Susanne Bregnbaek

Fragile Elite

The Dilemmas of China's Top University Students

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Susanne Bregnb¿/b> is Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Copenhagen.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Stanford University Press
• Seitenzahl: 184
• Erscheinungstermin: 9. März 2016
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 226mm x 152mm x 18mm
• Gewicht: 295g
• ISBN-13: 9780804797788
• ISBN-10: 0804797781
• Artikelnr.: 44383185

Autorenporträt

Susanne Bregnbæk is Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Copenhagen.

Inhaltsangabe

Contents and Abstracts
1Introduction
chapter abstract
The introduction starts out by recounting the suicide of a student who
jumped from the roof of a university building at Beijing University and the
surrounding stories. It provides an introduction to the study of moral
dilemmas experienced by Chinese youth, the One Child Policy and its related
educational ideals (the education for quality reforms) that lead to two
contradictory social imperatives, those of 'self-sacrifice' and
'self-realization'. It outlines its theoretical approach inspired by
phenomenology and existentialism as well as the focus on the 'oedipal
project', describes as a universal need to experience some degree of
separation from parents and the parental state. This discussion is
connected to a discussion of the role of Confucianism in Chinese society
and the impact of the pact between parents and state, whose efforts go hand
in hand in seeking to educate (guan) a high quality child.
2Sculpting in Time
chapter abstract
This chapter provides a detailed ethnographic study of a student, Jing Jing
from Qinghua University by discussing her family history going back several
generations. Avoiding the standard paradigms that contrast collectivism and
individualism, it presents Jing Jing, as an actor working through sets of
tensions outside of her control. She struggles simultaneously to be a
filial daughter who cares for her mother during a terminal sickness and to
live out her own dreams of individual fulfillment and self-realization
through higher education. The result is strong guilt and remorse when her
aspiration to do both continuously fail. The chapter serves as an argument
for the general approach that will be undertaken throughout the book.
3Filial Piety and Existential Aporias
chapter abstract
This chapter is devoted to inter-generational conflict, with reference to
the Oedipal project. The author explains how the oedipal theme differs from
Freud's narrow emphasis on lust and competitiveness and it is rephrased as
an existential imperative to find a balance between primary bonds and a
need to distance oneself from these in order to come into one's own. It is
shown how it has been formulated historically in China through the Chinese
notion of guan which links the care and control of state and family. After
discussing the cultural resonance of the story of Xu Li, famous in China
for having killed his mother and integrated into party rhetoric of parental
bonds holding back of the nation, it explores six examples of the tension
between parents and children who are struggling to establish themselves as
autonomous persons.
4Youth and the Party-State
chapter abstract
This chapter turns to the ways in which students experience control by the
state, with a particular focus on the complexities surrounding the Party's
attempts to either become or circumvent the parental figures of students.
It illustrates how the state is seen to exercise care and control just as
parents do. In fact, informants sometimes 'slipped', using the word
'government' when they meant to say 'parents'. The chapter also provides a
portrait of a teacher, who ambiguously mediates the relationship between
family and state. This particular teacher is portrayed as a role model for
several of the students as she defies her role as an agent of the state.
Among other things she does this by supporting students' responses to the
closing of the intranet at Qinghua University, an incident which evoked
memories of the Tiananmen incident.
5Between Parents, Party and Peers
chapter abstract
This chapter is devoted to the relationship of students to the Communist
Party. The case studies include students who have tried to imagine the
Communist Party as a parent and who have since become disillusioned. Some
young people joined the Party, 'marrying the state', while others took a
critical stance towards this move and expressed concerns about corruption.
It is argued that the Party is failing among students to maintain its
earlier role as both a parent figure and an embodiment of the country as a
whole. Ethnographically thick descriptions of students from different
familial backgrounds show that party-membership is experienced as a
strategy for self-cultivation and an attempt to open paths to the future,
which leaves students with a rural background particularly disillusioned
and angry.
6The Double-binds of 'Education for Quality'
chapter abstract
This chapter starts off with a personal anecdote from a pre-school that the
author's son attended. This vignette serves to frame the argument that
creativity is fostered in an authoritarian way. It then places the
educational reform in a broader historical perspective by describing the
interest in American education, starting with the popularity of the
pedagogical philosophy of John Dewey. This is being revived today in the
effort to instill creativity and individuality as educational principles,
thus countering the extreme focus on rote learning for examinations. It is
argued that the state's attempt to form docile citizens who will follow
their parents and the state while at the same time becoming innovative
individuals who will guide China to world dominance is creating a set of
irresolvable tensions among the students, those termed 'self-sacrifice' and
'self-realization'.
7Success, Well-being and the Question of Suicide
chapter abstract
This chapter takes the reader back to where the book started - that is with
the many instances of suicide which are a 'public secret'. It suggests that
incidents of suicide are a form of social criticism. This argument involves
an analysis of the historical importance of suicide in China, which was
traditionally common among in-married wives in a patriarchal household, who
have committed suicide as a form of social protest. It reflects on the
relationship between this culturally specific notion of suicide and its
relationship to a universal imperative to experience oneself as an actor,
not merely acted upon. It also investigates the Chinese educational
reforms' attempts to reduce the pressure of education and argue that they
in practice seem to objectify and quantify a concern for well-being,
generating new forms of pressure and competition.
8Conclusion
chapter abstract
The conclusion sums up the paradox that the lucky few who have made it
through the needle's eye and have entered a top university in China face
great pressure and often experience education as something which has come
at a great cost. It reflects on how this excessive pressure is not likely
to diminish in the years to come but rather seems to increase creating ever
more complex forms of pressure. As China is looking to the West to find the
key to success in the knowledge economy, the West seems to be looking East.
Therefore this pressure where means are often so important that the ends
are forgotten have wider global implications. The conclusion also
summarizes how the existential dilemmas (aporias) experienced by Chinese
elite students are a telling window to life in a society undergoing radical
change, they also point to aspects of the shared human condition.