Revisioning modernity: modernity in Eurasian perspectives

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes 1. The unification may be symbolized by the travels, at roughly the same time, of Marco Polo to the East and Rabban Sauma to the West, reaching their destinations. The Mongols also created cosmopolitan centers of continental scope, which guaranteed the spread of this consciousness. See Guzman (2010 Guzman, Gregory G. 2010. 'European captives and craftsmen among the Mongols, 1231–1255'. The Historian, 72(1): 122–150. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). In Europe, the new continental consciousness continued to expand through exploration and accumulating knowledge. What part it may have played in the maritime voyages of Zheng He in the early 15th century is a matter of conjecture. It was lost thereafter, until revived once again by the arrival of Jesuits from Europe, only to be lost once again until the 19th century. For problems in the conceptualization of 'Eurasia', see Kotkin (2007 Kotkin, Stephen. 2007. 'Mongol commonwealth? Exchange and governance across the post‐Mongol space'. Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History, 8(3): 487–531. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). 2. This contrasts with an evolutionary perspective in which difference appears not just a difference of space but also of time – as progressive versus backward, for example. 3. This is the lesson of anthropologists who in recent years have shifted attention from 'borders' or 'boundaries' to 'borderlands', from 'lines in the sand' to spaces of interactions among peoples. See, for example, Van Schendel (2005 Van Schendel, Willem. 2005. The Bengal Borderland: Beyond State and Nation in South Asia, London: Anthem Press. [Google Scholar]) and Harrell (1995 Harrell, Stevan, ed. 1995. Cultural Encounters on China's Ethnic Frontiers, Seattle, WA: University of Washington. [Google Scholar]). A historical example is Scott (2009 Scott, James C. 2009. The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Uplands Southeast Asia, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. [Google Scholar]), which is important also for pointing to the historiographical fruitfulness of an anarchist perspective. 4. For a recent discussion involving historians of Europe, Western Asia, India and China (Ben Elman), see the recent roundtable on the idea of the 'premodern', IIAS (2007 IIAS (International Institute for Asian Studies). 2007. Newsletter, 43(Spring): 5–12. [Google Scholar]). For an alternative view that insists on the possibility of non‐Eurocentric uses of 'early modernity', see Richards (1997 Richards, John F. 1997. 'Early modern India and world history'. Journal of World History, 8(2): 197–209. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Richards does not address the question of teleology, but simply treats 'early modern' as a global phenomenon. For a discussion that questions the applicability of the concept to late imperial China, see Ng (2003 Ng, On‐cho. 2003. 'The epochal concept of "Early Modernity" and the intellectual history of late imperial China'. Journal of World History, 14(1): 37–61. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). 5. For a discussion that parallels the discussion here with reference to Latin America, deploying the concept of 'transmodernity', see Dussel (2002 Dussel, Enrique. 2002. 'World‐System and "trans"‐modernity'. Nepantla: Views from the South, 3(2): 221–244. [Google Scholar]). Japanese historians of the 'Kyoto School', inspired by the work of Naito Torajiro (author of the 'Naito thesis') conducted extensive discussions in the 1930s and 1940s on questions of Eurasian modernities. One in particular, Miyazaki Ichisada, suggested periodizations similar to ones discussed below. Miyazaki suggested that Europe after industrialization be described as 'post‐modern', reserving the modern for the period between the 14th–16th centuries. For an overview of these discussions, see Miyakawa (1955 Miyakawa, Hisayuki. 1955. 'An outline of the Naito Hypothesis and its effects on Japanese studies of China'. Far Eastern Quarterly, 14(4): 533–552. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]: 543–547). 6. Tao Xisheng, for instance, suggested that the sprouts of capitalism may even be traced to the early imperial period. For the different periodization he offered over the years, see Dirlik (1989[1978 Dirlik, Arif. 1989[1978]. Revolution and History: Origins of Marxist Historiography in China, 1919–1937, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. [Google Scholar]]). More influential may have been the views of the Japanese historian Naito Konan, cited in Miyakawa (1955 Miyakawa, Hisayuki. 1955. 'An outline of the Naito Hypothesis and its effects on Japanese studies of China'. Far Eastern Quarterly, 14(4): 533–552. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]: 543–547). 7. Hou Wailu was the foremost advocate of a Chinese enlightenment. See Hou (1981: 68–116). 8. See, for example, Ho (1959a Hou, Wailu, ed. 1981. An Outline History of Chinese Thought , vol. 2, Beijing: China Youth Press . [Google Scholar]) and De Bary (1983 De Bary, William Theodore. 1983. The Liberal Tradition in China, Hong Kong: Chinese University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). The latter work, needless to say, is revealing of a different teleology at work. 9. See Dong (2006 Dong, Zhenghua. 2006. 'The modernization paradigm based on monistic multi‐linear theory: a response to some comments'. Frontiers of History in China, 1(2): 159–198. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). 10. See Research Group of China Modernization Strategy et al. (2009). 11. See the essays, especially the interview on modernity, in Wang (2010 Wang, Hui. 2010. The End of the Revolution: China and the Limits of Modernity, London: Verso. [Google Scholar]). 12. See also the contribution by Hans J. van de Ven (2002 Van de Ven, Hans J. 2002. "'The onrush of modern globalization in China'". In Globalization in World History, Edited by: Hopkins, A.G. 167–195. London: Pimlico. [Google Scholar]). 13. Indeed, it has become fashionable in recent years to discover capitalism outside of Europe in earlier periods. For recent examples, see Jairus (2007 Jairus, Banaji. 2007. 'Islam, the Mediterranean and the rise of capitalism'. Historical Materialism, 15(1): 47–74. [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and Beaujard (2005 Beaujard, Philip. 2005. 'The Indian Ocean in Eurasian and African world systems before the sixteenth century'. Journal of World History, 16(4): 411–465. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). 14. To be fair, both Pomeranz and Wong, especially the latter, refer to the significance of class relations. Pomeranz also highlights the importance of colonialism in providing both resources, and an outlet for surplus labor and commodities. But these references remain marginal in their analyses in the far greater attention the authors devote to 'economic' factors. Pomeranz's references in particular are buried under a seemingly disproportionate preoccupation with fertilizers and coal. For a critique of the works by Frank and Bin Wong, see Duchesne (2001–2002). Hamza Alavi has offered a critique of obliviousness to colonialism in the development of capitalism, including among Marxist historians. See Alavi (n.d. Alavi, Hamza. n.d.. "'Colonialism and the rise of capitalism'". http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/sangat/Colonial.htm, accessed 30 August 2008 [Google Scholar]). For an important discussion of the role of the state in development (within Europe itself), see Vries (2002 Vries, Peter H.H. 2002. 'Governing growth: a comparative analysis of the role of the State in the rise of the West'. Journal of World History, 13(1): 67–136. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). 15. Frank, too, having examined the Eurasian context for these developments, concludes that this was a 'sinocentric' world economy, which is in keeping with his efforts to formulate a '5000 year old world system'. See Frank (1998 Frank, Andre Gunder. 1998. Re‐Orient: Global Economy in the Asian Age, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]: 127–130). 16. For a critique, see Bryant (2006 Bryant, Joseph M. 2006. 'The West and the rest revisited: debating capitalist origins, European colonialism, and the advent of modernity'. The Canadian Journal of Sociology, 31(4): 403–444. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). 17. For a detailed examination of the relationship between commerce, merchant political power, and the shaping of commercial policy, see Brenner (1993 Brenner, Robert. 1993. Merchants and Revolution: Commercial Change, Political Conflict, and London's Overseas Traders, 1550–1653, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. [Google Scholar]). For the systematic accumulation of knowledge of the world, see Boorstin (1985 Boorstin, Daniel J. 1985. The Discoverers: A History of Man's Search to Know his World and Himself, New York: Vintage Books. [Google Scholar]). 18. I am referring here most importantly to Elvin (1973 Elvin, Mark. 1973. The Pattern of the Chinese Past, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. [Google Scholar]) and Huang (1985 Huang, Philip C.C. 1985. The Peasant Economy and Social Change in North China, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], 1990 Huang, Philip. 1990. The Peasant Family and Rural Development in the Yangzi Delta, 1350–1988, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). Japanese and Chinese Marxist historians have contributed much to this historiography. For discussion of Japanese historians, see Wigen (2000 Wigen, Karen. 'Japanese perspectives on the time/space of early modernity'. paper presented at the XIXth International Congress of Historical Sciences. August7, Oslo, Norway. [Google Scholar]). For Chinese Marxist historians, see Dirlik (1982 Dirlik, Arif. 1982. 'Chinese Marxist historians and the concept of capitalism: a critical examination'. Modern China, 8(1): 359–375. [Google Scholar], 1989[1978 Dirlik, Arif. 1989[1978]. Revolution and History: Origins of Marxist Historiography in China, 1919–1937, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. [Google Scholar]]). 19. In its more positivistic deployments, moreover, development becomes something quantifiable, that also allows for a 'scientific' comparison of societies. 20. For an interesting account of contemporary Japanese thinking on the formations of modernity, see Wigen (2000 Wigen, Karen. 'Japanese perspectives on the time/space of early modernity'. paper presented at the XIXth International Congress of Historical Sciences. August7, Oslo, Norway. [Google Scholar]). The 'world network analysis' Wigen formulates on the basis of these writings as a response to 'world system analysis' is unduly deterministic, and ignores the possibility that the two approaches, combined, offer better possibilities of grasping a formation that is the product of network operations, with all the fluidity and changeability of the network, but also subject in its contours to the unevenness of power relations in world system structurings. These relations, needless to say, also shaped the spatialities of the political or 'civilizational' units that made up the world of modernity in this phase. 21. For a discussion, with emphasis on the work of Takeshi Hamashita, see Ikeda (1996 Ikeda, Satoshi. 1996. 'The history of the capitalist world‐system vs. the history of East‐Southeast Asia'. Review, xix(1): 49–77. [Google Scholar]). The argument in this article, as in Hamashita's work in general, has much worth thinking about, but is weakened nevertheless by its failure to address the question of the part played by Europeans who already were active in East and Southeast Asia during the period in question, as intermediaries between the region and the incipient capitalism of Europe. 22. One aspect of this 'oversight', knowledge, is explored in Boorstin (1985 Boorstin, Daniel J. 1985. The Discoverers: A History of Man's Search to Know his World and Himself, New York: Vintage Books. [Google Scholar]), where the author examines the appropriation of local knowledges in the creation of a European knowledge of the world, which is still unparalleled, we might add. It is only now that this EuroAmerican advantage may be changing. Recent challenges to Eurocentrism often seem to be oblivious to the fact that they are heirs to this same legacy. 23. I am referring here to the seminal work of Abu‐Lughod (1991 Abu‐Lughod, Janet. 1991. Before European Hegemony: The World System AD 1250–1350, New York: Oxford University Press. [Google Scholar]). A full development of this approach may be found in Braudel (1992 Braudel, Fernand. 1992. The Perspective of the World: Civilization and Capitalism 15th–18th Century, vol. 3, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. [Google Scholar]). In the work cited above, Wigen suggests a 'world network analysis' as a substitute for 'world system analysis'. Networks were no doubt crucial during this period (as they are presently). But they help refine world system analysis, rather than serve as a substitute for it. Its substitution for world system analysis serves no purpose other than to disguise inequalities in the making of modernity. 24. A recent work by several Chinese historians has argued that increasing Ming attention to Central Asia was actually a boon to economic development, as it led to relaxation of central government control over the dynamic southern economies. According to these historians, the Zheng He expeditions were continuous with earlier tributary practices, and should not be endowed with too much significance in the development of the Ming economy. It was only from the mid‐Ming, the authors argue, with the turn of attention to the Mongol problem on the northern borders, and the move of the capital from Nanjing to Beijing, that the economy of the South flourished. Chinese overseas, an important aspect of Ming population flows, played an important part in these developments as they served as intermediaries between the southern provinces and the global economy that was becoming very much a dynamic component of East and Southeast Asian economies. The Philippines and the Manila Galleon played a major part in these economic exchanges – see Yang et al. (1997 Yang, Guozhen, Zheng, Fuhong and Qian, Sun. 1997. Ming Qing Coastal Societies and Overseas Emigrants , Beijing: Higher Education Press . [Google Scholar]: Introduction). For a conservative assessment of the Manila Galleon in the Ming economy, see Brook (1998 Brook, Timothy. 1998. Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]: 205–207). The importance of a South–North perspective to grasping these developments may be one important reason for the sensitivity to these issues of Dutch scholars, informed as they are by Dutch colonialism in Indonesia. 25. See also Ho (1959b Ho, Ping‐ti. 1959b. The Studies on the Population of China, 1368–1953, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]), for the demographic impact of 'new world' crops. 26. For Ming‐Qing expansion, see Perdue (2005 Perdue, Peter C. 2005. China Marches West: The Qing Conquest of Central Asia, Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). Darwin (2008 Darwin, John. 2008. After Tamerlane: The Global History of Empire Since 1405, London: Bloomsbury Press. [Google Scholar]: Chap. 2) discusses the expansion of imperial systems (including Ottoman, Mughal and Russian) during this period over the breadth of Eurasia, with European expansion through many commercial and military outposts initially assuming an 'archipelago' configuration. 27. Historians have only recently begun to acknowledge that for all their depredations, the Mongol invasions across Eurasia, the Mongol Empire played an important part in facilitating communications across the continent. In the case of China, the Yuan Dynasty (1275–1368) may have played an important part in preparing the ground for the Ming consolidation. For the Mongols, see Rossabi (1992 Rossabi, Morris. 1992. Voyager from Xanadu: Rabban Sauma and the First Journey from China to the West, Tokyo: Kodansha International. [Google Scholar]), among the author's many works on the subject. For the significance of the Yuan, see Smith and Von Glahn (2003 Smith, Paul Jakov and Von Glahn, Richard, eds. 2003. 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