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Governmentality and Translation: Re-thinking the Cultural Politics of Lineage Landscapes in Contemporary Rural China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2020

Ningning Chen
Ningning Chen*
Affiliation:
Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. Email: ningning@u.nus.edu.
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Abstract

This paper explores the cultural politics of lineage landscapes in contemporary rural China. Drawing on a combined governmentality/translation approach and ethnographic fieldwork in rural Wenzhou, it examines how the state governs the production of lineage landscapes and how local lineages translate governmental technologies in complex ways. Empirical evidence reveals that the government develops diversified rationalities and modes of governance to direct the (re)construction of lineage landscapes. It is also found that local lineages are skilled at appropriating state discourses and practices as well as enrolling other (non-)human actors, thereby legitimizing their landscape projects of ancestral tombs and memorials. On the ground, they often displace state objectives with the production of their preferred landscape (for example, “chair” tombs). Respectful of ancestors, state agents sometimes turn a blind eye to local displacement; however, while encountering challenges from the higher-level government, they intensify regulation, but lineages still retain the capacity to negotiate with them. With sensitivity to the entanglement of diversified actors and their dynamic interactions, this paper underlines the multiplicity and contingency of state governance and societal responses. It also foregrounds the cultural politics of lineage landscapes as a process of translating governmental technologies characterized by continuous mobilization, displacement and negotiation in a heterogeneous network.

摘要

摘要

本文探讨当代中国农村宗族景观的文化政治。采用“治理术”和“翻译”为理论框架，文章分析了政府如何治理宗族景观的生产并探讨了农村宗族如何翻译政府的治理策略。基于温州农村的田野调研，本文揭示了当地政府采取了各种合理化策略和治理模式来规范宗族景观的重建。另外，此研究也表明温州农村宗族具有极大的能动性，既擅长挪用政府话语和实践并且吸纳其他人类和非人类行动者以此来合法化他们的景观建设项目。在实际建设过程中，他们往往违背政府意志而生产出他们想要的诸如“椅子坟”宗族景观。基于对祖先的敬畏，基层政府官员有时候对这些移置行为睁一只眼闭一只眼，但有时候在受到上级政府干预时又对这些行为加强管制。然而当地宗族仍积极地与政府各部门进行协商。总而言之，此研究让我们认识到政府与民间社会（宗族）关系的多样性和变动性，并对如何阐释宗族景观生产中的文化政治提供了新的理论视角。

Keywords

lineage landscapescultural politicsgovernmentalitytranslationactor-network theorysacred spacerural China宗族景观文化政治治理术翻译行动者网络理论神圣空间乡土中国
Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 247 , September 2021 , pp. 703 - 723
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Copyright
Copyright © SOAS University of London, 2020

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