Doctoral Dissertation Research: Water Resources Development and National Identity Building in Northwestern China

博士论文研究：西北地区水资源开发与民族认同建设

• 批准号: 0927391
• 负责人: Timothy Oakes
• 金额: $ 1.2万
• 依托单位: University of Colorado at Boulder
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-15 至 2011-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0927391&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Water; Resources

National identity has as much to do with daily practices as it does with dramatic events. Expressions of national identity in China are often associated with passionate outbreaks of popular sentiment, most often directed against other countries. This study will consider the role of water development in creating everyday national identity by examining a recently completed water development project in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Water resources development is an appropriate venue to examine the nation-building associated with daily practices, both because development plays a major role in contemporary national identity in China, and because water resources have long been associated with state power in China. This study will address the question: Does the Chinese state use water resource development to promote national identity building in western China? This question will be answered by asking two sets of sub-questions: 1) How do state entities frame the construction of water development projects in Ningxia with respect to Chinese national identity? and 2) How are such narratives interpreted by commingled ethnic Han and Hui project participants? Does development reproduce national identity in everyday practices? The first of these will be answered through a discourse analysis of state planning documents and publications intended for the general public, as well as through key-informant interviews with state planners. The second set of questions will be answered through eight months of participant observation and interviews. Participant observation will examine how daily practices of water management do or do not come to symbolize national identity. Purposefully sampled interviews with 90 individuals in three communities, each differing ethnic composition, but all affected by the same drinking water and irrigation project, will illuminate how the planned beneficiaries of a development project interpret state narratives. This study will examine the role of water resources development in shaping national identity. It will contribute to the study of how national identities are formed on a daily basis by considering the role of economic development in such identities. This contribution will be made in the context of rural China, where previous studies have not compared national identity among Han and ethnic minority groups. This research also broadens recent research on the politics of water in China by moving beyond examining the relationships between government agencies to consider the role of water in shaping the everyday lives of individuals. This project has the potential to impact understanding of development in Chinese national identity, as well as the management of water, a crucial global resource. This project will also contribute to the education of a doctoral student, and fostering long-term academic connections between the United States and China.

民族身份与日常实践与戏剧性事件的关系大有关系。中国民族认同的表达通常与热情的流行情绪爆发有关，这通常是针对其他国家的。这项研究将通过研究Ningxia Hui自治区最近完成的水发展项目来考虑水发育在建立日常民族认同方面的作用。水资源开发是检查与日常实践相关的国家建设的合适场所，这既是发展在中国当代民族身份中都起着重要作用，并且因为水资源长期以来一直与中国国家权力有关。这项研究将解决以下问题：中国国家是否使用水资源开发来促进中国西部的民族认同建设？该问题将通过询问两组子问题来回答：1）国家实体如何构建宁克西亚水发展项目在中国民族身份方面的建设？ 2）如何通过混乱的汉族和HUI项目参与者来解释这些叙事？发展在日常实践中会重现民族身份吗？第一个将通过对旨在公众的国家规划文件和出版物的话语分析以及与国家规划者的密钥信息采访来回答。第二组问题将在八个月的参与者观察和访谈中回答。参与者的观察将研究水管理的日常实践是如何象征民族身份的。 有目的地对三个社区的90个人进行了采访，每个人都不同，但都受同一饮用水和灌溉项目的影响，将阐明发展项目的计划受益人如何解释国家叙事。这项研究将研究水资源开发在塑造民族认同方面的作用。它将通过考虑经济发展在这种身份中的作用，从而有助于研究如何形成民族身份。这项贡献将在中国农村的背景下做出，在这种情况下，以前的研究尚未比较汉族和少数民族群体之间的民族认同。这项研究还通过研究政府机构之间的关系，考虑水在塑造个人日常生活中的作用，从而扩大了有关中国水政治的最新研究。该项目有可能影响对中国民族认同的发展以及对全球至关重要的全球资源管理的理解。该项目还将有助于博士生的教育，并促进美国和中国之间的长期学术联系。