Can Tao

- Name
- Can Tao
- Title
- Organisation
- Sociology School of Social and Political Science University of Edinburgh
- Address
- Edinburgh UK
- Telephone
- can.tao@ed.ac.uk
- Research Interests
- Everyday nationalism, banal nationalism, National Identity, China, Patriotic education, Ethnography
- URL
- http://www.sps.ed.ac.uk/gradschool/community_and_representation/research_student_profiles/sociology/can_tao
PhD Title
Learning the nation: A comparative study of the internalisation and reproduction of nationalism in urban and rural high schools in China
I argue that the study of nation-building and nationalism should associate top-down forces with bottom-up interpretations and practices. I propose the conception of ‘learning the nation’ as a lens to discover the dynamic interactions between nation-state and individuals, as well as elites and ordinary people.
My research will mainly explore two questions:
1 How do students ‘learn the nation’ through their everyday interactions with other people within and outside schools?
2 How do individuals engage with the state-led patriotic education campaign?