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Focusing on C hinese nationalism: an inherently flawed perspective? A reply to A llen C arlson
Author(s) -
Costa Anna
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
nations and nationalism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.655
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1469-8129
pISSN - 1354-5078
DOI - 10.1111/nana.12048
Subject(s) - nationalism , acknowledgement , sociology , identity (music) , perspective (graphical) , strengths and weaknesses , focus (optics) , epistemology , political science , law , philosophy , aesthetics , computer science , computer security , artificial intelligence , politics , physics , optics
My article replies to A llen C arlson's critique of the existing literature on C hinese nationalism ( C arlson's article was published in V olume 15, issue 1 of N ations and N ationalism , 2009). I address C arlson's criticisms and proceed to evaluate his proposal to move away from an allegedly unhelpful focus on nationalism towards the allegedly more illuminating framework of national identity construction. My approach to the existing literature on C hinese nationalism acknowledges efforts made within it at grappling with issues of theory and definition and builds on this acknowledgement to operate a selective appraisal of its strengths and weaknesses. I argue that while some of the problems identified by C arlson do indeed plague the literature, his advocacy of abandoning nationalism as a focus of research is unwarranted. There is continuing validity in using nationalism as a lens for understanding how C hina sees its place in the world.