The Power of Representation: Mimesis and Alterity in Nanzhao-Tang Relations

What is it about?

The Nanzhao kingdom (649-903) was a smaller neighbor to the great Chinese Tang dynasty (618-907). Tang records describe the people of Nanzhao as barbarians, and Nanzhao records use similar language for Nanzhao's own subjects. This paper considers whether Nanzhao mimicry of Tang language about barbarism and civilization is similar to the processes of mimicry and mimesis at work in modern colonialism. It highlights both similarities and differences between colonial relations in the medieval period and colonial relations in modernity.

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