Traveling Theory: Fredric Jameson’s Interpretations of the Cultural Revolution and Maoism

In her article, Traveling Theory: Fredric Jameson’s Interpretations of the Cultural Revolution and Maoism, Xian Wang discusses how Fredric Jameson transformed or “transcoded” the Chinese Cultural Revolution into his notion of cultural revolution, regarding it as a radical means to achieve decolonization and national liberation. The Chinese Cultural Revolution therefore became a model for cultural revolution in different parts of the world, and an alternative vision of modernity. Jameson also associates Maoism and the Cultural Revolution with Antonio Gramsci’s concept of subalternity, and considers cultural revolution as an ideological revolution for the oppressed classes. Taking Maoism as a traveling theory, this article argues that Jameson’s theoretical intervention in Maoism and cultural revolution brings the Maoist utopian vision back to China. Jameson’s understanding of the Cultural Revolution is also a significant component of his theory of globalization, postmodernism, and critique of the logic of late capitalism