FROM SOCIAL VISIBILITY TO POLITICAL INVISIBILITY : the school in nationalist taiwan as fulcrum for... an evolving world ethos

This book began as a year-long ethnography of a school in Taiwan in 1991 then evolved more into a historical sociology of national formation and its cultural mindset. Cultural nationalism is a widely debated but poorly understood process. Contrary to prevailing perceptions, the Cold War may have given way to a more progressive open society, but the politicization of ethnicity hardened a more deeply entrenched cultural frame of mind. Instead of liberating an indigenous reality, Taiwanese consciousness has ironically polarized the political dead ends of reunification and independence. In the final analysis, the ethnography can serve as a paradigmatic case study for critical cultural studies. There are clear ramifications also for a comparative study of the cultural politics of other Chinese speaking or Asian societies and their histories. Preface 5 Contents 7 1 Ethnography as Cultural Geography 9 References 23 2 The Spaces of Nationalist Culture in Taiwan 25 Ideological Discourse and Cultural Identity in “Nationalist” Taiwan 25 “The Three Principles” as Unifying Discourse (Sanminzhuyi Tongyi Zhongguo) 43 “The New Life Movement” in the State’s Project of Moral Regulation 56 Family, School and Militarization in “The Making of Moral Persons” 66 Notes 74 References 79 3 Education and the Sociology of the Normal 87 The Schooling of Society: Pedagogy in the Disciplinary Order of Things 87 Three Principles Ideology as Educational Policy and Theoretical Discourse 97 Nationalist Education as Ontological Process and Political Socialization 117 Textbook Narrative as Socially Symbolic Act in the Construction of “History” 137 Notes 145 References 148 4 School Routines in Time and Space 152 Chinese Modern: Form, Hierarchy and Containment as Spatial Governance 152 The Curricular Calendar: Temporal Rhythms and Social Structuration 161 Everyday Etiquette as Modality of Acculturation 168 Socializing Routines in the Conduct of Life Histories 178 Notes 189 References 190 5 Socialization in the Longer View 191 Everyday Administration in the Vertical Integration of Institutional Power 191 The Disciplinary Production of Activities, Texts and Behaviors 196 The School as a Node of Societal Education 214 “Moral Training”: Institutional Extensions in the Crafting of Citizens 222 Notes 229 References 231 6 Nationalist Ideology in the Politics of Normalization 233 Indigenization, Multiculturalism and the “New” Nationalism 233 “Knowing Taiwan” in the Global Ecumene 238 The Civilizing Process as a Mode of Cultural Colonialism 244 Learning to De-School: A Post-National Resistance 251 Notes 257 References 258 7 Anthropology as Writing Power 261 Societal Totalities as Fictive Moment in the Normalization of Theory 261 The State as Passive Subject and Active Agent in Political Legitimation 263 The Government of Life in the Culture of Institutional Practices 267 School as Habitus, or Ethnographic Description as Cultural Critique 271 Notes 276 References 278 Bibliography 280 Index 294