Constructing Subjects of Knowledge Beyond the Nation

Abstract

This essay challenges the methodological nationalism inherent in guoxue by showing that it is possible to construct alternative subjects of knowledge. To this end, it explores the content and historical development of Hakkaology (Kejiaxue). This discipline challenges guoxue in two ways: firstly, it posits a likewise ethnically defined, but distinct subject of knowledge that is both seen as part of the Chinese nation and as unique. It thus raises the question of the unity and diversity of Chinese national culture, while equally encompassing a transnational and global dimension. Secondly, the historical development of Hakkaology encompasses several layers of both national and local as well as Western knowledge. In contrast to the way that guoxue is constructed, Hakkaology appeared as intimately bound up with transnational cultural flows from its very beginnings.