Doctoral Dissertation Research: "Discovering China: Science, Imperialism, and Nationalism in the Chinese Frontier"

博士论文研究：《发现中国：中国边疆的科学、帝国主义和民族主义》

• 批准号: 0938334
• 负责人: Henrietta Harrison
• 金额: $ 1.5万
• 依托单位: Harvard University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-01-15 至 2010-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0938334&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Discovering; China

This dissertation research improvement grant, which was funded by way of the Science, Technology and Society program, will be used to explore the intellectual works and varied expeditions of foreign and Chinese scientists between 1911 and 1951. The research will focus on scientists who researched the geology, paleontology, anthropology, and archaeology of China's northwestern and southwestern frontiers. This vast space, encompassing Xinjiang, Mongolia, Gansu, Qinghai, Tibet, Sichuan, and Yunnan, had historically not only been a geographical border zone, but also a zone of cross-cultural encounters. The research of foreign and Chinese scientists in the frontier in the first half of the 20th century resulted in the discovery of prehistoric cultures and the famous Peking Man, as well as in pioneering work in ethnological studies on the frontier regions non-Han people. This project examines how concerns with human civilization, the individual search for intellectual identity, and national interests motivated these scientists to explore the Chinese frontier; and how ideas were exchanged and shared among scientists in certain intellectual networks. Ultimately, it highlights the tensions between participating in global scientific community and the desire for the indigenization of imported knowledge systems experienced by Chinese scientists. This project argues that ideas and debates in the international scientific arena had a great impact on the formation of the concept of modern "China" as originated in North China and the notion of "Chinese" as a multi-ethnic group. Moreover, it contends that Euro-American scientific imperialism and Sinocentrism were not antagonistic. The approach of this project elucidates the entangled histories of Chinese nationalism and scientific imperialism, and demonstrates that the frontier is a space for contestation against the "myth" of China. It also sheds new light on the intellectual history of science and social history of scientists of modern China.

这项由科学、技术与社会计划资助的论文研究改进经费将用于探索1911年至1951年间外国和中国科学家的智力成果和各种探险活动。研究将集中于研究中国西北和西南边疆的地质学、古生物学、人类学和考古学的科学家。这个涵盖新疆、蒙古、甘肃、青海、西藏、四川、云南的广阔空间，历史上不仅是地理边界地带，也是跨文化交汇地带。 20世纪上半叶，中外科学家对边疆的研究，发现了史前文化和著名的北京人，也做出了边疆非汉族民族学研究的开创性工作。该项目探讨了对人类文明的关注、对知识分子身份的个人追求以及国家利益如何促使这些科学家探索中国前沿；以及某些知识网络中的科学家之间如何交换和分享思想。最终，它凸显了参与全球科学界与中国科学家所经历的引进知识体系本土化的愿望之间的紧张关系。本项目认为，国际科学界的思想和争论对起源于华北的现代“中国”概念和“中国人”作为多民族概念的形成产生了重大影响。而且，它认为欧美科学帝国主义和中国中心主义并不是对立的。这个项目的方法阐明了中国民族主义和科学帝国主义纠缠在一起的历史，并表明边疆是对抗中国“神话”的空间。它还为现代中国的科学思想史和科学家社会史提供了新的线索。