Borderland Memories

Martin T. Fromm is an assistant professor at Worcester State University. He is the editor of the academic journal Currents in Teaching and Learning.

• Introduction; 1. Reconfiguring cultural production in the post-Mao transition; 2. Borderland ambiguities in narratives of modernization and liberation; 3. Relocating the nation outside the nation: forging a borderland-centered nationalist discourse; 4. The 'historical science' of Wenshi Ziliao; 5. Affective community and historical rehabilitation: 'widely making friends' to re-secure political loyalty; 6. Mobilizing a 'patriotic united front'; 7. Local, regional, and national dynamics of Wenshi Ziliao production; Conclusion.

'In this prodigiously well-researched book, Martin T. Fromm traces the process of constructing an always incomplete ideological consensus in 1980s China, showing how post-Mao political discourse was the continuously negotiated product of a flexible, mediated, and in many ways collaborative effort. This is a fundamental contribution to our understanding of the Deng era.' Fabio Lanza, University of Arizona