The Politics of Names

Abstract

The identification of the Dulong (Drung), one of China’s smallest minority nationalities, has often been presented as an unproblematic case for the Nationalities Identification Project. As a geographically bounded and distinct community, they fit naturally into the state’s new category. Their designation as an officially recognized “nationality” ( minzu) appeared to conform to the Drung people’s own sense of identity. But as this article shows, alternative outcomes of the 1950s identification process were quite possible, necessitating an exploration of the complex interplay of historical and sociopolitical factors that led to the recognition of the Dulong. The identification of the Dulong appears mainly grounded in a politics of names, driven more by political efficacy than a concern for the Drung people’s sense of ethnic consciousness. Going beyond the apparent authenticity of the official Dulong category, I argue that the effect of classification itself, a performative act of naming, gave the state-endorsed categories a life of their own. This power of naming reveals an essential aspect of the exercise of power in China by ordering social reality and authoritatively determining a taxonomic space. Finally, I discuss the ways in which state-defined identities become conventional wisdom and outline the dialectical relationship between the legitimating “scientific” arguments of the Identification project and hegemonic “common sense” definition.