Anthropology of the Chinese Diaspora

Catalog description

The anthropological study of the Chinese diaspora is a growing field against the backdrop of the latest wave of global anti-Chinese racism. This has been fueled by the rise of China and the COVID-19 pandemic. This course will provide an anthropological perspective into understanding the Chinese diaspora worldwide. Instead of treating each geographically distributed overseas Chinese community as an independent unit of analysis, we will investigate diasporic Chinese with their own sets of identities, experiences and practices within a holistic framework that takes into consideration complex historical, economic, socio-political, and cultural contexts. We will reflect on concepts such as what it means to be Chinese and the very idea of being diasporic. The course is aimed at engaging with broader contemporary themes and debates including identity politics, race and ethnicity, gender, nationalism and transnationalism, colonialism, capitalism, and globalization.