Part of the series “The Formation and Development of Academic Disciplines in Twentieth-Century China,” this volume contains thirteen papers by prominent scholars from mainland China and Taiwan, as well as the United States. The main focus is the so-called process of indigenization against the historical background of the formation of the disciplines at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Arif Dirlik introduces the historical development of the disciplines; five case studies on aspects mentioned in his introduction follow: the difficulties of establishing a new discipline in the 1930s (Wang Jianmin), Sun Benwen's indigenization approach to the Chicago School (Li Guannan), the Marxist approach of Lei Jieqiong (Liang Yue), the frontier anthropology and Tibetology of Li Anzhai (Hsiao-pei Yen), and Huang Wenshan's attempt to create a “national science” and oppose wholesale Westernization in close cooperation with the Guomindang regime (Li Guannan). These case studies are followed by one broader paper on...
