Brokered Dependency, Authoritarian Malepistemization, and Spectacularized Postcoloniality: Reflections on Chinese Academia

Abstract

This paper calls for a paradigm shift in studying academic dependency, toward the paradigm of brokered dependency. Using Chinese academia as an example, I demonstrate how the neocolonial condition of academic dependency is always mediated through blockage-brokerage mechanisms. The two most salient blockage-brokerage mechanisms of dependency in the Chinese context are linguistic barrier and authoritarian malepistemization, and the effects of the latter consist of three layers: institutional, informational, and incorporational. On top of their domestic impacts, those mechanisms jointly exacerbate spectacularized postcoloniality in anglophone-hegemonic global academic publishing. The paradigm of brokered dependency not only represents a more nuanced approach to the study of academic dependency, but also underscores the fact that the dismantling of the neocolonial condition cannot be conceived and pursued in isolation from comprehending and confronting the authoritarian condition, especially when the latter pertains under the disguise of anticolonialism.

Cosmopolitan pathways from the Global South: How non‐middle‐class students become desirable Fulbright applicants

“…Jiwen's words reflect the perception in China that Chinese‐trained Ph.D. students are regarded as inferior and have less desirability in the domestic job market than western‐trained Ph.D. students. Chinese academia's imperative for western educational experiences and a strong emphasis on English‐language publications produce academic dependency on and implicitly promote the existing U.S.‐centered western academic hegemony (Lin, 2022). In this way, Chinese higher educational institutions have created the underlying 'culture of migration' in academia and created numerous educational exchange opportunities (Ali, 2007).…”