The anthropology of China : China as ethnographic and theoretical critique

290 Pages·2016·4.32 MB·English

by  Bruckermann

A
nthropology
nr PUINA
Chinaas
O F U n M iH Ethnographic
and
Theoretical
Critique
:
Charlotte Bruckermann
Stephan Feuchtwang
Imperial College Press
A
nthropology
* CHINA
Ethnographic
and
Theoretical
Critique
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A
nthropology
nr PUINA
Chinaas
O F u n IIlH Ethnographic
and
Theoretical
Critique
Charlotte Bruckermann
Stephan Feuchtwang
London School of Economics, UK
Imperial College Press
Published by
Imperial College Press
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Feuchtwang, Stephan, author. | Bruckermann, Charlotte, 1984- author.
Title: The anthropology of China : China as ethnographic and theoretical critique /
Stephan Feuchtwang (London School of Economics, UK) &
Charlotte Bruckermann (London School of Economics, UK).
Description: New Jersey : Imperial College Press, 2016.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016002960| ISBN 9781783269822 (he : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9781783269839 (pbk : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Families--China. | China—Social life and customs. |
Food-China. | Ethnology—China.
Classification: LCC HQ503 .F48 2016 | DDC 306.85095l-dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016002960
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Copyright © 2016 by Imperial College Press
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means,
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About the Authors
Professor Stephan Feuchtwang is an emeritus professor of the
Anthropology Department at the London School of Economics. He has
been engaged in research on popular religion and politics in mainland
China and Taiwan since 1966, resulting in publications on charisma, place,
temples and festivals, and civil society. He has recently been engaged in a
comparative project exploring the theme of the recognition of cata­
strophic loss. In 2015, he completed the coordination of research on plan­
ning and community formation in urban neighborhoods of four cities as
part of a European Commission project on sustainable urbanization in
China. He has also been pursuing a project on the comparison of civiliza­
tions and empires.
Dr. Charlotte Bruckermann is a research fellow at the Max Planck
Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle, Germany. Since completing her
PhD in Anthropology at the University of Oxford in 2013, she has worked
at the London School of Economics, Humboldt University and the
University of Basel. Her areas of expertise include the anthropology of
China, ritual, work, gender, economic transformation, and post-socialism.
Based on fieldwork in rural Shanxi Province, her research has explored
how villagers make themselves at home despite economic inequality,
political rupture, and ecological degradation. She is about to embark on
research investigating the role of finance in driving environmental
projects.
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Contents
About the Authors v
Chapter I Introduction I
LI OutlineoftheContents 2
Chapter 2 Anthropology of China: History, Regionalism,
and Comparison 9
2.1 Anthropology’s Crisis of Representation 11
2.2 Ethnographic Authority and the Regionalization
of Anthropology 14
2.3 Revolution and Reform in the Anthropology
of China 17
2.4 Regionalization from a Chinese Perspective 21
2.5 Fei and the Study of Chinese Society 24
2.6 Fei’s Non-western Sociological Theory of China 26
2.7 Moral Crisis and Individual Ethics 31
2.8 China in a Changing World 35
Chapter 3 Kinship as Ideology and as Corporation 39
3.1 Developing Cognition between Individual
and Ideology 40
3.2 Chinese Kinship from Family to Lineage 47
3.3 Changes from above: The Role of Neo-Confucian
Ideologues 53
3.4 Bottom-up Rites as Drivers of Change 56
vii
3.5 The State, Laws, and Taxes in Kinship as
Patricorporation 61
3.6 Development of Historical Consciousness 65
3.7 Conclusion 68
Relatedness and Gender 71
4.1 FromKinshiptoRelatedness 72
4.2 Nurturing Reciprocity 78
4.3 Engendering Desire 82
4.4 Families Women Create 85
4.5 Migration and Gendered Spaces 88
4.6 FamilyPlanning 90
4.7 From Holism to Partial Processes 95
Love, Emotion and Sentiment 99
5.1 LoveasTranscendenceoftheSelf 100
5.2 Love as Knowledge Revealed and Concealed 101
5.3 How Structural is Love in China? 103
5.4 Expressing Emotion through Action and Words 105
5.5 Love between Passion and Affection 107
5.6 The Romantic Revolution 108
5.7 Romantic Scripts, Sex, and the City HO
5.8 Affection and Dependence between Parents
and Children 113
5.9 Patriotism as Love Extended 115
5.10 LoveandEmotioninChina 116
The Exchange of Money, Gifts, and Favors 119
6.1 Money and the Morality of Exchange 120
6.2 Money in Chinese History 123
6.3 Rural Relationships 130
6.4 Urban Connections 132
6.5 Status, Merit, and Self-Interest 133
6.6 Elite Networks 135
6.7 Kinship and Property 137
6.8 Conclusion 139
Contents ix
Chapter 7 The Localization and Globalization of Food 143
7.1 Chinese Cooking and Cuisines in Comparison 144
7.2 National Cuisines on a Global Stage 146
7.3 Chinese Food as World Cuisine 150
7.4 TheGenerationGapattheTable 153
7.5 Inside and Outside Culinary Principles 156
7.6 Localism from Cooking to Cuisine 158
7.7 Consumer Culture and Corporate Food 160
7.8 Faith, Food, and Identity 164
7.9 Eating Modernity and Consuming Exoticism 166
Chapter 8 Nature, Environment, and Activism 171
8.1 TheDualismofNatureandCulture 173
8.2 GlobalizingNatureinChinaandTaiwan 176
8.3 Social Justice in Environmental Protest 180
8.4 CompensationforlndustrialPollution 183
8.5 ReasonandLawinRuralResourceManagement 184
8.6 Global Environmentalism and fengshui 186
8.7 SocialHarmonyBeyondNature-CultureDualism 188
Chapter 9 RitualandBelief 191
9.1 GovernmentbyRite 192
9.2 RitualandIdeology 193
9.3 Belief and Ritual Practice: Orthodoxy
and Orthopraxy 198
9.4 So, are We Actually Talking about the Influence
of Writing and a State? 200
9.5 Liberal Modernity, Ritual and the Cult
of Sincerity 203
9.6 Maoist Political Ritual 204
9.7 Funerals Post-Mao 207
Chapter 10 Hospitality 213
10.1 The Constraint to Share and Be Generous:
The Basis of Civilization 213
10.2 Altruism: The Impossible Gift on the
Ultimate Scale of Humanity 215