Publisher's Synopsis
This book is the result of nearly three years of fieldwork among the Sibe, an ethnic minority long caught up in processes of Chinese imperial expansion and nation building. Split into two groups since the eighteenth century, 5000 kilometres separate Sibe in their Manchurian homeland from their co-ethnics in Xinjiang, northwest China. In this study, the author focuses on the (re)construction of ethnic awareness by "local" and "official" Sibe historians. Combining analysis of primary sources and text-based data with ethnographic observations, this monograph makes an original contribution to historical anthropology.
