Full Description
Doing fieldwork inside the PRC is an eye-opening but sometimes also deeply frustrating experience. Fieldwork-based studies form the foundation for our understanding of Chinese politics and society, but there are conspicuously few detailed descriptions in the China literature of how people actually do their fieldwork, and of the problems they encounter.
This lack of public methodological debate not only undermines academic standards of openness: it also stalls constructive discussion on coping strategies to shared problems, and it leaves graduate students going to the field for the first time with a feeling of being the only ones to encounter difficulties. In this volume scholars from around the world reflect on their own fieldwork practice in order to give practical advice and discuss more general theoretical points.
The contributors come from a wide range of disciplines such as political science, anthropology, economics, media studies, history, cultural geography, and sinology. The book also contains an extensive bibliography. This work is of relevance to postgraduate students from the social sciences and humanities who plan to do fieldwork in China; to experienced scholars who are new to the China field; and to experienced China scholars with an interest in methodological issues.
Contents
Preface * Contributors * Stig Thogersen and Maria Heimer: Introduction * Kevin J. O'Brien: Discovery, Research (Re)design, and Theory Building * Elin Saether: Fieldwork as Coping and Learning * Maria Heimer: Field Sites, Research Design and Type of Findings * Mette Halskov: Hansen In the Footsteps of the Communist Party * Emily T. Yeh: Disciplining the Researcher in Tibet * Stig Thogersen: Beyond Official Chinese: Language Codes and Strategies * Bjorn Gustafsson and Li Shi: Surveys - Three Ways to Obtain Household Income Data * Dorothy J. Solinger: Interviewing Chinese People - From High-level Officials to the Unemployed * Baogang He Consultancy: A Different Gate to the Field * Stig Thogersen: Approaching the Field through Written Sources * Bu Wei: Human Trafficking in Sichuan * Bjorn Kjellgren: The Significance of Benevolence and Wisdom - Reflections on Field Positionality * Mette Thuno: In the 'Field' Together - Potentials and Pitfalls in Collaborative Research * Marina Svensson: Ethical Dilemmas - Balancing Distance with Involvement * Anja Moller Rasmussen, Inga-Lill Blomkvist and Mads Kjeldsen: Annotated Bibliography * Chinese Glossary * Index
