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Legal Practices, Colonial Rivalry, and Identity in China's Borderlands, 1880-1940

Research Project

Project/Area Number 19K23102
Research Category

Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up

Allocation TypeMulti-year Fund
Review Section 0103:History, archaeology, museology, and related fields
Research InstitutionThe University of Tokyo

Principal Investigator

VANDEN BUSSCHE Eric Armand  東京大学, 大学総合教育研究センター, 特任講師 (30848031)

Project Period (FY) 2019-08-30 – 2023-03-31
Project Status Completed (Fiscal Year 2022)
Budget Amount *help
¥1,820,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥420,000)
Fiscal Year 2020: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000)
Fiscal Year 2019: ¥390,000 (Direct Cost: ¥300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥90,000)
KeywordsSino-Burmese borderlands / Legal Pluralism / Border Disputes / Ethnic Identity / State-building / Colonialism / China's borderlands / border disputes / legal practices / ethnic identity / colonial rivalry / Sino-Burmese Borderlands / Legal institutions / Ethnicity / Border disputes
Outline of Research at the Start

This research will compare legal practices in China's border regions with British Burma, French Indochina, and Russia from the 1880s until the 1940s. It will examine the role of these legal practices in creating new discourses of ethnic identity and promoting China's state-building efforts. This objective will be achieved through the analysis of legal cases and government correspondence housed in archives in Europe and Asia. In this regard, this research will provide a better understanding of China's transition from an empire to a nation-state during this period.

Outline of Final Research Achievements

I have examined the relationship between pluralistic legal practices, state-building, and the formation of identities along China's border regions with Burma and Russia from the 1880s until the 1940s. The analytical framework of this research project has provided a deeper understanding of the role of legal institutions in state-building practices along China's multiethnic borderlands. The results have been presented at conferences in Japan, Europe, and North America. Drawing on previously untapped archival sources that I collected from various countries, I have submitted three journal articles currently under review. I am also in the process of completing a book manuscript on legal practices along the Sino-Burmese borderlands. The manuscript discusses the implications, relevance, and legacy of these legal practices in the conceptualization of the Chinese nation-state and the development of national and ethnic identities among border populations.

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

This project is the first book-length study on legal practices in the Sino-Burmese borderlands that draws on untapped archival sources in various languages. It provides new insights on the role of legal practices in the creation of new discourses on ethnic identity and national belonging.

Report

(5 results)
  • 2022 Annual Research Report   Final Research Report ( PDF )
  • 2021 Research-status Report
  • 2020 Research-status Report
  • 2019 Research-status Report
  • Research Products

    (12 results)

All 2022 2021 2020 2019

All Presentation (12 results) (of which Int'l Joint Research: 8 results,  Invited: 4 results)

  • [Presentation] Constructing Malleable Discourses on Ethnic Identity and National Belonging in China’s Southwestern Borderlands, 1930s-40s2022

    • Author(s)
      Vanden Bussche, Eric
    • Organizer
      Asian Studies Conference, Japan
    • Related Report
      2022 Annual Research Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] Uma Nova China no Brasil: As transformacoes do pensamento geopolitico chines no final do seculo XIX2022

    • Author(s)
      Eric Vanden Bussche
    • Organizer
      Forum Permanente Visoes da Asia
    • Related Report
      2021 Research-status Report
    • Invited
  • [Presentation] Law and Ethnic Identity in China’s Southwest Borderlands (1920s-1930s)2021

    • Author(s)
      Eric Vanden Bussche
    • Organizer
      European Association for Chinese Studies
    • Related Report
      2021 Research-status Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] Borders and Legal Pluralism in China's Southwestern Borderlands, 1900s-1930s2021

    • Author(s)
      Eric Vanden Bussche
    • Organizer
      British Association for Chinese Studies
    • Related Report
      2021 Research-status Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] Law and Ethnic Identity in China’s Southwest Borderlands, 1920s-30s2021

    • Author(s)
      Eric Vanden Bussche
    • Organizer
      European Association for Chinese Studies
    • Related Report
      2020 Research-status Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] Mapping Borderlands: New Insights on Cartographic Practices in the late Qing, 1880s-90s2020

    • Author(s)
      Eric Vanden Bussche
    • Organizer
      V Symposium International Society for the History of the Map
    • Related Report
      2020 Research-status Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] Manipulating Nationality: Cross-Border Crime and Frontier Courts in the Sino-Burmese Borderlands (1920s-1930s)2020

    • Author(s)
      Eric Vanden Bussche
    • Organizer
      Faculty Research Forum, The University of Tokyo
    • Related Report
      2020 Research-status Report
    • Invited
  • [Presentation] Translating Sovereignty in the Sino-Burmese Border Negotiations, 1892-18942020

    • Author(s)
      Eric Vanden Bussche
    • Organizer
      SOAS University of London
    • Related Report
      2019 Research-status Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] Colonial Statecraft and Legal Practices in the Sino-Burmese Borderlands2020

    • Author(s)
      Eric Vanden Bussche
    • Organizer
      Leiden University
    • Related Report
      2019 Research-status Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] The Sino-British Frontier Meetings: Law, Colonial Rivalry, and Ethnic Identity in the Sino-Burmese Borderlands, 1902-1940s2019

    • Author(s)
      Eric Vanden Bussche
    • Organizer
      Centre for Chinese Studies, University of Sydney
    • Related Report
      2019 Research-status Report
    • Invited
  • [Presentation] Mapping the Sino-Burmese Borderlands2019

    • Author(s)
      Eric Vanden Bussche
    • Organizer
      Sydney Southeast Asia Centre, University of Sydney
    • Related Report
      2019 Research-status Report
    • Invited
  • [Presentation] Local Alliances, Rivalries, and State-Building Efforts in the Sino-Burmese Borderlands, 1945-1950s2019

    • Author(s)
      Eric Vanden Bussche
    • Organizer
      Department of Historical Research and National Library, Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture, Myanmar
    • Related Report
      2019 Research-status Report
    • Int'l Joint Research

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Published: 2019-09-03   Modified: 2024-01-30  

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