TITLE:
From the Margin to the Center: The Transformation of the Identity Discourse of Chinese Ethnic Minority Literature
AUTHORS:
Xiaojun Gao
KEYWORDS:
Ethnic Minority Literature, Literary Historiography, Han Chinese Nationalism, Identity, Discursive Hegemony, Ethnicity
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Literary Study,
Vol.6 No.1,
December
1,
2017
ABSTRACT: Generally, the paper tries to rethink and rediscover the very notion and the identity discourse of Chinese ethnic literatures through multi-ethnic perspectives. According to the survey, the author finds ethnic minorities and their cultures are either under “ethnic erasure” or excluded from many of the orthodox Chinese national literary histories, while writers and artists of Han nationality have always taken the center stage. The misconception of Chinese literature as Han national literature is influenced by the orthodox Chinese national literary histories and hegemonic discourses. With the transformation of literary history from monistic to multivalent, Chinese ethnic minority literatures are moving from the margin to the center in the literary landscape of China, reclaiming their identities and providing another practical methods for Chinese literature to enter into a dialogue with the world from a new perspective.