Smartphone as Ritual Fan:Poaching in Weixin-mediated (Cyber)space with Nuosu-Yi Ritualists of Liangshan, Southwest China

This article explores the engagement of the bimo – the Liangshan ethnic Nuosu-Yi literati-ritualists of Sichuan Province, China – with Weixin (WeChat), a ubiquitous Chinese all-in-one app. Utilizing a nethnographic approach – an ethnography of culturally conditioned simultaneous online and offline practices – I argue that by using the smartphones in ways unforeseen by their developers, the bimo are poaching the property of those who designed the app primarily for the Chinese-speaking majority. The usage of technology stipulated by the modernization push of the Chinese authoritarian state then transforms both the bimo and technology. The resultant techno-culture not only builds upon, reinvents, develops and reinforces the allegedly diminishing Nuosu-Yi folkways – especially inter-clan competition – but also feeds the state-approved Yi folklore. The dialogic reconciliation of the top-down computerization of society and the bottom-up socialization of technology reveals itself as intrinsically connected to the culturally conditioned use of technology in our everyday lives

Republican-era Anthropology as a Community of Practice:Between the Political Ideology of the Kuomintang and Nation-Making Through Ethnographic Research in Southwest China

The article analyzes the work of the first generation of Chinese anthropologists, who emulated the late-Qing intellectuals in indigenization of the colonial science through contacts with European and American colleagues, at the background of the historical, political and ideological context of the Republic of China (1911–1949). The analysis shows that although the Chinese historiography ex-post profiled them as members of two competing schools, anthropologists formed a fieldwork-oriented community of practice in which they opened up a discursive space not only for confrontation with the enemy during the Second Sino-Japanese War but also for a critical interrogation of the racial assimilationist ethnic policies of the ruling Kuomintang. Clinging to their different approaches, the debates produced various conceptualizations of their common goal: the unified Chinese nation. Contemporary Chinese ethnic policies also draw inspiration from the foundations of republican anthropology

By Barbarians Control Barbarians: The Position of Tusi within Area of Liangshan

English Abstract This M.A. thesis analyses the politics of indirect rule within the peripheral area of Liangshan in southern Sichuan, which the imperial court tried to implement thru appointment of hereditary offices of indigenous chieftains (ch. tusi or tuguan). It uses primary sources in classical Chinese from official histories, local gazetteers, ethnographic studies and other documents, as well as secondary literature in Czech, English, French, German and Chinese. This thesis is divided into three interrelated chapters. The first chapter outlines the origin, changes and development of systems of indirect rule in Southwest China. The final stage of the development this political mechanism was a so-called "native chieftain system" (ch. tusi zhidu), through which the central court managed peripheral regions of its empire during Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. This chapter focuses on the development of these systems of indirect rule from the Warring States era (5th century BC) to the beginning of 20th century. The second chapter explores ethnographic, historico-political and ethnohistorical descriptions of Liangshan region. This chapter will then define the Liangshan region through geographical, political (the imperial court), and indigenous (ethnic) perspectives and therefore finalizes a theoretical..

Hearths, Mythologies, and Livelihood Choices:Exploring Cultural Change under Poverty Alleviation with the Nuosu-Yi of Liangshan

In late 2020, the Chinese Communist Party triumphantly declared an end to (absolute) poverty in the country. As one of the most poverty-stricken areas of China, Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan province came into the spotlight both domestically and internationally. International media reports, some of which embedded fragments of the author’s expert opinion, launched a discursive counter-offensive. Furthermore, both sides incorporated anecdotes told by local ethnic Nuosu-Yi individuals. Interested in discursive hegemony rather than informants’ voices, however, both somewhat conveniently failed to grasp the complex interplay between the everyday lives of Nuosu-Yi and the state-driven poverty alleviation campaign. Focusing on the creative livelihood strategies and choices reflected in the everyday practical and ritualistic treatment of the traditional Nuosu-Yi hearth, the present article ethnographically analyzes the tension between various (re)presentations of poverty and the Nuosu-Yi cosmology that is animated to absorb them and facilitate preservation and/or reinvention of Nuosu-Yi lifeways.</p

Depiction of barbarians in early Chinese sources (Western Zhou - Western Han dynasty)

The present paper discusses the evolution of the chinese perception on the surrounding nations during the period of formative process of the chinese civilization, namely from Western Zhou dynasty (c. 1045 - 771 B.C.) to Western Han dynasty, which lead this process to its end. The core of the paper describes the depiction of the barbarians in particular period and texts of the chinese ancient era, stresses the changes of this depiction in the course of time and also follows the factors, which could have influenced this perception. A very important part of the paper is a characteristics of the cultural stereotypes, which can be observed in the depiction of barbarians and which seemed relevant to Chinese for description of barbarian's differences

Grey Literature Repositories

The book Grey Literature Repositories provides information about the concept of grey literature, its development, types, and producers in the European context, with a focus on the Czech Republic. The example of the National Repository of Grey Literature, practically implemented in the National Technical Library, is given to illustrate how such a repository may be built. The most important factors in the success of such project are cooperation and legislation. The book presents the components necessary to construct a repository from a practical viewpoint, namely analysis, selection and implementation of software, creation of the metadata format and audit of repository credibility