The essay considers a twofold question: Why, until recently, has our field remained so reluctant to engage with racial epistemology, and what higher form of understanding does “race” offer to students of Eurasia? The answer to the first part of the question is located in the divergence between the “imperial” and “modernity” paradigms in Eurasian studies. With regard to the second part of the question, the essay suggests viewing “race” as one of the languages of self-reflection and modernization in the imperial space. It concludes that the discovery of “race” becomes tantamount to the rediscovery of Eurasia as an imperial space—irregularly hierarchical and heterogeneous, characterized by entangled exceptionalism and a constant renegotiation of differences, as well as the realignment of principles of belonging, subjectivities, and networks of solidarity.

中文翻译：

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当种族是一种语言，帝国是一种语境

这篇文章考虑了一个双重问题：为什么直到最近，我们的领域仍然如此不愿意参与种族认识论，以及“种族”为欧亚大陆的学生提供了什么样的更高形式的理解？问题第一部分的答案在于欧亚研究中“帝国”范式与“现代性”范式的分歧。关于问题的第二部分，文章建议将“种族”视为帝国空间中自我反思和现代化的语言之一。它的结论是，“种族”的发现等同于重新发现欧亚大陆作为一个帝国空间——不规则的等级和异质性，其特点是纠缠不清的例外主义和不断重新谈判差异，以及重新调整归属、主体性、