In the past two decades, the Chinese anthropological community has trained groups of young scholars in overseas ethnographic study. They have carried out fieldwork in various regions of the world and written ethnographies with theoretical depth. Their practice not only has brought about changes in the pattern of Chinese anthropology - no longer limited to the study of local society in China, but also is contributing to the changing pattern of world anthropology - more and more scholars from the global South are earning opportunities to study the world. The rise of overseas ethnographic studies in China provides useful cases for the development of world anthropologies.
This panel will bring together the latest exemplary achievements of overseas ethnography research in the Chinese academic community: from basic research on foreign communities to multi-sited research on transnational mobility between China and other regions of the world, from observing cultural diversity rooted in human past to exploring global problems facing the contemporary world, and from studying local knowledge and state power to examining the transformative effects of contemporary world institutions and cultures at local and national levels. As an alternative to the long tradition of global North anthropologists studying the global South, China’s overseas ethnography research demonstrates how the world society and world anthropology with multi-party participation could shape each other.
