The University of Westminster Contemporary China Centre presents 
 
CONSTRUCTING COMMONALITY: Standardization and modernization in Chinese nation-building

Professor Andrew Kipnis
Australian National University
 
Monday 2nd April 2012 
4 - 6pm 
 
Westminster Forum
University of Westminster
5th Floor,
32/38 Wells Street
London W1T 3UW
 
This talk examines the importance of Chinese nation-building in the contemporary era. Defining nation-building in terms of processes that help to bridge local differences especially but not only when also distinguishing China from the rest the world, I argue that a focus on globalization has masked the importance of Chinese nation-building to contemporary social change. I analyze three very different societal arenas in which national forms of commonality are being constructed: the consolidation of the education system, the expansion of the urban built environment and the spread of the Chinese internet. Though each arena illustrates a very different aspect of the nation-building process, they all result in an increased degree of commonality in lived experience and communicative practice across China.

Speaker Biography

Andrew Kipnis is a Senior Fellow in the College of Asia and the Pacific Department of Anthropology at the Australian National University.  He is author of Governing Educational Desire (University of Chicago Press, 2011), China and Postsocialist Anthropology (Eastbridge, 2008), and Producing Guanxi (Duke University Press, 1997).  He is also co-editor of The China Journal.  His current research focuses on the experience of urbanisation in mid-sized cities in China.
 
All welcome 	

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For enquiries about the Contemporary China Centre, please contact 
Professor Harriet Evans  
Tel: 020 7911 5000 ext 7603 
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Contemporary China Centre 
Department of Modern and Applied Languages 
University of Westminster 
309 Regent Street. London, W1B 2UW 
www.westminster.ac.uk/research/a-z/contemporary-china-centre