Anthropological Methodologies: Chinese Perspectives

This book addresses the pressing challenges of the twenty-first centuryan era marked by crises and uncertaintyby advocating for anthropology's vital role in fostering compassionate intercultural dialogue and promoting harmonious coexistence between humanity and the non-human world. Through a collection of thought-provoking essays, it explores how non-Western perspectives, particularly Chinese methodologies, can enrich anthropological practice and help transcend the limitations imposed by Western-centric paradigms. Rather than replacing one form of ethnocentrism with another, the book calls for a more balanced and inclusive conversation across cultures.

Within this framework, anthropology is reimagined not merely as the interpretation or writing of culture, but as an active process of cultural communication, negotiation, and reconciliation. True intercultural understanding, the book argues, can only be achieved when diverse cultural subjects engage in dialogue on equal footingmaking the doing of anthropology a collaborative and transformative endeavor.

Serves as a reference for scholars and students of anthropology and East Asian studies Covers Chinese perspectives on methodologies for conducting ethnographic research in complex societies Presents the complex context of Chinese nationalism and ethnic knowledge production

Autorentext

Tan Tongxue is Professor of the School of ethnology and sociology at Yunnan University. His previous books include Two-Dimensional People: Lives, Desires, and Social Attitudes in a Changing Chinese Village (London: Routledge, 2023) and Monetary Pride and Social Prejudice: A Study of Social Development and Community Mutual Aid in Contemporary Rural China (Beijing: Social Sciences Academic Press, 2013). His research interests include studies of anthropological methodology, peasant economies, village morality, grassroots politics, and social consciousness.

Inhalt

Chapter 1: The Literature, History, Philosophy Tradition as Anthropological Methodology.- Chapter 2: Intersubjective Hermeneutics of the Conjuncture of Multiple Ontologies.- Chapter 3: Practical Transcendence of the Divide Between Self and Other, and the Ethnographic Method of Doing.- Chapter 4: The Rhetoric of Empiricism and the Imaginary Other in Rural China Studies.- Chapter 5: In-Depth Case Studies from the Perspective of Typological Comparison, and the Articulation of Chinese Experiences.- Chapter 6: The Awakening of Minzu Theory in the March Toward Sovereignty.- Chapter 7: Observing Narrators and Their Societies through the Lens of Historical Narratives.- Chapter 8: Cultural Self-Awareness, Targeted Poverty Alleviation, and the Disenchantment of Participatory Development Theory in Miao County, Guizhou.- Postscript: Addressing the Aura of the Local in Chinese Anthropology.