War

My research, You Are Whom You Eat: Cannibalism in Contemporary Chinese Fiction and Film, explores the ways in which the emergence of subjectivity is represented through the trope of cannibalism. I explore the ambivalent relation between the subject and the other, fears of being consumed and desires to consume the other, and discuss how this ambivalence influences the connection between China’s “survival cannibalism” (in times of famine) and “learned cannibalism” (as a cultural practice). My project (1) historicizes Chinese discourse on the potential economic and health benefits of eating human flesh and gives prominence to the ethical issues of this practice, and (2) examines how the traditional cultures of food and medicine are incorporated into the contemporary discourse of modernity and globalization. Most importantly, it (3) reflects on the Chinese Dream and how its reinforcement and expansion of China’s strength in market economy comes at the expense of ethical values.