Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜 @DGTam86 Twitter profile | Pikagi

Pikagi

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

@DGTam86

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China Historian @Trinity_U (gender/language/protest/HK); @ncuscr #PIPVII ; Author Dialect & Nationalism in China ( @BerksConference prize winner) 4-gen 🇮🇹-🇺🇸

San Antonio, TX

https://t.co/4CisR8JcOU

Joined May 2017

Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

2 years

I'm thrilled to announce that my article, "'Our Roots are the Same': Hegemony and Power in Narratives of Chinese Linguistic Antiquity, 1900-1949" is now available online with Comparative Studies in Society and History @CSSHJournal (and open-access)! (🧵)

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“Our Roots Are the Same”: Hegemony and Power in Narratives of Chinese Linguistic Antiquity,...

“Our Roots Are the Same”: Hegemony and Power in Narratives of Chinese Linguistic Antiquity, 1900–1949 - Volume 65 Issue 1

www.cambridge.org

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

6 years

Historians think this totally meaningless and nonsensical statistic is the product of an early-modern epistemological shift in which numbers and quantifiable data became revered above other kinds of knowledge as the most useful and credible form of truth

@NewYorker

The New Yorker

6 years

Experts estimate a 35% chance of a U.S. civil war over the next ten to fifteen years. What do historians think?

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

2 years

Gonna start my week on culinary nationalism in my Global Food History class with this tweet

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

3 years

I am so delighted to announce that I’ve been awarded tenure and promotion to associate professor! The kittens got all dressed up to celebrate with me!

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

4 years

I never stop being shocked by the lengths to which "5000 years of history" is stretched to explain the wildest of things

@SpokespersonCHN

Hua Chunying 华春莹

@SpokespersonCHN

4 years

Interesting to hear some US official talking about the story of vaccine. Is this the normal logic that if anyone has something better than mine, then it must be stolen from me? Remember, China has 5000 years of history while the US has less than 250.

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Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

5 years

Me, a historian of China, hiding under the bed: Armed robber:.. Me:.. Armed robber:.. Me:... Armed robber: China has 5000 years of history Me: THE CONCEPT OF A UNIFIED UNCHANGING 5000-YEAR-OLD CHINA IS AN ETHNONATIONALIST MYTH, THERE ARENT EVEN RECORDS ... shit

@jessamyn

Jessamyn West

5 years

Me, a librarian, hiding under the bed: Armed robber: .... Me: .... Armed robber: .... Me: .... Armed robber: Libraries are just books and it's all on the internet now anyhow. Me: WE LEND CAKE PANS AND UKULELES! ALSO THE TREE OCTOPUS ISN'T REAL.... shit.

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

4 years

One of the things I write about in Dialect and Nationalism in China is how designating particular local languages as "dialects" has much more to do with the construction and gatekeeping of national identity than it does with sociolinguistics

@jeynnecool

jeynnecool

4 years

Cantonese does not have it’s unique written character system. If you treat Mongolian and Tibetan as languages, Cantonese should be seen as a dialect of Chinese language. I thought profesional journalist should’ve known that.

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

9 months

As many people have noted, Cantonese is a thriving language, subway announcements are in English, Mandarin AND Cantonese in Hong Kong, and this is an extremely strange way to measure the significance of a language in any city. But let me make one more point... (1/1)

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

3 years

I’ve been waiting so long for a good history of the hatred and bias against MSG that shows its roots in anti-Chinese racism and ⁦ @ourobororoboruo ⁩ wrote it and its amazing! #foodhistory #twitterstorians

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We Can't Talk About MSG Without Talking About Racism

Monosodium glutamate is delicious and generally safe. Yet an unsavory myth prevails.

www.menshealth.com

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

2 years

This translated post poetically captures so painfully how joy has been slowly squeezed out of life for so many in China over the past several years. Read this beautiful piece by @LiYuan6

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

2 years

The arguments against this tweet in the comments are so fascinating. There just isn’t a good linguistic reason to call Cantonese a dialect, despite attempts below to downplay or deny differences in syntax, grammar or script. We have to acknowledge this categorization is political

@XunlingAu

Xun-ling Au 歐迅灵 🏴

2 years

Cantonese is not a Chinese "dialect"... it's a language in it's own right.

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Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

9 months

In other words, not only should we not call a language spoken by tens of millions of ppl "dying," we should speak plainly about those who play a role in threatening it. Many ppl have agency in determining which languages get support to thrive and which are starved of that support

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

9 months

As @GJosephRoche 's research explains so poignantly, languages do not die on their own; they are made to die. Prematurely calling a threatened language "dying" by using the passive voice is evasive-- it sidesteps which powerful people and institutions threaten its vibrancy

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

3 years

I made an “I got tenure” cake 🍰

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

5 years

Some news: My book, Dialect and Nationalism in China, 1860-1960, is officially available for purchase from Cambridge University Press! Here's a VERY brief summary of its argument: #twitterstorians #Womenalsoknowhistory

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

5 years

Notice the slippage: "Chinese" becomes synonymous with "Mandarin," which exclusively represents the Chinese nation, the Chinese people and "progress." In this tweet, there's only one way to be Chinese, an essentialized identity defined (but not exclusively promulgated by) the CCP

@LiuXininBeijing

Liu Xin刘欣

@LiuXininBeijing

5 years

While in HK this time, I was surprised that a security guard couldn't understand Chinese. I had to ask for directions in English. 22 years after handover, this is not what it should be. One Country, Two Systems doesn't mean one can live in the past.

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

3 years

Some news: I'm delighted to announce that I will be taking over as the Modern China Book Review Editor for the Journal of Asian Studies @jas_tw . I genuinely look forward to commissioning reviews for all of your incredible forthcoming books on China!

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

3 years

The feminine urge to dismember China I guess?

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

3 years

Flight attendant: Is there a doctor on the plane? Me: Yes, but not that kind of doctor Flight attendant: the pilots need to know the difference between a dialect and a language Me: I’m on my way

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

5 years

It's official! I am delighted to announce that my first book, "Dialect and Nationalism in China, 1860-1960," will be published with @CambridgeUP sometime next year. I'm so excited to share my work, and so grateful for all the help I've received along the way #twitterstorians

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

6 years

Watching Anthony Bourdain on SH; his opening struck me: "The one thing I know about China is I will never know China; it’s too big, too old, too diverse. Thats the joy of China, the certain knowledge that even if I dedicated my life to learning about China, I die mostly ignorant"

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

2 years

Not to put too fine a point on it, but this comment highlights one of my article's main points: comments about what constitutes the "real Chinese language" or "oldest Chinese language" were, and still are, deeply intertwined with ideas about Han ethnoracial purity

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

2 years

My new article, linked below, explores the common narrative claim that "Cantonese/Hokkien/Hakka is more ancient/old/venerable than Mandarin" and relates it to nationalism and Han identity in the early twentieth century. Open-access link below! ❤️

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

5 years

Let's talk about #JoeTsai 's history lesson, in particular his claim that "1.4 billion Chinese stand united when it comes to the territorial integrity of China" I give you my first history thread (1)

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

2 years

My new article, linked below, explores the common narrative claim that "Cantonese/Hokkien/Hakka is more ancient/old/venerable than Mandarin" and relates it to nationalism and Han identity in the early twentieth century. Open-access link below! ❤️

@CSSHJournal

CSSH

2 years

Today we highlight @DGTam86 's "“Our Roots Are the Same”: Hegemony and Power in Narratives of #Chinese Linguistic Antiquity, 1900–1949," #OpenAccess and available on FirstView. Enjoy!

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

2 years

I am absolutely floored and deeply honored that my book, Dialect and Nationalism in China, was co-awarded the @BerksConference book prize for 2020. Deep thanks to the award committee for this incredible recognition!

@cambUP_History

Cambridge University Press - History

@cambUP_History

2 years

Huge congrats to our author, @DGTam86 , as her book 'Dialect and Nationalism in China, 1860-1960' has been co-awarded the annual Berkshire Conference of Women Historians Book Prize! @BerksConference Check the book out here:

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Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

4 years

Going on 50 hours without power and I have no idea what news looks like outside of Texas but here, it looks really bleak. 2/3 of the people I know lost power and water. Temps are in the 20s. I’m writing this in a thermal sleeping bag, charging w/ a battery pack loaned by a friend

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

1 year

I wrote a piece for @ForeignAffairs about how language policy and Mandarin hegemony has evolved in China in the past decade. You can read it here:

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China’s Language Police

Why Beijing seeks to extend the hegemony of Mandarin.

www.foreignaffairs.com

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

2 years

Just finished @kuangrf breathtaking Babel, a captivating story and brilliant commentary on the link btw translation, knowledge-production & imperial power. I particularly love this footnote, which sees the roots of todays hierarchical language policies in 19c European imperialism

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

5 years

The MOST exciting package came in the mail today! Incredible to see it in print by @cambUP_History ! #twitterstorians #NewBookAlert

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

4 years

So normally I don't respond to random posts, but for educational purposes, I'll bite. By "literally," I presume you mean how most linguists define dialect, in which case, no it is "literally" not. It's not mutually intelligible with Mandarin, and has unique grammar and vocabulary

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

4 years

This was one of my favorite accounts, one that celebrated the incredible creativity of #HongKongProtest art by collecting it and sharing it with us. This makes me so sad.

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

10 months

“Taiwan shows that democracy works. One of the CCP’s central claims is that democracy is incompatible with Chinese-speaking societies. But Taiwan’s very existence undermines that claim” 👏👏👏 @kuokuomich

@guardian

The Guardian

10 months

Taiwan’s election result is a triumph for democracy – and a thorn in Beijing’s side | Michelle Kuo

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Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

1 year

The extension of the national language project to deem Tibetan a “dialect” is really fascinating

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Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

3 years

I'm a bit late to this, but read this incredible story by @tsmullaney of a Lois Lew, a woman who mastered IBM’s 5,400-character Chinese typewriter

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Meet the mystery woman who mastered IBM's 5,400-character Chinese typewriter

74 years ago, Lois Lew showed the world how to use the first electric Chinese typewriter. Here’s her remarkable story.

www.fastcompany.com

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

4 years

Re-started my Cantonese classes this week after a (very) long hiatus, and got a harsh reminder that no matter how good your teacher is, language learning is often uncomfortable, frustrating, and awkward. Here's to all you others out there trying to learn a new language on zoom ❤️

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

4 years

Others have written more about this, but script has nothing to do with dialect/language distinction-- its mutual (un)intelligibility. But historically, the push to designate Cantonese (& other languages/fangyan) as "dialects" wasn't about linguistics; it was about nation-building

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

3 years

Omg! My History Today article, “The Invention of Chinese” made it on their list of the best articles of 2021! 🥰🎊🥳🎉

@HistoryToday

History Today

3 years

A new language is invented, riot and rebellion stalks Restoration London, rivalries emerge over tourists and ghosts become politically partisan. A selection of our favourite articles from the past 12 months, free to read until the end of the year:

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

3 years

While I KNOW that languages are frequently racialized, this is shockingly appalling

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

3 years

"As a language lover, I worry...that millennia-old dialects are vanishing under the influence of Mandarin...I worry that the way my grandparents speak will be forgotten, and what’s being forgotten is more than just a dialect, but a way of being."

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

4 years

In sum, arguments that Cantonese is "just a dialect" isn't about linguistics-- its about collective identity and cultural significance. It is meant to reinforce the hierarchy between Putonghua-- and the vision of the Chinese nation it represents-- and other Chinese languages

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

6 years

I am so tired of essentializing rhetoric on China, but it’s downright dangerous when it comes from the White House. If we treat China as timeless, uniform, and alien, we are engaging with a racist myth, not a country with a complex past, diverse population and dangerous state

@meghara

Megha Rajagopalan

6 years

Unbelievable. State Dept policy planning director about Pompeo's China strategy: "The Soviet Union and that competition, in a way it was a fight within the Western family ... it's the first time we will have a great power competitor that is not Caucasian."

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Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

4 years

Was honored and humbled to mobilize my research-- only made possible by Stanford's Cantonese program-- to try and make the case for why Stanford should save the program. Thanks to the Save Cantonese organizers at Stanford doing so much work to bring awareness #savecantonese

@savecantonese

Save Cantonese

4 years

This compelling op-ed by @DGTam86 in @StanfordDaily is a MUST read. Our campaign to #SaveCantonese is about recognizing #Cantonese as a #Language , not a mere "dialect". By calling it a dialect, institutions like @stanford are saying it's not worth saving

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

3 years

I am genuinely impressed by this answer, and now curious what Duolingo says about Chinese languages besides Mandarin...

@GerritD

Gerrit De Vynck 🦭

3 years

Duolingo blog on Ukrainian language has more nuance and moral authority than most of what the Big Tech companies have put out this week

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

3 years

I am so humbled and honored (and if I’m honest a little floored) to have been selected as a @NCUSCR #PIPFellow for 2021-2023! I cannot wait to begin collaborating with and learning from the other amazing fellows

@NCUSCR

National Committee on U.S.-China Relations

3 years

Welcome #PIPFellow Gina A. Tam ( @dgtam86 ) - Assistant Professor of History, @Trinity_U - Research Interests: Modern Chinese history; nationalism; construction of collective identity; gender studies; Chinese language Full bio:

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

3 years

When my book came out in April, 2020, I didn’t get to have the party I planned. So this Christmas, my family threw a small celebration for its paperback release by baking me a giant cookie❤️🥺❤️🥺

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

2 years

Every year, we begin our first-year seminar by critically analyzing "Asia" as a problematic concept with a particular emphasis on how the term is informed by the histories of imperialism, white supremacy, and intra-regional power inequities, and I think I'm gonna add this clip in

@TheDailyShow

The Daily Show

2 years

Don't call Rishi Sunak the UK's first Asian PM in front of @ronnychieng

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

5 years

This is not a terrorist movement, @WSJ ; there are no tangible “signs” to cite. Thus Beijing is not “citing signs of terrorism,” they’re using the word to support their narrative and legitimize possible future violence HONG KONG IS FIGHTING FOR ITS LIFE! PLEASE DO BETTER

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

2 years

Thinking abt how @kate_manne teaches us that misogyny is not just individual feelings of hate, but a system that enforces, often through violence or threat of violence, womens adherence to patriarchy-prescribed roles & punishes those who dare to exercise power outside those roles

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

3 years

Doing some pre-semester cleaning in between preparing my tenure materials and stumbled across this letter from my adviser @tsmullaney , which he gave me seven years ago right before I entered the room to take my qualifying exams.☺️😊 definitely still taking this letter to heart

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

10 months

I’m SO excited to announce that our roundtable on “Decolonizing Chinese History,” with brilliant essays by @catielila @taomo_zhou @JimMillward and @jagevans is out now with @HistoricalJnl and you can read it below!

@HistoricalJnl

The Historical Journal

10 months

📣Latest issue out now!🎉 Featuring articles from #twitterstorians including @charmianmansell , @KateRivington , @AlisonCARROL_ , @niamhanncullen , @Allan_Pang_ , @DGTam86 , @catielila , @JimMillward , @taomo_zhou , @jagevans & many more! 👉Read online here:

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Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

3 years

Today is the 2-year anniversary of the first anti-extradition bill protest in Hong Kong. In thinking about (failing to come to a satisfying answer about) how to commemorate it, I thought I'd post some pieces on the movement that have stuck with me these past two years (thread)

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

6 months

Extremely excited to share this piece I wrote about Mandarin hegemony and structural linguistic hierarchies in China for @GlobalChinaMap

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Mandarin Hegemony: The Past and Future of Linguistic Hierarchies in China - Global China Pulse

China experts today increasingly describe the current linguistic landscape of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as one of ‘Mandarin hegemony’. But what does this term mean, how was it created, and...

thepeoplesmap.net

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

4 years

In my Race and Ethnicity class, we discuss how ppl justify violent colonialism by romanticizing the "wild untouched landscapes" or "ancient ruins" of a place while erasing the people who actually live there. We explore it through travel writing that is alarmingly similar to this.

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

4 years

And as James points out, framing Putonghua as the only Chinese language, thus reinforcing the PRC state as the gatekeepers of Chinese-ness, ultimately diminishes the significance of other Chinese languages and endangers them

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

2 years

@ChongJaIan I find that official rhetoric tends to both infantilize and/or gender spaces like Hong Kong and Taiwan-- as immature ungrateful young wives, as to-be prodigal children, etc. It all emphasizes how they don't see either space as having or deserving of power agency

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

4 years

So overjoyed to hold in my hands a print copy of my feature article in @HistoryToday on the complex history of Chinese languages in the twentieth century; it's so beautifully designed (thanks to @katemond and the HT team)! It's available online here ☺️

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Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

4 years

Wow, I'm REALLY honored to see Dialect and Nationalism in China written up in Foreign Affairs! Brb, just gonna spend the rest of the day smiling at the characterization of my book as "learned and thoughtful" ☺️

Dialect and Nationalism in China, 1860–1960

In this thoughtful study, Tam shows that local languages have survived in the face of China's hostility, mostly because people continue to speak them with their children and neighbors.

www.foreignaffairs.com

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

3 years

This is also a powerful example of how structures (inc but not limited to the PRC state) conflate language, race and adherence to a political stance in defining what makes someone Chinese—and how this narrowly-defined identity and its conflations is being exported to Hong Kong

@sanhochung

Sanho Chung 鍾燊豪

3 years

This is blatant racism embedded in the primary school textbook of Hong Kong: “I have black eyes, black hair and yello skin, so I am a National Chinese (zhong guo ren).”

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Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

5 years

My history of China class was just talking about Eurocentrism in translation and wow is this a great example

@hellenus

Dee 方传嫣

5 years

in other, non political but still enraging news:

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Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

4 years

Good job making the already problematic “5000 years of history” narrative infinitely worse by injecting it with explicit white supremacy

@MarshaBlackburn

Sen. Marsha Blackburn

@MarshaBlackburn

4 years

China has a 5,000 year history of cheating and stealing. Some things will never change...

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Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

4 years

In other words, this hierarchy is not just about language-- it is deeply tied to a vision the PRC state today has about Chinese identity: an essentialized, homogenous identity supported by the state that blurs the distinctions between ethnicity, nation, and political loyalty.

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

4 years

This map is particularly interesting because it allows no country except Japan to claim continuity to antiquity—including China. It’s a perfect visualization of how civilizational continuity is constructed (and that claims of it frequently emanate from ethnonationalist ideology)

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Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

5 years

#Xinjiang was just mentioned at Dem debate, and I can't help but think that we may not even know about it were it not for a group of brave academics, journalists, and most importantly, victims willing to speak out about the atrocities they or their families suffered

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Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

3 years

A student wrote in my evals that I must know a lot of stuff cuz I’m “famous on Twitter” and ngl that feels like a big deal coming from an 18 year old so I’m pretty sure it’s all downhill from here

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

3 years

@nivincent @GBLee @FangXu_SHtoSF Hi Vincent, this article is great, thanks for writing it! If its ok, I have thoughts on your question. I think the reason many speakers of Chinese 方言 feel strongly about terms is that a.) the definition of dialect is political and b.) the term dialect is often used to devalue

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

7 years

@laurenfturek @KevinMKruse @activistHistori @DineshDSouza What an articulate and powerful response. Here's what I have:

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

3 years

“There seems to be an effort to suggest that there is only one Chinese language and that ‘Chinese’ equals Mandarin, which is simply not true…Cantonese remains a significant language spoken within our communities. There is space for all of us at the table”

‘It’s who I am’: publisher and typeface designer Jack Yan on Cantonese

In this third instalment of the Chinese Languages in Aotearoa project, curator Grace Gassin and magazine publisher and typeface designer Jack Yan talk about Cantonese, an especially significant lan…

blog.tepapa.govt.nz

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

4 years

The push to designate one language as the national standard in the early 20thc was a push to prove China's modern nationhood-- to reformers, modern nations had a national language, and a lack of a national language was seen as proof of China's lack of national modernity

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Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

4 years

But China didnt yet have a national language. Reformers had to create one. They subsequently had to reframe the relationship between the chosen standard and all other Chinese languages as hierarchical: that China had one "language" and multiple "dialects"

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

4 years

#Tiananmen31

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

4 years

And this had had an effect on identity. Calling Putonghua a "common language" and fangyan “dialects” implies that Putonghua can represent a unified sense of national identity and citizenship in a way that no fangyan could. That implication is baked into current propaganda today.

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

3 years

Happy #LunarNewYear from me and my little tiger 🐯 #gongheifatchoi

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

10 months

There's a lot to criticize, but I want to focus on something he brings up (and bemoans) that I often discuss w/ students: historians don't rely upon "tests and counterfactuals." On this (alone) he's right, but its one of the ways that history is distinct and valuable (🧵)

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

4 years

I got all dressed up to get my Pfizer shot 😍 (and yes a lady in the parking lot rolled her eyes at me as a took 100 selfies and no I don’t care)

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

4 years

If you want to know more, I wrote a whole book about it 😛

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

5 years

I cannot think of a better image to capture two critical points about June 4: 1. At one point, the violence seemed unfathomable. There was so. much. hope. 2. These were unarmed college-aged students. They were kids.

@UselessTree

Sam Crane

5 years

Before the violence it is a time of hope and joy.

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

2 years

And what is interesting is that the institution most invested in calling Cantonese a dialect—the PRC state—is quite blunt about this. They call Cantonese and other 方言 “variants” bc, in their logic, Chinese national and ethnic identity can only have one linguistic representative

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

5 years

@ThatSaraGoodman Can we talk about how NYU just calls him (an unemployed paleontologist) out of the blue to give one lecture, which somehow leads to one class... and then five years later tenure I guess? #Thatsnothowthisworks

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

4 years

"Don't make it political." I didn't make it political-- these claims inherently just ARE. The PRC government has made very clear, in the past and now, that they insist that fangyan are "dialects" instead of languages because it supports their claims of a unified Chinese identity

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

5 years

The "both sides" discourse also, intentionally or unintentionally, ties the legitimacy of their demands to violence or lack thereof. It implies that civil liberties are "deserved" based upon arbitrary, ahistorical, and constantly shifting notions of "peaceful" tactics

@LetaHong

Dr. Leta Hong Fincher 洪理达

5 years

@dktatlow @FAZ_NET Agreed. I’m also disappointed in a lot of false equivalence in media reporting, referring to violence “on both sides” when the state violence is far worse.

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

4 years

But you said "dialect of Chinese," so you perhaps don't mean Mandarin. But which Chinese language do you mean? There is no ONE Chinese language, there are Chinese languages that share certain cores. Really, your claim "literally" doesn't make sense in linguistic terms

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

2 years

Got some new professional photos taken and feeling very fancy ☺️🥰

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

9 months

My favorite LNY meme

@FY4Chan

YTSL

2 years

Sharing this classic since I'm already seeing a number of "Gong xi fa cai" Tweets on my Timeline...

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

2 years

I am so honored to have received this year's @Trinity_U Early Career Faculty Award for Distinguished Research and Teaching. Thank you to all my friends, colleagues, and mentors for their support 😍🥰

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

3 years

I couldn't find one quote I liked the best in this piece because all the quotes are important, critical even, for those of us who study, research, and teach about China. So just read this terrific piece by @yangyang_cheng

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

4 years

To anyone thinking of comparing what happened today to Taiwan’s sunflower movement or the 2019 HK protests, this is a terrible equivalency, and a reminder that analysis that focuses on tactics over goals or ideology of a movement (esp as a way to demonize it) is garbage analysis

@lnachman32

Lev Nachman

4 years

Occupation is a tactic not an ideology, saying two events are the same because they use the same tactic without taking into account any other context surrounding a movement is dishonest and misinformed.

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

3 years

Jonathan Spence taught so many of us the art of writing history in a way that’s emotional, powerful and full of humanity. I never met him, but when I was a young undergrad I wrote to him, and he responded with kindness—something that meant so much to me at the time. RIP

@jwassers

Jeff Wasserstrom

3 years

So sad to learn of Jonathan Spence’s death via his colleague @jbf1755 ’s Twitter feed/I know firsthand from the 1980s how kind he could be to some who didn’t study with him even as he was training amazing students/a graceful writer/a bold experimenter/a quietly mesmerizing speaker

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

3 years

Shoutout to those student emails that keep my inbox interesting 🧐 🪱

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

4 years

And as the op-ed, and other things I have written make clear, denying the political nature of these claims erases the oppression they engender. Pretending that categorization is not political only works to bolster the power of people who already have it

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

4 years

This terrific piece highlights what makes HK so globally unique-- its postcolonial collective identity is supported by an imagined future that rejects colonialism AND nationalism, instead aspiring to, in @wilfredchan 's words, "alternative ways of being"

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

2 years

So calling Cantonese a language not only recognizes its significant unique linguistic and historical attributes, it is pushing back against that hegemonic logic.

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

2 years

Since we’re all getting nostalgic on Twitter now, here’s the time my grandfather—who was one of the greatest men I knew, who I miss every day, and who only ever sent one reply tweet in his life— absolutely owned me

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

3 years

First day of classes, first day of my new Global China course, first day in my new office, first day in 18 months in front of a classroom full of students without zoom…whew!

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

5 years

The Hong Kong protests are not a separatist movement, but that's besides the point. "National humiliation" has been weaponized to claim that ANY criticism of the CCP and its government is a criticism of its national sovereignty (10)

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

4 years

Been without power and water for 24 hours, this is the first time since last night I’ve had cell data. I’m glad to have a relatively insulated house, bottled water, and shelf safe food, because as miserable as I am, I’m luckier than most. This is no joke. Stay safe, fellow Texans

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

9 months

I can't wait for some historian to stumble upon this in 50 years and make it the opening anecdote to a chapter of their book about soft power and diplomacy

@ianbremmer

ian bremmer

9 months

i don’t think you can get more famous than “foreign embassy ensures she’ll make it back in time for date night”

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

3 years

I spent a lot of time reading this claim—that language is primarily a “tool for exchanging ideas”— from political leaders in post-49 China to promote a state project that elevated one language as the national standard and denigrated all other languages as simple "variants" (🧵)

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

4 years

Cashing my first small, but real, Dialect and Nationalism in China royalty check is a wonderfully validating feeling ❤️

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

5 years

When Tsai cites "national humiliation," the presumption is that criticism of the government is criticism of the NATION. Many Hong Kongers know they are not the same thing, but the PRC "national humiliation" narratives presume they are (9)

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@DGTam86

Gina Anne Tam 譚吉娜

1 year

Re-upping this picture of my sushi-kittens from Halloween last year in case anyone needs to see some pictures of kittens dressed like sushi

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