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Sino - Indian Mutual Perceptions : Intercultural Students’ Discourse on Ontological Security and Identity

Nagel, Lukas (2015) ACET35
Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Lund University
Abstract
A critical review of the history of the discursive formation of Sino-Indian relations suggests that the largely negative mutual perceptions by the Chinese and Indian public and media are opposed by an optimistic discourse of both nations’ political and economic elites. This is also accompanied by a juxtaposed, binary discourse of the bilateral relation by members of the Liberal and Realist camp in academia. While the former largely emphasizes mutual economic cooperation, the latter argues that future tensions are inexorable due to the difficult past and territorial issues. 20 semi-structured interviews with Indian and Chinese exchange students in both countries were conducted and analysed with a Critical Discourse Analysis in order to... (More)
A critical review of the history of the discursive formation of Sino-Indian relations suggests that the largely negative mutual perceptions by the Chinese and Indian public and media are opposed by an optimistic discourse of both nations’ political and economic elites. This is also accompanied by a juxtaposed, binary discourse of the bilateral relation by members of the Liberal and Realist camp in academia. While the former largely emphasizes mutual economic cooperation, the latter argues that future tensions are inexorable due to the difficult past and territorial issues. 20 semi-structured interviews with Indian and Chinese exchange students in both countries were conducted and analysed with a Critical Discourse Analysis in order to understand to what degree they conform with the dominant discursive formation. The results suggest a stronger Ontological Security fixation of the Indian side on China than vice versa and a strong power imbalance in favour of China. Even though the students made intense use of mutual stereotyping, their overall discourse was optimistic and critical towards the prevalent negative discourse, mutual lack of knowledge and trust. Students tended to emphasize an intensified effort to improve mutual ties through economic and cultural cooperation, exchanges and the solution of the border issue. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Nagel, Lukas
supervisor
organization
course
ACET35
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Sino-Indian Perception, Ontological Security Theory (OST), ‘Othering’, Autobiographical Self, Critical Discourse Analysis, Intercultural Students
language
English
id
7995112
date added to LUP
2015-09-28 09:29:44
date last changed
2015-09-28 09:29:44
@misc{7995112,
  abstract     = {{A critical review of the history of the discursive formation of Sino-Indian relations suggests that the largely negative mutual perceptions by the Chinese and Indian public and media are opposed by an optimistic discourse of both nations’ political and economic elites. This is also accompanied by a juxtaposed, binary discourse of the bilateral relation by members of the Liberal and Realist camp in academia. While the former largely emphasizes mutual economic cooperation, the latter argues that future tensions are inexorable due to the difficult past and territorial issues. 20 semi-structured interviews with Indian and Chinese exchange students in both countries were conducted and analysed with a Critical Discourse Analysis in order to understand to what degree they conform with the dominant discursive formation. The results suggest a stronger Ontological Security fixation of the Indian side on China than vice versa and a strong power imbalance in favour of China. Even though the students made intense use of mutual stereotyping, their overall discourse was optimistic and critical towards the prevalent negative discourse, mutual lack of knowledge and trust. Students tended to emphasize an intensified effort to improve mutual ties through economic and cultural cooperation, exchanges and the solution of the border issue.}},
  author       = {{Nagel, Lukas}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Sino - Indian Mutual Perceptions : Intercultural Students’ Discourse on Ontological Security and Identity}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}