SOC 697 - Advanced Independent Studies (Graduate Level) Rural Migrant Workers in China's Reform Era Spring 2015 - W 2:30pm CRN27714
With the onset of the Reform Era and the restructuring of the socialist society initiated by Deng Xiaoping during the late 1970s, China's rural population has been unleashed from the countryside to serve as a reserve army of labor for the industrializing spaces of the coastal and interior regions of China. This independent study covers some of the core literature that examines the rise of the nongmingong (rural migrant workers), whom have also been described as China's "floating population." The readings examine the emergence of the nongmingong, gendered dimensions of the rural migrant worker phenomenon, with a particular focus on rural women workers and dagongmei (working girls), and closes with a reading of some recent ethnographic studies of Chinese labor migrations that explore their ties to the commodity chains and credit cosmologies of global capitalism. Students will spend 10-12 weeks covering readings for the course and the final weeks of the semester working on a research paper, field statement or area paper related to the course theme.
