- Department of Asian Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem, 9190501, Israel
Orna Naftali
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Asian Studies, Faculty Member
- Chinese Studies, Anthropology of Children and Youth, Nationalism, Militarization & Power, Militarism, Youth Studies, and 87 moreContemporary China, Anthropology of Education, Postsocialism, Sociology of the Middle Classes, Women and gender in China, media studies in China, Popular Culture, History of Childhood and Youth, Anthropology of Children and Childhood, Children's Rights, Asian Studies, Education, Psychology, Anthropology, Human Rights, Globalization, Science, Citizenship, China, Privacy, State, Family, Children, Subjectivity, Urban, Childhood, Sociology, Political Science, Gender and Sexuality, Urban Studies, China studies, Cosmopolitanism, Qualitative methodology, Shanghai Urban Studies, Shanghai, History of Childhood, History of Education, Sociology of Education, Social Identity, Political Attitudes, Anthropology of China, Politics Of Education, Domestic Violence, Family Law, Law and Society, Chinese Law and Society, Children's Participation, Right to Education, Propaganda, Manga and Anime Studies, Youth Culture, Consumer Behavior, National Identity, Sino-Japanese War, History Education, Consumption and Material Culture, Japanese Popular Culture, Chinese Media Studies, Rural China, Middle Classes and Consumption, Media Consumption, Chinese education, Anime and Manga Youth Culture, Sino-Japanese relations, Urban China, Consumption Culture, Cold War and Culture, Children's Literature & Culture, Children's and Young Adult Literature, Modern Chinese History, Social History, Children and War, Constructions of femininity, Representations of femininity/masculinity, War and the Media, Cultural Revolution, Magazines, People's Republic of China, Children and War, Peace Studies, Conflict Resolution, History of Gender, History of Children's Magazines, Children In War, Militarization , Gender, and Sexualty, Chinese childhood, Maoist China, War Studies, and Military Scienceedit
- Abraham Miller Chair in Chinese Studies, Associate Professor, Department of Asian Studies, The Hebrew University of J... moreAbraham Miller Chair in Chinese Studies, Associate Professor, Department of Asian Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Research interests include the anthropology of childhood and youth, education, gender and the family; nationalism, militarism and the nation-state; youth legal education and legal consciousness in modern and contemporary China.
I work on a range of topics relating to childhood and education in China, including: the construction of national and class identities among contemporary Chinese youth; new conceptualizations of privacy and subjectivity in Chinese education and child-rearing, and the rise of child psychology in contemporary urban China. I have also worked on the development of a new Chinese discourse on children's rights and citizenship, a topic which was the focus of my first book, Children, Rights, and Modernity in China: Raising Self-Governing Citizens (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014).
My latest book, Children in China (2016, China Today series, Polity Press) provides an overview of the changes that have taken place in the lives of rural and urban Chinese children since the launch of economic reforms in 1978. Covering schooling, consumption, identity formation processes, family and peer relations among other aspects of children’s lives, the book explores the rise of new ideas of child-care, child-vulnerability and child-agency; the impact of the One-Child Policy; and the emergence of children as independent consumers in the new market economy. It further demonstrates how economic restructuring and the recent waves of rural–urban migration have produced starkly unequal conditions for children’s education and welfare both in the countryside and in the cities.
Recent and on-going research projects include:
• An ethnographic field project on War and the Military in Contemporary Chinese Education: The Effects of Schooling and the 'Patriotic Education' Campaign on the Attitudes of Middle-School Students toward Armed Conflict (supported by a Spencer Foundation Grant, 2016-2019)
• A cultural history project on constructions of gender, war, and political violence in PRC children and youth culture (1949-present)
• An ethnographic field project on "Education and the Formation of National Identity in China: The Effects of Schooling and ‘Patriotic Education’ on Youth of Different Socioeconomic Backgrounds” (sponsored by the ISF and the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, 2012-2016). The project examined the effects of schooling, the Chinese government's 'patriotic education' campaign, and consumption of foreign popular culture products on the attitudes of urban and rural Han-Chinese youths of various class backgrounds toward their nation-state and foreign 'Others'.
I welcome inquiries from prospective MA and doctoral students interested in the following topics:
• Children, childhood and youth in the PRC (1949 to present)
• Schooling and education in the PRC (1949 to present)
• Anthropology of gender and the family in the PRC (1949 to present)
• Popular nationalism in contemporary China
• Militarization of childhood and youth in the PRC
• Youth legal consciousness in contemporary Chinaedit
Drawing on a wide variety of Chinese-language publications and in-depth interviews with high-school students, Mobilising China's One-Child Generation provides systematic evidence of the spread of martial logic and techniques into Chinese... more
Drawing on a wide variety of Chinese-language publications and in-depth interviews with high-school students, Mobilising China's One-Child Generation provides systematic evidence of the spread of martial logic and techniques into Chinese schools. The book explores how China has implemented Patriotic Education and National Defence Education programmes to foster love for the nation and the Party-state, mobilise the population to fight modern wars in the information age, and encourage youth to join the army. It studies how these programmes present the tropes of war and the military to youth, and how they are related to shifting constructions of gender and the national collectivity. It also documents students' varied perceptions–and notably contestations–of this militarised ethos, complicating our understanding of popular nationalism and militarisation processes in this authoritarian global power.
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This book explores the dramatic transformation of Chinese childhood in the post-socialist era. It examines how government policies introduced in China over the last few decades and processes of social and economic change are reshaping the... more
This book explores the dramatic transformation of Chinese childhood in the post-socialist era. It examines how government policies introduced in China over the last few decades and processes of social and economic change are reshaping the lives of individual children and the conceptions of Chinese childhood in complex, contradictory ways. Drawing on a broad range of literature and original ethnographic research, Naftali discusses the rise of new ideas of child-care, child-vulnerability and child-agency; the impact of the One-Child Policy; and the emergence of children as independent consumers in the new market economy. She shows that Chinese boys and increasingly girls too are enjoying a new empowerment, a development that has met with ambiguity from both caregivers and the state. She also demonstrates how economic restructuring and the recent waves of rural/urban migration have produced starkly unequal conditions for children's education and development both in the countryside and in the cities. Children in China is essential reading for students and scholars seeking a deeper understanding of what it means to be a child in contemporary China, as well as for those concerned with the changing relationship between children, the state and the family in the global era.
Research Interests: Gender Studies, Sociology of Education, Sociology of Children and Childhood, Children and Families, Parenting, and 24 moreAnthropology of Children and Childhood, Consumption Studies, Gender, China, Migration Studies, Urban Sociology, China studies, Contemporary China, Anthropology of Education, Left-Behind Children, Urban China, Urban Childhood, Migrant Education, Population Policy, Chinese One Child Policy, Sociology of the Family, Women and gender in China, Effects of migration to children left behind, Consumption In Contemporary China, Sociology of Childhood and Youth, Childrearing, Anthropology of Kinship and the Family, Conceptualizations of Children and Childhood, and Rural Society and Urbanization in Contemporary China
Children, Rights, and Modernity in China is an ethnographic study of the emergence of a new type of thinking about children and their entitlements in contemporary urban China. Drawing on participant observation and interviews in primary... more
Children, Rights, and Modernity in China is an ethnographic study of the emergence of a new type of thinking about children and their entitlements in contemporary urban China. Drawing on participant observation and interviews in primary schools and homes in the city of Shanghai, and on diverse evidence from government, academic, media, and pedagogic publications, the book debunks many popular and scholarly stereotypes about the predominance of Confucian ideas of parental authority in China or about the indifference to individual human rights in the political and public culture of the PRC. The author also recognizes the conflicts that exist in Chinese discourses about and practices toward children, as older ideas of filiality, neoliberal ideologies, and the new awareness of children's right to privacy, to expressing their views, and to protection against violence compete and collude in complicated, often contradictory ways.
Research Interests: Education, Sociology of Children and Childhood, Human Rights Law, Ethnography, Chinese Studies, and 24 moreHuman Rights, Privacy, Children and Families, Urban Anthropology, Violence (Anthropology), Anthropology of Children and Childhood, Family, Post-socialism (Anthropology), Human Rights Education, Critical Discourse Analysis, Modernity, China, Post-Socialist Societies, Intergenerational Relationships, Sociology of the Middle Classes, Children's Rights, Elementary Education, Citizenship, Subjectivity, Corporal Punishment, Child-Rearing Practices, Chinese One Child Policy, Filial Piety, and One Child Policy
Young people’s gender practices and the function of the school in shaping these practices have become a contentious issue in Chinese public discussions over the past decade. This article explores an emergent strain of thinking within this... more
Young people’s gender practices and the function of the school in shaping these practices have become a contentious issue in Chinese public discussions over the past decade. This article explores an emergent strain of thinking within this debate: that schools should promote the notion of gender equality. Focusing on the case of Daode yu fazhi (Morality and legal rule) textbooks currently used in all junior high schools (Grades 7-9) across the country, the article employs qualitative textual analysis to examine whether and how the gender equality principle is presented to youth in the Xi Jinping era (2012-). The study finds that the Xi-era textbooks promote the principle of equality between men and women and urge young people to fight for the implementation of this principle. In a notable break from the past, the books also acknowledge the existence of diverse gender practices among contemporary youth. At the same time, the textbooks endorse the notion of “natural” gender difference and “harmonious” gender complementarity. The books also censor gender/sexuality expressions that do not conform with hegemonic binary gender norms. Reflecting patriarchal and heteronormative ideologies reinforced by nationalist politics and a growing moral anxiety about the blurring of boundaries between masculinity and femininity, the Xi era curriculum ultimately leaves little space for flexible gender formulations.
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The most well-known and widely cited literature in the multidisciplinary field of childhood studies has been undertaken by scholars based in the Global North, who have produced theoretical frameworks and conceptualisations about childhood... more
The most well-known and widely cited literature in the multidisciplinary field of childhood studies has been undertaken by scholars based in the Global North, who have produced theoretical frameworks and conceptualisations about childhood frequently deployed by Northern and Southern scholars alike. These are often based on priorities developed in Northern academic institutions, sometimes in response to funding calls by grant-making agencies also based in the North. As a result, when Southern scholars contribute to the dominant childhood studies literature, a field of study in which the majority of well-known articles tend to be published in Northern-based Anglophone journals, their contributions stand mainly as empirical variations of mainstream Northern theories whose scholarship foregrounds theoretical and methodological frameworks designed with particular childhoods in mind. The resulting outcome is that Global South childhoods – in their plurality and diversity – do not contribute epistemically to the construction of a transnational childhood scientific discourse. This ultimately limits the quality of global childhood studies and hinders the development of more conceptually sophisticated, eventually divergent, theoretical frameworks that can account for multiplicity and diversity in childhoods. Therefore, this volume sought to explore locally driven perspectives of childhoods in diverse contexts in the South for the purpose of gaining insights into the knowledge that can be produced about Southern childhoods when research is driven by priorities, demands, and needs of locales in the Global South.
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This chapter explores the role of education processes in the construction of youth collective identities in 21st-century mainland China. Drawing on the results of a growing body of anthropological work and on data from two field studies... more
This chapter explores the role of education processes in the construction of youth collective identities in 21st-century mainland China. Drawing on the results of a growing body of anthropological work and on data from two field studies among Han (Chinese) high school students conducted over the past decade or so, the discussion highlights the key role of ethnographic research in uncovering contemporary tensions within China’s educational agendas, and the conflicting forces shaping youth nationalism and global outlook. In particular, the chapter underscores the intersection between Chinese youth social positioning and perceived life chances, their attitudes toward official narratives of the “nation,” and their readiness to align themselves with the national collectivity.
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Schools constitute key sites for legal socialization, the process whereby youth develop their relationship with the law. Yet, what does legal socialization entail in the context of an authoritarian Party-state such as China? The article... more
Schools constitute key sites for legal socialization, the process whereby youth develop their relationship with the law. Yet, what does legal socialization entail in the context of an authoritarian Party-state such as China? The article examines this question by analyzing citizenship education textbooks revised in the Xi era - a time of deepening surveillance and monitoring of public discourse, greater restrictions of legal activism, and an expansion of technologies of social control. The study finds that China's current textbooks contain elements associated with both a coercive and a consensual approach to legal education. Nonetheless, it is the consensual orientation which receives greater stress, as the books highlight the positive benefits of legal compliance and endorse the idea that youth should advance beyond the external supervisory stage to the self-discipline level of legal consciousness. Reflecting the attempt of the CCP leadership to draw on legality as a key source of legitimacy, this approach is nonetheless undermined by the propagandist tone of the textbooks and their ambiguous messages regarding citizens' ability to challenge China's existing laws.
Research Interests: Education, Legal Education, Youth Studies, Chinese Law, Chinese Studies, and 13 moreCurriculum Studies, Law and Society, Human Rights Education, Political Socialization, China studies, Children's Rights, Contemporary China, Chinese Law and Society, Curriculum and Instruction, Curriculum, Childhood studies, Citizenship Education, and Political Education
This chapter examines recruitment campaigns for the Chinese military under the current leadership of Xi Jinping (2012-) in the context of China’s attempts to modernize and professionalize its army. The discussion reviews the conscription... more
This chapter examines recruitment campaigns for the Chinese military under the current leadership of Xi Jinping (2012-) in the context of China’s attempts to modernize and professionalize its army. The discussion reviews the conscription challenges the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) faces in the 2000s and the steps undertaken to address these challenges, particularly in the media. Drawing on the analysis of conscription videos produced in 2013-18, and of government, military and media publications in China, the chapter explores the forms and content of PLA video ads, with a focus on the messages they use to attract the military’s target population. The analysis shows that alongside traditional appeals to recruits’ sense of patriotism and collective duty, the PLA’s contemporary ads also promote military service as a vehicle for self-fulfilment and personal development. Disseminated through social media sites, this new marketing message attests to the PLA’s ability to adapt and innovate. However, it also carries considerable risks for the military's recruitment goals as well as its public standing in China. (Link to book: https://www.routledge.com/Propaganda-and-Public-Relations-in-Military-Recruitment-Promoting-Military/Maartens-Bivins/p/book/9780367333928)
Research Interests: Communication, Media Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies, Youth Studies, Public Relations, and 14 moreNationalism, China, Chinese Nationalism, Chinese Politics, China studies, Civil-military relations, Military Studies, Military Service, Communication Studies, Communication and media Studies, Critical Military Studies, Media and Propaganda, Military Recruiting, and Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA)
Schools worldwide have long engaged in various forms of ‘war education.’ In China, an extensive ‘Patriotic Education’ campaign and an expanded ‘National Defense Education’ curriculum have led to an increase in youth-oriented military... more
Schools worldwide have long engaged in various forms of ‘war education.’ In China, an extensive ‘Patriotic Education’ campaign and an expanded ‘National Defense Education’ curriculum have led to an increase in youth-oriented military programs in the 2000s. Previous work on the implementation of these programs in Chinese schools has mostly focused on urban elite youth, while overlooking the reception of these programs by non-urban, non-elite populations. The present study addresses this issue by examining youth perceptions and experiences of military training courses in urban and rural middle schools. Drawing on the analysis of Chinese publications in the 2000s and on data from field interviews with students of different backgrounds, the study finds that youth military training constitutes a contentious program. Although the Chinese government promotes the program as crucial for military strengthening and the fostering of a patriotic spirit, PRC academic and media writers provide alternative rationales for the program, which at times undermine the logic of government articulations. Meanwhile, interviews with youth document divergent attitudes and even resentment towards the program, especially among city youth. This finding casts doubt on the assumption that military-training courses necessarily contribute to the increased ‘militarization’ of Chinese youth and education.
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War culture has had tremendous power in shaping modern Chinese understandings of the nation. The role of children’s education in the creation of Chinese war culture in the Mao era (1949-76) has nonetheless received scarce attention.... more
War culture has had tremendous power in shaping modern Chinese understandings of the nation. The role of children’s education in the creation of Chinese war culture in the Mao era (1949-76) has nonetheless received scarce attention. Drawing on the analysis of school textbooks, pedagogical and media publications, this study highlights the existence of competing visions of children’s roles in military violence throughout the period. The findings challenge the thesis that childhood in Maoist China was ultra-militarized and undermine the assumption that during the Cold War era, countries on different sides of the divide held starkly contrasting notions of the young.
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Since the 1990s, the Chinese Party-state has attempted to teach youth how to think and speak about the nation through a "Patriotic Education" campaign waged in schools, media, and public sites. The reception of these messages by youth of... more
Since the 1990s, the Chinese Party-state has attempted to teach youth how to think and speak about the nation through a "Patriotic Education" campaign waged in schools, media, and public sites. The reception of these messages by youth of different social backgrounds remain a disputed issue, however. Drawing on a multi-sited field study conducted among rural and urban Han Chinese youth attending different types of schools, this article explores the effects of the "Patriotic Education" campaign on youth conceptions of the nation by examining the rhetoric high-school students employ when asked to reflect upon their nation. The study reveals that a majority of youth statements conforms to the rhetoric and contents of the “Patriotic Education” campaign. However, there are significant differences in the discursive stances of youth in the city and in the countryside and of those attending academic and non-academic vocational schools. These findings highlight the existence of variances in youth sense of collective belonging and national identity in contemporary China, while underscoring the importance of social positioning and perceived life chances in producing these variances. They further call into question the Party-state's current vision of China as a “unified” national collectivity.
Research Interests: Education, Sociology of Education, Youth Studies, Social Identity, Nationalism, and 12 moreChina, Political Attitudes, Anthropology of China, Politics Of Education, Vocational Education, China studies, Political Ideology, Contemporary China, Anthropology of Education, Social Class, Political Identity, and Chinese Communist Party
This chapter provides an overview of some of the major trends and unique problems that characterize child-rights legislation in the PRC. It includes a brief history of the evolution of children’s rights in modern China, situating these... more
This chapter provides an overview of some of the major trends and unique problems that characterize child-rights legislation in the PRC. It includes a brief history of the evolution of children’s rights in modern China, situating these developments within the broader framework of international child rights legislation. Presenting the key concepts of children’s protection, provision and participation rights, the chapter considers how these different types of rights come to the fore in the PRC, and discusses specific problems in the formulation and implementation of children’s rights in China.
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The growing prevalence of foreign media consumption, including from Japan, has received considerable notice in recent work on PRC youth culture. To date, however, few studies have considered how youth of different social backgrounds... more
The growing prevalence of foreign media consumption, including from Japan, has received considerable notice in recent work on PRC youth culture. To date, however, few studies have considered how youth of different social backgrounds perceive their consumption of Japanese popular culture in the context of the Party-state’s ‘patriotic education’ campaign waged in schools and in the mass media. Studies have also overlooked how rural and urban youth in China juxtapose the images and themes conveyed in the Japanese media that they consume with school and domestic media messages. Drawing on interviews with middle school students in Shanghai and Henan, the present study addresses these issues. It finds that while a majority of youths from different backgrounds express animosity toward Japan, they separate these feelings from their passion for Japanese popular culture. In some cases, consumption of Japanese media also allows teenagers to feel that they ‘know’—or even appreciate—the other country better. Amid the anti-Japanese messages currently circulating in PRC schools and domestic media, consumption of Japanese popular culture manifests a form of ‘expressive individualism’ among teenagers, who creatively construct their own notions of patriotism, national memory, and Sino–Japanese relations.
Research Interests: Education, Youth Studies, Popular Culture, Propaganda, Nationalism, and 22 moreManga and Anime Studies, Anthropology of Children and Childhood, Youth Culture, Consumer Behavior, National Identity, China, Sociology of the Middle Classes, Sino-Japanese War, History Education, China studies, Consumption and Material Culture, Japanese Popular Culture, Chinese Media Studies, Rural China, Middle Classes and Consumption, Anthropology of Children and Youth, Media Consumption, Chinese education, Anime and Manga Youth Culture, Sino-Japanese relations, Urban China, and Consumption Culture
The perceived innocence and vulnerability of children has been a dominant theme in modern conceptualizations of childhood, particularly in the aftermath of the Second World War. A growing number of studies suggest however that a notion of... more
The perceived innocence and vulnerability of children has been a dominant theme in modern conceptualizations of childhood, particularly in the aftermath of the Second World War. A growing number of studies suggest however that a notion of children as capable of violent or even lethal conduct has not altogether vanished from post-World War II public discourse in Western Europe and North America, or indeed elsewhere in the world. China of the “Cultural Revolution’” period (1966–1976) is an illustrative case. The present article examines the portrayal of children as violent actors and the discursive militarization of Chinese childhood in PRC magazines of the late 1960s to the mid-1970s. It seeks to highlight the gendered aspects of the “belligerent child” trope in Chinese children’s media, while noting the distinctive depictions of militant boys and militant girls in the latter part of the Cultural Revolution period. These findings attest to the ambiguous nature of Chinese thinking about children and their capacities in the late Maoist period. They cast doubt on the frequently made argument that Cultural Revolution works produced the overall effect of “gender erasure” or, alternatively, of the extensive “masculinization” of Chinese women and girls. They further highlight the importance of critically examining how the different meanings of “being a girl” were produced, circulated, and, in turn, deployed in public discussions on national collectivity and political conflict in Maoist-era China.
Research Interests: Cultural History, Violence, Chinese Studies, Masculinity Studies, Cold War and Culture, and 22 moreChildren's Literature & Culture, Children's and Young Adult Literature, Militarism, History of Childhood and Youth, History of Childhood, Modern Chinese History, Social History, Children and War, Constructions of femininity, Representations of femininity/masculinity, War and the Media, Cultural Revolution, Magazines, People's Republic of China, Children and War, Peace Studies, Conflict Resolution, History of Gender, History of Children's Magazines, Women and gender in China, Children In War, Militarization , Gender, and Sexualty, Chinese childhood, and Maoist China
Since the early 2000s, the Chinese military has been engaged in the production of military- and war-themed cultural products which increasingly employ new media and new technologies. Many of these products specifically target children and... more
Since the early 2000s, the Chinese military has been engaged in the production of military- and war-themed cultural products which increasingly employ new media and new technologies. Many of these products specifically target children and youth, and many are also a result of collaborations between the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and commercial forces. This article offers a preliminary exploration of how such PLA–civilian productions attempt to package and market war and the military to contemporary Chinese children and youth. It compares these current endeavours to previous depictions of war and the military in youth culture of the Maoist period, and reflects on what this comparison can tell us about recent changes in official as well as popular conceptualizations of childhood, youth, and violence in the People’s Republic of China. The analysis demonstrates that contemporary PLA products for children and youth display positive attitudes toward the military and toward officially sanctioned military violence. However, these products also subscribe to new public sensitivities about children and their involvement in acts of violence, thereby reflecting the changing needs and interests of the PLA and of the Chinese Communist Party in the post-Cold War, post-Tiananmen era.
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In the past few decades, China has witnessed the emergence of a psychological discourse of childhood. This new discourse portrays children as persons with unique emotional needs and seeks to redefine childhood as a time of play and... more
In the past few decades, China has witnessed the emergence of a psychological discourse of childhood. This new discourse portrays children as persons with unique emotional needs and seeks to redefine childhood as a time of play and relaxation rather than study or toil. Drawing on the results of ethnographic fieldwork in Shanghai’s schools and homes in 2004–2005, the present article describes the complex ways Shanghai’s teachers and parents engage with this normalizing, developmental discourse. It argues that the rise of a psychological discourse of childhood signals a shift in Chinese modes of governing school and family life, and in current conceptualizations of the child as-citizen and the child-as-subject in postsocialist, urban China.
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This study explores two aspects of the privatization of childhood in contemporary urban China: the emergent discourse on children's privacy and children's growing seclusion within the home. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork,the author... more
This study explores two aspects of the privatization of childhood in contemporary urban China: the emergent discourse on children's privacy and children's growing seclusion within the home. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork,the author describes urban caregivers' engagement with the issue of children's privacy, and argues that we are now witnessing a transformation in Chinese notions of childhood, privacy and subjectivity.The result of a complex interaction between official discourses, demographic changes and economic forces, this transformation is also a product of the persistent influence of Confucian values,and the unique childhood experiences of a particular generation of urban Chinese parents.
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The last two decades have witnessed the emergence of a new discourse of children’s rights in the People’s Republic of China. The present article traces the social, political, and economic circumstances that have led to the emergence of... more
The last two decades have witnessed the emergence of a new discourse of children’s rights in the People’s Republic of China. The present article traces the social, political, and economic circumstances that have led to the emergence of this discourse, describes the institutions that have been involved in its production, and considers the various ways in which urban Chinese parents of different socioeconomic backgrounds engage with the notion of children’s rights in their day-to-day lives. Drawing on the results of ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Shanghai schools and homes, as well as on a survey of legislative codes, teachers’ manuals, academic literature, childrearing guides, and media articles published in China since the early 1990s, I argue that a new mode of speaking and thinking about children—as “subjects” rather than “objects”, and as “independent persons” rather than mere “appendages” to their families or to society—is emerging in contemporary China. While this new conceptualization of the child is fraught with tensions and contradictions at the level of both discourse and practice, I nonetheless argue that the notion of Chinese children as subjects bearing rights carries important implications not only for family relationships but also for state-citizenry engagements in 21st-century China.
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The globalization of economies and the development of new technologies of information and communication have transformed almost every social domain, including that of education. Deeply connected to the world of work and to the... more
The globalization of economies and the development of new technologies of information and communication have transformed almost every social domain, including that of education. Deeply connected to the world of work and to the socialization of the future generation, western education systems are being transformed and their role redefined in light of the processes of globalization.
Education targets are being reshaped in response to the need to compete in a global economy; education systems are evaluated and compared according to league tables, and education itself has been transformed into a “good” that can be commercialized worldwide. But, globalization entails additional implications for education. Globalization also means more intimate contact with different types of societies, cultures and kinds of knowledge. This has resulted in the growing
diversity of the student populations in educational institutions and a multiplication of studies dealing with non-western countries. Regardless of whether the “intimate contact” results from positive experiences (such as tourism or scholarly cooperation) or from threatening experiences (such as Muslim students becoming suicide bombers in the UK), different cultures and kinds of knowledge challenge our “universal” foundations and research tools. Educational research is confronted
with major challenges resulting from this complex globalization process. This edited volume addresses four major challenges that are the heart of the problematic of the production of educational knowledge: 1. understanding the process of denationalization of education; 2. uncovering the agents of globalization of education; 3. exploring the implications of the emerging international educational
institutions and international curricula; and 4. understanding non-western education and integrating it into western knowledge.
Education targets are being reshaped in response to the need to compete in a global economy; education systems are evaluated and compared according to league tables, and education itself has been transformed into a “good” that can be commercialized worldwide. But, globalization entails additional implications for education. Globalization also means more intimate contact with different types of societies, cultures and kinds of knowledge. This has resulted in the growing
diversity of the student populations in educational institutions and a multiplication of studies dealing with non-western countries. Regardless of whether the “intimate contact” results from positive experiences (such as tourism or scholarly cooperation) or from threatening experiences (such as Muslim students becoming suicide bombers in the UK), different cultures and kinds of knowledge challenge our “universal” foundations and research tools. Educational research is confronted
with major challenges resulting from this complex globalization process. This edited volume addresses four major challenges that are the heart of the problematic of the production of educational knowledge: 1. understanding the process of denationalization of education; 2. uncovering the agents of globalization of education; 3. exploring the implications of the emerging international educational
institutions and international curricula; and 4. understanding non-western education and integrating it into western knowledge.
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Recent decades have witnessed the growing use of military-style training methods for children in PRC schools as well as in various therapeutic programs offered by state and private institutions. Intended to serve as a remedy for a... more
Recent decades have witnessed the growing use of military-style training methods for children in PRC schools as well as in various therapeutic programs offered by state and private institutions. Intended to serve as a remedy for a plethora of moral, social, and psychological afflictions thought to characterize the present generation of Chinese youth, the use of military techniques have nonetheless been the cause of considerable public debate in China. In this paper, I examine the rationale, contents, and techniques of military-style programs employed in China, with a particular focus on compulsory military training (junshun 军训) sessions for schoolchildren offered as part of the Chinese government’s “Patriotic Education” campaign; and on boot camps for Chinese youth thought to suffer from mental issues such as Internet addiction (wangyin 网瘾). I discuss the various academic, government, and public discourses concerning the use of military-style methods in children’s care and education, and consider what the emergence of such techniques—and the controversies surrounding them—tell us about changing public understandings of youth education, the military, and mental health in contemporary China.
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Maoist-era China (1949-76) has been described as a period of intensive 'militarization', defined here as the spread of the military’s characteristic organizational techniques, routines, and attitudes into civilian realms. Scholars have... more
Maoist-era China (1949-76) has been described as a period of intensive 'militarization', defined here as the spread of the military’s characteristic organizational techniques, routines, and attitudes into civilian realms. Scholars have further noted this trend within the PRC education system, as well as in media and cultural products aimed at children and youth, particularly in the years leading up to - and during - the tumultuous decade of the 'Cultural Revolution' (1966-76). To date however, we have no systematic study of how PRC history textbooks and school activities conceptualized and narrated issues of war and international conflict throughout the Maoist period. The present paper seeks to address this issue. Drawing on content analysis and discourse analysis of middle-school textbooks and official reports on school activities, the discussion will focus on the following questions: Did Maoist-era schools present war as a perpetual condition or as an anomaly? What were the causes and consequences of modern wars according to the textbooks of the 1950s-1970s? How much space did Maoist-era textbooks and school activities allot to the use of military technology, to depictions of military violence, and/or to the plight of civilians and the individuals who do the fighting in military conflict? By exploring these issues, this paper seeks to determine whether Chinese schools sought to convey a glorifying, critical, or balanced approach to issues of modern war and conflict; whether this approach underwent transformation throughout the period in question; and what these findings can in turn tell us about PRC official and public notions of childhood, war and military violence.
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In the past two decades or so, Shanghai's local government has systematically attempted to (re)establish the city as a global metropolis through various measures, including the fostering of a 'cosmopolitan' education and a spirit of... more
In the past two decades or so, Shanghai's local government has systematically attempted to (re)establish the city as a global metropolis through various measures, including the fostering of a 'cosmopolitan' education and a spirit of 'international understanding' among the city's younger residents. This paper discusses the disparate meanings and values attached to a 'cosmopolitan education' in the particular case of Shanghai, while noting how different understandings of such an education reflect - and contribute to - broader public debates in China about notions of 'urbanity', 'civility', and 'cosmopolitanism'.
The paper begins with an examination of the educational agendas of Shanghai's administration as well as the concrete schemes different city schools have employed in pursuit of these agendas. The discussion then moves on to consider the possible effects of 'international understanding' programs on the attitudes of Shanghai students attending elite, regular, and vocational middle schools, while reflecting on the role of these programs in the construction of distinct middle-class identities in the space of this globalizing city.
Drawing on the analysis of government, media, and school documents, and on interviews conducted among city students in 2012-2016, the study finds that Shanghai's local government legitimates cosmopolitanism as a desirable disposition, and professes to advance an education that fosters 'international understanding' among all city students. However, the implementation and actual contents of cosmopolitan education programs significantly diverge across school types within the public education sector, and is unevenly distributed to students of different social backgrounds. While some schools seek to promote a cosmopolitan education as a means to foster a more open and inclusive attitude to different cultures, and are largely successful in achieving this goal, others conceptualize cosmopolitan education as a particular set of behavioral skills which function as social and cultural markers, indicating the level of students' 'civility' and 'modernity'. In this respect, cosmopolitan education programs in the city of Shanghai function as a new kind of distinction, that is, as a basis of exclusion of local class Others.
The paper begins with an examination of the educational agendas of Shanghai's administration as well as the concrete schemes different city schools have employed in pursuit of these agendas. The discussion then moves on to consider the possible effects of 'international understanding' programs on the attitudes of Shanghai students attending elite, regular, and vocational middle schools, while reflecting on the role of these programs in the construction of distinct middle-class identities in the space of this globalizing city.
Drawing on the analysis of government, media, and school documents, and on interviews conducted among city students in 2012-2016, the study finds that Shanghai's local government legitimates cosmopolitanism as a desirable disposition, and professes to advance an education that fosters 'international understanding' among all city students. However, the implementation and actual contents of cosmopolitan education programs significantly diverge across school types within the public education sector, and is unevenly distributed to students of different social backgrounds. While some schools seek to promote a cosmopolitan education as a means to foster a more open and inclusive attitude to different cultures, and are largely successful in achieving this goal, others conceptualize cosmopolitan education as a particular set of behavioral skills which function as social and cultural markers, indicating the level of students' 'civility' and 'modernity'. In this respect, cosmopolitan education programs in the city of Shanghai function as a new kind of distinction, that is, as a basis of exclusion of local class Others.
Research Interests:
In recent years, mainland China has witnessed a significant rise in popular expressions of anti-foreign sentiments, particularly among people under the age of 30. Some analysts link this development to the Chinese government’s “patriotic... more
In recent years, mainland China has witnessed a significant rise in popular expressions of anti-foreign sentiments, particularly among people under the age of 30. Some analysts link this development to the Chinese government’s “patriotic education” campaign waged in the mass media, in public sites, and most noticeably in the nation's schools. Others maintain that the way the young view the nation and foreign "others" may be influenced not only by the school curriculum but also by an Internet discourse characterized by a multiplicity of viewpoints and by the profusion of foreign popular culture products that youth currently consume. Qualitative studies that examine the interaction between school messages and the consumption of popular culture in shaping the attitudes of Chinese youth remain scarce however. The few studies that have tackled this issue tend to focus on elite youth residing in urban, affluent areas while overlooking the possible effects of socioeconomic background on youth views of their nation and the world.
The present paper aims to address this gap by exploring notions of Japan, its people, and its culture among Chinese teenagers of different locations and social class backgrounds. Drawing on the results of fieldwork conducted from 2012 to 2014 among rural high-school students in Henan Province, and among Shanghai high-school students of both middle- and lower class backgrounds, the study finds that school messages play a significant role in fostering a pronounced anti-Japanese sentiment among Chinese teenagers, particularly those of rural backgrounds and urban, lower class backgrounds. The study also reveals that consumption of Japanese popular culture products among youth of different backgrounds may not reverse this attitude, but it can attenuate it, producing a 'love-hate' relationship with Japan and its culture. These findings highlight the role of popular culture consumption in the construction of youth social and national identities in contemporary China. They further indicate that the consumption of foreign popular culture products may help to instill a more tolerant attitude toward foreign "others" among Chinese youth, even in the face of lingering historical memories and an ultra-nationalistic educational discourse promoted by the Party-state.
The present paper aims to address this gap by exploring notions of Japan, its people, and its culture among Chinese teenagers of different locations and social class backgrounds. Drawing on the results of fieldwork conducted from 2012 to 2014 among rural high-school students in Henan Province, and among Shanghai high-school students of both middle- and lower class backgrounds, the study finds that school messages play a significant role in fostering a pronounced anti-Japanese sentiment among Chinese teenagers, particularly those of rural backgrounds and urban, lower class backgrounds. The study also reveals that consumption of Japanese popular culture products among youth of different backgrounds may not reverse this attitude, but it can attenuate it, producing a 'love-hate' relationship with Japan and its culture. These findings highlight the role of popular culture consumption in the construction of youth social and national identities in contemporary China. They further indicate that the consumption of foreign popular culture products may help to instill a more tolerant attitude toward foreign "others" among Chinese youth, even in the face of lingering historical memories and an ultra-nationalistic educational discourse promoted by the Party-state.
Research Interests:
This paper explores how youth in China's countryside currently "imagine" the nation and their place in it, while comparing the stated views of high-school students residing in Fengqiu County, Henan Province, to those of youth of middle-... more
This paper explores how youth in China's countryside currently "imagine" the nation and their place in it, while comparing the stated views of high-school students residing in Fengqiu County, Henan Province, to those of youth of middle- and lower-class backgrounds attending regular, elite, and vocational high schools in the affluent, global metropolis of Shanghai. Drawing on data from open-ended surveys and interviews conducted with Chinese students in 2012-2014, the analysis reveals that Henan youth notions concerning the meaning of "China" and "being Chinese" share important similarities with those of Shanghai teenagers. However, they also exhibit unique features that distinguish the rural group from lower class as well middle-class youth in Shanghai. The paper notes the possible sources for these differences, and further considers the implications of these findings for the study of youth nationalism and youth class identities in contemporary China.
Research Interests:
War culture has had tremendous power in shaping modern Chinese understandings of the nation and memories of its past. In this paper, I examine the symbolic role of the child in the construction of China's national war culture during the... more
War culture has had tremendous power in shaping modern Chinese understandings of the nation and memories of its past. In this paper, I examine the symbolic role of the child in the construction of China's national war culture during the formative years of the People's Republic, a time when China was actively involved in the Korean War (1950-53). Official PRC interpretations have justified China's military intervention in the war on the basis of Marxist conceptions of world revolution and proletarian internationalism. However, nationalistic and militaristic themes were paramount in the Chinese government's attempts to generate popular support for its war efforts. Drawing on an analysis of texts and images which appeared in official media and in children's magazines of the early 1950s, and comparing them to similar works of the Chinese Civil War (1946-49) and Anti-Japanese War period (1937-45), I consider the following questions: what role did Chinese media producers assign children within the prevalent narratives of national duty, self-sacrifice, and the 'sacred struggle against American imperialism'? Were boys and girls presented as innocent victims or as active perpetrators of military violence? In what ways were media representations of children as either victims or aggressors embedded in beliefs about masculinity and femininity, beliefs that were themselves being challenged and negotiated during the early years of the People's Republic? The paper will address these issues while situating China's war culture within the broader context of post-World War II conceptualizations of childhood, gender, and military violence elsewhere in the world.
In the past decade and a half, China has witnessed a significant rise in youth expressions of nationalist sentiment, manifested in anti-Western and anti-Japanese demonstrations on city streets; in consumer boycotts of foreign products;... more
In the past decade and a half, China has witnessed a significant rise in youth expressions of nationalist sentiment, manifested in anti-Western and anti-Japanese demonstrations on city streets; in consumer boycotts of foreign products; and in the flourishing of a hyper-nationalistic discourse on the Internet. Some analysts suggest that these phenomena do not reflect genuine popular feelings, but rather have been orchestrated by the Chinese government. Others argue that urban middle class youth may profess ardent love for the nation and take part in patriotic activities, but also exhibit a relatively cosmopolitan outlook. The present paper aims to contribute to current debates concerning the nature of youth nationalism in China by drawing on the results of an empirical study conducted in the globalized metropolis of Shanghai and in the hinterland rural Province of Henan. How do Shanghai middle-class youth regard the Chinese ‘nation’ and its relationship to foreign people, countries, and cultures? Do their views differ from those of urban youths of lower social classes or those residing in the countryside? If so, what role does membership in a certain socioeconomic class and/or residence in a global city play in the shaping of youth views of the foreign ‘Other’? The paper will address these questions while situating the findings about Shanghai youth within the current research on youth views in other East Asian metropolitan centers. It will further consider the unique characteristics of the new urban middle classes in China and the East Asian region as a whole.
Research Interests:
In recent years, China has witnessed the emergence of a new, psychological discourse of childhood. Children, it is argued, are not 'short, light-bodied adults' but persons with unique psychological needs who must learn to attain... more
In recent years, China has witnessed the emergence of a new, psychological discourse of childhood. Children, it is argued, are not 'short, light-bodied adults' but persons with unique psychological needs who must learn to attain self-awareness, emotional stability, and appropriate behavioral responses to frustrating social situations. Notably, these positions resemble those advanced by the therapeutic discourse of childhood prevalent elsewhere in the world. Drawing on Foucault's insights, critics of this discourse have argued that its rise in modern, liberal societies does not so much indicate a progressive, enlightened evolution in the treatment of the young but a shift from the use of naked power to more subtle, individualized forms of governance. To what extent does this claim apply to contemporary China? Does the emergence of a psychological discourse of childhood indicate a shift to a neo-liberal, bio-political program which seeks to govern Chinese society through the rational choices of active, self-regulating citizens? The paper addresses these questions by drawing on textual analysis and on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in urban schools and homes. It argues that the therapeutic discourse of childhood finds a ready audience among specific segments of urban Chinese society but that the contradiction between its individualistic, utilitarian logic and the reciprocal ethos of filial piety also introduces new anxieties and ambiguities. The paper considers how individual Chinese actors attempt to negotiate this conflict, and concludes that urban Chinese practices may carry similarities but do not necessarily converge with Foucaultian, bio-political models of governing the child and the person.
Research Interests:
In the rapidly urbanizing societies of contemporary Asia, city school systems have been at the center of recent efforts to foster a cosmopolitan outlook and an ethos of "global citizenship" among children and youth. The present paper... more
In the rapidly urbanizing societies of contemporary Asia, city school systems have been at the center of recent efforts to foster a cosmopolitan outlook and an ethos of "global citizenship" among children and youth. The present paper examines how civic education textbooks produced and taught in the city of Shanghai, China currently attempt to teach primary school children the importance of respecting and valuing diversity; of studying foreign people and foreign cultures; and of learning different languages, especially English. The paper considers how Shanghai’s unique standing as an aspiring "global city" has shaped its distinctive internationalist curriculum. It also notes however various tensions between Shanghai's attempts to raise "good global citizens" and the "Patriotic Education" campaign promoted by the Chinese central government since the early 1990s. Shanghai's case study, I suggest, attests to the key role municipal school systems may play in the globalization of education worldwide. It further illustrates the importance of exploring the sort of tensions that arise when local, urban school systems attempt to promote a global agenda which comes in conflict with the theme of national sovereignty endorsed by the central state.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The innocence and vulnerability of the child is a dominant theme in liberal discourses of the modern era. However, earlier ideas about children’s capacity for brutal conduct have not vanished in twentieth-century Western society and... more
The innocence and vulnerability of the child is a dominant theme in liberal discourses of the modern era. However, earlier ideas about children’s capacity for brutal conduct have not vanished in twentieth-century Western society and culture, nor indeed in the rest of the world. China of the “Cultural Revolution” period (1966-76) is an important case in point. The saliency of child fighter figures in films, cartoons, and propaganda posters of this chaotic, ultra-politicized decade has been noted by several scholars. To date however, little attention has been paid to the particular gendered features of these idealized juvenile combatants. The present paper seeks to address this gap by exploring how official representations of belligerent children and youth were distinctively masculinized and/ or feminized by Chinese media writers and producers of the Cultural Revolution period. Drawing on an analysis of children’s magazines produced and circulated in China from 1970 to1976, the paper explores children’s media products as a central site for the forging of hegemonic masculinities and femininities in socialist China, while reflecting on some of the tensions and ambiguities inherent in these gendered discourses of militant boys and girls. Specifically, I argue that in socialist China, children were mostly envisioned as fierce combatants rather than weak, angelic creatures requiring protection I argue the social, cultural, and political conditions which have contributed to its emergence in socialist China.
Research Interests:
In the recounting of national history, wars are often the focus of the narrative and are regarded as turning points in the story of a nation. The history curriculum, through which a nation’s wars are portrayed to young people, is... more
In the recounting of national history, wars are often the focus of the narrative and are regarded as turning points in the story of a nation. The history curriculum, through which a nation’s wars are portrayed to young people, is therefore closely guarded and controlled by modern states worldwide. Drawing on the assumption that knowledge put into circulation in history textbooks is a salient place for examining quasi-official notions of how the nation came into being and of how citizens of the nation and people in general are to be imagined, this paper explores how PRC history textbooks present issues of war and conflict to contemporary high-school students. Employing critical discourse analysis, I consider not only the contents of the books, but also what is absent from them, and ask what purposes may be served by this absence. I further examine the tone and rhetoric of the textbooks and their accompanying teaching guides, as well as the sub-texts, that is, how pictures, first- hand accounts, labels, questions, or maps, are brought together to construct a complex representational system. In particular, I ask: Do contemporary PRC textbooks and teaching guides present war as a perpetual condition, or as an anomaly? To what extent do the authors of these texts give a specific moral comment on the involvement of China or of other nations in violent conflict? Do they address the human impact of war, and if so, is there a focus on the plight of Chinese, or of all nations? Finally, what is the position of Chinese textbooks and teaching guides concerning the role of war and conflict in modern nation-building processes? By examining these and other questions, I seek to determine the extent to which China's history curriculum currently attempts to convey a militaristic or a peaceful message to students, and also to highlight the specific role of war stories in contemporary Chinese historical imagination.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The Louis Frieberg Center for East Asian Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem offers post-doctoral fellowships for the year 2023-2024. The fellowships are open to scholars in the humanities and social sciences specializing in... more
The Louis Frieberg Center for East Asian Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem offers post-doctoral fellowships for the year 2023-2024. The fellowships are open to scholars in the humanities and social sciences specializing in East Asia, especially China, Japan, Korea, and Mongolia. For further information please see the Call for Applications.
Research Interests:
The Louis Frieberg Center for East Asian Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem offers post-doctoral fellowships for the year 2022-2023. The post-docs are open to scholars in the humanities and social sciences specializing in East... more
The Louis Frieberg Center for East Asian Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem offers post-doctoral fellowships for the year 2022-2023. The post-docs are open to scholars in the humanities and social sciences specializing in East Asia, especially China, Japan, Korea, and Mongolia. Fellowships are granted for one academic year (October 2022-June 2023) or one term with the possibility of extension for an additional year. The starting date of the visit should not be later than four years after receipt of the Doctoral Degree; the fellow must hold a valid Doctoral Degree no later than October 2022. The fellowship consists of a monthly stipend (tax free) of 6500 NIS. Fellows are also entitled to one airline ticket (economy class, up to 1500 USD$) for a direct flight from their hometown to Israel and back.
The application deadline is February 11, 2022.
For further information about the fellowship requirements and the application process, please see attached call.
For questions and further information please contact [email protected]
The application deadline is February 11, 2022.
For further information about the fellowship requirements and the application process, please see attached call.
For questions and further information please contact [email protected]
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The Department of Asian Studies at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Confucius Institute Headquarters/Hanban are offering a scholarship for three years to an outstanding doctoral candidate in the field of Chinese studies... more
The Department of Asian Studies at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Confucius Institute Headquarters/Hanban are offering a scholarship for three years to an outstanding doctoral candidate in the field of Chinese studies beginning in the 2016-2017 academic year in the total amount of up to $60,000 + full tuition.
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Asian Studies, Chinese Studies, Sinology, Mongolian Studies, China, and 9 moreHistory of the Mongol Empire, China studies, Chinese archaeology, Contemporary China, Chinese history (History), Late Imperial-Modern China, Graduate Programs, Classical Chinese Intellectual History, and Chinese Anthropology
The Louis Frieberg Center for East Asian Studies offers post-doctoral fellowships for the year 2017-2018. The post-docs are open to scholars in the humanities and social sciences specializing in East Asia, especially China, Japan, Korea... more
The Louis Frieberg Center for East Asian Studies offers post-doctoral fellowships for the year 2017-2018. The post-docs are open to scholars in the humanities and social sciences specializing in East Asia, especially China, Japan, Korea and Mongolia.
Deadline: March 6, 2017
See http://www.eacenter.huji.ac.il/
Deadline: March 6, 2017
See http://www.eacenter.huji.ac.il/
Research Interests:
Call for applications in Asian Studies (China) The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, department of Asian studies, is calling for applications in modern and current China (20th-21st centuries, area of specialization open; open rank). The... more
Call for applications in Asian Studies (China)
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, department of Asian studies, is calling for applications in modern and current China (20th-21st centuries, area of specialization open; open rank). The position is open to all candidates who have attained a Ph.D. degree or to advanced graduate students who expect to be granted their Ph.D. no later than July 1, 2018.
Job requirements:
Candidates should be specialists in modern and current China (20th-21st centuries). Area of specialization is open, with some preference for candidates whose expertise includes politics, economy, or foreign relations of modern and current China. Responsibilities include the teaching of required and elective courses in the candidate's field(s) of specialization (at B.A. and M.A. degree levels), as well as introductory courses in current Chinese affairs, and supervision of MA and PhD students in these fields. Successful candidates are expected to conduct independent and original research at the highest academic level, demonstrate academic leadership, compete for Israeli and international research grants, and should display an ability to work cooperatively with colleagues in the Faculty of Humanities and the university at large. Where pertinent and in accordance with inter-departmental needs, a joint departmental appointment or teaching sharing arrangement may be considered, combining with one of several departments and cognate areas of study in the Humanities.
The language of instruction at the Hebrew University is Hebrew, but candidates who do not possess a mastery of Hebrew will be given time to reach proficiency in Hebrew during the initial years of their appointment.
Qualified candidates will be invited for a job talk and interview.
For more information, please contact Prof. Nissim Otmazgin [email protected]
More information on the department of Asian Studies can be found at http://en.asia.huji.ac.il
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, department of Asian studies, is calling for applications in modern and current China (20th-21st centuries, area of specialization open; open rank). The position is open to all candidates who have attained a Ph.D. degree or to advanced graduate students who expect to be granted their Ph.D. no later than July 1, 2018.
Job requirements:
Candidates should be specialists in modern and current China (20th-21st centuries). Area of specialization is open, with some preference for candidates whose expertise includes politics, economy, or foreign relations of modern and current China. Responsibilities include the teaching of required and elective courses in the candidate's field(s) of specialization (at B.A. and M.A. degree levels), as well as introductory courses in current Chinese affairs, and supervision of MA and PhD students in these fields. Successful candidates are expected to conduct independent and original research at the highest academic level, demonstrate academic leadership, compete for Israeli and international research grants, and should display an ability to work cooperatively with colleagues in the Faculty of Humanities and the university at large. Where pertinent and in accordance with inter-departmental needs, a joint departmental appointment or teaching sharing arrangement may be considered, combining with one of several departments and cognate areas of study in the Humanities.
The language of instruction at the Hebrew University is Hebrew, but candidates who do not possess a mastery of Hebrew will be given time to reach proficiency in Hebrew during the initial years of their appointment.
Qualified candidates will be invited for a job talk and interview.
For more information, please contact Prof. Nissim Otmazgin [email protected]
More information on the department of Asian Studies can be found at http://en.asia.huji.ac.il
Research Interests: International Relations, Chinese Studies, Chinese Art, China, Chinese foreign policy, and 8 moreModern Chinese History, Chinese Politics, Contemporary China, Chinese history (History), Chinese literature, Late Imperial-Modern China, International Relations of East Asia, Asian Security, China's Foreign Policy, International Relations Theory, Space Security, and China's international relations
The Louis Frieberg Center for East Asian Studies offers post-doctoral fellowships for the year 2018-2019. The post-docs are open to scholars in the humanities and social sciences specializing in East Asia, especially China, Japan, Korea... more
The Louis Frieberg Center for East Asian Studies offers post-doctoral fellowships for the
year 2018-2019. The post-docs are open to scholars in the humanities and social sciences
specializing in East Asia, especially China, Japan, Korea and Mongolia.
Fellowships are granted for one academic year or one term The starting date of the visit should not be later than four years after receipt of the Doctoral Degree; the fellow must hold a valid Doctoral Degree no later than October 2018.
The fellowship consists of a monthly stipend (tax free) of $1,800, paid in Israeli NIS
and linked to the representative rate of exchange. Fellows are entitled to one airline ticket (economy class, up to 1500$) for a direct flight from their hometown to Israel and back.
The fellows are expected to teach one semesterial course at the Hebrew University (for additional payment, according to the Hebrew University regulations). The ability to teach a course in Hebrew is welcome, but is not a prerequisite for attaining the fellowship.
The fellows will also actively participate in the life and activities of the Louis Frieberg Center for East Asian Studies and will present their research at the seminar of the Department of Asian Studies, and possibly at other relevant forums. Any work outside the Hebrew University would be allowed only after specific approval by the Frieberg Center.
Applicants should submit one hard copy and an electronic copy- in one file- of their
application to the address below, no later than March 22, 2018. The application must include:
1. CV
2. Research plan (up to 5 pages)
3. A sample of applicant's publications (if relevant)
4. Two letters of recommendation
The applicant should indicate the names and positions of the recommenders, but the letters of recommendation should be sent by the recommenders directly to the email address below.
Please send materials to:
The Louis Frieberg Center for East Asian Studies
Rm 6300, The Faculty of Humanities
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Mt. Scopus Jerusalem 91905
ISRAEL
email: [email protected]
year 2018-2019. The post-docs are open to scholars in the humanities and social sciences
specializing in East Asia, especially China, Japan, Korea and Mongolia.
Fellowships are granted for one academic year or one term The starting date of the visit should not be later than four years after receipt of the Doctoral Degree; the fellow must hold a valid Doctoral Degree no later than October 2018.
The fellowship consists of a monthly stipend (tax free) of $1,800, paid in Israeli NIS
and linked to the representative rate of exchange. Fellows are entitled to one airline ticket (economy class, up to 1500$) for a direct flight from their hometown to Israel and back.
The fellows are expected to teach one semesterial course at the Hebrew University (for additional payment, according to the Hebrew University regulations). The ability to teach a course in Hebrew is welcome, but is not a prerequisite for attaining the fellowship.
The fellows will also actively participate in the life and activities of the Louis Frieberg Center for East Asian Studies and will present their research at the seminar of the Department of Asian Studies, and possibly at other relevant forums. Any work outside the Hebrew University would be allowed only after specific approval by the Frieberg Center.
Applicants should submit one hard copy and an electronic copy- in one file- of their
application to the address below, no later than March 22, 2018. The application must include:
1. CV
2. Research plan (up to 5 pages)
3. A sample of applicant's publications (if relevant)
4. Two letters of recommendation
The applicant should indicate the names and positions of the recommenders, but the letters of recommendation should be sent by the recommenders directly to the email address below.
Please send materials to:
The Louis Frieberg Center for East Asian Studies
Rm 6300, The Faculty of Humanities
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Mt. Scopus Jerusalem 91905
ISRAEL
email: [email protected]
Research Interests: Japanese Studies, Chinese Studies, Korean Studies, Japanese History, Mongolian Studies, and 9 moreEast Asian Studies, Chinese Art, East Asian Archaeology, History of the Mongol Empire, East Asian Cinema, Chinese history (History), East Asian History, Korean popular culture, and East Asian Art history
Call for Papers: The 14th Conference of Asian Studies in Israel (ASI18) May 23-24 2018 Deadline: November 6, 2017 We are delighted to announce that the 14th Biennial Conference of Asian Studies in Israel (ASI18) will take place at... more
Call for Papers:
The 14th Conference of Asian Studies in Israel (ASI18) May 23-24 2018
Deadline: November 6, 2017
We are delighted to announce that the 14th Biennial Conference of Asian Studies in Israel (ASI18) will take place at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mt. Scopus Campus, on Wed-Thu, May 23-24, 2018.
We invite proposals on Asian-related topics (Central, South, East and South-East Asia). Priority will be given to thematic panels, but individual paper submissions are also welcome. The deadline for submitting proposals for either organized panels or individual papers is November 15, 2017.
The proposal should include the title of the panel or the individual paper together with a short abstract (150-200 words), as well as a short CV (1 page max) of the presenter/s. With the exception of roundtables, panel proposals should also include the title and abstract of each paper. Please indicate in your proposal what equipment, if any, will be required for your panel or lecture.
The 14th Conference of Asian Studies in Israel (ASI18) May 23-24 2018
Deadline: November 6, 2017
We are delighted to announce that the 14th Biennial Conference of Asian Studies in Israel (ASI18) will take place at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mt. Scopus Campus, on Wed-Thu, May 23-24, 2018.
We invite proposals on Asian-related topics (Central, South, East and South-East Asia). Priority will be given to thematic panels, but individual paper submissions are also welcome. The deadline for submitting proposals for either organized panels or individual papers is November 15, 2017.
The proposal should include the title of the panel or the individual paper together with a short abstract (150-200 words), as well as a short CV (1 page max) of the presenter/s. With the exception of roundtables, panel proposals should also include the title and abstract of each paper. Please indicate in your proposal what equipment, if any, will be required for your panel or lecture.
Research Interests: Asian Studies, Japanese Studies, Southeast Asian Studies, Chinese Studies, Japanese Language And Culture, and 19 moreBuddhist Studies, Indian studies, South Asian Studies, Inner Asian Studies, Korean Studies, Indonesian Studies, Central Asian Studies, Mongolian Studies, East Asian Studies, Eurasia, Islamic Studies, History of the Mongol Empire, Modern Indian History, East Asian Cinema, Chinese history (History), Confucianism, Medieval Indian History, Korean popular culture, and Asian Art
The Department of Asian Studies is happy to announce scholarships for MA students in Chinese Studies (all areas of and subjects within this broadly defined field are eligible). The scholarship is in the sum of 50,000 NIS per year, for two... more
The Department of Asian Studies is happy to announce scholarships for MA students in Chinese Studies (all areas of and subjects within this broadly defined field are eligible). The scholarship is in the sum of 50,000 NIS per year, for two years pending on the successfully passing the requirements of the first year and on our ability to receive funding for the continuation of this program. Conditions and Eligibility: The scholarship is open for students who will be registered to an MA program at the Hebrew University in the academic year of 2021-2022. Preference will be given to first year MA students in the Department of Asian Studies, but candidates from other departments and those that already started their MA can apply. The scholarship will be awarded according to academic merits. To receive the scholarship for the second year (pending our ability to get funding for it) the students will need to submit a progress report, to have been accepted to the research oriented (with a thesis) MA program, and have an MA advisor who will approve their progress and the subject of their MA thesis. Candidates should send, in one file, the following documents to the secretary of the Department of Asian Studies
Research Interests:
The Faculty of the Humanities at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem invites applications for the Khyentse Lectureship/Professorship in Buddhist Studies, a tenure-track position (open rank) in Buddhist Studies, with a preference for... more
The Faculty of the Humanities at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem invites applications for the Khyentse Lectureship/Professorship in Buddhist Studies, a tenure-track position (open rank) in Buddhist Studies, with a preference for Tibetan Buddhism.(in or outside Tibet namely also in Mongolia, China etc). Completed applications must be submitted by April 6, 2021
Research Interests:
The Asian Sphere offers a unique opportunity for outstanding candidates at the PhD level to enroll in an international multidisciplinary inter-university graduate program focusing on the Asian continent. The Asian Sphere is a joint... more
The Asian Sphere offers a unique opportunity for outstanding candidates at the PhD level to enroll in an international multidisciplinary inter-university graduate program focusing on the Asian continent. The Asian Sphere is a joint Israeli program of the Hebrew University and the University of Haifa funded by the Humanities Fund of the Council for Higher Education in Israel and Yad Hanadiv. It is a structured graduate program of excellence that focuses on various aspects of the entire Asian continent as a continuous civilizational zone. It addresses cross-regional contacts and processes among Asian societies, cultures and states, as well as between Asia and other continents throughout history until present time. The program's courses are taught in English. Apart from a dynamic and exceptional environment of learning and research, the program offers scholarships for outstanding graduate students. The scholarships for PhD students are of the amount of 60,000 NIS per year for three years. The Asian Sphere accepts students from different disciplines in the humanities and social sciences,
Research Interests: Japanese Studies, Middle East Studies, Chinese Studies, Japanese Language And Culture, Indian studies, and 11 moreSouth Asian Studies, Iranian Archaeology, Korean Studies, Central Asian Studies, Mongolian Studies, Cross-Cultural Studies, East Asian Studies, Islamic Studies, Chinese archaeology, Chinese history (History), and Mongolian history
The Louis Frieberg Center for East Asian Studies offers post-doctoral fellowships for the 2020-2021 academic year. The post-docs are open to scholars in the humanities and social sciences specializing in East Asia, especially China,... more
The Louis Frieberg Center for East Asian Studies offers post-doctoral fellowships for the 2020-2021 academic year. The post-docs are open to scholars in the humanities and social sciences specializing in East Asia, especially China, Japan, Korea and Mongolia.
Research Interests: Asian Studies, Japanese Studies, Chinese Studies, Japanese History, Central Asian Studies, and 10 moreMongolian Studies, Modern and Contemporary Japan, Asian History, East Asian Studies, Central Asia, Chinese archaeology, Contemporary China, Chinese history (History), Mongolian Archaeology, and Asian Art
The Department of Asian Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem invites applications for a tenure-track position (open rank) in Korean Studies. Candidates specializing in all research fields within Korean Studies are welcome to... more
The Department of Asian Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem invites applications for a tenure-track position (open rank) in Korean Studies. Candidates specializing in all research fields within Korean Studies are welcome to apply. Preference will be given to a specialization in the premodern era.
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The Asian Sphere offers a unique opportunity for outstanding candidates at the PhD level to enroll in a multidisciplinary and inter-university graduate program that deals with the Asian continent. The Asian Sphere is a joint Israeli... more
The Asian Sphere offers a unique opportunity for outstanding candidates at the PhD level to enroll in a multidisciplinary and inter-university graduate program that deals with the Asian continent. The Asian Sphere is a joint Israeli program between the Hebrew University and the University of Haifa, funded by the Humanities Fund of the Council for Higher Education in Israel and Yad Hanadiv. It is a structured graduate program of excellence that deals with the entire Asian continent as a continuous civilizational zone and addresses cross-regional contacts and processes among Asian societies, cultures and states and to a lesser extent between Asia and other continents throughout history until present time. The program's courses are taught in English. Apart from a dynamic and exceptional environment of learning and research, the program offers a large number of scholarships for outstanding graduate students. The scholarships for PhD students are in the amount of 60,000 NIS per year for three years. The Asian Sphere accepts students from different disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, such as Asian Studies, Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies
DEADLINE: March 31, 2020
https://eacenter.huji.ac.il/news/asian-sphere-trans-cultural-flows-program
DEADLINE: March 31, 2020
https://eacenter.huji.ac.il/news/asian-sphere-trans-cultural-flows-program
Research Interests: Cultural History, Cultural Studies, Asian Studies, Japanese Studies, Economics, and 15 moreSoutheast Asian Studies, Social Sciences, Middle East Studies, Chinese Studies, South Asian Studies, Inner Asian Studies, Mongolian Studies, Eurasian Nomads, East Asian Studies, Islamic Studies, History of the Mongol Empire, Migration Studies, Social History, Central Asia, and Korean popular culture
The Louis Frieberg Center for East Asian Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem offers post-doctoral fellowships for the year 2024-2025. The fellowships are open to scholars in the humanities and social sciences specializing in... more
The Louis Frieberg Center for East Asian Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem offers post-doctoral fellowships for the year 2024-2025. The fellowships are open to scholars in the humanities and social sciences specializing in East Asia, especially China, Japan, Korea, and Mongolia.
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War culture has had tremendous power in shaping modern Chinese understandings of the nation. The role of children’s education in the creation of Chinese war culture in the Mao era (1949-76) has nonetheless received scarce attention.... more
War culture has had tremendous power in shaping modern Chinese understandings of the nation. The role of children’s education in the creation of Chinese war culture in the Mao era (1949-76) has nonetheless received scarce attention. Drawing on the analysis of school textbooks, pedagogical and media publications, this study highlights the existence of competing visions of children’s roles in military violence throughout the period. The findings challenge the thesis that childhood in Maoist China was ultra-militarized and undermine the assumption that during the Cold War era, countries on different sides of the divide held starkly contrasting notions of the young.
Research Interests: Military History, Education, Political Science, Cold War, Socialisms, and 12 moreHistory of Childhood and Youth, Youth Culture, Political Violence, China, Children and Youth, China studies, Peace Education, Militarism and militarization, Childhood studies, History textbooks, Historical Studies, and Maoist China
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This chapter provides an overview of some of the major trends and unique problems that characterize child-rights legislation in the PRC. It includes a brief history of the evolution of children’s rights in modern China, situating these... more
This chapter provides an overview of some of the major trends and unique problems that characterize child-rights legislation in the PRC. It includes a brief history of the evolution of children’s rights in modern China, situating these developments within the broader framework of international child rights legislation. Presenting the key concepts of children’s protection, provision and participation rights, the chapter considers how these different types of rights come to the fore in the PRC, and discusses specific problems in the formulation and implementation of children’s rights in China.
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ABSTRACT Schools worldwide have long engaged in various forms of ‘war education’. In China, an extensive ‘Patriotic Education’ campaign and an expanded ‘National Defense Education’ curriculum have led to an increase in youth-oriented... more
ABSTRACT Schools worldwide have long engaged in various forms of ‘war education’. In China, an extensive ‘Patriotic Education’ campaign and an expanded ‘National Defense Education’ curriculum have led to an increase in youth-oriented military programs in the 2000s. Previous work on the implementation of these programs in Chinese schools has mostly focused on urban elite youth, while overlooking the reception of these programs by non-urban, non-elite populations. The present study addresses this issue by examining youth perceptions and experiences of military training courses in urban and rural high schools. Drawing on the analysis of Chinese publications in the 2000s and on data from field interviews with students of different backgrounds, the study finds that youth military training constitutes a contentious program. Although the Chinese government promotes the program as crucial for military strengthening and the fostering of a patriotic spirit, PRC academic and media writers provide alternative rationales for the program, which at times undermine the logic of government articulations. Meanwhile, interviews with youth document divergent attitudes and even resentment towards the program, especially among city youth. This finding casts doubt on the assumption that military-training courses necessarily contribute to the increased ‘militarization’ of Chinese youth and education.
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Research Interests: Education, Manga and Anime Studies, Anthropology of Children and Childhood, Consumer Behavior, National Identity, and 15 moreChina, History Education, China studies, Contemporary China, Consumption and Material Culture, Japanese Popular Culture, Chinese Media Studies, Multidisciplinary, Middle Classes and Consumption, Anthropology of Children and Youth, Media Consumption, Chinese education, Anime and Manga Youth Culture, Consumption Culture, and consumption sociology
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In recent years, China has witnessed the emergence of a new, psychological discourse of childhood. Children, it is argued, are not 'short, light-bodied adults' but persons with unique psychological needs who must learn to attain... more
In recent years, China has witnessed the emergence of a new, psychological discourse of childhood. Children, it is argued, are not 'short, light-bodied adults' but persons with unique psychological needs who must learn to attain self-awareness, emotional stability, and appropriate behavioral responses to frustrating social situations. Notably, these positions resemble those advanced by the therapeutic discourse of childhood prevalent elsewhere in the world. Drawing on Foucault's insights, critics of this discourse have argued that its rise in modern, liberal societies does not so much indicate a progressive, enlightened evolution in the treatment of the young but a shift from the use of naked power to more subtle, individualized forms of governance. To what extent does this claim apply to contemporary China? Does the emergence of a psychological discourse of childhood indicate a shift to a neo-liberal, bio-political program which seeks to govern Chinese society through t...
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In the rapidly urbanizing societies of contemporary Asia, city school systems have been at the center of recent efforts to foster a cosmopolitan outlook and an ethos of "global citizenship" among children and youth. The present... more
In the rapidly urbanizing societies of contemporary Asia, city school systems have been at the center of recent efforts to foster a cosmopolitan outlook and an ethos of "global citizenship" among children and youth. The present paper examines how civic education textbooks produced and taught in the city of Shanghai, China currently attempt to teach primary school children the importance of respecting and valuing diversity; of studying foreign people and foreign cultures; and of learning different languages, especially English. The paper considers how Shanghai’s unique standing as an aspiring "global city" has shaped its distinctive internationalist curriculum. It also notes however various tensions between Shanghai's attempts to raise "good global citizens" and the "Patriotic Education" campaign promoted by the Chinese central government since the early 1990s. Shanghai's case study, I suggest, attests to the key role municipal school s...
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n the past decade and a half, China has witnessed a significant rise in youth expressions of nationalist sentiment, manifested in anti-Western and anti-Japanese demonstrations on city streets; in consumer boycotts of foreign products; and... more
n the past decade and a half, China has witnessed a significant rise in youth expressions of nationalist sentiment, manifested in anti-Western and anti-Japanese demonstrations on city streets; in consumer boycotts of foreign products; and in the flourishing of a hyper-nationalistic discourse on the Internet. Some analysts suggest that these phenomena do not reflect genuine popular feelings, but rather have been orchestrated by the Chinese government. Others argue that urban middle class youth may profess ardent love for the nation and take part in patriotic activities, but also exhibit a relatively cosmopolitan outlook. The present paper aims to contribute to current debates concerning the nature of youth nationalism in China by drawing on the results of an empirical study conducted in the globalized metropolis of Shanghai and in the hinterland rural Province of Henan. How do Shanghai middle-class youth regard the Chinese ‘nation’ and its relationship to foreign people, countries, a...
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War culture has had tremendous power in shaping modern Chinese understandings of the nation and memories of its past. In this paper, I examine the symbolic role of the child in the construction of China's national war culture during... more
War culture has had tremendous power in shaping modern Chinese understandings of the nation and memories of its past. In this paper, I examine the symbolic role of the child in the construction of China's national war culture during the formative years of the People's Republic, a time when China was actively involved in the Korean War (1950-53). Official PRC interpretations have justified China's military intervention in the war on the basis of Marxist conceptions of world revolution and proletarian internationalism. However, nationalistic and militaristic themes were paramount in the Chinese government's attempts to generate popular support for its war efforts. Drawing on an analysis of texts and images which appeared in official media and in children's magazines of the early 1950s, and comparing them to similar works of the Chinese Civil War (1946-49) and Anti-Japanese War period (1937-45), I consider the following questions: what role did Chinese media produce...
Since the early 2000s, the Chinese military has been engaged in the production of military- and war-themed cultural products which increasingly employ new media and new technologies. Many of these products specifically target children and... more
Since the early 2000s, the Chinese military has been engaged in the production of military- and war-themed cultural products which increasingly employ new media and new technologies. Many of these products specifically target children and youth, and many are also a result of collaborations between the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and commercial forces. This article offers a preliminary exploration of how such PLA–civilian productions attempt to package and market war and the military to contemporary Chinese children and youth. It compares these current endeavours to previous depictions of war and the military in the youth culture of the Maoist period, and reflects on what this comparison can tell us about recent changes in official as well as popular conceptualizations of childhood, youth, and violence in the People’s Republic of China. The analysis demonstrates that contemporary PLA products for children and youth display positive attitudes toward the military and toward official...
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Schools constitute key sites for legal socialisation, the process whereby youth develop their relationship with the law. Yet, what does legal socialisation entail in the context of an authoritarian party-state such as China? The article... more
Schools constitute key sites for legal socialisation, the process whereby youth develop their relationship with the law. Yet, what does legal socialisation entail in the context of an authoritarian party-state such as China? The article examines this question by analysing Chinese citizenship education textbooks of the Xi era. The study finds that China's current textbooks contain elements associated with both a coercive and a consensual approach to legal education. Nonetheless, it is the consensual orientation that receives greater stress, as the books highlight the positive benefits of legal compliance and endorse the idea that youth should advance beyond the external supervisory stage to the self-discipline level of legal consciousness. Reflecting the attempt of the Chinese Communist Party leadership to draw on legality as a key source of legitimacy, this approach is nonetheless undermined by the propagandist tone of the textbooks and their ambiguous messages regarding citizen...
Research Interests: Education, Legal Education, Youth Studies, Chinese Law, Chinese Studies, and 13 moreCurriculum Studies, Law and Society, Human Rights Education, Political Socialization, China studies, Contemporary China, Chinese Law and Society, Curriculum and Instruction, Curriculum, Childhood studies, Citizenship Education, Political Education, and Children`s Rights
Since the 1990s, the Chinese party-state has attempted to teach its youth how to think and speak about the nation through a “patriotic education” campaign waged in schools, the media and on public sites. The reception of these messages by... more
Since the 1990s, the Chinese party-state has attempted to teach its youth how to think and speak about the nation through a “patriotic education” campaign waged in schools, the media and on public sites. The reception of these messages by youth of different social backgrounds remains a disputed issue, however. Drawing on a multi-sited field study conducted among rural and urban Han Chinese youth attending different types of schools, this article explores the effects of the patriotic education campaign on youth conceptions of the nation by examining the rhetoric high-school students employ when asked to reflect upon their nation. The study reveals that a majority of youth statements conform to the language and contents of the patriotic education campaign; however, there are significant differences in the discursive stances of urban youth and rural youth and of those attending academic and non-academic, vocational schools. These findings call into question the party-state's curren...
Research Interests: Sociology, Education, Sociology of Education, Youth Studies, Social Identity, and 15 moreNationalism, China, Political Attitudes, Anthropology of China, Politics Of Education, Vocational Education, China studies, Political Ideology, Contemporary China, Anthropology of Education, Social Class, Multidisciplinary, Political Identity, Chinese Communist Party, and Politics of Education
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ABSTRACT An anthropological study of the emergence of a new type of thinking about children and their rights in contemporary urban China. Drawing on diverse evidence from Chinese government, academic, media, and pedagogic publications, as... more
ABSTRACT An anthropological study of the emergence of a new type of thinking about children and their rights in contemporary urban China. Drawing on diverse evidence from Chinese government, academic, media, and pedagogic publications, as well as on participant observation and interviews in two primary schools and among elite and middle class families in Shanghai, China, it debunks many popular and scholarly stereotypes about the predominance of Confucian ideas of parental authority in China or about the indifference to individual human rights in the political and public culture of the PRC. At the same time, the book recognizes the complexities and conflicts that exist in Chinese discourses about and practices toward children, as older ideas of filiality, neoliberal ideologies, and the new awareness of children’s right to privacy, to expressing their views, and to protection against violence compete and collude in complicated, often contradictory ways.
Research Interests: Education, Sociology of Children and Childhood, Human Rights Law, Ethnography, Human Rights, and 15 morePrivacy, Children and Families, Urban Anthropology, Violence (Anthropology), Anthropology of Children and Childhood, Family, Critical Discourse Analysis, Modernity, China, Sociology of the Middle Classes, Elementary Education, Citizenship, Subjectivity, Corporal Punishment, and Child Rearing Practices
Over the past two decades or so, China has witnessed a significant rise in public expressions of nationalist sentiment. Noting the prevalence of participants in their thirties or younger in these grassroots nationalist movements, a... more
Over the past two decades or so, China has witnessed a significant rise in public expressions of nationalist sentiment. Noting the prevalence of participants in their thirties or younger in these grassroots nationalist movements, a growing number of studies have begun to document the shifting nature of Chinese youth nationalism and the factors that shape it. These studies have been extremely useful in revealing the multidimensional nature of youth nationalism in China. However, ethnographic research which systematically documents the views of Han Chinese youth toward the nation while attempting to identify the various factors that shape these views remain scarce. Moreover, the few qualitative studies that have tackled these issues tend to focus on students in elite high schools and colleges or those residing in large metropolitan areas, while neglecting rural youth and urban youth of lower-class backgrounds. This paper seeks to address this gap. It explores how youth in China's ...
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ABSTRACT The perceived innocence and vulnerability of children has been a dominant theme in modern conceptualizations of childhood, particularly in the aftermath of the Second World War. A growing number of studies suggest however that a... more
ABSTRACT The perceived innocence and vulnerability of children has been a dominant theme in modern conceptualizations of childhood, particularly in the aftermath of the Second World War. A growing number of studies suggest however that a notion of children as capable of violent or even lethal conduct has not altogether vanished from post-World War II public discourse in Western Europe and North America, or indeed elsewhere in the world. China of the “Cultural Revolution’” period (1966–1976) is an illustrative case. The present article examines the portrayal of children as violent actors and the discursive militarization of Chinese childhood in PRC magazines of the late 1960s to the mid-1970s. It seeks to highlight the gendered aspects of the “belligerent child” trope in Chinese children’s media, while noting the distinctive depictions of militant boys and militant girls in the latter part of the Cultural Revolution period. These findings attest to the ambiguous nature of Chinese thinking about children and their capacities in the late Maoist period. They cast doubt on the frequently made argument that Cultural Revolution works produced the overall effect of “gender erasure” or, alternatively, of the extensive “masculinization” of Chinese women and girls. They further highlight the importance of critically examining how the different meanings of “being a girl” were produced, circulated, and, in turn, deployed in public discussions on national collectivity and political conflict in Maoist-era China.
Research Interests: Cultural History, Violence, Chinese Studies, Masculinity Studies, Cold War and Culture, and 15 moreMilitarism, History of Childhood and Youth, History of Childhood, Modern Chinese History, Social History, Children and War, Constructions of femininity, Multidisciplinary, War and the Media, Cultural Revolution, Magazines, History of Gender, Children In War, Chinese childhood, and Maoist China
ABSTRACT The perceived innocence and vulnerability of children has been a dominant theme in modern conceptualizations of childhood, particularly in the aftermath of the Second World War. A growing number of studies suggest however that a... more
ABSTRACT The perceived innocence and vulnerability of children has been a dominant theme in modern conceptualizations of childhood, particularly in the aftermath of the Second World War. A growing number of studies suggest however that a notion of children as capable of violent or even lethal conduct has not altogether vanished from post-World War II public discourse in Western Europe and North America, or indeed elsewhere in the world. China of the “Cultural Revolution’” period (1966–1976) is an illustrative case. The present article examines the portrayal of children as violent actors and the discursive militarization of Chinese childhood in PRC magazines of the late 1960s to the mid-1970s. It seeks to highlight the gendered aspects of the “belligerent child” trope in Chinese children’s media, while noting the distinctive depictions of militant boys and militant girls in the latter part of the Cultural Revolution period. These findings attest to the ambiguous nature of Chinese thinking about children and their capacities in the late Maoist period. They cast doubt on the frequently made argument that Cultural Revolution works produced the overall effect of “gender erasure” or, alternatively, of the extensive “masculinization” of Chinese women and girls. They further highlight the importance of critically examining how the different meanings of “being a girl” were produced, circulated, and, in turn, deployed in public discussions on national collectivity and political conflict in Maoist-era China.