguishedon the lvay to development.Ilaving reflseclto die a tratural
country" one of the keysto resolvingthe problemsof capitalistsociety,which ,1,.rrlr.l)lrt insteadcome into self-awareness asvictirnsof coercion,they denrand
had brought this contrast'1oits extremepoint.",Third World revolutionsin thc ,,,'\' nr't just restorationof their history,further splinteringthe nlrc'atiycrackecl
twentiethcentury would perpetuatetheseconcernsfor local society;espccially i r, rrlt ol nrodernity.'Ihedemandis almostinevitablyacconrpanie(l hy a reflsser-
thoserevolutionswhich, compelledby force of circumstances to pursueagrar- rr,'rrol thc localagainstthe universalistic claimsof tnoclcrnisnr."
ian strategies of revolution,had to facelocalsocietiesand their participationin I lre lcpudiationof the rnetanarrative of modernization,secontily, hasrllowed
revoltttionasa conditionof revolutionarysuccess. In thesecases, ironically,local Ratherthan an inexorablentarclrof global
t r ,rl.r visil)ilityto "local narratives."
societywould also emergeas a source of national identity, againstthe cos- , ,rr,lrrtst lrorrrits origlinsin Er.rrope, the historyof rrodernizationappearsnolv as
mopolitanismof urban centersdrawn increasinglyinto the global culturc ol' I r, rrlx,rnl succcssiorl of spatiallydispersedlocal encounters, to which the local
capitalism.o nratic thcir orvn contt ibutiotrs lhrough rcsistatrce or cotrrPlic-
Ir'oglcss
The teleologyof modernity, nevertheless, wasto emergevictorious in the twor- , r \ , , t | r t r i l ) u t i n g i n s i gr r i fi cr |r tw l ysl o l h cfr r r t't'tl ti o n o [n r xl cr n i ty,.a sw cl l i i s to
tieth centrrryoverearliersocialistdoubtsabout its consequences. l hc conccrnlir , r . , , | | rI r x ( | i ( I i ( Ir s. Al sr r r l r r cs( i o r r ctli r r I h i s vi cr r , u r t' l h c cl i ti n r s o l n a l i r r tti tl i sn t
thc locrl pcrsistcdin thc thinking of agrrrian ut(,piatrsan(l anarclrists, '
brrt thcy, , . I 'r , l r , . r I 'r r r . t i l ' r 'l l ,'l r r r ,xl t r tti z.tl i o r , l t:r sso r r ti l r ll ( ) It( ) n r o l l ctti /cl l tc so r i cl i cs
', l r
 TheGlobalin the '. ' l ,'l "tl tn the Lonl
I
it hasclaimedfor itself,suppressing
furthersuchlocal€ncounters,
andthe rn in nativeculturtrlantl idcologicalnorms;I havein minclherethe cul-
erogeneity"theyimply,r" 'r 1,rr.rti,
' ',r rl , Lr inrs of EastAsiansocieties.
Wereit simplyan ideologicalphenomenon,the postmodernrepudiationol tltl | ,i rll s,rr.nrore aboutthe lntterin the nextsectionin conncctionwith the erler-
metanarrative of modernity could be dismissedas a momentarylossof faith ltl
I r,,,,,1 .r( ilobal Capitalisnl.A few wortlsare rrecessary hereconcerrringthcvar-
modernity,anotherinstanceofthose chronicfailuresof nervethat seemto attc d ,,r I'r'ople'smovenrents"iD tlre Llnited States(and clscwherein lhe First
momentsof crisisin development, especially
on occasions of transition,that wlll rr' ,rl ,l t,rvhi chcal l edir t o quest ionnot just t he clainr sof cipit alist societ ) but ,,
go awayassoonasthe transitionhasbeencompletedand the crisisresolved, lfm, rrotionsof socialisnrasrvell.Most obviousis the questioningby rvrrrncn,
this new round of anti-modernismmight be at besta passiveenablingconditiol ' rl,'rr,, r'.rcial, and indigcuouspeoplesof the socialistclainrsto the centrllitl, of
that allows us to hear previously inaudibte voices,that will be mured again {l lr .r' thc fundamentalproblerl of capitalistsociet.v. The resultrvasnot only a
soon as the businessof developmentis once again under way,with capjtalisnl ,,, 'r, t lroloughexamination of socialcategories irr politicalt)rganization, but rlso
havingdisposedof the compctitionthat for nearly a century shapedand,tiir, r, rtrr political
' I rwareness ofthe manipulation ofsocial cate'goriesl the intposi
torted"its development.
socialcomplexityof reductionistir'rterpretations of categories, in other
It is possiblethat the disillusionmentwith capitalism,accompanied by a lossol' ' ,,r,lr,lo trtiorralizeideologicalrule in the name of tlre groupsso reprcsented.
faith in socialismthat gathercdforcein the 1980sto reachits culminationin thf
llr' r( \l)onscto crtegoricdlre<luctinnisnr was to assertthe histot'icityand con-
fall of socialiststatesin 1989,hasplayeda fundamentalpart in the resurgence or r, \rr,rlity ofsocial categories, which rvasto find expression in thc works of ['].P
an anti-modernismthat hasredirectedthe attentionof radicalsto localsolutions ll'rrrrpson,E. Genovcseand J. Scott,ancithe "nerv socialhistory" their rvorks
to problemsof development. It is more than possible,as I will arguebelow,thlt
rather than signal the death of developmentalism,this new round of anti-m<xl- 'rr 1,rrrrl.' What is important hcrc is tlut new consciotlsness of the historicityof
.,, r.rl! xlcgoriesdrcw atteDtiolrto lhe localcultureof the pcoplein socill move-
ernism has something to do with a new phasein the developmentof capitalisnr. ,'r,r't\.rgirinstearlierernphases on a one-to-oDerelationshiplretwecrr socill exis-
What is not so ccrtain is that the concernsexpressedtry this anti-modernism will r, rr,, .rndi deol ogy.
go awayonce the crisis of transition has been overcome,becausetheseconrerns llcrr beforethe crisis of socialismbecameevident in the 1980s,and post
are not merely ideological but the very products of the ecological,social antl rrr,,, I r nisnr becamea horrsehol<l rvord,in otl]er words,tleveloprnerrts in social
political consequences of development,They are responsesto a real crisis createcl ,,,,,\(rrcntsancli n the r elat ionships bet wecnt hc "lhr ce Wor kls" callcclint o
by developmentswithin capitalism,and the whole project of modernity,and , tr, .,lir)rrthe spatialancitenrporaltelcologyof developnrcnt, as wcll as the con-
solutionsto the crisis(asin the past)will haveto be factoredinto considerations earlierradicirlthinking. ()n the other
',l,ru.rl tcleologythat h{d chdrilcterizecl
of further development. Aboveall, however,what is likely to givetheseconcerns lr.,rrrl,it is nccessary to note thirt whateverthc materialcircunrstilnces that rcn-
lastingpower is that they expressthe demandsnot iust of the powerless victints ,1,r((l " postmodernisni'int elligibleand plausible,it was t hc gcncr . r t iont hat
of development,althoughthat is significantenough,hut of forrnerlypowerless .'rrrlol agerviththesedevelopulents tlrat u,asto pla)'thecrucialpart in its artic-
groups who have acquired new power by virtue of the processof development ,rl.rtion.-Iheconcernfor the local (rvhetherliterallylocal,or in refcrcnceto the
itself,who now scekto redefineit in accordancewith their own intcrestsand per- l,', .rl" needsof socialgroups)glathcred forcesimultrncouslyrvith the repudia-
ccptions. rr,'rrol teleologl..I can do no tn(lre than suggestllcre that an ccQlogic:rl con-
It is neither necessarynor possibleto recapitulatehcre what thcsegroups are, , nusness,rvhich has done nruch to reassertthe primacl' of the klcal (as the
cxceptin the broadesttermsto indicatethe waysin which their emcrgence from viablelocation for living in hatmony with nature),was r pr()ductof thc
invisibilityand silencecontributedto the questioningof metanarratives ",,''t
ofdevel- (ircunrstances, anclobviotrsll,boresome relationshipto thc shift in social
opment.Primarywithin the UnitedStatesarethe emergence into politicsofAfro- '|llc
rrr,I l rrl i ti calconsci o usness.
Americansand women in the 1960s,followed(and due to the stimulustney pro-
l)cvclopmcntas maldevelopnrenti adjustmentto nature againstthe urge to
vided) by other ethnic and indigenouspeople'srnovements.Globally,Third ,, it; the porosityof borclellancls againsttlrc rigitlity of politicalfornrs,in
World revolutions(especially in China,followedby Vietnam)playeda rrrajorpart 'rr,1ucr
l ,,rrti trrl nrtl re nati on - st at e; llct er ogeneitovery honr ogeneit y; over det er nlinat ion
in questioningearlier(capitalistand socialist)modelsol <levelopment, but cven rll,rinstcltcgolicirllyclcfincdsubjectivities; ideoloSyas cultrrre,ancl culture as
nroreimportant in the long run havebeenthe em€rliclrce fronr the 1970sofsuc- ,l .ri l ! rrcgoti ati on; "local knowlcdgc"ir gainstuni-
enliglr t cnr r r cnt r s hegenr ony;
c€ssfulinstancesof capitalistdevelopmentin the'thirtl Wr tl which, having , , rs.rI sLi crrti l l c rrti on r litv; r r ativc sensibilitiesand spir it Lr alil
iesasil suFplgn1c111
achievedstrccess, proccededto qucstionthc assrrnrltiorrs of lirr.occnlricnr()(lcls rr o l x s u l ) s l i l l r l e l i r r ', r 'ca so r ro; l a l u g u i r r slr vl i l l cn cr r l tr tr 'c';Io l i ti r i tl r tr r r 'c
of rlcvclopnrenl, cout)tcringthc lallcr with rrrorlclsol tlcvcL4rltclttthitt clitinrc(l
l x r l i t i t r o l rl i l l cr cr ttc'.r r r l "1 ',,l i l i tr ,'l Ix.r ti o r r ." l l r c l i r t to r r kl g ,' r r r r .
 The Global in the l.ocal Thc Global in the Local 9I
90

that serveas enabling novel;but new technologies haveexpandedthe spatialextensiorr of production,

It enumerateselementsof a Postmodernconsciousness
but also produce it' The consciousness ls well as its speed,to an unprecedcntedlevel. These same technologieshave
conditions for a contemporary localism,
but of newfound Power among endowedcapitaland productionwith unprecedented mobility,so that the loca-
itself is an articulation not of powerlessness,
their social existence and conscious- tion of productionseemsto be in a constantstateof change,seekingfor nraxi-
socialgroupswho clemandrecognitionof
them a historical and' therefore' a rnunr advantagefor capital againstlabor, as rvell as to avoid social and political
;,, d;i"tl a modernity that iad denied
waihee III of Hawaii' referring to the itrterference (heDce, flexibleproduction).For thesereasons, analysts ofcapitilisnl
;;it,;;i;;***. Governor |ohn D.
llawaiian sovereigntymovement,acknowledged recentlythat what seemspossi- l'erceivein (ilobal Capitalisma qualitativedifterencefronr similar practicescar-
only two decadesago'" licr-and a new phaseof capitalism.
ble toclaywould liave been unimaginable .
tives for their denial of difference Secondis the "decentering"of capitalismnationally.In othcr rvortls,it is
The suspicion of Enlightenment metanarr
or overlook differ- increasingly difficult to point to any nation or regionas the centeroIglobal cap-
makes for a suspicion oi all metanarrativeswhich suppress
and points to the local as the site for itllism. More (han one analyst(in a positionof porver)hasfound ln analogueto
ences,allows foi localizedconsciousness,
social formations " This lhe cntergingorganizationof procluctionin the northern European"Hanseatic
*ort ing uut ""tt.tnative public spheres"and alternative
also indicates fragmenta- l.crgue"of the early moclernperiod,that is the periotl beforethe emergence of
is the promise helclout by the local.'I'helocal, however'
manipulation rrrti(nr-states (ole of them describingit as a "high-teclrllanseaticl,eague");in
tion and, given the issuesof power involved,political and cultural
earlier forms of exploitation and ,,lher words,a networkof urbau formations,wilhout a clearlydcfinablecenter,
i.t*"ff. 'ifri, is the preclicamentThat tracesof
over by modernity' aggra- rr,lroselinks to one arrotherare firr strongerthan their relatiurshipsto their
oppressionpersistin the local, albeit in forms worked
i rrrnrediate hinterlantls.'^
vatesthe Fredicament.
problem of the lhc mediunrIinking this net\aorktogether,thirclly,is thc transnationalcor;ro
1'his piedicament becomesmore aPpar€ntwhen *: yi"* tl:
as obiect of the operations of r,rtion,rvhich has taken over from nationallrarkets as the locus of ecorrornic
lo."l frorn the perspectiveof the global: the local
inquiry into the sources and con- .r(livityinot just as a passivenrecliumfor the transrnissiorr of capital,conrnrodi-
.ofia"t, *tti.t p.ouiaesthe broade;t context for
of the con-cern for the local tr(\ itDdproduction,but as a determinantof the transmission, anclits direction.
,"[u.na", nf.on,aaporary localism.The emergence
transformation within \\ lrilc the analogywith the Hanseatic[,eaguesuggests decentralization, in othcr
ovir the last two deiaclcshas accompanieda significant
social cultural conse- rr.rtls,p16du.11.ris heavilyconcentrated behindthis facacle in the corporatiort.
capitalismwith far-reachingeconomic,political, -and ( )|lenrticulatespokesnran
for the local'need to be con- fol the uew econonricorder suggests that the shareof
ou'ences.'fhis transformation,and its imPlications
promise ancl ,l,risionmaking for prodtrction betweenthe corporation and the market is
s'i.leredin any cvaluationof the localassourceof Predicament
r,'rrgltly70 to 30 percent.''With porver lodged in transnationalcorporations,
rtlrirh by definition transcendnationsin organizationand/or loyirlty,the power
"Global Localism" , 'l thc uation-state to rcgulatcthc ccon0myinternallyis constricted, rvhileglobal
a relationship trrlirtion (and defense)ofthe econonricorder etnergesas a major task.This is
David Harvey and Fredric tameson'among others,have perceived ',
development of caPitnlism that rrr.rnilcsted not only in the proliferationof gkrbal organizations,but also in
betweenpostmoclernism and a new phasein the
i'r", U""" i"t*itt"a LateCaPitalism'FlexiblePtodrtction or Accumulation' Dis- ' ll.fls to org'ulizeextr.rrationalregionalorganizations to give coherence to thc
^s or ClohalCapitalism'' (ilobal Oapitalismrepresents a [ur- lrrn,ri(nringof the econolny,
orqanized Capitalism,
'J"i"rri,irl.rir"l
of capital. ln a funda- lollrthly, the transnationalization of productiorl is the sourcc at oncc of
ii!, ion, abstraclionand concenrration
of ,,,r1'r c(cdentedunity globally,anclof unprecedented fragmenlation(in the hisbry
mental scnse,Global Capitalismrepresentsan unprecedcntedPenetration
of capital;so- that the local , 'l , ,'llitalisnr).-Ihe horrogenizationof the glotreeconomically, sociallyand cul-
local societygloballyby ih" ..ono.y anrl crtlture
then r' rr,rllyis suchthat NIalx'spredictionsof the nineteenthcentury,prernaturefrx his
understoocl iria "najition"l" ,"n,e tay be lessrelevantthan ever'It is ironic
thc language of thc t rrrl linally seemto be on the point of vindication.At the sametirrre,however,
ii"ii"pi"f itselfshoulcljustiff its operationsincreasingly.in
its contradictoriness' rl,,r, isrrparallclproccssof fragnrcntation at rvork;globallyin the disappearing of
local.The irony allows us to seethe local in all
| ,, nl( r to clPilxlism,and locally,in the fragnentationofthe productionprocess
F un< lam enta l to th e s tru c tu re o fth e n e w (i l obal C api tal i sm(theterrnl prefer)
division ol \ul)nntionnlregiorrsand localities.As suprlnationalregionalorganizatiotrs
is what Frobel and others have describedas "a new international 'rr,'
(bmrrrurrily,PacificBasicIicononricOomnrttttit,v
labor": in other words, the transnationalizalion of production whcre' throtrgh '1, .r\ thc ljuroPcanllcononric
lr
(ol comtn<xlily evcn) is gloh ,,r,1tl rI N ot.thA D r cr i( ir rlr r cc lix( lc Zonc {t o nr cr lioDsonr ct h. l hir vc'bccn r cit l
subcontracting, the process of proclrrction lhe samc
l l l i l y l l ot bc ctrti rcl y , ,,l ,rr i rrcl hc obi c t t sol inlcnscor gnni/ ir li( ) r raelivit
al y)r r : r r r ili'st
t hislf lllnr cnlit
aliz ed. ' ' ' lhci, it.rn n ti o n .l < l i v i s i o no I l a b o t i n P rotl ttcl i on
92 '|'he Globtl ir the Locnl l ltt Globulh tltc Lrtcol

tion at the global level,localitieswithin the same nation competingwith one ong as wc rentemberlhat the refercllces of North anclSouth irrc not nlclely to
anotherto placethemselves in the pathwaysof transnational caPitalreprcseirt it at ,oDcretegeographiclocations,but metaphoricalrelircnces:North denotingthe
the most basiclocallevel,Nations,themsclves, it is arguable,represcnted attemPts t,llh\\'a.vs oI tlaDslationalcapital,lnd, South,thc narginalizeclpopulirlionsof
historicallyto containfragrnentation, but under attackfrom the outsidc(transna- thc u'orlcl,regarclless of their actuallocation.
tionalorganization) anclthc inside(strbnational economicregionsand localities), Ideologuesof globalcapitalhavedescribedthis contlition as"Global Reqion-
it is not quite clearhow this new fragmentationis to be contained.'' rlism"or "Global l,ocalisrrr," adding quickll horvevcr,that "(]iobirl [,ocalisnr"is
A fiftb irrportant (perhapsthe most imPortant)consequence of tlle transna ,0 percqnlglobal and only 30 pcrcentlocal. ' 'l hey havealso appropriatecl firr
tionalizationof capitalmay be that for the first tirne in the historyof capitalisnt, ,,rl)iti1lthe radical ecologicalslogan,"Think globaily',act locally.",', 'l he tcr.rns
the capitalistnlode of productionappearsasan authenticallySlobalabstractlon, ,,rpttlr-e cogentlythe sintultancoushornogenization anclfragmentntiontl.]irtis at
divorcedfr.onrits historicallyspecificoriginsin llurope.In other lvords,the nar- r',rrk in the rvorld economy.Productionand econonic activit,"-(hence,"eco-
rativeof capitalismis no longera narrativeo[ the historyof Europe;so that, for r,'ruic dcveloprnent")become localizedin rcgions belon, thc nrtion, u,hilc
the firsttime, nen-Europeancapitalistsocjeties maketheir own claimson the his- l l rcrr managente ntr eqLlir cssupr anat ionalsuPer t , isiolit nd coor r linat ion.I n
tory of capitalism.CorresPonding b economicfragmentation'in other words,is ,,thcr rvortls,thc ncu. pathrvals lirl the cicveloprnentol capital cLlt ilcross
cultural fragmentationor, to Put it in its positiveguise,"multiculturalisrr'"'Ihc rr.rtionirl bounciaries and intnt(lc on nationaleconomicsovereigutv. which ren-
most dranraticinstanceof this new culturalsitttationrnaybe the effort over the , i, rs irrelevirntthe notion of a nationll inillke1or lt t]iltionalecoltorlicurrit,irnrl
last decadeto appropriatecapitalismfor the so-calledConfircianvaluesof Easl rrrrtl erni ncs nati on alsovcr eigt r tlry- omr vit hinlt y f llgm ent ingt he nat ionirccon l
Asiansocieties, whiclt is a reversalof a long starrdingcorlviction(in Europeantl ,' rrrr,.'S' i mi i arl ),,th e necessit yof supr ir nat ionircoor l clinaliont r ar sf or ns t hc
F-ast Asia)that Confucianismwashistoricallyan obstacleto caPitalism. I think it l rrrcl i ons of l hc n ir t iot r - st ilt fclonr r vit hout , incor por at ingit lvit hin lar . gcr
is arguablethat the apparentend of Eurocentrismis an illusion,becausecaPital- r, rqi onal or gl obalecononr icunit s.
ist cultureas it hastakenshapehasF,urocentrisnbuilt into the very structure(,f l he si tuati oncl e at etby l ( ilobal ( llpit . lisnr helpsexplr in cer llin phenonr cna
its narrative,which may explainwhy evenas Europeand the United Stateslose li,rt hfl\,ebecomeilipnreDt ovcr the past two lo tlrreetlecacles, but cspecially
their clominationofthe capitalistworld economy,culturallyEuropeananclAmer- LrrL c the ei ghti es: g lobaim ot ionsof ; Tcoples ( anr l,t hcr elir r e, cult ur cs)t,nc r vcar
ican valuesretaintheir clomination.It is noteworthythat what nlakessomething l i rrg of boundaries( ar nongsocict ics, as r vellas ant ongsocialcat egor ies)t hc ,
like the F,astAsixnConlician revivalplausibleis not its offer of alternativevalucs ,l'licillion in socictiesinternallyof inetlnalitiesirnclcliscrepancies onc,.'.tss,rti-
to thoseof Euro^mericanorigin,but its artictllatiol'lof nativecultureinto a caP ,t,,1rvith colonialtiifferences, simultancoushomogclizirtionantl fr-lqmentatiorr
italistnarrativc.Ilaving saidthis,it is important to reiteratenev€rthcless tllat thc r' rrl ri n i l n(l acl osssociet ies, t he it licr penet r at ion of t he global ant i t lr e local
questionof world culturehasbecometnttchntorecomplexthan in earlierphascs rLl ri thshorvscul tur allyin a sint r r lt aneous cosr r r opolit lnisnr ir r r t llocalismol'
of capitalism. ,' i i rl l the nrostcog entexlTlcssion r nal'bc"m ult icult ur llisnr ")ancl , t he disor gl
The fragnlentatiott ef spacc,and its consequences for Eurocentrism'alsoimply r .',rtionof a u,orkl conceivedirr tcrlts of"thrcc rvollds"or nation states.Sonle
a fragmentationof the temporalityof capitalisrn: the challengeto Eurocentrisnr' , tlrcscphenontela hirvcalsocontributcclto an lppcaranccof cqualiziltiotrot'
in othcr words,meansthat it is possibleto conceiveof the future in waysothcr I l1(rfnccslvithin and acrosssocieties, as rvcllasof clc'ntocrirtization within anrl
than tllosc of EuroAmericanpoliticaland socialrnodels.f{ere,oncc again,it is l , t\r.fl soci eti esWh: . r t is jr onic is t ht t t hc nt anagerol- s t his uor lcl sit lat ion
difncult to distinguislirealityfrom illusion,but the complexityis undeniable. I r, | l l scl V cs concedet hc concent r at iol) of poweriD t hcir ( or t heir or . ginizat ict Ds')
Finally,the transnationalization of procluctioncallsinto questionearlicrdivi l, r,ls; as rvt'll as theil nraniPul:rlionof pt'oples,bourdlr-ics ilnd cultrlrcsto
sionsof the world into !'irst, Sccondand l hird Worlds The SecondWorld, thc , ,t,rol)riir{cthe local for tlrc global,to aclntitdifferentculturesinto thc rcirlnrof
world of socialism,is for all practicalpurposes,of the past But the new globrl ' ;,rt,rlonl y to brc ak t henr t lowt r and t o r ent ir kct hem in accor dance wit h t he
configurationalsocallsinto qucstionthe distinctionsbetweenthe f-irstand lhirtl l r i rcnl cnl sol pro duct ionand consum pt ion,ant l event o r econst it utsubjec- c
Worlds.Partsof the earlier'l hird World are today on thc pathwaysof transnr- r,, 1 ( \ i l etr)ssnl ti o nit l bounr lar icst o cr eat epr oclt t ceranc] s consunr er snr or c
tional capital,and belongin the "devcloped"sectorof the world econonry.Like' 1,,' rrsi lleo thc op clr t ior r sol cilpilit l.- l hoscr r 4r odo not r esponr l, or lhe "bas
wise,palts of the FirstWorld marginalizedin the nervglobrl econonryarehartlly r ,,r\.s \\' hi .l l i l rc l{r t csscnt iill t o lhoscoper r t ions f our f if t hsof t he globll
distinguishable in way of life from what useclto be viewedas I hitd Wrrld chlr- ,l ,rl ,rl i (' r)l )) thcir ( olint ncct l not hc colot r izcd; lhct , lr - c sinr I ly r nur lainal
acteristics. It may not bc fortLribttsthat the North-Southdistincliorlhasgradtr ' ,,1 \\' l r.rltl t nct"'llcr iblt l, r ot lr r r lion'hls nr ir r lcI ossiblcis t lt ir til is lt o l( ) nqcf
a l ly t ak enov c r lr o tn tl re c a rl i c rd i v i s i o no l l h c g l obc i rrl o l l l c l hrcc w ()rl ds tr) ' ,!,,\,t| \ l (, rrl i l i ,'Lt r l, liLit r r r cr r ior rr r li, r irtr l, r lr or ,r r l hor llc , , r . ir lr r 0lr l ( ir r
 The Global in the Local ll'( Globalin theLocol 95

colonies);those peoplesor placesthat are not responsive to the needs (or plished
by constructirrfi
andreconstructing
themall thewaydownin whatcanonry
demands) of capital, or are too far gone to respond "efficiently," simply find beviewedasan endlessprocess,rr
thernselvesout of its pathways.
Much of what I have describedabove as the conditions for the production of t ileansedof its colrrputervocabulary,this text rvouldreadvery much like one
contemporary localism (a postmodern consciousness,embedded in new forms ,'l thoselocalanalyses upon which guerrillarevolutionaries havebasedstrateg,v.,'
oI empowerment) appearsin this perspectiveas a product of the operations of lhrt the resemblance does not stop there.As rvith guerrillastruggle,rvherethe
Global Capitalisn. lt should also be apparent from the above that the local is rlquirementsof a fluid strategycalledforth a needfor organizationalflexibilitv
ofconcern presentlynot only to thosewho view it asa site ofliberation struggles, rr orderto dealwith diversecircumstances ivithout abandoninglong-termorga
but, with an evengreatersenseof immediacy,to managersofglobal capital aswell rrizationalgoals,the imperativesof gucrrilla nrarketing,too, have resultedin a
as to those responsiblefor the economic welfareof their communities. I will take
r, tonceptualization of the transnationalcorporationasan organization. "(ilobal
up the latter in the next section,The concern for the local on the part of capital,
l, rlism" implies,organizationally, that the corporatioD dornesticateitselfin var,
and what the operationsof capital may imply for the local, is apparentin the fol- ',
r,rrrslocalitieswithout forgettirrgits glotralaims and organization.Ihis hascre-
lowing analysisby an advocateof"guerrilla marketing."
rtctlfor companiesolganizationalproblemsthat resemblecloselythoseofa cen-
tr,rlizeciCommunist Party cngagedin guerrillawarfare.'flre CEO oI one strch
1984is here,the problemis howto manageit. The answerwepropose, gentlemen, is , i,nrpany,who choosesto clescritre his companyas"multidomestic"lather than
guerrillamarketing.lu$tasthe guerrillafightermust knowthe terrainof the strug-
glein orderto controlit, soit is with themultinationalcorporationoftoday.C)urter- nrrlti- or transnational, describesthe organizational problenrshis colnpanyfaces
rain is the world.Our endscan be accomplished with tlre extensionof techniques rrrrrchasMao Zedongusedto describeproblenrsfacingthe CotnmunistPartyof
alreadyin thc processof development. llllrta,
The world marketis now beingcomputer
micromappedinto consumerzonesaccordingto residualcultural factors (i.e.
idioms,localtraditions,religiousaffiliations,politicalideologies, /\ljl] (AseaBrorvnBoveri)is an organizationrvith threeinternalcontradictions. We
folk mores,tradi-
tionalsexualroles,etc.),dominantculturalfactors(i.e.typologies \\'lnt to be globaland local,big and small,radicallydecentralizedrvith centralized
oflife-stylesbaseci
on consumptionpatterns:televisionratings,musicaltastes, rrlx)rtsand control.Iirve resolvethosecontradictions,rt'ecreateredlorqitnizxtional
fashions, motionpicture
and concertattendance, home video rentals,magazinesubscriptions, .rtlvlntage."
home com-
puter softwareselection,shoppingmall participation,etc.),and emergentcultural
factors(i.e,interactive lhe radical slogan of an cnrlier day, "Think globally, act locally," has been
and participatory video,mobilemicromalls eqLripped with
holography and superconductivity, r,rirrilated by transnationill corporations with far greater successtltarr inlrny
computerinterfacing with consumers, robotic
services, etc,).Theemergent marketing terrainwhichmustbeour primaryconcern r.r,liral strategy.'flre recognition of the local in marketing strategy,however,does
canonlybecovered k)tallyif the304geographical consumption zones already com- ,r( rncan any ser'ous recognit ion of the autonomy of the local, but is intended to
'r
puter mapped(the horizontal)canbe crossreferenced not only with the relatively r, , rrgnize the featuresof the local so as to incorporate localities into tlte irrrFcra-
homogeneous "conscious" needsof the macroconsumer units,but alsowith thehet- trr, s of the global. The "donrestication" of the corporation into local society
erogeneous multiplicityof"unconscious" needsof themicroconsumer (thevertical). ., r v. s only to ftrrther mystifr the location of ;rorver,rvhich rests lot in the local
This lattermappingprocess hasso far readilyyieldedto computersolutionthrough ,t\ l,ut iD the global headquarters of the cornpany which coordinatcs the rctivi-
the identificationand classification of a maximumof 507microconsumption q?es rr,, ol its local branches. lb recall what I cited above fronr Kenichi Olrrnae,
per macroconsumption unit. 'l hroughan extensionof this mapping,eventhe most
l l,,b.rl localism" is "seventy percent global and thirty percent Iocal."The guiding
autonomousand unconventional desiresmay be reconstructed for the benefitof r.r,rrr of the contemporary trilrsnational corporation is to hono€lenize the
marketextensionand control.Emergentmarketingstrategies must move further '
beyondthe commodityitselfand towardthe commodityasimage,followingmar- l,l untler its gtridalce. The saure CEO writes:
", 'r
ketingcontingencies all the waydown.And here,precisely, is tlre taskof guerrilla
\rc rvc irbovegovernnrents? No. We ansrverto govenlments.We obey the larvsin
marketinglto go all thewaywith theimageswec.eateaDdstrikewherethereis inde-
, !( ry .(lunlry in rvhich we olerilte, and rve don't make the larvs.lloivever,wc do
cision(flowingfrom constructed situations withoutdeternrinant outcomes justlike
,lr.rrrgtrclations1,r/rlrrrrc()untrics.We functiu] as a lubricant lirr wollclrvicie eco-
theguerrillafighter).Forthemultinationalof todayprofitsarenecessary but not suf-
, r t , r r i ( i n t e g f i t i o n.( cn r p h a .i si n th c o r i g i n a l ) "
ficientconditions for growthwhichour wholehistoryshowsto beequivalcnt to sur-
vival.Werenrain dependent on marketcontrolandexlension. RuinowthisrcqUirr:, '', , r r r cI r r l 'r 'i c ; r r rltl, l xt "r l l xr ) g e s"l l l ( ' r 'r 'l i ti o n s i t l i ci l i t tcs! l l
nrorethanthccontrolofproductiorr andcorrsunrptitrl-t() l ) o i n l s to i l cr u .i i l l
firowwcnjlrstsclli t()tttl ( o r l ) r ) r .tti o l \ o l th e r l .r 1 ,tr r r r tl r l i l .t r '.r tl i ..r l
i r nagc . I - ik c gu c rri l l ;rfi g h tc rs ,w e n ru s tw i n hcartsi
n l i n(k.ltn(l
l ti st:trktrtrrhci tcorn t ', , r r l , n ( t c r l h e l e s s.'l Ir c tr r r r r r r r ,r ti o r l .I|
1 , r , r r r l l . r s ,r L r r t o l i r r sl r r '.1 ,,'tr r lt,' ti r tr l n sl .r r r tr 's, I,l l ( |r ,,||( .||r r . r o r r r Ii ti o r r r Ir r
 The Glohol h the Loctl tlt' (;labnlin theL.t:dl 97

their success. lb achievethis end, howevet th€y must first graspsocial,politicrl l,r,L.ruse thc.yhavetreenrepudiated.GlobalCrpitalism,both in its clisorganizing
anclcultural relationsin their full complexity.The goal of analysisitself is not ,,i firrlier stnrctureslnd tlre reconfigurationof global relations(inclurlingclass
socialneedbut the teleologyof the organization, althoughthat telcologymust bc r, l,rlions,now more globalthan ever),pointsto iust sucha totdlitytlrLltpro(luccs,
articulateclto localianguages in orderto acquirelegitimacytransnationally. rrrrlprovicles the contextfor, thc contcmporlry phenomenonol the local.[<rthe
From the perspective of GlobalCapitalism,the localis a sitc not of liberation , \tr'llt thit it rcfusesto recognizetlris context,thc ideaof the localis prey to tlrc
but manipulation;stateddifferently,it is a sitethe inhabitantsof which must bc rrr,rnipulirtions ol capital,and its idcologyof"(llobal Localism."I haverrguctl
liberatedfrom thenrselves (strippedof their identity)to be homogenized into thc ,lrcrr,hcrctlrlt to the cxtent that postnroderncriticisrr failsto accountfor the
globalculture of capital (their identitiesreconstructedaccordingly).lronically, r,,trilitythat is its context,its ideologicalcriticisntbeconesintlistinguishablc liont
evenas it seeksto homogcnizepopulationsglotrally,consumingtheir cttltttres, rn itlcologicalleSitinlationof the social fonns thirt are the creationof (llobal
(;lobal (lapitalismenhancesawareness of the local,pointing to it alsoas the sitc , rl'itillisnl.'*It is crucial,thelefore,that postmodernculturalcriticisnrreconnect
of resistance to capital. ri rth actualInovenrents of resistancc to cirpitalthat continuek) be inlbrme<iby
This is nevcrtheless the predicamentof the local.A preoccupationwith thc l,r,rttices oI rcsistancc tl]irt lrre coe\.al \\,ith thc history of capitalism.Pestmod,
localthat leavesthe globaloutsideits line ofvision is vulnerableto manipulation ,l|ri\rr necdsthc connectiol'rto restorea senseof the structut-cs o[ r4rp|cssi,,n
at the hnndsof globalcapitalwhich oI necessity commandsa more comprehctr' rrr,lirreqLrality, to checkits slideinto politicalirre'levance upon the slipperyslopes
sivevisionof a globaltotality.l)ifferencesof interestand Poweron the sitcoI thc ,,1,r lluirl nalcissism.1he latter needsPostnrotiernisnt f<rrits articulationof thc
local,which areessential to its reconstructionalongnon-traditional,dcmocratic, ;,rtl.rlls to liberation thnt arc implicit in telc'ologicirl
notions of charrge, rrrd corr
lincs, renclerthe local all the more vulnerableb such manipttlationas capital ,, l,l0rl tclcologicsthat bind in re(luctionistcatc€iorics a socialexistence irnticon-
playson thesediffcrcnces, ard the advocates oIdifferentvisions nd interestsseck , r,rrrstltitt is shifting,complexanclcontra(lictor)';thirt, ratherthan kxrk at the
to play capital againstone another."'Ihe local in thc Processbrcorrtesthe silc l,r,'rc'ss of the strugglel-orlibc'lalionas the sourceof altemltivc lirtures,seekto
tuponwhich the mtrltifacetedcontradictionsof contemPorarysocietyplay out' ,,,nl.rin rvith ftretlcternrinetl visionsof the future il proccssth.rt nccdsto be tn
wherecritiqueturns into ideologyand ideologyinto critique,depcndingupon its ,,1,{n cDdcdProccss of mrrltiplesociirlnegotiations.
l()cationat any one flectirlgmomcnL. lhe intrusiorrof (ilobal Capitalisn into localsocietieshasbeenirccoruPaniccl
l,r .r prolileration of krcal nror,emeutsof resist.lnce itr recentIcirls irr which
Li,,nrcnsand ecologicalnlovementsilre pllrticularl)'prominent. lhese move,
Considerations on the Local as Site of Resistance
rr, nts alrcaclyshorva kecn appteciationof thc relationshipof local to glrrbrl
ln the first section above,I suggestedthat the postmodern rcptttliatiorlol r rrggles, ls wcll ls l sharPsensitivit,v to the corrplexitiestrf moverncntbuilcling
Bnlightennentnrctanarratives and the teleologyof ntodcrnityhas allowedthc lr.rtis inclicirtive ol il contcnrporar,v consciousness. An examplcis providcdin thc
reemer'gence of the local as a site of resistance and tbe strugglef<rrliberition." lt l,,ll()\virrg stiltementbv Rirchael Kirrrrel,a union activistconnectecl rvith the Arrrer
is lhe stnrgglefor historicaland politicalprcsctrce of groupssttpl'ressc,l or rnar' r,,rn |ricnds Sen ice Cornnrillee.llavirg clcscribed the plight o[ u'orkcrs(nrostlv
ginalizedtry rnocicrnization, I arguedlurther,that hasclynamizec'l tllis postrlx)(l' ",'rrerr) in lhc Unitc(l Stntcs,the IUexicannrirquiladoras,irnd the Philippincs,as
el n consciousness and lrasproduccdthe corrtemPorary notion of the local,whiclr tlr, r' .rrcpllyetl off aglinst one anothcr-by transnationals,
anclsuggesterl several
must be distinguishedfrorn "traditional"localisnriI only becattsc suchstrtlggles ,' rysrrl coorclinltirrgresistance, Kanrelrvritcs:
arc themsclvcs infornred by thc modernity that they re,ect.'l his is tllc localas il
rnodernity. lt finds expression prcsently in the so-called | ,rrh()l lhepr()jects rvchavedescribcd nril)'seemtiny,esp€cirll\'
t\'hencontrnsted lo
hasbeen workerl over lry
(literally,or metapbot- tlrcsizeandporverot trirnsnxtioDal corporati()ns. Yetenchis alsoa snlirllstepkxvar(l
"politicsofclifferencc," that presupposes Iocaldifferences
I'riltiinea rnovcnrent thirtcoulclbringk)gcthcrhundreds of locrl gr|ssr{)ols
c lri-
ically,with reference to socialgroups)both asa point of departureanclasa gorll \\'ilhinlhc LIr)ited
t,,riltns. States nrrdiDternationall)'.
of liheration. At thisrvrilir)9. lhc idcaof a brorrlbrscd,nrultinationnl n)ovement to tncklcthe
My discussionof Global ciapitalismis intendedto suPportthis thcsis,whilc l,rolritrrrsol tlreSlobirltir.lr)ryis stilla vision.Whitt rvehave tried to docunrent in
introducinginto the considerationof the localas a contempollry phenonlcnotr tlrrsllLrirlc
is tlrutlhc'gl()hill
tjrclofvis compose'd ol thotrsandsofcon(fcteI()cirlsrtu
wlrat I tike to be a crucialdimensionthat is missingfrom mosl postlllo(lcrrrist rti,, \ xrr(lthirteil.h()f rrs.r\4ralL.v€r settinglveliyeand rvorkin. cantakcsntall,
cliscussions of the subject.Postrnodernist rePudiitionof trtelanitrritt ivt'sittttltclc- .r,,(\\i l )l f r(ti on\ t o (()rl l l ol t ol rf s fc .i ti c s i turl i ons .
o l ogyhasm adeal s ufc rra s trs p i c i o n o f ttn i v c rs i tl i zi "
ng fi ttttttl rtl i otl i tl
cxpl" rttl rtl ory l l t rrtl rt!tttItl rl t tl tttt trtrrl oc ttl ttrttri s prtttnl l dnl l ttl ' l ,i rl j i ttu,i ,' r,i rrr,r{ ,1' rrr
' (l o
thc r r t c sin o
Mi rrx i s ti rl c i ts
, llir r t ic u l i rr l to l a l i l y :rrrtl c Irrs s . I i rI ;t I i t i cs l l ()l l f ) i l rv.l y tt',t\t't l rt,/r,,/',r: I' i , I' n,l ' l t' tti rrl rl
t\t' ttht,t. ,ry ,,r,,,//r' rr,r,rl l ni t t\ol l i ,
 The Global in the Locol llt, tilobal in rlrcLoc,tl

gtoge,hatiorality,lendet raceond class.And as thal processof conrmunication ',rrchefforts,which deny to the Chinesecortemporaneitywhile giving born-
movestowardnetworking the visionof a mlltinatronal
and coalition-building, .,11rirr liuroAmericansthe privilegeof interpretingChina'spast fol the Chinese,
movenrent canbecome (emphasis
a reality. mine)" rrt' reminiscentof nineteenthcenturyEuropeans rvho,clairninglristoricalness for
tlrcruselves while denyingit to others,appropriatedthe mearringof historyfor the
Note that Kamel describescorporationsas "transnational;'while using the rvlrolervorld,especially the'l'hird World.'At the other extremeis that ethnocen-
older term "multinational"to describeresistance movements, Also noteworthyis tr isrn in tlle critiqueof hegernony, rvhichfallsinto affirmationsof pre-W€steftl
the complexityof the situationsshedescribes. Kameldeemsessential to the suc- , tlrnicitiesand spiritualities, tvithoutaccourrting for the problemoI oppressron rn
cessof local organizingfour constituencies: labor unions,community groups, rl rcral, which has not been the monopoly o[ t]re West or of capitalism,evel
religious institutions,and local government.'n These constituenciesmust bc tlr,rughit may havebeencarriedto unprecedented levelsin the moclelnworld in
brought together,and still leaveopen spacesfor dialogueamong the groupsshe tlrc clenialof alternativenodes of existence. The diletnnas fircedby struggles
enumeratesin the statementabove.Flardly a proponent of postmoderncon- rlirinstEuroAmericans and capitalistoppression, I believe,shouldnot bc evadetl
sciousness could wish for greatercomplexityand contradiction! I'r srvecpingunder the rug premodernforms of opprcssion.As a first cnr, rr rs
The affirmation of the local and, therefore,of diversitythus defined,is not rrlccssary to distinguishstateless communities(or thoseconrntunities wherestate
without its own problems,as activistssuch as Kamel and VandanaShivaare well , qitnizationand localcommunitycoincided,suchastribal organizations around
'r
aware.CJnesuch problem is the celebrationof premodernpastswhich, in the tlrcrvorld),"and communitieswhich providedexcuses for far-1'lung statcurg,lti
narne of resistance to the modern and the rationalisthomogenizationo[ thc / rtions,asin the caseof premoclernempiresto bc [oLrndin China,India and the
( illoman Empire.The formel are easierto sytnpathizewith, the lattermucl] less
world, resultsin a localismor a "Third-Worldism"that is willing to overlookPast
oppressions out of a preoccupationwith capitalistor Eurocentricoppression, .,',ls the affirmationofpremodern plsts in tlrcir casc,howeveranti hegerlonic
that in the nameof the recoveryof spiritualityaffirmspastreligiosities that were rrrlcrt'usoI their lelationshipto the West,barclydisguisesnationalchauvrnrsms
themselvesexcusesfor classand patriarchalinequalities.One consequence of ,,1u nervkind-as in the caseofthe Clonfucianrevival,for instatrce, which is not
(;lobal Capitalismis that thereareno longeranylocalsocieties that havenot been Lrrr rclalcdto assertions of a "GreaterChincse"cconomicregiol. Thesetrvo p,rsi,
workedover alreadyby capitaland modernity;insistence on local"purity" may rroDsare quitc differcntin tlteir sonrcesand implicationsianclit is ilrportant to
well serveas excusesfor a reactionaryrevivalof older forms of oppression,as ,listinguishFluroAnrericans speakingfor Thircl Worlclpastsflonr thoseof Thirti
\\irr ltl peoplesspeakingfor their pastsit1cfforts to rescuetlleir identitiesfrom
worren in particularhavebeenquick to point out in India and amongthe indiSe-
,l, ath b1'assirnilation" (in the u.ordsof writer Frank Ohin). Nevertheless, botlr
nous people'smovementsin North America.''The local is valuableas a site for
l,,rsitions arc problemrtic; it is not only silly to deny the undcniable tllilt eco
resistance to the global,but only to the extentthat it alsoservesasthe siteof nego-
nor)ic and cultrrr"lconjuncturesfor the pirstcerlturyhavedefinedthe conditions
tiation to abolishinequalityand oppressioninheritedfrom the past,which is a
,'l cxistencefor non-Europeanor Americanpreoplcs-butalsosocially(tlistinct
condition of any promiseit may have for the future. It is ncithcr possiblenor
lr,,rn politically) rcactionaryto ignore past forms of oppressiono[ vrrior.rs
desirableto dismissthe awatenessthat is the product of mociernityas .just
,lnrcnsionsthat havebeenbroughtto the forefrontofhisktricalconsciousness by
anothcrtrick of Eurocentrism.
tlrr'scconjunctures.It is thc conlinued existenceof such fornrs of oppression,
What this pointsto is a "criticallocalism"which,evenasit subjectsthe present
,,
to the criticalevaluationfrom pastperspectives, retainsin the cvaluationof the 'nrpoundeclirnclovercleterminecl now try new forms of oppression,that Dakcs
NI.rlxistirnclgenderanalysesin particulirras relevantas ever to clitical under
past the critical perspectivesafforded by modcrnity. Excludedfrom this localisnr .t.rrrtl i ng.
are romanticnostalgiafor communitiespast,hegemonicnationalistyearningsof lhe localas I useit here hasneaning only inirsnlrchas it is ir product of thc
a new kind (aswith the so-calledConfucianrevivalin eastAsia),or historicisrn , , ,rrjtrrctulc ol-stnrctures locatedin the sarretemPoralitybut with differentspa
that would imprison the presentin the past.An exampleof the latter are well- trl i ti cs,w hi chi su'hat givesr iset ot hcpr oblcm of spat ialit yand, t her ef or e, of t he
intentionedbut misguidedefforts in China scholarshiprecentlyto asserta 1,,,,rl,irr the firsl plirce.fhe conjunctuialsituationalsodefinesthe culturcof tlre
"China-centered" view of history;well-intentionedbecausetheseeffortsseekttr , .rl,r,hich is strippetlof its reificationby clailyconffontatiolrbetweendifferent
',
rescueChinese history from its subjectionto the hegemonyof EuroAmerican , rrltrrres, and appcarsinsleatlin the nakedness of its everydaypractice.Unlike
teleologies and concepts; misguidedbccausethe effort is accompanicci by asscr'- ,' rr,I r' corrtl i ti ons r r l isolut ionand st r r hilit y, whcr cct r lt r r r cilppcar st im elessir r it s
tions that the (lhinese themselves are irrcapableof tloing this becatrsc thcy ltavc l .rrl l l tIr' rxl rtcti on( il sr r r lris cvcr cnt ir cl) , t hr '( it sc)lhc , conjllnct llt l siluilt i{) n
bccn tairrtedby Westcrnconccpts.nd, thcrcfirrc, Irst tottchwith lhcir own l)ilsl. r, rr' ,rl st rrl l rrr;rl rtt ivit yl, i: r r rr r ct ivit y ir r ; t lo, lr rI,i, 'n t r r r , tl r ': r sclcrrsr 'r ol\ t r lt r t t t , n.
t00 The Clobal in the Locol I tu (iloltrrl ht thc l.oai t 0l

'l'hat culture is thus constructed does not irnply that the present is, therefore, rrizc<i by the global forces(e.g.,guerrillamarketeers)that seekto reconsunrrclr,
immune to the burden of the past;only that the burden itselfis restructuredin t,r.rssimilate it to the globalhomogenizationthrt it seeks.
the courseof presentactivity,Neitherdoesit meanthat the pastis unimportant; 'l his is the secondproblcm r,r'iththe local:rsa str.rte€iic corrccptof rcstsrlncc,
it only underlinesthe claimsof the present,of the living,on the past,ratherthan r'lrichis cvennroreserioLrs: the assimilation oIthe locrl into the global,so thrt dif-
the other way around. Culture is no lcsscultural for being subjectto chang€ l, rent localitiesbecontepawnsin thc handsof globnlcapitll in its guerrillal,lr-
through the "practiceof cverydaylife" (the term is Michel deCertatls),of which l,ifeilgainstsocietics globally.'lhis may,indc.ed, be the most seriouschallengcf-ac
it is as much sourceas product,It is the prevalence of cttlturalcon.iuncture asa rrrg r.csistance/liberation nrovementsiu our riay: how to clell rvith global
conditionof life globallythat hasbrought forth the sharpconsciousness of cul- ,,rnrpaniesrvhich,at the leastsign of interfcrerrcc rvith their .rctivities(be those
ture asan ongoingconstructionofeverydaypractice;which hasbeenilluminatetl l,rlrorriclnanclsor ef'fortsto restlict the harnt tl-reyinflict on loctl socicticsarrtl
in the works of PierreBourdieuand MarshallSahlins,who havearguedout the , r ologies),threatento pick up and moveto nervlocalities, which n$v technologies
implicationsfor culture and history of conjunctionsbetweenpastand present, , rr.rblcthetn to do; rnoreaccuratellrvhichis a nrajorgoalof thc c.levclopnterrt of
betweendiffercntsocialand culturalstructures(which prolematizethe relation- rr,rv lcchnologies? Hou'docs resistance clealrvith a GcncralMotors,rvhichholds
ship betweendifferentpresents, aswell asbetweenthe presentand the Past),and , rrlirecornmuniticsand citiesin suspenscin shuttingdolvn productionplants,
evenbetweenstructureand event,especially where the eventis of an unprece- \\,ril ing to seetlte outcomcof conlntunitiescolnpetillgwith onc irrrotherin offer-
dentednaturesuchasthe contactsof non-Europeanpeopleswith Europeans." ||,gl)cttcland sweeterdcalsto the corporationto keepit in thcir resl,cctivecont-
The immediatequestionhere is what this ongoing constructionof culture rrunitiesto savcjobs-and the livclihoodof the entirecotrrnruuitl'? L,ocrlrcsis-
implies in terms of the resistanceof the local to the global. Ashis Nandy has t,r)(c under the circumstances, if it is to be nrcanirrglirl al all, nrusl bc trlnslocal
written that: lu'tlr in consciouslrcss and actiorr;a big "if," arrdpossiblycauselirr a tvirlcsprcad
'.,nsc of futility globall,v.'l'he dilenrnrais lreighteredtrl,the lirct thit locrl con-
Whentwo culturesof unequalsecularpowerenterinto a dialogue,a newhierarchy ., irrusrress, u,hichis trccessary aslhe basisfor rcsistance, contr (iictsthe transk)cal
inevitably emerges, unlessthedialogue createsa sharedspacefor eachparticipantfdis- .r'ti'ity and corsciotrsncss that is a ncccssityof successful resistancc. If this con
tinctive,unstated theoryof theotherculturesor,in its absence, eachparticipant\gen-
tr,rrlictiorris overcontejthe vcry fragDlentatiotr of lhe glotrcby capitll nray be
eral theoryof culture.'l'he conceptof culturalrelativism,expressed in the popular
I r fnc(l k) an advantage oI resistance movements: the demandfor.tlrcauthentically
anthropobgical viewthateachculturemustbestudiedin termsofits own categories,
l,,iul irgainstits exploitationasa meansto assinrilntiorr nral'"uverloarl"gkrbalclP-
is limitedbcc.useit stopsshortof insistingthateveryculturemustrecognize theway
by othercultures.It is easyto leaveotherculturesto their<rwndevices
it is construecl rt.rl i sItt,
tl ri vi rrgi t t o f r agnlelt t , t t iult .
in thenameofculturalrelativism, pcrticularly if thevisionsof thefutureof theseother /\l)nrtfrom the part it nal playin resistance to (llobnl CNpitrlisrl,lrorvthe local
cultureshavealready beencannihalized by theworldviewofone'sown.It is lesseasyto rrr,ryserveasa buildingblock for the luture is a <lucstionkr rvhichI Ienrl' ( iiroux
livewith an alienculture'sestimate ofoneself,to integrate it wilhin one'sselfhoodand 1,,r.provitlcclI strggestiye ans\\'er. (;iroux's"bordcr Peclagogl;' is derivativcoI post-
to livc with that self-induced inner tension.It is evenmoredimcult to live with dre rrr,rtlcrn/postcolon ial "politicsof difference," but clissatisfied with the lftlrrn.rtion
innerdialoguewithin one'sown culturewhich is triggeredoff by the dialoguewith ,'l tlillcrenceas an end in itself,rvhich he rightly perceives to be subversive of
othercultures becruse, then,thecaref'ullybuiltculturaldefences against
disturbing dia- rrr,.rrringfilpolitics,he scekswa).sto fonnLrlatenervkirtls of"unity in divcrsity"
logues*atrdagainstthe thteatening insightsemergingftonr the dialogues-beginto tlr,rl rrrry ser\e trsgroundsfor'ironbtalizing politics."'*"Nontotalizingpolitics"
crumble," ,,rrsl irtteDd"to the partial,speciflc,contextsof differenliate'd courrrlrniticsarrtl
l,,rrrrsof porver," not "to ignorelargertheorcticalancllclationalnitrlalivcs," but tu
Nandy'.sview of cultural dialoguehasbeen inspiredby the approachto ctrl- , rrhracethe localand the global.""Iispccially inrportantis his iclcirof"for.nrltivc
ture of MohandasGandhi,who, RichardFox tells us in his recentilluminating rrrrrrtivcs"rvhichcogerrtlyexplesses the considclatiorrs I havesuggestetl altovcl
study of Gandhi, believed that "culturcs change through collectiveexperi-
ments,"" experimentsthat had the presentfor their point of deParture,but I lrcl,o\tnl(ldern 1lt"ckon totalitvandfoundationtlistn is nottr,;thout
itsdrarr'backs.
openedup to divcrsepastsin their pursuit of"truth." The local,t would Iike to \\ll'il( il righllvli)c seson thcimPortance oflocalnar.rarives andrejecls thc t)oli(11
suggesthere,is the site for such experimentation. The "experimentation," how- rlr,rtlrull) |rcccdcslhe nolionof reprcscntiltiolt, it illsortrnstheriskol blurrrrru rrre
ever,hasto be globalin compass. Resistance that seeksto reaffir'nrsonrc"attthen ,lr\tir)(li()rr
l)ct\veen ntrslcrnarrilivr's
lhnl arcntonocarrsal arrdIirrmrli|cnarrllir,cs.
tl r.rt l ,r'ovi rh.thc hi rs i r l i rf hi s l ori rx l l )' x n(l rc l i rti orrrl l v pl rrc i ngdi l l c ' rc nl groul )s or l { ri rl
tic" local cttltttre,in ignoring the conillncturcsthal prodttcc<lil, is cottdctntted
r.rr,rl rr.\\rtl ri n\,)rr e (onl rrrn Ir' r' j c c t l i r rl r.nl orrt thi \ l x ,i nt ti rrtl x f,i ti \di tl i (ul l
to f ailur c iif only b c c a u s cl h c s o -c a l l c da u l h c n ticl ocalctrl ttrl ci s tl i ri l ytl i sorgl -
 {

TheGlobalin theLocal I h Glolral it1the Locdl 10.1

asa form ofradicalsocialtheoryifit doesn'toffer

to imagineanypoliticsofdifference rr,rnyrvorks,seelvan lllich, S/radorr, $rork (Salem,N.H.: Marion Iloyars,Inc., l98l ), and
a fornrativenarrativecapableof analyzingdifferencewithin rather than against 1\lrrrlay[3ookchin, PrrstScarcity AnarchistltlPaloAlto, CA: llampartsPress,]971).
unity.'" 8. Kropotkin,"The State,"p.252.
9. Ibr a cogent statement,seeRusselllr,leans,"The SanreOid Song,"in Ward (lhrrrchill
I statedabovethat the meaningof the local in contemPorarydiscussions is | \'\1.), Ma$is',t oDdN0fiye,4r leli.drrs(Boston:SouthEnd Press, n.d.),pp.l9-3-3.l he impli-
uncertain, and have refrained throughout from burdening it with a definition , ,rtionsfor our trnderstandingof the stateof the restorationof local, statelesssocietiesinkr
lrrstory(left out of historyby virtue of their statelessness)
that might haveconstrictedanalysis.Giroux's statementindicateswhy it is neces- is the themeof PierreClastres'.s
'u" idl'llgdi st tlte State,tr. Robert Hurley in collaboratiorrwith Abc Stein (NervYork: Zoie
saryflotto definethe contemporaryideaofthe localtoo strictly.The localin this
ll, "lt is saidthat the historyof peopleswho havea historyis the
statement(local narratives)retainsits concreteassociations spatially'but the 'oks,1987).WritesClastres:
lrrstolyofclassstruggle. It might be said,with ar leastasmuch trutlrfulness, th.t the hisbry
boundariesof the local need to be kept open (or porous) if the local is to servcas ,,1I'coplesrvithouthistor),is the historyof their struggleagainstthe state"(p.218).
a critical concept.The contemporary local is itself a site of invention and con- fl). PirrthaChatterjee,in NationalistTlouglrt ontl tlrc Colonial l\\trld-A l)eriyntiye Dis-
struction, that must be defined in the processof working out social contradic- (
',rr sr' London:ZE[) I]ooks,1986),discusses this problemat length.
tions-in the processof constructing"formative" narratives-for the simple rea- I l. For a furthei discussion of this problern,rvith reference kr the rvrrrkof E.PThtxnp-
son that the local in the Presentis ultimately th€ site for the global. '.,,nund EugeneCenovese, secArif Dirlik, "Culturalismas flegenlonicldeologyand l.ib-
, l.rlingPrnctice," Crhural Critique(Spring1987):l3 50. For the waysin rvhichsuchprob-
l, rrrs irlpeared in contemporary movements, which stimulated this netv awarrnei:i, see
Notes | | lrl.cs Fox Piven and Richard A. Cloward, Poor I'eople'sMovements:Wht,Thcy Snc.red,
I L,rr''lhe./Fdi, (New York: RandonrHouse,lg77). For a rvork that bringsbgether post-
l. Subramani, sotlt PacilicLiteruture: Fro Myth to Fabulatiott (Suv^:Universityof thc
,rr,rltrnity and the legacyof such socialmovementsand relateslhem exPlicitlyto tlre
SouthPacific,1985),for a casefor fabulation. t", 'l'lcm of the focaf,.ee Henry Giroux, Border Crossittgs: Cultural l|torkersnul the Politics
2. For the movementsreferredto, seeVandanaShiva,Slnling Alite (london: zF'l)
otrdActionfor n NewEto' '4 I tltk-ttio (Nerv York and London: Iloutledge,1992).A distinguishedpedagogue,
Books,t,td.,f988);Rachael Kamel, TheGlobalFoctory:Analysis t ,rr,,rrxdescrilres hinrselfas"a criticalpoprrlist," heir to the legacies "of the l\ryW,Bill Hny-
llta (American Friends Service Committee, Maivan
1990); tam,The Ageof Assotid' (1.Wright Mills,lvlartinLutherKing,and N,lichael
'loraic ", '\1, tlarrington. In other r()rds,peo-
tion: The lndigetousAsseftion ol Self-Detenninatioat the UnitedNatio s. Unpublished t,l, rvhtrspeakto peoplein a languagethat dignifiestheir historyand expet.ience" (p.| 3).
ms.,citedwith theauthort permission | .'. 'A Century After Queen'sOverthror,r,, Talk of SovereigntyShakesttarvaii." I[c M'rv
3. Forextended discussions of thisproblem,seePeterA. Kropotkin,"'I heState:lls His- J 'r,( /irr..! November8, l992,"Nationallieport."
toricalRofe,"in l'. Kropotkin,SeleaedWrititllsoh Anarchistx ed with nll
and Revolutiotr, I t. (;iroux, Bor?tr Crossi,rgs, pp.2l-22.
introduction by Md.tinA. Miller,pp.2ll-264 (Cambridge' MA: The MIT Press' 1975);
I L l)irvid Harvey, Tlte Condition of Posfinodentit)'(Cambridge, tvlA: Ilasil Bhckrvell,
and RaynrondWifliams,TireCountryand the City (New York Oxford University Press' l')rl')). irnd l-redriclarreson,"Postntodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of l.ateCafitalism,"
1973],. ' '' I t l j \ l ( t i t : t r1 4 6( h r l y/Au Bu st1 9 8 4 ) .
4. Leol,oubere,l)topinnSocialism: Its HistorySitlce1800lcambridge, MA: Schenkman | '. S c ep . 8 2 ,n . 5 ! .
PublishingOornpany,1974),and PeterKropotkin, Fields,Factotiesand worksllrps0l l r , i C C D .l tl . n.51.
Tonorwv, introducedand editedby colin Ward(NewYork:Harper& Row'1974)' l , : . S c cp . 8 2 , n . 5 3.
5, As RaymondWilliamsnotes,it wasto be forgottenin the twentiethcenturythill l 8 S c ep . 8 2 , n . 5 5.
Marx and Engelsplaceda greatdeal of emphasison abolishingthe divisionof labor' l ') . S c cf . 8 2 , n . 5 6.
lretweenkrwn andcountry.Item 9 ofthe programfot socialismin the ConrtnulistMr i- 'o. l hc Logicof Global llusinessi An Intervie$/with ABB'sPercyBarnevik,"T/rcHnr-
teads: "(irrnbination of agriculture with manufacturing gradual
industries; abolitiott , rr,/ /li/v,rcss
/c.rro /lryi.11,(March-April l99l):90-105.
of thedistinction between townand country, by a more equable distributionof thepop
'l I lrisis the basicargumentof Reich,T/rel\btk tf Ndtions,
rulation over the country." Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels,
"Manifesto of the Corrrmtrrrist 'frilngle Park,North Carolina,
' ' ljfr)rnir confcrence on tnarketin€iheld at the Research
Party,"in l{obertC. 'Iucker(ed ), TfieMarx-Engels lleader(NewYorkrww Norton& (i) ' | , l,rr,Uy .17,lc)117. (luoted in llick Roderick,"The Antinomy of Post-Modernllourgeois
1972), p,352.
ll,,'rlilrt," pii|rcrprcsentedat the l\larxisnrand Societyseminar,Duke ltniversit)',N.larch
6, SeeArif Dirlik,Annrchism h theChinese Re/oltrtio,(Berkeley:
University of Califtrr-
l ,rl . \\'itlt tl)c ilUlhr)r'spe'rnrission.
niaPress, l99f),and Arif Dirlik,"Mao Zedong and'Chinese Marxisnt,"'inFntydopedin ol
I \{ (, lr)r cxlrrrIlc, l\1noZecl(}ng\nrciiculous"nrapping"of locrl (lhinesesoci:rlrcla-
AsionPhilosophy (l'ttndon:Routledge), for furthetdiscussion.
, 'i , . . U r ( l \ l r U ( l l r r c i tr l ti s/i r '/\r 1 /i o l r ],r I|r 'a ,tr .r vi th a n i n tr r xl u cl i o n a n r ln l |l csh v l l o g cf
7. I havein mind herestrchthinker-activists asIvanlllichandMurrayllxrkchin'whtr
I l l r , | l r t , \ o n ( S l . I r lo r l l :Sl :l |r l i ,r (Il r n i r cr \i l yl ) r ( \s, l ( ) 1 ) {) ) .- l l ri Ir t||i ( u Ii o r r so l th c r cl 'o l r
haveconsistcntly upheltlthe significlnce of the localandthe"vernaclrlrr'''Anr{)ngtllcil
104 The Global in the Local

are drawn o t by Roxann Prazniak in her review essay,"The Art of Folk Revolution," in
Peasdnt Sndiesl7:3 (Spring1990):295-306.
24. " 1'heLogicofGlobal Business,"7fie Hnrvard Business Review,p.95.
2 5. lbid .,p.1 05 .
26. For a fascinatingdiscussioninvolving Hawaii, seeJeffTtrbin,"Cultural Constl trction
{nd NativeNationalism:ReDortfrom the HawaiianFront"'in Arif Ditlik and Rob Wilson
(eds.),Asia/Pacificas Spaceol C tuml Prcductioll (special issue of,ornrdory 2 [Spring
I e94l).
to asthe"insurrection
referred knowl-
of subiugated
ChineseHistory and
27.l hisiswhatMichelFoucault
edges"in "Two l,ectures,"in Fo.rcasll, Power/Kkorvledge: Sclectedlntetriervs nt1.l olher the Questionof Orientalism
Wtiti.rgs,1972-1977, ed.Colin Gordon (New Ytrrk:PantheonBooks'l9u0), pp.78-108.
28.See(lhapter3.
29. Kamel, Global Factoty,p.75.
30. lbid.. o,26,
31. Meeta Nanda,"ls Modern Sciencea WesternPatriarchalMyth? A Critique of the I tousiderbeltxvsotle questionsririsedby C)rientalisnr as conceptand practice.
PopulistOrthodoxy,"Sol]thAsiallulletin,vol. Il, no l and 2 (t991):32-61.
flr('sequestionshave tlreir origins in EdrvardSaicl'sOrieltalisn, publishedin
32. For a seminaland influentialwork to arguethis position,seePaulCohen,l)iscover-
l()78,lvhich hashad a lastingimpact on Third \\trrld cultutal studiesin Europe
i,g History in Chim (N.Y.: Columbia University Press,1984)
.rrtl the United States.L Provocative as Said'sbook wasin its critiqueof Orierrtal-
33. For an excellentaccountof indigenouspeoPle'smovementsand their relationship
to existing stdtes,seel.^fi,'l'he Age of Associnlio . r\rr as practice,its largcrsignificance restson Said'srelentless dentonslrationof
34. SeePierre llourdie|., The I ogic of Practi.e (Stanford,CAI Stanford University Press' tlrcintersection ofhistoricalinterpretatiou, cultureand politicsin EuroAnterican
1990), for n recent discussion of his views, and Marshall Slhlins, Isldllris o/ Hisfo,7 rt[(lies of Asia.I n'ill argue,contraryto criticsof Said,that questior]sraiscdby
(Chicago:L,niversityof Chicago Press,1985). tlrisintersectiol't
are still very ntuch relcvarrtto problentsof hist<lricalintelpreta-
35. Ashis Nandy, 'liaditions, Tytanny and Lltopias:Essaysin tlle Politics of Awntencss ti,rrrofAsia in gencral,and Chirrain particular.Ou the other hancl,I rvill suggest
(Delhi:Oxford UniversityPress,1987),pp.l6 19. rl\{)thirtcol!ternporary historiographical evidencccallsfor a recastit'lgofthe rela-
36. Richard G, Fox, C;andhia Lltofia: Experinents witlr Culture (Bostol'!:BeaconPress, tr('nshipbetrvecnhistory,culture and politicsin a configurationthat is signifi-
1989),p,26. , rrtly differentthan Said'sconceptualization of it in Orierrtnli-vrr.
On the basisof
37,This notion of "overloadingtlre system"as a meansof resistance I owe to Waller-
tlris lcconfigureclunderstantlingof Orientalism,I rvill reflectby rvayof conclu-
stein."l)evelopment:Lodestaror lllusion?"in lmmanuel Wallerstein,UrthinkingSociol . r, on the possibilities of cscapingthe burdenof Orientalismin histor.ical stud
Science:The Litflits of NineteenthCekntry Pandigtns (London: Polity Press'l99l)' p 124. 'n
What I havein mind herenraybe illustratedby an episodefrom South Pacificculture.In
r,s r\s Orientalisnras col'lccptrefersto the "Orient" as a whole,I shoultladcl,in
his analysisof oral traditionsin the South Pacific,Subramaniobserves that South Paciflc rllrr\tratingnly argumentsI rvill clratvon evidencefrom the careerof ()rientalisrlt
writers have,"in some instances,rediscoveredtlreir oral literaturesby reading ttanslations rr,rtirrstin the historiographyof China trut other historiesas rvell.Finally,I anr
of them by Eutopean reseatchers."'flregoal of European lesearchersin undertaking this ,,'rrccrDedhcre not witlt specifichistoriographical questions,but questionsthat
kind of nctivityaround the globe,at leastinitially,wasto understandthe nativesto bettcr .rr, lrcstcharacterizcd asmetahisbrical.
control,convertor assimilate theni.With a new culturalconsciottsness that aimsat liber-
ation.thesesame"researchers" now servethe carseof liberation,and the assertionofkrcal Orientalism
identity againstassimilation.Subramani,Softh h1cific Litentwe: Frohl Myth to Fab latiotl
(Suva:Universityof the SouthPacific,1985),p,32. 1,, very briefly,in Sai<l's
ou'n wolds,
'rrnnrarize
38. Giroux, Border Crossings,p.79, For "unity in diversity," see Yuji lchioka, "'Unity
Within Diversity': Louis Adamic and Japanese Americans,"WorftirlgPdperuin Asian/Pacific ( )rirnlillisDr- . . rcli'rskr several overlapping clomains: lirst,thechangilrg hisknicrl
Studies.no. I (1987). .rrr,l.rrltrrr.rl
rclationship bettet'nIl!ropeandAsia,a relationship rvitha 4000fsnl-
39. Oirorx, Bordet CrcsJirgj,p.79. ,'il lrislof)ise.eond. thc scicntific disci|linein thc rvestaccordittg to rvhich,begin-
40. Ibid.,D.54. 'rrrr11irr therar'l!nirletcclrth ccntury, oDr'specialized in thcstudr- ofvuriousOrienlal
, rrl trrcsrrrr.l
tl ir r lit ior r s;
nd,t hir d,t heidcohgir r lsr r pposit iols,
inr ages ir ndt ir r r . r sics
rl nrt,r(rrfrcnll)ir r lr ( 'r t r nlir r rpolit
( l i. ir llyLngcnl
r egionolt hc\ vr r r lt le. r llcr
t her l ) r 'r -
104 'l he Clobal it the Lod

arc drnwn out by lloxann ltrazniakin her reviewessity, " lhe Art of Folk llevoltltion,"irl
It?s.r'rlStu/.lies I 7:.3($p1i6gI 990):295-106.
24. " l hc l.ogicof tilrrb.l tlusiness,"7l,{' Ild, tatrl ltusitt$t ll'vi(w, l\'95.
2 5. Ibid .,p.l{)5.
26. I()r a filscinitting discrrssion involvingIlarvaii,seelcffTrrbin,"(irlttrral ( irnrtr rrtti,rrr
rtn<iNativeNationalisnl:lleport lronr the llawaiianl:ront,"in Arif I)irlik irnd llob Wilson
(eds.), Sl,n.eoJ 0 lltdl l)rodr.lio, (spccinlissueof borrnrlary2 lSpring
lee4l). ^sirrlPrr.i/i..rJ
27.'l his is whrt Michel Foucaultreferredk) as thc "instrrrcctionof sul)jugated knowl
ChineseHistoryand
cclges"in "Trvo l.ectures,"in li)trcault, ll)rvarl(,tu)rr,l{'rlqr'] )^a/.akll lttlrtvictvs lttk{ ()tltrt the Questionof Orientalism
wtitittgs,1972-1977, .d, (i'lin (i)rdon {New York:I'antheorrllooks, l9lt0), pP 7l3-108.
28.See (lhapter -1.
29. Krnlcl, (;iol,(rlFr.krl, 1.75.
3{).Ibid.,p.26.
.ll. Meela Nanda,"ls Modcrn Sciencca WcsternPntrinrchalMyth? A (lritiqtrc'of thc I , 'r r s i r l c rb c l o r v s o n tc q u csl i o n s r i r i scdb r ,( ) r i c'n ta l i sn ri r s cr ) n ccft a r r tl Ir .r tti te .
l\\jrllist ()rth(xl{)xy,"Sorth Asid|}|tlll.li't,.t<r l. I l, no. I antl 2 ( 199| ):32-61.
l l j , \ c ( l u c s l i o n ( ha vc th ci r o l i g i n s i n Id r va l tl Sa i d 's ( ) r i L 'tttr tl i sn ,p u b l i sh e d i n
J2. lirr a senrinitlrnd inllrrcntialwork to argttcthis position,secPatll(itren, l)is.ov.l
I I . N , \ \ , h i c h h r s h r tl a l a sti n g i n tl 'i r ct o r r 'l h i r d \\tu l d cu l tr u a l stu d i cs i r t l r r r r o p c
ing llishry in Chi|rt (N.Y: (lolumt)iaUniversityl)ress,1984)
3J. Ii)r an exaellcntaccountof indigenottspeople'snrovcnentsaDd their rcliltionshil' r r , l t h c ( l n i l e ( l S t i r l e s.'Pr o vo ca ti vca s Sa i d 'sb txr k u 'a s i r r i ts cr i ti r l u t'o l ( ) r i cr r tl l -
to existingslites,scel,irm,?rlaAgco/ I rr ,rs frlcticct its largcr sigrrilicirrrcclesls orr Sairl'srt'lc'ntlcssrlcnronslralion ol'
J4. SeePierrelk)urclieu,71,(,l.o8i{- ^sso.itrr(rt.
of l'f.r.tt.. (Stinford,(;A: StarrfordtJniversityl)rcss, r l , r r \ l f l s c . l i o n o l h i sto r i ci r li n l cr p r cl i l t i o n , ct|l l u Ic i r r r tlPo l i ti cs i n l l u Io r \n r cr r cn n
1990),for i recent discussionof his views,and Mnrsh;rllSrhlins, lsitlrrrlsry' llistorl' t r , l i c s o l A s i a . I r {i l l Jr g u c, co n l In r v to cr i ti cs o f Si r i d ,l l r l t t]tr e sti o r r sr i r i scr lb v
((llricirgo:tJniversityof (lhicllgoPress,I985). r l r . i n l c f s c c l i o l i l rc sl i l l l cr ,y n r u ch r .l cva n t to Pr o b l c'n r so l l r i sl o r i cn l i r tcr fr cta '
35. Ashis Nandy, liaditiotls, 'lj\rruy tnd Lltofirts: Essaysin tht l\'litits ol A\avo :r 1 r , , n( r l A ( i i r i n g c n cl o l , i r r r r ltl l r i n i r r |i r ti cu l i l t. ( ) | l l r e o tl r cr h i l tl , I r vi l l su g g e st
(l)elhirOxford t.rnivcrsity Press,1987),lp.l6-19. , l , t l l . r l . ( ) n l c n r p or a r t h i sto r i o g r ':rp h i e i tl cvi tl e n ccca l l sl i u a r e ca sti n g o l l h cr cl a
16. llicharcl (i. Fox, (irurriltin, LJtofid: Exlrcri,,u\tlst|illt C'fltttn (lloston: lleacon l)rls\. r ' r 'h i I b e t r v c e r rl r i sto r '1 ,, cu l tu r e i r r r tl p o l i ti cs i n a co n l i g u r :r ti o n th a t i s si g n i l i -
19 89 ),p .26 . r r t l r ( l i l i e r e n l t l r nn Sa i ( l 's.( ) n ccl tu i r l i zi r ti o no l i t i n ( ) fi ( 1 r l i r l r j ,,l .( ) n th e l r i r si so l
37.This noti()trof irverloa<ling the systeni'asa nreansol resistance I owe k) Willlcl
l, , rr'corrligulc<lrrrrdclstirnrlirrsof ()rient.rlisnr, I rvill lcllcct bv rval ol-concltr-
stein."l)cvel(4)rrent:l.odeslaror Illusion?"in InrmanttelWallcrstein,U,lfri,,kirg So.irl
, , r r , 'r r t h c p o s s i bi l i ti cso l c'sca l 'i n gth c b r r r d t'r ro l ( ) r i t'D l u l i sn ] i r r h i sto r i ..l stu r l
Sticnrc:Tln' Litttitsof Ni .t(ulh C.nt ry I'aftr.l(rti (l-ondon:l'olity Press,l99l ), p l 24
Wh.lt I hrrvein nrind hcre nraybe illustratcdby an eltis()de fronr South l'acificculture.lrr \\ ()ricntrlisrn ils corrcc[]l rcli'rs to Ihc "()ricnl" lrs ir u'holc, I sh<rulclirrltl, in
his anitlysisof oral trarlitions in the South Pncili(, Subrirmani observesthat SotttlrPncilit r , . l f . r t i n gn 1 \ 'i l r gu n l cn ts I$ ,i l l d r a $ o r r cvi r l cn cc'l i o n r th e ci r e cr o l - ( ) r i e n l i l l l sn l
wrilershnve,"i|l sonleinstnnccs, rediscovcted their orill literlturcsby reiding translali()rl\ , , , t r r s t i n t h c h i sto l i o g l a p h v o l ( l l r i n a b u t o l h cr h i sl o r i cs.r s r l cl l . I:i n i r l l r ',l i r r n
of thcnl by lirrr4'eanrcserrchers."'l he goll of F.uropean rescarchcrs in undertakirlSthi\ , ' r, r'r'Dr'tllrcre rot \\'ith sllccific histoIiogrlphic.rl (incsli()ns,l)ut qucsliors lhilt
kind ol ir.tivily ar()undthe glol)e,at leastitlitially,rvasto ltlldcr$tandthe ndtiveslo helltl ,r 1,.\l chirrictcrizcrl .rs ntclirhistoricitl.
(ontr()1,col]vertor irssinrililte thcnr.With n ne$'cttlltlrnl(onscioLlsncss thil ninlsnt libcl
flti()n,thesesitnre"rcsearchers" nrtrvscrvethe causeof liberrlion,and thc asserlirrn ol kx rrl Orientalism
i(fentityagainst.ssinrilation. Subrrntani,.Soth I\ :ilic [.il?ftitttrc: Iiom M)'th ttt ]itbrthtint
(Suva:Universityof thc South ltacilic,1985),p.-12. | ,rrrnrarizc vcry lrlicllt,, irr Saitl s orr'rr rror'<ls,
"'tJllily
-38.(;in)tfx, llorde, Crossiry' p.79. For "tlnity in tlivelsity,"seeYtrji l.hioktt,
within l)ivcrsily'lI-ouisAdanricand ,irpancse Amcricans,"lVtrrkirr.g l)rtprrsin Asirtn/l'ircili, , r r i . I t i i l i s r n. . . f c l .r s l {r scr 'a Ii rol r cr l :r fl 'i r r ge l o r D i r i nls: l r st.tl te !h i r r Si tr Sh i sl ( ) ft.i l t
S tud ics,n o. | (19 87 ) . , f , l , r r l t r | L rrl <l . r ti o o sh ihpctr |cr n l i L r l o p t'i n tlAr i .r ,i r |e h ti o n r h i p\\ i th i r .1 0 {) 0r c.l |''
J9. (lirrrux, llolder (,'n)ssi,gs,f.79. 'l , l l ) r \ l ( 'rr i . r t , r r r r l .th c sr :i e n ti l i d c i sci p l i r tci n th c r 'cst r t( o r r l i n q to r r h i e h .b cl l i r r
40. lbid., p.54. r r rt l r t r ', r r h n i r l r l r ( 'r r l hr r r r tu r r ,( ) r r cr |ci i :r l i zcr i n l l ) c \l u d y r ) l \i tr i o u {( ) fi e l ) t,l l
"r,ri
. r r l t r r r r r . r r r trrl . r , li ti o r r .t,r r rth ,l ,i l r l , th c i tl co l o l q i L {u l l l ,l ,o \i ti r ) n \,i l r r r .\,r r r r lL r r r t,r 'r r ,
'1 , , ', , r . r , u | | , | l t l \ i|l r l .( 'r l ,r r r ,l |r ( l l \,1 'r i \,r l
r lr!r {<
r r l r i Ii ,'n ,r l th c l \, l ,l .,r l l r ,l tl r , r tr i
'r
 V
106 Ilistoryand tlteQuestion
Chinese of orientalisnt I ltintst His'ot),and the Qutstionof Oritntolisnt 107

ent,'lherelativelycommondenominator between thesethreeaspects

ofOrientalism .r.,Jol'ranncs Fabianputs it in a diffcrentcontext,no realcontenrporaneity, since
is the line separating Occidentfrom Orient and this,I haveargued,is lessa factof ll)( ir prcsentsare but $irnplereproductionsof their pasts.^
naturethanit is a factof lrumanproduction, geog-
whichI havecalledimaginative 'lhis cpisten.rology, scconclly,is bouncl up with questionsof EuroArucricln
raphy.This is,however, neitherto sa),that thedivisionbenveenOrientandOcctdent l,()\vcr over the Orient. ln C)ricnlnlisn,Saidsinglesout four preconditionsrvith
is unchanging nor is it to saythatit is simplyfictional.' ,,ul \!,hichOlientillisnr"coultl lot have occurrecl":[uropcan expansionrvhich
'r,rLrBhtIlur-opeans into contact rvith other societies;the conflontatiorrrvith
Said'sstudy rvasconcernedalmostexclusively with the scconrland the third ,'tlrcr historiesthis contactnecessitatcd, which cubninatcdin cornparativelris-
aspectsof Orientalismas it relatedto WesternAsia,and drew upon the work ol' t,)ry;"sympatheticidentification,"which for sonreofferedthe only access to the
prominentEnglishand FrenchOrientaliststo arguehis thesis.A centralaspcctol' t',rrr()ply of nlien cultures, "each permeated by an inimical creativespirit" (this,
the work wasto represent contemporaryareastudiesasa Iineardescendant ofilrc rrrlor.nred by, and infornring,eighteenth-century historicisnr);ancl,finally,"the
Orientalisttradition in EuroAmerica.Two guidingassumPtions of the argumenl rrrrIulseto clrssifynatureand nran into types,"and to bring order into the plo-
areworth spellingout. ln\L vitrjet,v of cxpetiencethat coulclno longerbe containedin inheritedconcep-
First,"onc of the legacies of Orientalism,and indcedone of its epistcnrological tr.ns of the rvorld.'Expansion,rve nra1.observe,was the point of deltarturcfcrr
foundations,is historicism,that is, the view . . . that if humankindhasa history tlrt rrervcpistcnrologics firr re-orclerirrg the rvorld.(Jrientalisrlrvirsan integral
it is producedby men and women,and canbe understoodhistoricallyas,at each , ,,rscrlttcnce of this process.
givenperiod,epochor moment,possessing a complex,but coherentunity."Said ( )rierrlalisrn, as part of this episternological reorderingof the rvorlcl,is rrrrt.r
describedthis notion of historicismmore preciselyas a "urriversalizing histori- rrrLr.cintellcctualinstrunrentol inrpcrialisrn,it i-r"intellectualirnperillisrn.'for
cisnr,"that placeddifferent histories conceivedas"coherent unities" on a tempo- '.ii(1,Oricntalisnris a "discourse"in the sensethat iVlichelFoucaultused tlrat
ral scale.rSpatialdifferenceswere therebyrenderedinto temporal differences,and , r rl: "()rientirlisnrcanbe discusseri rn<1anall'zedasthe corpolateinstitutionfor
differentsocietiesplacedat differentlocationsin a progressive temporalityin ,l ,.rl i ngrvi th thc O r ient - dcr ling r vit h it bv nr akingst at encnt sir l) outit , . ut ho
which FluroAmerica stood at the epitomeoIprogress:'Asprintitivity,asthe agc- rrzinqviovs of it, dcscribingit, b,vtcachingit, scttlingit. rtrling over it; irr short,
old antetypeof Europe,as a fecund night out of which Europeanrationality ( )l|entalisnrils a \^/cstcrnstylefor dominating,restructuring, and havingauthor-
clevelopecl, the Orient'sactualityrecededinexorablyinto a kind of paradignlatic ,t\ r)vcrthe ()ricnt."" It is irrportant to untlerlinehere that, rvhileSaid is <lrrite
fossilization."' .,r',rrc of thc corrrplexrehtionshiplretrvecn porverirntlOrienlirlism,hc is :rclanrirnt
Orientalistepistemologyas it emergesfrom Said'sanalysisis alsoclearlycul- rlr rl Orientirlisrndoesnot merelyserveor rePresent power,but is itsclf"il .iislfil,
turalist,by which I mean a representation of societiesin terntsof essentialized r/r,r/ of geopoliticalarvareness into .esthetic,scholarly,economic,sociological,
cultural characteristics, more often than not enunciatedin foundationaltexts. l,r'torical,and phikrlogicaltexts"'-in other worcls,Orientirlismasdiscoursersrn
Culturalistessentialism is homogenizingboth spatiallyand tenrporally. Spatially, l,r'ltnrologyof porver.r\s such,it is intcgralto ir motlcrn }iuroArrrerican culturitl
it ignoresdifferences within individualsocieties, and,in the caseof Orientalisnr, ,' rrsci ousne(ss ir r t cluncor t sciousness) .
differencesbetweenAsian societies, which are endowedwith common charac' ll is noteworthvthat Said setsout to stlldy in Oriettnlisnttlris dirnensionof
teristicsthat mark thern as"Oriental."It is homogenizingtemporallyin substi "f)ricntal" societiesrepresertle(l
'rr,xlerrrlluroAnrericanculture,rather than the
tuting a cultural essence that defiestime for culture as lived expcriencethat is rrrit. In fact,one of his basicgolls is to demonstrateholv suchrepresentati()rrs ol
subjectto temporalproductionand rcproduction.Culturalisrn,in other wortis, rlrr'( )rictrt Iravesilenceci the "Orientals,"arrdunclcrcutthcir ability to represcnt
nourishesoff a de-socialized and de-historicizedconceptualization of culturc rlr, rrrselves. I lis argurlrcnton Oricntalisnr,holvever, might not havt'beenasconr-
(as "organicallyand internally coherent,trouud togetherby a spirit, gcnitrs, 1',llinu hatl lre stoppetll.rere.Orientolislitconclucles not lvith condemn.rtion()r
Klimn, or nationalidea,"'which is the sensein which it appearsin eighteenth- ,l,rsrrrc,but with a tirrthcr sct of questions:"How doesoDe ft'prd-se,r/ olher cul
centurylluropcanhistoricism,and alsoinforms Saitl'suseof " h istoricisrn" ) thit rr r, s?W hat i s r r ollr crcult ur c?I s t he not ionof a dist inctcLllt ur e( or r ace,or r eli-
suppresses relationsboth betweenand within societiesin the protluctionof cul- 1r,rrr,rrr cililization ) a usefirlone,or tloesit alrvays get involvcdcithcr in sclf:con
ture asongoinghistoricalactivity (which is informed by an altcrnativcsctrscttl' Lr,rl rrl ,rti r)rr(rv hcnoner liscusses or r e's or vn) or host ilit yand aggression( r vhenone
historicism).Suchculturalismis important to understandingwhy, in ()r'icntirl- ,l ,rrrrststl tc" o lhcr ") ?"'
isrr, so-calledOrientalsocietiesmay appcarat onceas ot'rjccts oIac]ttrilrlion lirr l l rw cr,sIccilicllly I ir r r oAnr cr icirpolit r r icll Por veris , kcv t o t he ur gunr entSait l
their civilizatjonalachievements, but alsorclcgatcdto the pastas lirssilizcdtclics | ' r, \, rrl \ | rr ( )ricnlillisnr;.tr r r lr or rliqr rcs r t lt c r clr tiot t r ship bclr vt 'cnpolilics.t t t llt t lc
becattse, for history,lhcy hrtvctto "rcal" hislolit it y itrrtl,
witlr culturc substitrttcci r rrl ( )r icrrt ,rl i srrr. l: r lI r wir r r it lr t
rr,l l ri rtorr l l r,r l\ lf lr ( llr r ( \ lr i\ ! or l( . I ) |r |, r I i/ i|I ior
totl Chin.sc Llistory dttd tlrc Qrcstion ofOrientalisnt \,,1\ tl i :t,'t) nuJ tl tt Qt",ti n' t nt atti , D !ttl t.rtl

logicof the argument,wc might expccta powershift in globalrelationsto recon- l,L',rrupon it strongtraccsol lltrrocentrisnr.Ihc clifference is lhat it is rrtrrva sur,
figurethat relationship,in which caseorientalism may be consignedto the past 1'lrrsofhistory ratherthan.l historicllllack that tleflncslh(, stateof ,.prenrodcrn.'
as a manifestationof one specificperiod in EuroAmericanrelationshipto thc rron lluxrPclrrsocieties; rvhatrvecall "trldition." It is the brrrtlenof thc past in
workl.'fhis is indeedone contemporaryverdicton Orientalism(not to speakol ,,nclornr or another,th:rttnarksa socictyils traditional,which irnpccles its asccnt
thosewho deny it altogether, pastor present). 1,)nro(lcnrit)'.In spiteof radicalchallengcs, includingchallcrrges from inlellcctu-
I woulcllike to sr.rggesthere a contrary position: that far from being a phc- rl \ l ron' tnon-Eur opean societ it s,t hat r nodcr nit yand t r - ar . lit ior orr ,. clcveloPnr c, r r t
nonrenonof the past,Orientalism,and the culturalistepistemologythlt nour .rrtrlrDdcrclcvclopnteDt, Dtat,bctliffclent asl,ectsol-thc sirrrrchistoricalProcc,ss,
ishedit, arevery much alivein the present,but not necessarily whereSaidlocated rlr. ({)nccplualisolationol lhc'onelrorl thc rrther.(ofa tlcvcloPerl ,,inside"
Ii-ont
it, and in a reconfigurccl relationshipbetlveenpolitics,cttlturcand history. l'hc .rr trnclevcloped "outside")persistsnot jusl in the;ropLtlarconsciousness hr.rtjn
natureof this relationshipis such,moreover,that it raisescertainfunclarnentrl ,rtr'llectuirlrvorkasg,cll. lhc "insicie"norv hasconrekr inclrrdesomc nou rrrro
questionsabout Saicl'sconceptualization of Orientalism,its locationan(l struc- l'( .ln socictics, \\.hichhascrcatecl sorneprol)lenrsfiu earlic,rvclsionsoI the nrotl-
turc. Onc questionthat is of particularinterestis: is Oricntalisman auk)nomous , rrri zati onexP lll't at ion, l) ut ilr guablyhas cont r ibut edf ur t hcr t o enhancir r g t he
procluctof EuroAnericrn development, which is thcn projectedupon the "Ori- t' ,' r' cl oftl rei cl e: r of r r r odcr nizlt ionit self . , 'lhequest ionlr voLr klliket or r isehct c
ent,"or is it rathertlre productof an unfoldingrelatiottshipbetweenEuroAmer- r. \\'hetllct ()riclttalisDrrvits iust the Aulon()ntouscleation of FiLrro1,cilllr,, (),
icans:rndAsians,that requiredthe conplicity of the latter in endowingit with ,ilretherit [rrc'supPoscd itr its e|rergencethc complicitl,ol "()ricntals."This is
plaLrsibility;to rnimic what E.P 'I'hompsonsaidof classcs, is Orientalisma thing rrlr.rtI ha<lin nrilcl rvhcrrl rclcrredto ()ricntalismaboveas
ltossiblya.,rclation-
or a relationship? l,et rne ofTersomc observationson coutctrPoraryself reprc- .lrip."I116,),-;,',rr,,1--tll Saicir.iriscs a nunrlterol cltrcstions rvhichhe tlocsnol pur.srrc.
sentations beforeI return to this question,and what it rnighttell us aboutthe his- l l resc< l ucsl i on s, br ouglr llo t he sur f ice,call f ir r a num bcr of qLr alif icat ions r vit h
toricll meaningof Orientalism. , rl,rrtllo tltc locltiol, lrotluction and conscquences of ()r.icnlllisnrthirt rfc, I
tlrink, lirnriarnenlalto uDdcrstxnding Orielrtillistn,and its plitcein nrodcrnitr..
\.ricl's()r'ir'ltali-slr, as hc is tluick to acknorvlerige, is.r study in FluroArnerican
"The Orientalismof the Orientals""
Ll rol rghli l.nd i t h aslit t le t o sly on t he qucslionof hor vint cllcct r r als and or ncr sr n
Saicl'sargumentin Orientalismmay tre open to criticisn from a varicty of per- \sr,tnsoci cl i es n t ayht ve conlI ibut edt o t he cnt elgence of ( ) t icr r lllisnrasPr lct icc
spectives, and it hasreceivedits shareof criticistn,especially from "Orierrtalists " rrrilcorrccpl.Altl elctr iI Oticrrtalismu'irsil prociuctol-a lltroPean intcllccluill
Whatevermay be thc merit or lack thcrcof of thesecriticisrns,the cetrtralarSu- 1'.rte, hrxv d id "Oriental' intcllectualsrcsponclto it, ol reccilcil? \\'ereI hc ..()ri
ment of the book is in nry opinion inclisprrtable: Oricntirlisnrwasan integralPart rrt,rls"irrcleedls silcDt,or incaPableol-rcprcscntilgthcntsclves, as Saicl'ssturlv
(at oncc as constituentand procluct)of a llurocentricconcePtualization of thc rllllcsls?IIoiv does "()rientalisnt,"lrrcl thc rvholequestionof a nto(lern con_
world that was fully articulatedin the courseof thc nincteenthcetrtury,that r roLr\lrcss itppeartvhen wc' bring thc ''Oricntitls"into lhc pictur.c,not irs silctrt
placedHuropelt the centerand Pinnacleof clevekrpment, and orderedthe globc ,,1'ic.tsol il liuropcarrdiscorrrsc, but asictivc parlicipantsin ils ernergcnce? Whirt
spatiallyand temporallyin accordirnce with tlre criteri of Europeandcvclop l ' ,.rri nes' oul dsucha r econst nr ct cd pict ur cr ) l ( ) r ient alismhaveon t lr equc, r t ion
nrcnt.Non-Eur<>penn societies werecharactcrized in this reorderingof tlre world ,,1tire rclationshipbctrveen()rientalisrnanclporver.? \\/hilc Saiclis rluite righr in
not by what they haclbut by what they lacked;in other words,the lack of one or ,fiUtt)g llrirl Oricntalislnnourishesoff irrr jnsirle/outsiclc (or ()ccident/()ricrrt)
more of thosccharlcteristicsthat accottntedfor Europeandevclopment.Ilathct' l r.trrr.ti on,nl or eoveris , it possiblet hat in t hc kt lr gr un t hc consct luence ol- ( ) r i_
than provide coutel porary alternativesto EuroPcandevelopment,they werc , rrl ,rl i snl i s to callsucha clist inct ion int o qlt €'st ion?
perceivecl predominantlyto be locatcdat some rtlng or other of the l.rdderol I rrst,thc Oricntalists.Siti(lnotesth:rt ()ricntalisnr,[ry its vcry ePistenr o krgical
de,/elopment that lluropealreadyhad lcft behind.They provitledBuropcanswith , .rrrrrpti ons, cl llecilir r "synr pir t het ic idcnt ilicit t ion"ils. nlcAnst o gr aspint . r n
glimpsesnot of alternativepresents, but of a Paststageof Europeandevclopmcnl, ,lr,r rllllllc. I take this to inrplv that in thc vcq proccssof utrclcrst:rrrrrrng irrr
what has been clescribedas "a theory of our contemporaryancestors."''lhc Ll r,rr trrl trtl ' c.thc O r icnt . r listnecdsin sont cnt cr sur et o be,"O r ient alizeci, if "you
devekrpmentof this new view of thc worlclwent hand in hand with tlle progress 1,, rl l ri cl rbri rrgst hc ( ) r 'icr r t alist closert o t hc ( ) t her r vhilcclist ancing hilr / hcr
of Erropeancolonizittionand donlinationof the worlcl. l ,,,rr l l l (.s()(j cl) , olt hc'Scll.ll onlv as sPccillist{) r - c_\ perlhc t . ( ) r jcnt alistcor ncs
While we may havccome a long way sincetlre nilrclccnthcentury,it is hittdly , ' ,1l r\t l () \l )(' .r l( . t lr orlrr rl r tllso lir l t he ( ) t lt er .I r ra r ecenlnnr ll<on Chincsent r r l
arguablethat Flurocentrisnr is alrcadya thing of lllc Pilst.Posl-Wolltl War II rrrrz,rtron, l l rcc t lilor Kur t \ \ r cnr clllir r lr l, t , l'r csr r nt alrsl'c: lv r kjng lir r t hceot r t t ilr
" l h c o ry ,"s ti l l fi tn rl l n rc n l rtl
nr odc r niz at ion l tr
to o tt r vi cw sol thc w orl d'eol rti rrrrcs i ,,r,.t,rtl r( vol r r r llr ', r |t it t r t lr , r lt lrc ( r,n t r il) t r)r 's,. rll iI r t cllt ,t tr r . r ls. r r r , llr r r r ..r; , , .
 ChineseHittoryattdthe Questiool Orientalien (:hirrcleHistor),dfid tlrcQuestiofi
of (>ie tolisDt Itl
u0

cialists,havein the courseof their livesbeenaffectedby the processof sinifica- t he likesof LafcadioHearnin the UnitedStates.r" Wllatev€rtheseusesol the"(lri-
tion."'aThereis nothingpeculiaraboutthis excePtthat,whilewe haveno diffi- ent" maysayaboutOrientalism,theysuggest alsothat Orientalismplayeci a trans-
culty thinking of "Westernized Chinese," which is the subjectof much scholarly lormativepart in EuroAmerica.
attention,we-clonot oftenthink of th€ "SinifiedWesterner'" If wedo' the distinc- A similarconrplexityattendsthe relationshipofthe Orientalistto the "Orient."
tionsbetweenselfandothec or subiect and object, crucialto the analysis of Ori- I hereis considerable evidencealsothat thosein Asiansocieties did not necessar-
entalism,becomeblurredthough not necessarilyabolished, as I will argue below' il,vperceivethe Orientalistas a vanguardof EuroAmericanpower;to the extent
Sufficeit to sayherethatexamples of"Orientalized Westerners" abound from the lhrt the C)rientalist was"Orientalizetl," s/hecoulclfind acceptance in the society
originsof Orientalismto the present: from the Jesuitsin China to l'awrence of ,rl the Other.The |esuitsare the classicexample.In c.rsethey seemb belongto
or Arabs; from William "Oriental" |ones' .rnotherage,we nrightadducecorrtemporary examples. In his recentproposalof
Ara'bia,*ho soughtto live asChinese
vol- ,r "(irltural China,"Tu Wei-nringincludesnon,(lhineseChina specialists
the founderof Biitish Orientalism,to the"sinified"contributorsto Radtke's in the
ume."Their"Orientalization" waswhat qualified the Orientalists to speak for the orrterrealmof his notion of a "Cultural China,"the inner t!\'o realns consisting
"Orientalized," howev€L they themselves respectively of Chinesein China and Chineseoverseas.'" As if echoinghis senti-
Orient. To the extentthat they were
rrrcnls,Sito/4rto magazinein Tairvanpublisheclin l99l a volume (corrrpiletl
assumedsomeof the exoticismof the Orient,which on occasionmarginalized
them, and even rendereclthem suspectidcologicallyat home The latter
lr o nr earlier publicationsin tbe ntagazine ), entitledllhen VlestMcctsErlst-Inttr-
inevitably questions
raises concerning ihe relationshipbetween Orientalism and tt'ttionalSinologl, etrdSirro/ogisrs.'' Publishedin (lhineseanclllnglish,the volunrc
, llersaccountsof Sinologists, all Europeanwith the exceptionof fohn King Fair
POwer. '
l'.rnk,in order to, in the rvordsof tlrepublisherYuning Sharv,seeChina through
Such suspicion may be a consequenceof the fact that however"condescend-
(in tlrr.t'yesof othersand "betterappreciate
ing" theymay havebeenin their"veneration"of"Oriental" cultures Raymond ourselves,"" lVhile the editorsareby no
responsiblealso for introducing elements rrreuns unawareol.the connectionbetweeusinologyand "tradeand imperialism"
s."tl*nbL *oids), orientalists havebeen
ll'.19), the volunreis on the wlrolequite laudatoryof the part foreignsinology
ofAsianculturesintotheirsocieties,fortheiruseofthe..orient''inself-criticism'
Orien- t t rrllure'sother half") hasplayedin globalizingChinesecivilization.
as well as the critique of EuroAmerican modernity' French and German
for an "Oriental Renaissance"' which Sccond,and ever more conplex,is the questionof"tlte Oricntalisrnof thc Ori
talistsof the early nineteenth century called
(understood in terms of India, instead of Greece and , rrt.rls," of which the .Silornlracollectionis enrblenratic. While the Occident/Ori-
would make the "Orient"
in European history'n 'l'he use of the , rrtdistinction,and Orientalismasconccptand prflctice,areoI IJuropearr ,rrigirr,
Rome) into the basis of a new tleparture
,n(l lhe term Orientalismhasbeenusedalmostexclusively
"Orient" in self-criticismis almosta discoursewithin a discourseof C)rientalism' to describcthe atti-
Wotkl in trr,ltsol Europeanstoward Asiansocieties,
from Montesquieu'sPersianLettersandOliver Goldsmith'sCitizenof the I rvoLrldIike to suggestheretltat thc
llx's'The Temptation of the West and radi- rr',llc needsto be extende<l to Asianviervsof Asia,to accountfor tenclencres to
the eighteenthcentury to Andre Malra
in the twerrtieth'" ., ll ( )rientalizationrvhichrvoulclbeconrean integralpart of the histor.yol Ori-
cal U.S.intellectuals'critiques of the U.S.
even find , nt,rlisnr. We tentl to view the EuroAntericanimpacl on Asiansocleties
Most revealingly,Orienialism, itself a prodttct of Eurocenrism' may primarily
example of this is the notion of a r.,rrr irnpactof"Western"iclcasand institutionson Asia.-Ii)the extetrtthat Ofi-
servicein the criiique of Eurocentrism.A recent
and Schrecker''' "China- , rrt.rlisrn had becomea part of"Western"ideasby the early nitreteenthcentur),,
"China-centeredhistory" proposedby Paul Coherr John
ePistemo- rl,, \{('stern"impact inclucledalso the intpact on Asian societicsof llurope,rn
centeredhistory" as .on..iu"d by theseauthors is in keepingwith the
drawing a-clear methodological ,,1,,rr ol the C)rient.How EuroAmericalrimagesof Asiamay havebeerrincorpr'-
logical proceduresof Orientalism, especiallyin
rt,
line between(lhineseand other histories,and arguingthat Chinesehistory may
be ' rl into the self'-irrrages ofAsiansin the processmay in the end be inscparable
?'lrc Chinese Revolution lr,,nI I hc inrprct of "Westerrr" ideasper se.One fundamerrtal conseqtrence of rec-
understoodonly in terms that are internal to it Schrecker's
,ltrrrzing this possibilityis to call into questionthe notion of Asian"traditions"
in HistoricalPerspective illustratesthe approachby attempting to understandChi-
con- ,' lrr,lr nr;ryturn out, upon closerexanrination,to lre "inverrtecltraditiorrs,"the
nesehistory ovei a three-thousand-yearperiod in terms of the two Chinese
ceptsof/ergiiar and irorxiar. What is interesting about "China-centered historyJ' tr",lfl(ts rathcr than the preconditionsof contirctbetrveenAsiansancl Euro-
hn*.u.r, i, i-h. explicit positioning of themselvesagainstF'urocentrichis- 1',rrrs,thirt nlay owe more to Orientalistperceptionsof Asia than the self-pcr-
"uthois' ,,l ,tr,rosol A si nnsi] t lhe point of cellt llct .
toriesof China.I will havemore to sayaboutthis approacltlater' ( )r( ()l l hc nrosllascinlt iDgcxlnr Plcsol t vhatI lr aveir r nr int lher ewit slhe so
Finally,aswith the OrientalRenaissance' ()rientalismcotlldservcas critiqrlc
'r
with thc ' l l ,,l l k rrqrll {crr; r issuncc, t lr t 'r cr liscovcrol y llilr lt r t r ': r t lit ior in
of Europeannrodernity'and a meansto retlircctingit' Strchw:rsthc cilsc r s t h( 'nil( 't ccnlh
'I hc , r s oir hic nt
al o v c n rc niln th c rn i d tl l co fl h c tti t tcl ccnl
ccnth l l ry'w hi (l r i l ttractc(l ' rtrrry l ry l tcl grrliir r t cllcr t r r , r ls.
lt r it {
islr ) r 'icnt : r lisr
r r r
vns t ( ) l) l, r fllr c r r r r . ir r lI 'ur . l
112 HistoryandtheQLtestioof Orientalisn
Chinese (hi ey []istor),
tltd tlrcQ eslh of(rintdlis t It3

in the BengalRenaissance by both authoringtranslationsof anclauthorizingthe 'lhere are obvious differencesbetu'een

reiuvenated studyof ancientHindu texts,which kindlcd the intcrestin thesetexts
In the process,a Hindu tradition was inventeclin the
of llengali intellectuals.
courseof the nineteenthcentury in which Orientalistinterpretationsof lndia
played a significant part. Schwab'.sdescription of these textual interchangcsis
worth quoting at somelengthbecauseof its relevance to the argumentherc:
Europe\knowledge of the Upanishads throughAnquetil[-l)upcrron,Abraham
Hyacinthe] hasas its originsa Hindu unitarianatlenrpt....ln 1665the Mughal
Princeof Delhi,MuhammadDaraShikoh. . . wantedto comparethesacredbooksof
all peoples in orderto attainandadopttheultinrate truth.... Not s.tisfied with that
andhavingheardof theVedas, he sumnroned theasceticsof Banarns k) instructhim
in Brahmanical doctrine.For this occasionhe ordereda remarkable versiruof the
Upanishads madein Persian, the linguafrancaofAsiaat that tinre.lt is thistextthat,
in the followingcentury,foundits wayto Anquetilthrouglrtlreeffortsof Gentiland
that Anquetilretranslated between1776and 1796,first into Frenchand then int<r
l,atin,andpublished in l80l-2. As goodhistorical fortunewouldhaveit, thc samc
pundit-scholar who hadbeenDara'sprincipaltranslatoralsobecarne Bernicr'snrost
valuableinstructor,and Bernier, . , brought{ separaternanttscriptof theOrprek'rrat
to France. . . thework that Darahadinitiatedirnpressed an importanladept:it was
this text whicha centuryand half laterfell into the handsof Rammohunlloy,and
whichhe,irr turn, translated andannotatedin localdialectsanciEnglish.It nlustbe
saidthat shortlyafterhis birth theexampleof suchparallelshadbeenestablished by
Williamlones,who himselfhadbecomea studentof llrahmansRadhakantr Sarntan
and SarvoruTrivedi:the Hindusweremovedby lones'sincere desirek) know tlreir
true beliefs.They soonbecamethe pupilsof their disciples, whoseproc.esscs thcy
adopted,beginningwith the printing press,an instrumentwhosedifflsion always
rendered a criticalspirit
inevitablewithina shorttinre."
The most famousproduct of the BcngalRenaissance woulclbe Rabindranath
Tagore,who in the earlytwentiethcenturywas to enrergeasa "missionary"of a
Pan-Asiancivilization,distinguishedfrom the "nraterialist"Westby its spiritual-
ity. But it was not merelythe tradition of the BengalRenaissance
formativepart in'lagore's thinking. He was also influenceddeeplyaround the
turn of the centuryby OkakuraKakuzo(himsclf a studentin 'I'okyoUniversity
of ErnestFenollosa),by the TheosophistMargaretNoble fron Ireland (who
helpedOkakurawith his influentialbook, The ldeak of lhe t-dsl),and, asI Doted
above,byLettetsfron lohfl Chinaman.Tagore, in turn, wasto assunrethe role of
a "missionary"ofAsian civilizationin Japanand China,wherehe exertecl
some influenceon intellectualssuch as Zhang |unmai and Liang Shunring,
themselves involvedin effortsto rejuvenate(lhineseand liasternr:ultures."lt't
the end,however,Tagore'smessagcs of Parr-Asianisnr and n siNnspirilu0litywcrc
reccivednrorc favorablyin Europeanclthc tjnitcd Slirtc's,
n at c d in t lr c f ir s t p l l c c , th a n i n (l h i rrao r (ot,
l rtp i ttt l i )r l hl l nri rl tcr,Indi rr),.rl l
cat t glt t t I it r llt c co n l c ttrP o r;rlcyo l t(c tttsrrl tt;tl i ott.tl Ii rttIti IIi ott.
the Inclianand Chineseencourrtcrs
rvilh Fiuropeans, but sintillr processes are observablein the latter caseas rvell.
(Jnlike in India where the Brahmanicaltexts were rescued front esoteric
,)l)scurityby British Oricntalists,and made into the sourceof Indian Civiliza
tion, Confucianismin China wasstateorthodoxy,and when fcsuitsformulated
llrrir representations of China asa (lonfucianstate,the),no doubt had the bcn
,lit of drawing on the self-intageof the bureaucraticelite, Nevertheless, the
l,'suit"inventinn of Oonfucianism,"ls Lionel felsen has clescribed it, had the
, ll('ct of codifying(lonfucianismas an emblem of Chinesesocietynot iust for
Ioro^mericans,but also for trventiethcertury L-hineservho dretv not only on
t .hinesebut alsoLluroAnrerican scholarshipin their-ownevaluationsof Chirra's
I'Jst.:'llenianlin l,llmanhassuggested Jesuitinlluencein thc etnel.gence of tex-
trr.rlcliticisnr,rvhich rvasto havc a significantintellectualand political conse
,lrrcncein tlrc interpr€tationof Confucianisrncluring the Qing.:"Where there
'r'r'nrslo be little doutrt concerningthe fesuitirlpact on the Chineseself irragc
rs in the mapping of the rvorld,of (lhina, ancl of China'splacein the rvorld.
\\'ilek crcditsMatteo Ricci rvith coining the term, Yaxiya,:rmongothers,s,hich
l)rcscnted to the (lltincse. . . a trnifieclconccptionof the rvorld.",-In a "tcn ycar
l'rr)jcct,"Iesuitsproducctlfor the KangxiEmperorthc first comprehensrve nrap
,'t (.hina. lhe Kangxi limperor, accordingto ]heodore Foss,was anxious kr
| ||()w"thc extert of the empire,"and especially to seea rnapof the Great\.\'all,a
,l, silc which was nurtured by a fesuitadvisor.-Ihe Emperor'sdcsirefor control
,,r( r lris territoriescoincidedin the proiectwith the fesuits'n,ishto fathornthe
, \lcnt o[ tl]e reirlmthat could lrc openetlup to (ihristianityto producetbe first
rrr.rpof Ohinl as a rvhole;in the process,local knou4edges((ihinesentaps of
l,'..rlitics)rveretransfcrrrned inlo a map ofthe rvholerealrl that becameavail-
.rl'l( lo (lhincseat lhc sanretime asto the liuropeans,and through the agencyof
rlr( l.rlter.r* Arthur WaldroDhas provitledus rvith a fascinatirrg accourrto[ horv
tlrc nryth of thc (;reat Wall," inventedbv the |csuits,rvould come to play a
, ' nlr.rlptrt in (lhincsenationalistconsciousness at a latcr tinre.r'
ll is in the t\\'cntiethcentury,ho$'ever,tlral IuIoADtericauOrientalistpercep-
that playeda ! ,'ns rncl ntethods bccornea visible conponent in lhe forrnulation of the
t lrircsc self-iml8c, arrrl Chinese perccptionsof the past. 'l.hc p1ocg5511'n5
l.r,ilililted by tlte entergeDcc of nationalisnr.Nirtiolralisnt,once it lrasenrergccl,
i, rlls to pt'oicctilselfover lroth spaceand tintc; honrogenizingall differences
.r,r,rrsI lre tcrritury occupicdby the nrtion, antl projcctingitselfbackin timc ttr
, 'rrre nrylhicll origin to errscthe differenttenpor.alitiesof tlte past,so that all
at least lrrrlor'1, bc'conrcra lristoly of ltrtional entergence. Irr thc plocess,some trait or
t' .ri tsl rr' conrc cnrb lcr u. r t ic of I he Dat ioD,whileolher st hat ar e inconsist ent u'it h
l r, rr;rti orml scl l i l lir gc lr c'swePtasiclcls f or eignint nr sions.I n t his r nct olt ylnic
r,,IrrrIi orri sIrr,rra lior r ir lisr shalcs rr nr t r ch in conr r nor rr vit h t hc ct r lt Lr r llist
whcrc lhcy hl(l origi- | ' r,r,r' rl rrl st ()l ( )fi ( 'nlit lislr .n{) wilI llt c sait lcoI lhc n. t lior r"'.
r r ll lx. r ir r(l lr ir r . r lr ot lt
l l r( l i l rro/\nrcri( ir ) ; r ssr ronint Plovr r licrlltl cclt cr 'lt cr r r col'
, Irrrrl rr' rLtIi ,rrLrI ir r r r . rirr or r , |,t ir , t lltI','r , r vi, lr ',it1 r t r t lr ir r r , r li,ol
r t lr t { llr ir rsr
t 'l'. r st
114 of Oriertalisn
ChireseHistoryand theQuesti<tn I ltifl.se
lIistorfold IlrcQrcstiotolOrietltalieit I t5

that could be incorporatedin a new nationalidentity."While diffcrentpolitical rvithoutporver.

ln sum,bythenineteenth century,
the\{esternworlclalrcady cnjovcd
strandsin Chinesenationalismfocusedon differentaspects of the past,and eval- thcso callednrodernculture.rvhiletheEastern
wofldrvasstillmirerlin the N'litldle
uatedthe historicalIegacydifferently,metonymicreductionismhasbeenappar-
ent in the identificationof China amongliberalsand conservatives with Confu-
familism,or evenracialcharacteristics, all of 'l hc alroveis fronr the introcluctionto
cianisn,dcspotism,bureaucratism, liang'fingfu'sOutlile of Moden Oltinsc
them traceableto Orientalistrepresentations, or an unchanging"feudal"or'Asi- //isarr1,. fiang'l ingftrhad rcccivedhis Ph.D.in diplomatichistoryfioru (lolunrbiir
atic" society,in a Marxistversionof Orientalism'?What wascommon to all was ( rnivcrsitv, beftrrehc wcnt hackto Chinato estatrlish the fieldof rnoderrr(lhinese
a rewritingof Chinesehistorywith images,conceptsand standardsdrawn from rlrplomatichirtory n QinghuaUniversity. It wastlrerethat in thc 1930sfohn King
a contemporaryconsciousness of which "Western"ideas,includingthe "imagina- lr.rirbank asa grircltrtte stu<ient workeclrvith IiangTingfu.In pointin€lk) the strong
tive geography"of Orientalism,werean integralcomponent.This consciousness l',rmllelisms bctweenFirirbank's anclfiang'sviervsof nrodernChina I do not rvish
wasformed now not iust bv the circulationof EuroAmericans in China,asin thc trr inrply that Fairlrank'sviervsrvereshapedby Jiang's;if anythingunites their
caseof the Jesuits, but by the circulationof Chineseabroad' '
rovs,it is il cornmonorigin in liberalinterpretations of Chinesehistory.llut tlle
'fhis lattersituationalsohasirnpliedthat the originsof our imagesof China's l',rr.rllelisms clo suggest the confbunding of the origins in Europeor (ihinirof such
pasthavebecomeincreasingly blurred.A fascinatingexampleis providedby the r rovs.llv the trventiethccntrrryin particular,Orientalistconceptions had no dis
careerof [ohn King Fairbank,who hasbeenheld responsible for both the virtues I rrr.lspati alori gi n . "
'I his circulationof irleasis nrorethan e.r,er
and the woes of U.S. China scholarship.Fairbank'scaseis doubly interesting the conditionof our undcrsttrncling
because he himselfrejectedEuropean-style Orientalism,and playeda rnajorpart ,,1t .hinl, rvhichhls leclsome to the conchtsionthat Orientalismis no longerir
in IaunchingU.S.China scholarshipin the directionof Modern Chinesestudies. I'r,rblenr.What I rvould like to proposeinsteadis that rvhathas chlngcd is thc
A youngergenerationof scholarshasaccusedFairbankof promotinga Eurocen- l,,,rlcrrelationshipbetlveen(lhina :rnd EuroAmerica, ratherthan the at)olitionof
tric "impact-response" view, which renderedChineseinto passiveobjectsof t trir'ntalisrn. On the contrarv,the yer).trirnsformali(xr of l.roNcrrnat.havecuLni-
Westernimpact.To be sure,Fairbankdid placea greatdeal of emphasison thc r.rtcrlin the reiflcationo[ ()rientalisntat tl]e le\.elof a globalideokrgy.()riental-
ways in which Chinesetradition (perceivedlargelyin terms of bureaucratic l'rr. rrlrichearlicrarticulateda (listancirrg of Asiansocieties fronr the I]uroArneri-
despotism)held (lhina back;so that only the Westernimpact could providethe , r ), r)owappears irr thc irrticuiation of differences rvithin a globalnrodell il v r s
dynamicforceof changein modernChinesehistory.But how differentwereFair- \si,rnsocietiesemergcas dvnanricparticipantsin a Global(laPitalisnr."lo this
bank'spreniscsfrom thoseexpressed in the followinglinesby a prominentChi- ,,'rleltPot.lry guise,()rientalismprovidesthe site for c(nrtentiotlbetrveentht'
neseintellectual, in explanationof China'smodern fate? ,'nllicting icleological loyaltiesof an elite that is no longeri<lentifiable ersilt as
| .rslernr)r Westcrn,(lhineseor notl-(lhinese.
First,wewerelackingin science. In thecornPetition between individuals or nations, lhr frrrcmostexrnrpleol-thjstrraybe the apPearance of"culturll natiorrirlisrns"
whatultimately determines success or failureis thelevelof knowledge. Thecontest ,,r l .rsl nnd S outhAsiain t he nr idstof t he so- called globalizat ion of Asr ar sr r r r i,
between scientific andnon-scientific knowledge is similarto thecontest between th€ rr(\."' One aspectof this cultural n:rtionalisn,especiallypertiuelttto (lhitresc
auk)mobile andtherickshawIhcbasisofWestern sciencewas already established at ,,,ietics,is thc so-called(lonfucian revivll. I hirve cliscussetl this at length
the tinreof the lia Qingand DaoGuang Fmperors, when our ancestors wcre still
' i.ovhcrc; so I will sunmarize it very briefly here." \{hilc' thc discussiono1'
writingcight-legged anddisctrssing
essays, YinYang andtheFiveEIements. Sccondly, r ,'nlirciilnisnran'rotrg Chirrascholarsirrxl(lhineseintellectuals hasneverstoPpe<|,
by the rricldleof the eighteenth century, theWestwasalready usingnlachinery k' !I|, rIrIcrrsive discussions ofthe 1980sdo incleednrark this nrostreccntphirseasn
prtxluce wealthandconductwar,whereas our industry'agriculture, transportation
r, vivrrl."lhe rliscussiorr this time involvesnot just Ohina specillistsor (lhirresc
anrlmilitaryaffairs folkrwed tlremodels ofthe langandtheSong,'Ihirdly, thePolit-
' |,t, ll(,(I uals, l)ut stilte lcatiers, businessmcn, sociologists (suchasPeterBergcr)antl
icalvisage of tlreWestduringthc MiddleAgesclosely resemtrled thrt of theSPring-
| ,r! |r| ()|{)I i sI s (such as Herman Klhn). Whilc in the past there has lreen a
AutunrnI'eriod,whilefollowing theRenaissance it wasmorelikethatof theWarrin!l
r ||,](r]cvlo rclegltc(irrrfirciiDisntto thc past,as an obstaclcto ntodernizuliorr,
Stntcs period,ln tlreconflictfor supremacy amongthepowers, westerners cultivilted
lr., linrc itfoun(l ( lonlrrcilrrisnris reafllrmedas a positivefi)rce in cilpitillist
a stronSlatriotism,and a deepnational spitit. We on the other hahd wcre stuck
gtrarlrliar)and Lrcalisnr (jirr-tirtttg
gtlrrrrrrirtrr
). S'rirrthc , rr,,,1,.r rri z:rli o| l ,rc lcvNnt r ) otonly k) t he exper icnce o[ ( ] hinese societ ics l) ut k) [ iast
cotpse-like in familismfiiaztt
yeirs nineteenth century, though Westcrn nirlions wcre snlirll,
thcir rrnity \ r.rrrsoti cti csi r r gcncr '. r 1, unr l pcr hir psglohallv.'l lr eor ct icallyspt 'aking,in
early of the
g i v c t h e r r l i l f r r L rn d ltio n o f stccli { ) u r n a tio ll wa s b ig, btrt i t w l s htrt n l )rl n i )l snrr(i ,
r, r' r' rsrrlol N i i r r\ 'Vclrrt's jr r r llllt cntor r ( lor lr r r ir nisntllr , r "'ncr v( ir nlir cilr r isr l'
', | ,. l o r( l 1rtr' ( ) r it lr t , r list c r '
, rI rr;rI i o rI s ol ( o Ir I rI r i .r Iri srrL I lr ctt , is. lr , 'n,
It 6 Chinese of otiettalism
Historyand theQuestion (:hiteseHistorr-afid theQuestion
of Orientnlisttt I 17

ever,no challengeto Weber'sformulations on modernization per se;what Weber
portrayed as inimical to the developmentof capitalism in China (Confucian val-
uesof harmony,familism,patrimonialism)is now reaffirmedasbeingeminently
functionalto capitalistdevelopmcnt,at leastin its presentstage.Otherwise,the
conceptualization of Confucianismis quite reminiscentof earlier Orientalist
conceptionsof Confucianismas a de-socialized and de-historicizedmetonym
for Chinesesociety;one advocatestatesthat althoughConfucianismhasa com-
plex history,it may be used"loosely"as being "synonymouswith Chinesecul-
ture."'*Confucianism,moreover,has bcen "deterritorialized"from its Chinese
sourcesto bc renderedinto a characteristic of Eastand Southeast Asiansocieties
in gcneral.'luWei-ming,whosenamehasbeenmost closelyassociated with the
Confucianrevival,seeksto makeConfucianisminto a globalphilosophy(paral-
lelling Christianityin Europe) that may be transPlantedanywhere-from the
U.S.to Africa. His effortsare quite reminiscentof the missionizingPan-Asian-
ism of RabindranathTaSoreiand, as with Tagore,they iSnore that the term
"Confucian societies"disguisesnational appropriations of what may or may not
be a common legacyof EastAsiansocieties. Btlt he is not alonein the undertak-
ing. In recent years, political figures such as Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore and
Prime MinisterMahathir of Malaysiahavejoined in a new chorusof 'Asianism"
againstthe West-in the caseof the latter,obviously,it is Islam rather than Con-
fucianism,that is the point ofdeParture.This,too, is consistentwith earlierPan-
Asianism,where different Pan-Asianistsproiected uPon Asia the different "char-
acteristics"of their various nationalsocieties.Finally,theseintellectualtrends
are clearly productsof a contemporarycirculation of intellectualsand ideas;
Confucian revivalists,including Tu Wei-ming, readily cite [lerman Kahn and
PeterBergerasthe "Western"authoritieswho havelegitimizedthe "new Confu-
by Lee
cianism."On the other hand,the assertionof "Asianculturaldifferences"
Kuan Yew of Singapore,Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysiaand the People's
Republicof China leadership,especiallyover issuesof democracyand human
rights,resonates with prevalentanti-Eurocentricsentimentsin Europeand the
United States.
In a different vein, one (lhinesc intellectual in a recentwork hasexplicitly reaf-
firmed the positivityof "Orientalism"againstSaid'sarguments.In her recently
published Orcirlentalisn: T'heoryof Counter-Discourse in PosrMao China, Chen
Xiaomei gocs so far as to chargeSaid with a new kind of neocolonialism." The
"Occidentalism" in Chen's title refers to Chinese reification of the "Occident"'
much like the Oricntalist"reifications"of the "Orient." Occidentalismis vcry
much a mirror intageof Orientalismand, in Chen'susage,includesOrientalism
asa premise;the TV series"He Shang"which is her point of departureobviously
conrbines"Occidcntalism" wherethe Westis concernedwith "Orientalism"in its
depictionsof China. Chen, however,seeksto refutethe cotlnectionSaitlcstab-
lishcsbctween()rientalisnrand Ettroccntricp()wer,argtrilrgthilt stlchrcPrcsenlit-
tions carry diffcrcntsignilicationsitt diflcrcnt corrlcxtsllr lhc cascof"()ttitlcn-
titlism"(or Orientalism,for that matter),shedrawsa distinctionin thc Chinesc
.ontext betweenofficialOccidentalism, that usesrepresentiltions of the Westk)
justifypoliticalrepressionat home,and anti-officialOccidentalisrrr, exemplifictl
by "Ile Shang"that servesas legitimationfor resistance againstoppression.'fhe
issueis not C)rientalism, in other rvords,the issueis the implicationfor power of
( )rientalismin differentsocialand politicalcontexts.
Finally,I will mention as an instanceof Orientalisrnsonrethingthot is very
rur.rchbound with global exchanges, ancl has receivedsonle clitical attentioll
,rrnongOlrincseintellectuals: the reificationofChinesecultut.cinto a conrntodity,
rrruinlyin the causeof globaltourism.YangCongrong,h.ontwl.rose essayI lrave
,lerivedthe title for this section,haspointedto tlre contnrodification of Chinese
, rrlturein themeparks,tourist brochrrres, etc.,tltat representsau "Orientalisnrol
( )rientalsoci€ties."In this case,culture is totally deterritorialized,lnd placedin
qlobaltourist circuits,which now endow it rvith signification. The thctncprr.r<rs
cnrblematicof the reificationof culture in its spatialization of culturalartifacts,
rlhich derivethcir meaningfrom their positioningin the thentepark,rfltherthirn
thcir locationsin the cornplexgeographical ancl socialentity that we knorv as
( .lrina.And the themepark conresto serveasa substitutefor (lhina,asin the Chi-
ncsestatc TV advertisementthat "you can seeall of the forrr thousrrnd-,vear old
,rrllure of China in half an hour in the Chinese culturt' theme oark in
t itrirngzhou."In this case,governmentand business colluclcin perpettratinga dis-
lilction betweeneastand tvest,so asto makean "exoticizcd"easttrloresaleable to
,r lourist iudustryto which cast-west distinctionsoffer one ntorc commoclityfor
\.r1.k) consunlers who are no longeridentifiableclcarlyas"eastern"or "western.",,,
Orientalism Reconsidered
I )ricntalismemergedhistoricallyin accompanimentto Lurocentrisln.'Tl.tecon-
',rlrrcnccof Fiurocentrism historicallyrvasto erlse the part that non-Europchacl
l'l,r),ctlin Europcandeveloprncntin the courseof ccntuliesof itrteraction,anrl,
,'r thc colttrary,to distanceother historiesfronr thc Europt'an,The cnrcrgence of
I r ( )centrisnlalsocoincidedhistoricallywit h the establish rlcrrt of Eut.oAnjcrican
,l,rrinrtion and colonializationof the worlcl.Eunrcentrisrnscrvedthe crusc of
,
"1,'nialisrnby representing the world outsideof liulope as"tnr;rtv,"tt leastcul-
rr r,rllvspeaking,or backward,''definedin ternrsof"lack," and hencein needof
l rr)l)cilll iDtervcntion.Europe had everythingto give k) the rvorld; rvhat it
r, , , ivcd in return $'ereimagesof its orvn past-and tlre riglrtful nratcrialreturns
tr,' rrri ts ci vi l i zi ngr ct ivit y.
lhf "( )ricntalizirtiorr"of Asian societiesnot only' crasctltlre prrt they had
1'l.rlcr I in "t he rnakingol-F.urope," but alsothe spatialand tcnrporalcolnplexitics
,,1llr(s( s()ciclies.llrt'question of represcntilti()n raiscdin Sli<l'.s ()riortrtlisrlis
r,'t llr( a{}rrc(lncss()t- crr()llcr)UsI|css 0l ()rictrtnlist rcl)t.cscttlilli()tr, l)rlf lhc
rrr,t,,rrvrrrilrtrl rr ct i, r r r ir rtrh:
r r tI ct l t o llr r . gr or llr r ll ol llr t sc sor iclicsilr I cr r r r sol
 7 t-
Il8 of oientalisnl
Chiucscllistoryat ire Question (:hitrcs.
Hitot y and tlte() /rstio ol ()tiottdlie t t9

sorneculturaltrait or other,that homogenizecldiffercnceswithin individualsoci-
eties,and frozethem in history.Wherethe rcprcsentation wasextendedto Asiaas
a whole, metonymicreductionismtook the form of projectinguPon Asia as a
whole the characteristicsof the particularsocietyof the individualOrientalist's
acquarntance.
I bwever individual Orientalistsmay haverespondedto Asia,moreover,orien-
talism asdi.scolrse implied alsoa power relationship:Europeans'Placedat the Pin-
nacleof progress, were in a betterpositionthan the nativesthemselves to know
what Asianswereabout,sincethey had the advantage of a more prodigious(ancl
panoptical)historicalhindsight.I notedabovelhat Orientalists did not just speak
aboutAsia,theyalsospokefor Asia While this pointsto pertrrrbations within Ori-
entalisnr,it alsoraisesthe questionof power:power to speakfor the Other"lhc
Orientalmay speakaboutthe past,of which s/heis an embodiment,but not about
the ptesent,in which s/heis not a gcnuineparticipant;especially the criticalOri-
ental,who appearsasa degeneration of the idealtype to the extentthat s/hehas
learneclto speakin the languageof the Present. Advocates of a "China-centered
history"to whom I havereferreclabovehavesuggestecl that contemPoraryChi
nese,who havebeentotlchedby "Western"ideasand methods(especially Marx'
ism,it seems), havelosttouchwith their own past,and areat a disadvantage, therc'
fbre,in providinga truly China-centered history.
WhereOrientalismas articulatedby Saidis wanting'I think, is in ignrrringthc
"()riental's"participationin the unfoldingof the discourseon the Orient,which
raisessomequestionsboth about the krcationof the discourseand,therefore,ils
irnplicationsfor power.I havesuggested abovethat Orientalism,regardless of its
tici to liurocentrismboth in origin and in its history,in sotnebasicwaysreqttirc'l
the participationof "Orientals"for its legitinration. Ancl in its practice,()rientnl
ism front the heginningtook shapeasan exchange of imagesand representations'
corresponding and others,first the circulationol
to tlle circulationof intellectrtals
FluroPeans in Asia,but increasingly with a countcr-circulation ofAsiansin Europe
and the UnitedStatcs.
Rather than view Orientalismas an antochtonottsproduct of a Euro;'catt
rnodernity,therefore, it makessomesenseto vicw it asa Productof those"corrtatt
zones" in which Europeansencountercclnon-Ettropeans, where a Europc'ltt
nrodernityproducedand was also challengcdby alternativemodcrnitiesas lh('
Others in their turn enteredthe discourseon modernity. I borrow the term "cott
tact zone"from Mary Louis Pratt,who hasdescribedit as"the spaceof cokrni'rl
encounters, the spacein which peoplesgeographically and historicallyseparat"l
comeinto contactwith eachotlreranclestablish ongoingrelations,usuallyitrvtrlv
inpiconditionsof coercion,radicalinequality,and intractableconflict"" Brrttlrr'
contactzoneis not merelya zoneof donination,it is alsoa zoneo[ exchangc'
if it is unetltralexchange, which Pratt describesas "transcttlttrratiotl,"
"sul)ordinated or marginalsrotlPs sclcctan(l invcntfronl nlirtcriNls
. ti l c srrbj ttgl tt' P
t r n l c tro t)o l i ti l cl l rrl l trrcWl
lhc m bv a c lom i n a n o
d col )l cs trrl r{)l
rcadilycontrol whirt emaDatcs ll.onrthe,clonrinantculture,they do deterrrrirrc l<r
variols extentsrvhatthev absortrinto tht,ir orsn,anclrvhatthey use it fi)r.,,Wc
n)aynote alsothat, in thc contactz0trc,irr the pro(ess(,t the vrr'veffi,rt k) corn-
nrunicalervith the doninatecl,tlrc dorninarrlor thc tnetropolitanculturc gocs
througha languagechange,if ta ;r lessercxtclttthan the dorninated.
'I he idea(an<lthe reality)
of the contlct zonecnabletlre explanalionof sorrrc
,,1the contradictionsin Orientalisntlhat I havedescribedabovc.The crrnracr
z,rrreis a zoneofdomination, btcirrrseil docsnot irbolishthe srnrcturesof po\vcr
,,1rvhichit is an expression, irnd to whiclr it servesas a zone of nledinttou.lJul
tlrc contactzone alsoimpliesa (listilncc,a (list.ncefront the societyof thc Sclf,
,rsrvellasof the Othef.'l he Orier)t.list,I suggeste,rl above,is
.,Orientalized"
hinr_
',
ll or herselfin the very proccssol' cnteringthe ',Orient,'intellectuallyand scn_
trnrcntal l y. S amewit h t he "O r ienlal, "r vhosever 1,cont actwit h t he O r . ient alist
, fllnrinatesin a clistancingfionr nativesociety,rvheres/lrebecontesan ohjccl ol
rrrspi ci on, and l vho in t he long r un is bc. t t er . ir blc t o cont nt unicatrevit h t he t ) r - i
, rrtal i stthan rvit h t he societ yof t he Scll ( r enr enr ber t he quot at ionf r r r nrf iang
lirrgfuabove).In somcrvays,it is this distancingfr.onrthe conrplexities ofevt,r1,_
,l,rvlif-ein eithersocietythat facilitatcslhe rnctonyrnicculrural represerttlrtions
tlrrl I hirveclescribed abovcits a basictilture of ()rientalisnt_whetherhy thc
r)ri enti rl i st,or bv t he sclf O r icnt alizing', O r ient r l. "I s it r , er v
sur Pr isir r gllr al
rr.rti.n:rlisrn in (ihina, rvhichrvasas nrtrcha sourceof culturalrcification.s ()rl
, |lt,rlisnr,rvasthe producli.rDol intellectualswho rverethentselves
Prorltrctsol'
' ,)nl nctzotl es,l te t hey Chinesein ( lhinir ,( jhinescint ellcct uals st udvingal) r oi( 1,
,r t hincseovelseas?
ll locatingOrientalismin the colttitctzouc nrorlifiesour unclerstanciing ot ttrc
t,r,,!(sses w herel) yL) r ient ilistr cpr cscnt ilt ions ar e ploduced,t he sam clocat ion
rl ,r 1e1,6a15 dillerent relationsltil.'$l)clrvccn Orientalisrn ancl porvcr. Ohcn
\r.ronrci ' sferni nclert hat C) lient alisnl( or ( ) ccident alismm ) ay hlr . e t liller cnt
,,, ,rrri ngsi n cl i lf er entcont cxt sis ir valt r ablconc; so long as r ve r clocat elhe
. , ' ,rr(,\tof rvhi chshespeaksnot in "Chir r a, "but in t he cont act , , Wcst -
zot r eof
nrzcd" (l bi ncs eint ellect uals. As ( lhcn lr gLr cs, ( ) ccident alisnr ( r lr ent ir r or ir r r . r gc
'l ( rricrt llisln) scrvesasa sourccol critic;Ueof drroppressivc stateitleologl,.lltrt
tir rl rs lrgu:rltlv another aspectto such scll--()riclttalizittion. llonet,cr closelt,
' ,,r' nt.rl i snl ma v be t ied in r villr l. lur oAnr er icanpot ver hist or icallr , ,it s
' ,rl ( rrporrry manif cst at ior r ar s . et lif t lcult t o explain in t cr nr s ol a pnst
, I'tr,'rrship bet$'een()ricntalisrn anrl litrr.oAnrericilD .]hc
power. Contirciirn
' ' rL.rJol thc past tlecirtie,I rvoLilcllikc to snggest,is an exprcssionnot of
t '\\' rl, \\nc,i\, ltrrt of a nervlirr.rd scnsc ol po\vcr, that has zrcconrpaniccl
l' , r()rr)n)tasrrcccssol Ilast Asian socicties.rr,lto now reilsscrtthcnrsclves
cvltt ,' ,,| | .,1,rrr ci l rl icr liur cAt ncr ic. n r f t r nt ir nliolt .lt ! t lt is sclt se,t hc conf ucian
whclclry , rLrl (,rrrrlothcr cr r lt t r r alrrlrI i o rI aI isrrrs r llr y bc vicr vcd
) ns an t r t iclt lilljon ( ) l'
lrxDsrrrillc{l Irl , ,trr, , rrl l rrrc(rrr r ttl r r rir r r ligcr r 0rsrrs||)j ( .( I iv i I ) ir gair r stI ir r r oAnt cr
f icnll r lt lll xl
(i
120 Hktory anrltheQuestiotofOrientalistn
Chinesc r ltrtusc
HistorlonrltlrcQuestion
ol Otie k is t tJl
'l'hechallengeto Eurocentrismin the Confucianrevival,within the contextof ,.rst'ls nruchas in the caseof the statcto disguiscdifterences rvithin the nirtion,
a (ilobal Capitalisnr,has had reverbcrationswithin a EuroAmerican context as rn,-lutlingclass,genderanclethnic differences. I hlve suggested abovethirt clites
well, raisingquestionsabout anotlrerfundamentalpremiseof Orientalism:the rrrAsiansocieties lravebeencomplicitall alongin the prodLrction of Orienlillism.
ideaof an Occidentwith a unified culture.Interestingly, evenas capitalismhas lhis ntay be nore the casethan everin the past,irsthc ideaol the.,nation"hls
emergedvictoriousover existingf<rrmsof socialism,and global unity undcr a l,c,,onreproblerlrtic, and the nation tlitlicult to tlcflne as;r culturirl errlily,,as
globalizedcapitalismseemsa realpossibilityfor the first time in nearlya century, rllrbalizirtionancldiasporicnrotionsof peopleconrplicatecLrltrresand challenge
new fissureshaveappearedthat are expressed in the affirmationof culturaldif- ',t.rtccle'ljnednationalculturesrvith Iocalizedcultules.Culturalistesscntialism,
ferenccsnot just in Asia or what used to be lhe Secondand'l'hird Worlds,bul r( lt.rr(lless of its originsin tltc stateor rvith intellectuals, servesto containirDdto
within the FirstWorld itself.l he notion of different"culturesof capitalism,"to ,,)rrlrol the disrrrptiveconsequences of globalization.lhis helps cxplain the
which l referred above, has been extended by some to differences among ,.rnrul t0neous appear ance of cult ur alnat ionalisr lvit n h calls[ ol econonr icglobal_
EuroAmericansocieticsthemselves, asin a recentwork that identifics"scvencur- r/.rtion.In tite works cited aboveby I lar.untillefu, yoshinoKosaku,yins Con
turesof capitalism," all but one (fapan)locatedin Europeand North America.'" rlrorrt,and others,thc authols irll poirt t() the Prtrtplay,ecl
'l'hecontradictionmay be a contradictionof proliferating"contactzoncs"under l.rygovernrncntand
l,rnincssin the productiol of"cultur:rl nationalisnt."Ihis hirsbeenthc cascalso
a globalizedcalitalism,which hasbeenaccompaniednot by the abolitionof but \vrtlrthc Confucianrevival,irr which (irnfrrcianisntappears,oll the one lritnrl,as
by a simultaneousproliferationof nationalarrd ethnic reificationof cultures." ,r ,11'naruic ideologicalforcein the clevclopment of capitalisn,nnd, on te other
'l he ideaof a "West"is calledinto questionin a liurope or North Amcricastriv-
lr.rn<1, as a value-system rvith rvhichlo counteraclthe disruptiveeffectsol capi- .
ing for economicand politicalunification,just asclaimsto a Confucianzonerun r.rli\t(lcvclopnrenl.
agroundon claimsto nationaluniqueness in llastand Southeast Asia. !Vlrilc dissiderrtintellcctualsnray ernploy Occidentalisnror Orientrlisnr to
'I'hepart that self-orientalization may play in the struggleagainstinternalantl ,l r.rl l cnge exi sti n ghegcnt onics, jnt cr nalor ext er nal,t hcv of t enignor et his aspqql
externalhegcmony,and its claimsto alternativemodernities,howcvei must nol ,,t the problenr.While Hc S/tnugin Ohen Xiaonrci'sconceplionnriu,scrvetlte
be cxaggerated. ln the long run, sclf-Orientalization scrvesto perpetuate,and ,.rrrscof the stnrggleagainstoPPressiotl ilt honte,it is itsclfa prodrictofclissident
evento consolidate, existingforms of power.ParthaChatterjeehasobservedthat t lrincseintellectuals of tlre "contactzorrc,"lvho portray Ohirrcsesocieryrront a
"nationalistthoughtacceptsthe samcessentialist conceptionbasedon a distinc- ;,r ililegccloutsidc(asChenatinrits),antl ren<ierl.rackrvard not justa reilie<lnltive
tion between'theEast'and'theWest,'thesantetypologycreatedby a transcerr- tr,r(liiionl)ut, rvith it, the pc()plet^,hoirre carricrsof that tl (litioni thus a ten_
<ientstuclyingsutrject, and hencethe samebbjectifying'procedures of knowleclgc ,l, rrrv nnlong Llhineseintelkctualsin rccentvearsto otrceilg in rePrcsetrt ttre
constructedin the post-Enlightenment ageof Westernscience.""Self-essential- ';,r'r4rlc"irt large,csPccially the pcasantry, not as iln oppresse(l grorip bur rrrerery
izationmay scrvethe causeof mobilizationagainst"Western"domination;but in | , !.rfIicrsof "feudtl backrvartlness.
the very processalso consolidates"Western"ideologicalhegemonyby internaliz \\'hilc ls an advocateof the revivll ol Confircianisrn someoncsuchrs lir \\ici
ing the historicalassumptions ef Orientalism.At the sametime, it contributesto rrrr{is tluite ditlcrcnt in his evtltrationof China'spast,ilt terrnso[
'r 1ro1q,s1 1"1,r_
internalhegcmony,by suppressi:rg differenccs within the nation. r,rrrshi ps hi s posit ionis r . evealing of a sinr ilarelit isr nt hat nour ishesof f his pr iv_
Examplcsof the latter abound in contemPorarycultural natioualisms.Most rl,rltrl stirlusasa \(csterniTed(lhincscinlclleclual.In speakingofOultUfalchina,
obviousis the useof"culture"to rejectcallsfor "democracy"and "hurnanrights," lr lrirssuggestc(l thirt the crcntionof a Cultural (jhina nrust proceetllronr the
which is conrmonto a diversegroup from LeeKuanYewto Mahathir Mohamad riphcry" to thc "center,"ll.orn Chineseoverscilsto (lhinescin Clhina(or, ru
1',
to the (iovernmentof the People'sl{cpublicof China.While therc is no denying r nl\ {rl tlre ntcttpllor uscclherc,frotr the "contactzone"to (jhitrirPropc,r).ID
'
that "denrocracy" and "human rights"asthey areconceivedare EuroAmcricanirr r, rrrrsol-(lhincsesocietie,r, thc center-pcripher), ..Cul_
distinctionsuggests thrt
origin,and areoftenmisusedby the latterin the pursuitof power,their dcnialon ,",r1tlhina" is to be createdby the translotmationof the centersef potvcr l)y
the grounds of "cultrrralimperialism"also justificsoppressionirt home-anrl rrt,llL'ctuals lionr the rrarginslvith little or no powcr;asthis is thc couflgur tton
makeslittle sensewhcn the reginresinvolvedincorporateso much clsethat is also ,,1;,.11,q 1 11,a1tlrc ceDterpclipher,vrnoclelusuallysuggests. Viewerifronr a global
EuroAmericanin origin. I ,, r \l,r( tivc, ho\v(,vcr, thc p(^verrclationshiPappearsquite dittlrcntll,,br,c.tUsc
'l'his"officialOcciclentalism," iD
asChenXiaomeicallsit, however,is only part ol rl r.rll )rl sIccti vc,th c pcr it ) llcr ycoincidcswit h t hc cent er sof globalpor vcrr vhile
the problc'rrr. 'Anti-ofllcialOccidcntalism" nrry be just ascomplicitin oppr(s\i''n 1,,. ((ntcr-"()l (l l t ill( 'scsociclyippcnls ir st hc locut i0nof t hc pcr ipher . v, . l) ias
in its res('rtto self-()rientalizatioD asa prolcsllgiirrsl tlrc oPPrcssion ()l-lhcslnlc.
l ." rr, ( l ri ncrc, trr t l) ccr t cll t hit t llt evlr r cst r cccsslir inl a glr lr . r lccor r olt yor cr r l
'l lt c es s er r t ializl ti oann rl h o m o u c n i z a Ii o o
rrl IIrr' rri rl i rrnltcrrri
I rr scrvcsi l Il r;rt r r, , tl r(.,l )(,(r)' tr t lt ( . . ll]. t \ . l r lr ; r . r iir t r(l lr ir r . rlit t lllcir '\ 1, f fLr ( , lt i( ) '\ 'll{e\ t \
122 Clri,ftseHi.loryatd tlteQuestiott
of Orientalisttl t hiucstHistorl,atrdtlrcQuestio of Orien ttJtn t 2.l

that they are no longer"Chinese"in any simple identifablesense,but the prod- I'Lrtstill rvithouthistor;'.The culturalrrationalisnrs ol recentvcirrs,rlhilc thevmake
ucts of the "contact zone,"in whicb the W€st or the East,or the Occident or thc .Ininrsto thc uniqueness of cssentialized nationalcultures,irll shareonc thing in
Orient, are no longeridentifiablewith any measurcof clarity.The assertionof \ {)rnmon:that the uniquenationalctrltureis a fitr.ccol-nrodernizirtiolr, flofe pre,
"Chineseness" againstthis uncertaintysceksto containthe very dispersalof a so- , isel1,, capitalistrnodernization. Ratherthanqucstioncapitalisnt rvith Confucianor
called"Chineseculture" into numerouskrcal cultureswhich more than ever ,rlher(lhinesevalucs,for example,the tenclcncy hasbccnto rerrcler it into a vahre
makesit impossibleto definea Chinesenationalculture.This strategyof con- \lstclll condLrcivc to capitalistcleveloporent. \{hilc this has<lislodgctl the claimthat
tainment is the other sideof the coin to the pursuit of a "Chinese"identity in a ,'nly Europeans had the valuesysteluirpptopriirlclo caPitalisnr, anclhzrsassertccl
pllobalculture. If in the former caseit may serveto counter a EuroAmerican tlrc possibilityof multiplepaths,the multiplepathslre rll containecl rvithina tele-
hegemony,in the latter caseit is itself an expressionof establishing a cultural , rlrrgyof capitdismasthc cnd of histor.y.'"
hegemonythat denicsthe diversityof what it meansto be Chinese.In this latter S.ti<lhassuggested that the sohrtionlo ovcrcorningOfielttalisnlrnaylie in tlre
case,ironically, it is err,powereclby the vcry IiuroAmerican hegemonythat it seeks , rrllivltion of tr "clecenteredconscior.tsness" lhlt resists totalization ancl
to displace. rvs{cmatization,rsorncthing, I tirkeit, along(hc lilcs of "ntulticLrlturalism." II nty
AijazAhmad in a recentstudyhascriticizedSaidfor ignoringclassrelationsin .rn.rlysis blseclon the "contactzotre"has iury vllitlitl,,this tnily not be sufficient,
the emergence of Orientalism."C)ricntalism is not iust a matterof continentsor lricauseOrientalismitselfmly bc a procluctol-acotrscioltsncss alreirtly decenter cd,
nationsrepresenting one anothcr;it alsoentailsclass(or, for that matter,gendcr rl ool conrpletelv. Thereis no self-cvidenlreasonrvhyn decenterctl consciousrress
and ethnic) representations; not only in termsof who is engagedin representa- .lrorrlrl not find relief in culturalist funtllrrrt'ntalisrrr, ur. the reification of
tion, but how a societyis representcd. It was the upper-class upper-caste Brah- , thnicit,vand culture;thc hiskny of Orietrtalisnr pr('videseviclence of this strong
mins who provided British Orientalistswith the textsof Hinduism, as wcll as 1',rssibilit,v.NlultictrltLrralisrn,ironicalll', nriry cnhancc tcndencies to
their assumptionsabout Hindu spirituality.Jesuitsin China,who were initially r )riclrtilisrDin ils insistence on tlreculturaldcfinitionof ethnicitv,rvhichreifiescul-
drawn to Buddhismas a meansof entry into China,decidedthat Confucianism t rrr'.rl
originsat the expenscoI lhe bistor.icitv ol both ethnicitl,antl culture',
servedbetterthan Bucldhismin the representation ofChina because their friends It scemsto me to be more irnPq111111 to qucstionthc ssunrptions of capitalist
in officialdom pointecl them toward the lifestylesof the elite. In our day, Confu- rrrorlcrnity(not nrerelyEurocentrisur) of u'hich()ricntalisruis an irrtegralcxprcs
cianismmay be subjectedto differentevaluations, which also suggestdifferent .r,,rr.lir the extentthirt thel'haveassinrilirtcd thc tcleologyof capitalisnr, recent
relationsof powcr within Chinesesocieties, anclbetweenChinesesocietiesand ,lr,rllengcs to Euroccntrism(suchas rvith lhe (i)nfilcinn reviv:rl)Irirvepruroted
the outsideworld. Recentexperiencealsoindicatesthat it is insufficientto con- r.rtherthan dislodgecl Orientalisnr, \{hal is necessnry is to reputliatehistoricaltele
ceiveof Orientalismsimply in terms of Eurocentrismor nationalism.It is its ,,l,ruvin all its manifestations. l'his rvould entirilthe historicizati(nl of capitalist
positionin the capitaliststructuringof the world that ultimatelyaccountsfor the rrr,rrlcrnity itsclf,and the identillcationof alterrrirtivc nrotlcrnitics, trot in termsof
changingrelationships betweenOrientalistdiscourse(Eurocentricor self-Orien- r, rlicd crrltures, but in tcrms of alternativchisloricalttajeckrriesthat ltavel)een
talizing)and powef.tust as it wasthe aPParentChineseincapabilityto makethe .rrl,prcssed by the hcgemonyof capitalistntotlcrnity.It also reciuires questioning
transitionto capitalismthat onceconclenrned Confucianismto a defunctpast,it ,r,)l just oI continentalclistinctions (Or.ient/Occitlcnt), l)ut oI natiol.ts as units of
is Chinesesuccess in the world ()fcapitalismthat now enablesits admissionto the .rrr.rllsis, sincethe lalteralsothriveon cultLrral hourogcrrizaliol alcl reification. lt is
centerof a global modernity as an alternativeto EuroAmericancapitalisms- ||, ( cssnry, I think, to restorefull historicity to our.Undcrstanding of the past-i ]d
acknowledgedas such even by the ideologuesof the latter,Intellectualswho Ilr, Iresent-historicity not in the scnsethat Srrirluses "historicisnt"(that
themselves havebecomepart of a glohalelite (not to speakof the managerso[ tir(srrpposcs or6ianically hoiisticcultures)but hisloricit,vthrt is informedbv the
capital)playa crucialpart in the transfornration. ,,'rrr|lcrily of evervclav life, which a.countsnot orrly lirr rvh.rtunitesbut, more
lronically, the self-assertiveness of "Orientals" under these circumstances
'r1,r,rlarrtly,for cliversitvin spaceand tinte, rvhichis as unrlesirirtrlc lo national
would seemto representnot an alternativeto, as they claim,but a consolidation 1',,r!r'r'rs il is to turocentrisnt.A thoroughgoing historicismsul.riects cultureto the
of Eurocentric hegemony;or, more accurately,the hegemonyof capital globally. rr|r(llfcs of everyda]life, rither tlran erascthosc structuresl)y recourscto a
As I noted above,orientalism was a product of capitalistmodcrnization(anrl l',rrrogcrrizingculturalisnr.fhis, of course,rcrluiresirlso thlt we collceiveof
colonialism)in Europe;and the very noti()n of modernizationincorPorlte(l ,lt,r rr.rtivcrrrodcrnitics thatt.lkeastheirlxritltol-tlcparturc nOta reific<1 pastlcgao,
Orientalist assumptionsas an integral prcmise. Where ()ricntalisrr carlicr l',rr .r l)rcscnt()l c()ncrclccv!'t),dn),cltrrlirlpraclices rr4rcre, asYlrng(irngro g Prri
represented the past of modernitl it is now rcrrclcretl into onc ol-its vcrsions- r,l r\n{ ,l ol l t.r | o ssiblct ot cllr vhiris
l ir lcr r t ill: r blv( . hir r cscor
ir lcr r t ill; r blr , \ \ t 'sr cr n.
 -.!

124 Hislotyakd theQuestionol Oriefltalism

Chinese ( :ltitrse History dnd tlrc
Qucstioilol Oriefitnlis t l2S

Notes or Ltltersftour aChircse Philosoplter llesidi gin Ltn]do roHisFrienlin fre Eirsl,ir) (it-
/rllcil l1/oflJ,5Vrls., ed by A. Frieclman(Oxford:Oxfbrd Clarendonpress,1966)iAndre
l. Edwatd W. Said, Olierdlis,n (New York: Vintage Books, 1978). Nlirlraux,7J,eTtt ptatio,to/ tir. ltr/est (New york: VintageUooks,l96l ), tr. with dn intr,r-
2. EdwardW Said,"OrientalismReconsidered," in FrancisBarkeret al. (eds.)'litera-
,luctioDby llotrcrt Hollander;EdrvardFriedmanand Nlark Selden(eds),,4lrcrirrl!Asirr;
lfi'e, Politicsotld'l'heoty: Papertfiotl the EssexConference,1976-84 (London: Methuen, / ) i J J . r l i l r g l 'J - v l / J o ,U S- Asi o ,r /a d l Jti o r s( N e r vyo r k:Vi n ta g e l l o o ks,i 9Iti7si 1 )tn
. fo ft n t
1986 )rp p.2 l0-2 29 . lo lrtlderlinethat, as with the C)rientalllenaissance, lvorks such as Montesq ieu'srnd
3. Said,"Orientalism Reconsidered)'pp.223-224, ( ioldsnrithdispla),an "ethnocentriccosnropolitanism,"
in other rvords,enrplo),Asinto
4 . lb id., p.2 15 . I rrrrfean ends,The),alsorenderAsiansinto caricatures of sorts.My concer'n here,h<Nv-
5. Sllid,Orierf.riis,l,p.l t8. rvr'r,is rvith pointirrgto varietiesof Orientalism,and what this varietymight inrplytirr.the
6. JohannesFabian,Tine and the Other: How Antltopology Makes lts Objecr(New York: (,I)nectlonbchveenOrientalismand power.
ColunrbiaUniversityPress,1983). fll. Pnul Colren,l)iscot,erig Histot),ir C/ri,d (Nervyork: Columbia Universitypress,
7. S^id, Orientolistn,pp.I l6- 120. 1984), rnd, Jolrn Scfrrecker,Thc Cltincsc Renlutiot in HistoricalPerq,rrtilc (Nerv york:
8. Said,Oricrrtalisnr' p,3.
l'rreger,199| ).
9. Said, Olicritdlilr,, D.12. 19. IncksoDLears,Nrr P/acerrl (iritcL':Antintodernistttnnd tlrc'Iia slor,ntltiLtu (jl Auttri-
10.Said, Oricnrolisrrr,p.325.
', t , t ( 't i t t r ', l 8 8 r ) - r 9 Jl JtN ( \IYr r r k: Pr n l h e ,,r rBo ,'ks.Iq Xtl , I) 1 ,.1 /5 - t7 hAn i tcr ccti n g
ll.l borrow this subtitle from Yang Congrong,"Dongfang shehuidedongfanglun" , r;rrrrpleof the utopianizationof China as a refugefronr nrodelnitl,,rvrittenaroulcl lhe
("The Orientalism of Oriental Societies"),Dartgdai (Conternporary)' no. 64 (AuSust I'
llr rr of the centur)',also in episkrlarvfirrnr,rvasGoldsrvorthyLolvesl)ickiDson'.s, a.tr.rr
l99l):3 8-5 3. It,,n hhn Chinanrnr(Lonclon:R. Brinrlcy[ohnson,l90l ) (Sul]sequently pul)lislredin the
12, l his arlturneDtis developedfully, if somewhattendentiously'in l.M. lllaut, Tlre Col I S. in 190-j ns lclt.r's li on n Chiit"r'( Ofticinl: Beingonil Enstcrn\ti.r, ol lytst?nt Ci|ilizd
onitr's Model of the World: GeographicalDrfusionis,lt 4 al EurccentticHitlorl (New York: r,,r,). lhis Nork spoke of thc conflict behleen llasterr and \^resternc;vilitalrons,ano
'l hc Gtrilford Press,1993).For "our co|rtemporary ancestors,"seep.16.
r rlllcdfi)r the nroralsuperiorityof Chineseto rvVestern civilization.Whltt Inakesrt Inle[,
13.The inside/outside distinction as a basic feature of Eurocentrism is developcd at , in
'trrrr this conte\l is that it rvas one of the rvorks that helpedconvinceone imrrrranr
lengthin ibid. r,,r(l('r,llabindrnnathlhgore{\\,howas unarvareof its Englishauthorslrif)ofthcsuperi-
14. Kurt Werner Radtke/TonySaich (eds.), Chim's Modenisalion: Westentisationattl ,,r rll ol Asiai k) \\testern civilization. Sce,SteplrenN. Ha1,,,AsirrrrlrleirJo/-i:.rJ,rllrl lv.str
Ar.lrlfrlrdrio,(Stuttgart:FranzSteiner,1993),p.l. l,t!!t,( a d His ()itics i lnpan, China,ani Iniio (Canrbridge,NIA: HnrvardUnive$it),
15. Orientalittfi provides instancesof such "Orientalization " Also important for an l''.\\, 1970),pp.
-14-15-C)fTagoreand Orientalisnr,nrorebekxv.
account of many C)ri€ntalistsin Europe is Raymond Schwab,Tlte Oriet nl Re aissatrcc: .){).-Itu Wei-ming,"Cultural China: Ihe p€ripheryas CeDter,"/).klldl,rj,Vol.l20, no.:
Er'ope'sDiscovcryoflndid and the Eost,l680-1880(New York: Columbia University Press, ''l'ri'rg f99l):l-32, p.ll. This rvasa specialisstreof Dtednlus,'.'l'lreLivirr;lTree:The
t984), tr. GeDe Patterson-Blackand Victor Reinking, rvith a foreword by Edward Saicl. ( lr,rrgingl\leaningof Being Clrineseloday."
lir \Vci-minli has recenllyinitiateda new
lonathan Spence,?b C-inngeChino: WesternAdt'isersin Chino, 1620-1960(l\oston: l,ittle, l,'rrrlirfrvitfrthe titfe,"CulturalChlrta"\WenhuaZhongqud.
Rrown and Co., 1969),offers insiShtful portraits ofWesterners involved in China whose
' L Wang linttng ( Wang lia-fbng) I nd Li (luirngzhen( t,auraLi), I)utg :ifrtttgyunan
ilctivities provide insights irrto the workings of power at the ground level,as cloesRandall
'l 'ttqltug: (itLtji honxuc 1tr /rarrraezlre (Taipei:Sinorama l\l.gazine, l99l). This litle,
E. Stross,?lre Sh,tl,orr E.|tll: Al|,ericottAgriculturalistson ChineseSoil, l-898-1937(Berk - , \ (.rlingll,coDvc\.s a senseof "coing \Vestto meetrvith the East."That thi$ is the scnseis
ley: University of Califtrrnia Press,1986).For a recent work on the Jesuits,see,oharles Ii. ,rlir rrrc(lby the editors'introduction,"A Sinological 'Journeyro the \{est."'
llnnan and llorrnie B,C. oh (eds), Edsr Meets West: The Jesuitsit Chinn, 1582-1773
" . l b i d . ,p . 5 .
(Chic.go: Loyoll UniversityPress,1988),which containsa number of articlesof grcat
'l Seh{,.b,p 246.For thc llengalRenaissance,see,AtulchandraCuphr(ed),Stlrli.sir
interest,For l,iivrencc, seehis autobiography,T.E.Lawrence,Selen Pillarsof Wisdon (New ttt' ltrurdl Il(unissnrcc (ladavpur,Ilcngal:The NationalCor.rncil of Eclucation, 1958),anLl,
rrlk: l)ell Publishingco., 1964),and for william lones,sce,Garland("annon' ('icnh | | l\ l(l Kolt, 8rlti.(lr Orienfalknt ottd tlrc]]engol llenaissane:The l)ukunirs o.fItdimt l\,lod-
Jortcs:A Biographyol Sit William |ones (1746-1794) (New York: Asia Publishing Housc' t rtr.ttriort,1773-1t135 lllerkeley:Universityof Calitbrniapress,1969).
| 964).
'1. llirv, {)lr,cit.Il rna)'be worth noting that ;rrrotherInclianintellectualand political
16.Schwab,'I'heOriental Renaissar.e, op.cit. What nradethe venerationcondescending , r,l,r, rr'horvouldplay irn evennroreimportant part in asseltingthe co temporaryrele-
wasthe sensethat lDdiacontained"the eternalin its present"(p.7). In otherwords,contcnl'
,.rr,r ,rl lrrcicnt lndiun virlues,Candhi, llrst discoveredthe significance of thosevalues
porarylndia wrs not truty contemporary, but showedEuropeits own past Nevertheless,lh(' i,r,l llrr lcxls irr rvlrichthcy rvereenrbedcled clur.inghis yearsof educationin l,ondon.In
clrallenge to the earlier"Eurocentric"Renaissance is not to be iSnored,nnd ncitheris thc l" , .rst,irr irdtlitior to the l'hc{)sophisls, Europeanintcllectuals sucltas John lluskin .rncl
extension of the boundariesof the "inside"to in(ludeAsia. l ', ' l , , l s t ( ) tr v r r r r k|l|l r yi r si g r r i l i ci r nrto l e i n h i s r e .r d i n go f r h cscIn d i .r ntu ( i i l i ( n r s.Se c,
17,Montesouicu((lharlcs-l,ouisde Secondirt),I\'lsitut I.tltr.' (Ncw Yrrlk: l)engrrin l, 'lr.rrrrf,rr K. ( i,rlrlhi. tlntL,l'n't rl,ltt:7 ri' .\/(rt (t Ah [\/,rr i ltnts titlt /irrrlr ( Nt,rrYrrrl<:
I lr)oks,I9 93 ),Ir.wif hr nint r l) dr r c lionby ( i. , .llc t t s ; ( ) livl ] r ( ; o l ( i s r r t i l l r '( : i t i '" t nt 1
o1l W(
t ' tl: ,, ,\ , | | |rr|)| ii .| | i(i II \ , t,) ttt) , ( \1 ,,( i i 'l l l
l ) | 5 ( ) h t tr ) l ;r r L .r
r r.,,rs,
r i r r l ri s Lr i r i r l r * ..t i ,r ;,i r .r l i st
t26 ChineseHistory and the Questionoforiefitalisttl
moderrrityand his pursuitof an alt€rnativepath for lndia,Gandhidid not hesitateto call
upon Orientalist a thotities to justifu his advocacy.S€ethe appendix to his Hird Sltdrrt o/
Indian Home Rule,Revised editioll (Ahmedabad:NavajivanPress,t 921),pp.l70-180.
25. Lionellensen,"Manufacturing'Confucianism': Chineseand WesternImaginingsin
the Making of a Tradition,"Ph.D.ciissertation, Universityof California,1992.lt is note-
worthy that beforetheycameto tealizethe importanceof Confucianismthroughacquain-
tancewith the Chinesescene, firstattemptedto enterChinathrough13uddhism'
the Jesuits
no doubt on tlre basisof everydayencounters ". . , when they realizedthe low estcemin
which Buddhismwasheldby tlreliteratiandsawthe lifestyleandignoranceof someofthe
lluddlristmonks,theyadoptedat the urgingofsome oftheir literatifriends,the attireand
lifestyleof the Iitelati."See,Iosephsebes,S.l.,"The Precursors of Ricci,"in Ronanand Oh,
op.cit.,pp. | 9-61, p.40.
26. Benjamin Elman, Frorl Philosaphyto Philology: htellectttdl and Sotial Aspectsol
Chdrge in Laft Imlrerial China (Cambridge,MA: Harvard University Press,1984)' pP. 47'
62 -63 ,76 .
27.,ohn W.Witek,S.1., "Understanding theChinese: AComparisonof MatteoRicciand
the FrenchlesuitMathematicians Sentby LouisXIV,"in Ronanand Oh, pp. 62 102
28.'lheodore N. Foss,'A WesternInterpretationof China: lesuit Cartography,"in
Ronanand Oh, pp. 209-251.Seep.223for the KangxiErnperotanclthe GreatWali.
29. Arthur Waldron, 7'heGreat Wall ofChina: Frotl Histoty fo Mytlr (Cambridge: Cam-
bridgeUniversityPress,1990).
30. Benedict Anderson, Imaginerl Cokftttutlities(l,ondon: Verso Books, 1993),offers a
stimulatingcritiqueof nationalismthat incorpotatesth€ sPatialand temporal implica-
tionsof nationalisni,
3 l , Rr my knowledge,ParthaChatteriee,in his analysesof Indian nationalisnr,has plo-
vided the nlostastuteanalyses of the problemsprescntedby Orientalisnrto nationalcon-
sciousness.See,N.rfior.ilii, Thotght and tlrc Colonial World (Minneapolis: lJniversity ol
Minnesota Press,1993),and Tle Naiio4 atld lts FrdgmentsColoniol and PostcolonialHis'
fori?s(PrincetonlPrincetonUniversityPress,1993).
32.The useof thesevarioustraits in representations of China is so commonplacethnl
I will not attemptcitation;someof the interpretivetrendsdiscussed below may serveas
illustrations,
33. Jiang 'lingfu, 7-hokgguojindaishi dagrrrrg(Outline of Modeln Chinese History)
(Taipeirfingshengwenwu gongyinggongsi,1968),pp 4-5.
34. For the relationshipbetween Iiang and Fairbank, see, John Kirg Fairbanl(,
Chiuahotutd: A Fifty Yen Menoi (New York: HarPer and Row Publishers, 1982)'
pp.85-90, and, Paul M , FNAns,IohnKiflg FIlirbatlkoltd tlrcA letica Understandingof liod'
e|tr C/rirn (New York: llasil Blackwell,1988),pp 50-51. what lia g said in a lecturein
tngland of teturned studentslike himself is revealing:". . we read foreign books ancl arc
engrossecl in thingsir which the peoplehaveno interest.. [We can be] eloquentin thc
classroom, in the Pressin ShanghaiandlleipinS,evencometo ChathamHouseand make
you think we are intelligent,aIld yet we cannot make ourselvesunderstoodto a villagc
crowd in China, far lessmake ourselvesacceptedas leadersof the peasants"(Fairbank,
p.90).The statementmay distinguishthe Chineseintellectualfrom the forcign,evenwhctl
they hold sirnilarviews.
t'tttr'e H i storr n'td !1rc
' Qtp.ti on oJ U rt l al i s ut t::
15.See,f(rr an example,StclvartR- Cleggand S. (ioldon Ileclding(eds),Cirliklisrr ir
| .nttulsting()lttn'es (llerlin:WaltercleGruytef.1990).
16.See,HarunriBefu (ed),Crrlrr,niNatio alk ti F,rrsr,4sia (llerkelev:TheCentcf ti)f
( lrineseStudies,1993),and,Kosakr.rYoshi|1o,()iturnlNdtithtdlir i Contetloftlt)lnld:
\ :;atioL)giL-nl Ituluity llondon and NervYork: lioutledge,1992).
-17.Arif Dirlik, "Confuciusin the Borclerlands: GIobalCapitirlismand the Reinvcntion
,,| ( i)n fircianism," lrol,,.JdlJ'2, Noven[]er ( 1995)129-7 J.
18.Hung-chiro'Iai(ed),Con.fucionisn otd EcotnnticDevclopnrcttf: t\n Oriortal Alttrr:r
i r.i (\\rashington, l).C.: lhe \{ashingtonInstitutePfess,1989),p.3.Ironically,'lhiagrecs
rrilh Saicl's thesison Orientalisnr, and seesthe "Orientalalternati\'e" of Confuciarrisrn asa
rr(|ns lo counter EurocentricC)rientalisn.Not all those rvho write of (iontircirnisnr
, rrgage ilr tlriskirrdof leductjonisn]. An exarnpleis Yu Ying-shih's Zlnngguoiittsltiz'tttgitao
Ittnli1tt shtngrenjieji (N,lodernChi,teselleligiousEthicanrl the MerchantCI:rss)(Taipei;
I rrrnjingchubanshiyegongsi,1987).While Yu subscribes to Weberianideasof nrodern-
r/.rti()n,he offers a nrore nuancedanalysisof Confircianisnt,\vhich ac.ounts both fi)r
, lr,rngein Confircianismover linte,and fbr its differenl,rpproprintionby diffirenr crasses,
l|r lhis casethe merchants.
19.(NervYork:Oxford UniversityPress,I994), introduction.Seealsohcr,"Occidental-
r.rr as (lnunterdiscourse:'lleShanpfin Post-lvlaoChina,"Crirlccl IrqlriJ,, l8 (Summer
, ) ( ) ): : 6 8 6 7 1 2 .
'10.YangCorgrong,op.cit.I nraytake nol hereof an inrportantobservationthat Yang
rrr,rkcs: "lf rvc take the situati()Din Tairvanas a concreteexample,it is \.erv difficult in
, r t r ylay Iifc now to distirrguish clearlywhat is typicallyChineseculturefronr what is typ-
, ,rlly\Vesternculture;bLrta clerr distinctionbetween(ihineseand Westerncuituresseenrs
r{, l,crsistin people'sminds. lf they cannot refersomethingto a past that is no longel
r, tr icvable,then they insiston linding it in an inexhaustible lVestwith i1nindistincrvis-
.,,r,'(p.50).Yangdescribes the role the GoverntneDtaDd the tuurist iodustry haveplaycd
| | rhc productionof "Chineseculture,"rnuch to the denialof the conlplexitiesof the liv,
lrl (Lrlt!re of the present.A sinrilarargurnentis offcred by Allen (lhun, " lhe Culturc
lr,lIstry as NationalEnterprisc:'Ihe Politicsof Ileritagein ContcmlxrraryTair{,an," Crrl-
tt,tt mrl Policy,utl.6,no.l (1994):69-89. lloth Iuthors cite.Siflor1r,rrrr
magazine, citedabovc
I i ( (irrnectionrvith Sinology,asone of the nraiororgansof such"culturalproduction."
I l. Ihe emergenccof Eurocentlisnr,as to nuk)nomous,self containeddeyelopmcnt
l1,rrr rncient (lreeceto modern EuroAtlcrica,has been exanrinedincisivelyl))'Silnlir
\ ii rin, tr?foc?,rrri-vr (NervVrrk: l\,lonthlylteviclvPress,1989),!nd, N,lartinllernrl, B/rrck
\!lrnt: 'fht Alj()Asiitic llootsol Cltlssici:,l Ci1,ili.dtio,.\tol.I:'[hL Fnltri<'otiot] ol Ancit t
,r,r,r', I2,3-5- / 98-5(Nel1'Bruns$'ick,N.l.: Rrrtgers LJniversity Press,1987).
Il. lllirut,op.cit.,describesthis as "the nryth ol ernptiness"(p.15), rrticlr includedthe
,1,! |l.r'()l \\'orkingover the envir()nnlcntin Eunrpeanrvats;in other rvords,Iiving in haI
I r!
'I\
\vtl h l l i t!l fe.
l r N 'l nry Loui s l rri l l l ,l tpc ri ti l .r,as :' l )t:|c l \\rri ti ttg rtttd Ttans . l tl l nl ti ofi (London and
, \! \i )fk: l toutl edg c , 1992), p.6.
l .l ILi Ll .
|' Ihi s i s vcf), rrrrr(h thc c i l s c rv i th l i l \^1ri mi ne' s adv oc ao ofi r"(,ul tural (l hi ni t-"S c c ,
,,rl rrrrl l tl hi D i r," olr.c i r., p.2.
 olOrientalism
Historvand theQuesrion
Chinese
t2 8

46.CharlesHampden-Turner and AlfonsTrompenaats, TheSevehaltutzs of Capital-

in the lJnitedStates,Iapon, Geftndny' Frcnce'Britain'
ism:ValueSystems forGeotingwealth
theNitherlolds (New York Doubleday, 1993) For an interesting takeon this
Swedetani
problem from an entirely different perspective, see' lGA Pocock"'Deconstructing
i,uropei'Historyof Eutopean fuleas,Yol.l8no 3 (1994)1329-345'
extensively in
aZ.I h"ueaidi"ss"dihis questionof "contactzones,"or "borderlands;'
Arif Dirfik,A,6ertlrc li evoltttio: Waking to Global Cdpitalitn (Hanover' N H : University
1.".t of lf"*'f"ghna f<rrWesleyan UniversityPress,1994)'The notion of"borderlands" ThereIs More in the Rim
is quitepervasive in our dayin all mannerof culturalcriticisms'
a8.C-hatterjee, NotiorMlistThoughtdnd theColonialwotld' p'38' than Meetsthe Eve:
Natious,Literutures (LonaoniVersoBooks' 1992)'especially
49.In Theiry: Classes,
Ch6pter5.
Thoughtson the "Pacificldea"
to sapthisis not accepted andhasproducedpredictions
universally, ofnew
5i. Needless
by an influential u.s. political sci-
kindsof conflictin ihe world.The foremostexample,
Huntington, "The Clash of Civilizationsi'" ForcigflAffais' 723
entist,may be samuelP.
(Su.r", isg:),zz-19. An exampleofa history-less Asiathat is nevertheless.modern is to
\ Ii'rvyearsback,a discussion of the currentcconomicstatusof Pacificislandsin
politics: A,t,,oril, by the distin-
be found in ,qsianpoper orrd Thea tural Dinensions of llrc F,cononist beganwith thc' line, referringto the Pacific,that "it is not just a
guished politicatscientist.ndchinaspecialist' LucianW Pye'with MaryW Pye(cam-
1,icce ofgeoglaphy,it is an idea."rIdeasdepenclon who thinks them,in rvhatcon-
[rial", v,l, H".uuraUniversityPress,1985).Pyearguesfor differences amcngAsiansoci-
"paternalismand tr\t irnd to what purpose.I reflectbclorvon two differentwaysof thinking the
eties,but differences on a common site marked by a culture of
of-Confucianism l notedYu l',rciflc,onc from rvithin and the other frotn without, that in their contradictori-
dependency." Pye'sargumentis echoedby nranyan advocate
'hinese asan example of a different'more histori- ,', ss havcnruch to tell us rbout tlre historicallbrmation of the Pacific.They are
iiig-rhiht'.a"iy .f merchants above
problem of Confucianism and capitalisn lt is necessary' in my opin' rlsorclevant,t will suggest, b thinking the globalfuture both within anclwith-
i"i,ippto".ft ,o'rft.
distinguish eionomic change from modernization
capitalist That Chinese society ,,ut llle Pacific,becausetheir very contradictoriness raises<luestions conccrningl
ion, to
was'therefore'
ii jiff.r"nt piints nuaflourishingeconomicihangedoesnot imply thatit tlrc wirysin which rvethink about the pastand the present.
just of capitalismdoes not imply that it-was'there-
headedfor capitalism; asthe absence
follow only from a hindsight application.of the teleol-
i'1t., ri.g""lig. s*tt conclusions
ofcapitalism" idea in Chinese Msrxist historiography' The Pacific Rim: EuroAmerican and Asian
.Sy nicapit"l;n, in the"sprouts
". p.228'
51."OrientalismReconsidered"' llrc l)acificoccupiestl')eptorl'rinentplacethat it doesin our ceDsciousness todiy
thesepossibilitiesSee,"orientalismReconsidered"' p'
!2, said himsetflas recognized rr, t becirusc of rvhirt of
is happeningwithin the Pacific,but because developments
'
216. ,,rrrr,hathascome to be calledthe PacificRim.'l'he Rirn,especially on the Asian
r,1.,hls cometo servenot only asa frontierof clevelopnrent, but providesa new
1'.r r,rtlignrt'<rrglobalecononricorganizationand change.But the Rim is ultinrately
, r tr rrrll to lhc Pacific;at variouslocationsalongit arearraigncdecorromic, polit-
r'.rl.rrclnrilitarl'forcesthat gazeacrossan en!pty Pacificat ilnaginedantagonists
.,,rrrr',,vhcrc elseon the Rim. The Rim in effecterasesthe spflcesrvithin it fronr
',lrr, lr it tlcrives its narrre.The Econolrislarticlecitedaboverecognizes this curi-
,,rr',sitrr.rtiorr u'hcn it rcmarksthat:

It r\ ( lc.irthirtthisPacillcdoesnot includefapanor HongKongor thewest.oastof

\ rt|ic;r.l-hcse rre the rich placesin whathnscorDeto be calledthe PacificRim,
,rlcconvinced thcy arc goingto beconre evenricherin tlrecon'ring "Pacitic
"lri,h
t,ntrrry." N ci lhcr ar eAr r st r uliir lr r dNclvZcir l. ndlr nr t of t hisPacit lc. 'f heyar ePacilic
tj ,'s{ r\, i r\ i rc Arnc l i c i r i rnrl l he S ov i c t tl ni rrn, n() rl ons ens !' l )hc c s c ()nc c tnc d rv i l h
rrr'.rsol i rrl l rrtrrrc i rrrrl s rrrh l i k c .