Here and Now—Chinese People's Self-Representation in a Transnational Context

Abstract

This paper is part of my dissertation that examines Chinese modern dance choreographers who have learned modern dance from American teachers. In it, I investigate a key topic in my dissertation—self-representation in a transnational context. By studying a Chinese documentary film Dance with Farm Workers (2001), I argue that farm workers, the marginalized group in contemporary China, are further alienated and marginalized in art. The choreographer Wen Hui and the film director Wu Wenguang fail to speak for the farm workers in the film's international tour. In Dance with Farm Workers, dance and film constitute a double-layered representation that silences Chinese farm workers. Also, this presentation arouses a question I must consider in writing my dissertation: how should I position myself, as a Chinese PhD student in American academia, in order to write about Chinese dance?