Clans and Classmates: Kinship, Education, and Migration in Southwest China Restricted; Files Only

Abstract

This dissertation explores how Nuosu youth enact kinship relationships, ethnic practices, and carefully crafted self-representations, asserting claims for ethnic legitimacy and national belonging within the context of divisive ethnic relations in contemporary China. Specifically, it focuses on Nuosu Yi university students in Chengdu China, who have migrated to the city to partake in “ethnic” higher education (民族教育), and whose parents, siblings, and relatives work as industrial and agricultural laborers. Based on eight years of involvement with the Nuosu community and 12 months of fieldwork at Southwest Minzu University in Chengdu and Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, this dissertation follows the ways in which Nuosu university students draw on pre-existing kinship relationships and create new ones during their migration journeys. It examines how kinship and ethnic identities enacted in higher education challenge categorical divisions between education and labor migration in Chinese society. In tracing Nuosu college students’ personal and familial aspirations, this study contributes to understanding rural-urban divisions and majority-minority relations in China and elsewhere. In addition, this study builds on the New Kinship Studies, showing how people create affective bonds and conceptions of relatedness in new social milieus. It also engages themes of self and community representation, discussing the ways in which young Nuosu create new kinds of ethnic publics and engage in individual and collective forms of agency. These practices suggest that higher education and migration have fostered diverse ways of being ethnic and desires for personal and communal recognition in China today. 

Table of Contents

Note on Language and Pseudonyms………………………………………………. 1

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………2

Part I: 

Preface to Part I…………………………………………………………..………..50

Chapter 1. Clans and Classmates: Kinship Practices and Youth Sociality at Southwest Minzu University  ...............................................................................................................54

 

 

Chapter 2. From Interest to Responsibility:  Ethnic Identity and Practices at a Minzu University………………………………………………………………………….115

Chapter 3. Beyond the Minzu University: Nuosu Students and Vocational Education

……………………………………………………………………………………..159

Part II

Preface to Part II………………………………………………………………..….201

Chapter 4. When The Han Came: Intergenerational Memory and History Making in Butuo County…………………………………………………………..………..……..…204

 

Chapter 5. Guiding the Road: Youth Mobility and Spatial Practices between Education 

and Labor………………………………………………………………………..…247

 

Chapter 6. Retro Nuosu: Reclaiming the Past, Present, and Future through Participatory Portraits in Southwest China…………………………………………………………………295

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………335

 

 

 

 

 

About this Dissertation

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School	Laney Graduate School
Department	Anthropology
Degree	Ph.D.
Submission	Dissertation
Language	English
Research Field	Anthropology, Cultural Asian Studies
Palabra Clave	Kinship China Minzu Education Migration Ethnicity Nuosu Yi
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Jenny Chio, University of Southern California
Committee Members	Michael Peletz, Emory University Kristin Phillips, Emory University

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