포스트모더니즘과 중국역사학

POSTMODERNISM IN THE CHINA STUDIES

The subject of “postmodernism in the China studies" includes man ways of approaches mainly because of the ambiguous meanings of postmodernism itself. By tentatively defining postmodernism, on a philosophical level, to be poststructuralism, this essay aims to analyze the influence of epistemological change originating from poststructuralism on the current concepts and methods of Chinese history. It is mostly the U.S. based historians of China that are initiating the application of methodological insight of postmodernism on Chinese historiography. The year of 1989 was a turning point to their effort of introducing postmodernism. Even though Edward Said's Orientalism was published in 1978 and giving considerable impact on various academic fields, Chinese historical profession seldom responded to it until 1989, when the Tiananmen massacre was occurred. Part of the scholars, such as Arif Dirlik, who belonged to the critical wing against the modernization theory, and also part of the traditional sinologists who represented the conservative voices, interestingly, joined at the field of postmodern ‘culture', where both of them expected to find a way to overcome modernity, especially the modern conceptual framework. The most peculiar accomplishments of postmodernism in the Chinese historiography are emergence of the diverse historical subjects and fundamental disassembling of Enlightenment historiography. Applying Derrida's “supplementary logic" on Chinese history, the so-called peripheral subjects, such as the minorities, women, environmental issues, oversees Chinese, emerged now as the principal subjects of the historians. Epistemological break of postmodernism also threatened fundamentals of Enlightenment historiography, such as linear development based on causal relations. Their efforts to denounce linear history led them directly to dismantle the binary structure of modern concepts, that all of the modern social science and historical theories failed to resolve. The most distinguished and successful achievement in this arena is demolition of ideological background of the nation-state. Whether or not postmodernism is able to pose itself as a theory critical of the current Chinese political structure is a question still remaining to be answered. However, the fact that both the members of the critical and the conservative wings are participating in employing the methodological insights of postmodernism reveals that it can be used as a theory both critical and supportive of the current Chinese political power.