In Pursuit of Islamic “Authenticity”: Localizing Muslim Identity on China’s Peripheries

This essay is an ethnographic examination of the self-production of Hui-Muslim identities in Kunming, in light of state-defined nationality. With great attention to detail and a methodical pursuit of question and answers, Turnbull drew out the narratives of interlocutors and analyzed them deeply to show how claims to authenticity are shaped by the localization of an idealized Islamic tradition and Chinese modernity. For non-specialists, Turnbull was also able to contextualize interview material within a presentation of broader knowledge of specific topics. While there may have been lots of ‘imaginings’ going on by people in Kunming and Shadian, or by Beijing bureaucrats or Middle Eastern imams, Turnbull’s analysis is a convincingly written essay on the complex reality of identity politics.

2013 Bestor Prize Committee

Amy Borovoy, Chair
Fuji Lozada
Rebecca Ruhlen

农家乐 Peasant Family Happiness
Jenny Chio, Emory University

This documentary explores the backstage efforts of locals in the world of ethnic tourism. Chio observes and documents interactions between locals and tourists with a focused yet easy rapport with members of local communities. A variety of perspectives, views and experiences are presented with appreciation for the dilemmas faced by individuals and groups who seek more stable income, material comfort and dignified living in ancestral villages. These concerns are situated against a backdrop of increased surplus disposable income and leisure time among China’s middle class, who “do tourism” in the two different villages depicted by Chio. A kinder, gentler version of Dennis O’Rourke’s acerbic Cannibal Tours, Chio’s film shows how residents negotiate with visiting Han tourists and their idealized projections of ethnic minorities.

2013 Plath Award Committee
Maris Gillette, Chair
Mark McGuire
Fuji Lozada

Farquhar and Zhang’s book Ten Thousand Things: Nurturing Life in Contemporary Beijing presents vivid descriptions and insightful and provocative analyses of Beijing residents’ everyday practices of yangsheng, a kind of self-cultivation which includes activities such as taijiquan, qigong, calisthenics, jogging, swimming, dancing, singing, meditation, chess, painting, writing, talking, learning a foreign language, and connoisieurship of tea, wine, and medicinal cuisine.
In addition to promoting personal health and well-being, these activities are also promoted as conducive to the strengthening of the Chinese nation.
By explicating the underlying cultural logic that ties these disparate kinds of activities together, this book expands conceptions of what can constitute an object of anthropological analysis, and how deep and profound meanings can be found in the everyday experiences of ordinary people.
Ten Thousand Things is also a daring, creative book that breaks new ground in possibilities for experimental ethnography and cross-national, cross-cultural collaborative engagements.
By sometimes revealing the distinct voices of Farquhar, an anthropologist in the US, and Zhang, a philosopher in China, and the dialogue between them, this book fearlessly presents schisms, disagreements and disjunctures between the perspectives of the two authors in refreshing and revealing ways, and pushes the boundaries of anthropology and ethnographic writing, opening up new possibilities for collaboration across national, linguistic, cultural, and epistemological boundaries.

Ten Thousand Things on Amazon

2013 Hsu Book Prize Committee:
Vanessa Fong (Amherst), Chair
Lieba Faier (UCLA)
Laura Nelson (UC Berkeley)