Thinking Piratically

Abstract

Thinking Piratically Rebecca E. Karl (bio) UNDERGLOBALIZATION: BEIJING'S MEDIA URBANISM AND THE CHIMERA OF LEGITIMACY BY JOSHUA NEVES Duke University Press, 2020 UNDERGLOBALIZATION: BEIJING'S MEDIA URBANISM AND THE CHIMERA OF LEGITIMACY BY JOSHUA NEVES Duke University Press, 2020 This is a curious book. On the one hand, Underglobalization takes up a series of topical problems in the study of contemporary China and the world through the lens of media(tion) and urban forms. Neves concentrates on revealing how artistic and media creativity of and in realms of the illicit—those arenas not sanctioned by state or dominant media power—help expose the attempted legal suppression of everyday urban forms that shape the lives of city-dwelling people, in Beijing and elsewhere. By focusing on the piratical, or the "illegitimate" underbelly of contemporary urban society, Neves makes visible the dialectical ways in which Beijingers live in constant dialogue with (but are not subordinated to) the legitimating powers of state, brand, and media. Taking the practice of urban dwelling as a process of producing realms of the fake is helpful, necessary, and important. It illumines the necessarily layered environments of Beijing life in the twenty-first century, without prescribing some "solution" that reinforces dominant power. [End Page 185] On the other hand, the discussion is diffuse, and the author seems reluctant to stick with a topic long enough to delve deeply enough into it. Neves's tendency is to glide in and out of discussions; this ends up providing only a glancing introduction to the contemporary and theoretical issues he insightfully raises. Thus, while he presents various forms of the illicit—in art, media, screens, piracy, fakes, etc., and these forms are shown to be pervasive in contemporary Beijing life (as they are elsewhere)—and while various cultural theories are introduced as ways to illuminate the problems—there is so little sustained discussion that the curious reader is unable to gain a grounded sense of the dimensions of each issue. Perhaps a more sustained approach would have yielded a more consistently excellent book. Let me put my cards on the table: I am a historian of modern China by discipline, although I am trained in cultural studies as well. My own preference is to combine a historical approach with cultural studies to arrive at a better vantage on both, thus to situate China in various worlds. Neves's approach is similarly global. It is steeped in theoretical texts from an extensive cultural studies tradition, and his facility with these texts is impressive. He is firm in his conviction (which I enthusiastically share) that this theoretical tradition can help make China and/in the world legible. He is also clear (and I share this perspective as well) that China should not be exceptionalized. This approach sets him apart from many cultural discussions that wish to uphold the unique "uniqueness" of China and its incomparability to anywhere else on the planet. Happily, Neves will have none of that. By the same token, he skips among and between theoretical texts so sequentially and rapidly that the process often robs him (and the reader) of his voice. This is, to be sure, a style of writing/thinking/performing. It is not clear to me whether this is a chosen style or one demanded by his discipline. Whatever the case, it makes for a frustrating experience: not because there aren't insights—there are plenty, and Neves is clearly a careful observer and interlocutor—but rather because the relation between theory and topic often seems arbitrary. And the skipping around ultimately detracts from rather than illumines individual topics. Following Neves down the abstracted theory paths becomes wearying. Neves sets out to question linear narratives and normative notions of "development" as they get bandied about with regard to China—and [End Page 186] other non-Western places—by scholars of all persuasions and from most parts of the globe. He wishes to add ambivalence to the theorization of development by introducing such concepts as "underglobalization" and "political society" while elaborating on the entangled relations between culture, media, urbanism, and the global creative industries that underpin and provide the dominant logic for these formations. Thus, while development...