Journal Articles and Book Chapters by Shuhua Chen
Anthropological Forum: A Journal of Social Anthropology and Comparative Sociology, 2024
Qiaopi, remittance family letters that maintained networks between
overseas Chinese and their fam... more Qiaopi, remittance family letters that maintained networks between
overseas Chinese and their families and relatives in China in the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries, have been recognised since
2013 by UNESCO as a ‘Memory of the World’, a piece of
documentary heritage. Qiaopi have become a subject of prolific
research in recent years, especially among historians. In this
article, I attempt to explore what kind of resource—
ethnographical, methodological, or moral—qiaopi letters as a
‘Memory of the World’ represent anthropology. To examine the
world value of the qiaopi archives beyond their ‘function’ as
cultural constructions of collective memory, this article places
individual experience as a focus of concern upon three
cosmopolitan stands to examine qiaopi family networks: (1)
ethnographically, qiaopi are scrutinised as an individual practice
stemming from a universal human truth for homing, insofar as
they serve to articulate family networks across two disjointed
worlds; (2) methodologically, qiaopi are read beyond their genre
of expression with the approach of cosmopolitan interiority, in
order to resonate the shared human affects that are felt inbetween
the lines of qiaopi letters; and (3) morally, to restore
individual expressions within qiaopi family networks—including
silences that are beyond expression and those lost in transition—
with the aim of avoiding reinforcing discourses that seek to
reduce the individuals into categorisations under cultural totalism.
Anthropological Forum: A Journal of Social Anthropology and Comparative Sociology, 2024
In an increasingly polarised world, crisp labelling, dichotomisation,
and the flourishing of nati... more In an increasingly polarised world, crisp labelling, dichotomisation,
and the flourishing of nation- and ethnic-based prejudice hinders
the finding and construction of spaces for transcending
boundaries. By combining cosmopolitanism as forms of relating
with networks as a social and cultural practice characteristic of
our time, this special issue aims at discerning forms and
situations which defy prior categorisation or bridge social
boundaries. It brings together eight case studies that provide
ethnographically grounded explorations of the articulation of
cosmopolitan perspectives with networking practices. The articles
cover a variety of ethnographic settings, Africa, Latin America, the
Caribbean, Europe and Asia. Bringing ‘cosmopolitanism’ and
‘network’ together points to issues that are foundational to the
discipline: from the definition of the ‘Other’ and the definition of
the anthropological object of analysis, to the definition of the
social in different social formations and actions.
Anthropolog y and Humanism, 2022
This piece presents a narration of a dream by a rural migrant, Yang Cui, who works in a city in C... more This piece presents a narration of a dream by a rural migrant, Yang Cui, who works in a city in China. It reveals her inner struggles to end an affair with another migrant worker, Lao Bo. This piece is written as a part of an ethnographic book project on rural–urban migration in China, in which I experiment with different genres of writing in an attempt to address migrants' bewildering existential multiplicity of interior experience, among which some are presented more analytically, some more subjectively, and some more imaginatively. Understanding the human condition in terms of the limits of knowing others and ourselves requires anthropologists to seek creative forms of ethnographic narrative to give shape and voice to existential struggles, ambivalence, and uncertainty of everyday life. This piece attempts to use Yang Cui's narration of her dream as an evocative form of describing her inner struggles being with Lao Bo as a so-called linshi fuqi (“temporary couple”), through which her self-knowledge unfolds, reflection takes place, and consciousness finds expression.
In a world of rampant inequality, when millions seek out better futures elsewhere, this introduct... more In a world of rampant inequality, when millions seek out better futures elsewhere, this introduction situates critical experiences of dwelling within recent debates on home and migration. Seeing vulnerability as an active condition, this theme section records the attempts of individuals and groups on the move in fashioning a home despite adverse socio-cultural, economical, and political situations. Our argumentation considers: the imbrication of structural forces and existential power, the complexity of temporal registers across the life course, and the human capacity for home-making. As asylum-seekers, evicted refugees and deprived migrant families struggle to feel at home in precarious circumstances, our ethnographies reveal the violence infl icted by social systems but also the agency of subjects who strive to make the places they inhabit everyday worth living.
How does one experience home when being-at-home becomes one’s ‘annual holiday’ while being-away-f... more How does one experience home when being-at-home becomes one’s ‘annual holiday’ while being-away-from-home comes to stand for everyday life? Based on fourteen months fieldwork studying rural-urban migration in China, this chapter scrutinises two moments among the migrants’ daily lives, arguing that these moments capture something significant of their home-making practices, both behavioural and ideational, that the migrants undertake in their migratory experience. The chapter explores: 1) the migrants’ perceptions of space, as home, non-home, or the outside world; 2) their floating mind-set: homeawayness; 3) their ways of making home through building life-projects; and 4) their spiralling trajectory in ‘returning’ home.
For migrants, a family letter may define an absence: of home, of
family, of love. It is written t... more For migrants, a family letter may define an absence: of home, of
family, of love. It is written to an absence. It may also serve as a
way of transporting a migrant home, imaginarily. Each time a
migrant writes a letter home, they are making a journey to their family:
scenarios with family are developed in their imagination, and thus
relationships are crafted, and home is constituted. The practice of letterwriting creates a space that is neither at home nor away sojourning, but somewhere in-between, a space for a migrant to be at home in the world. It is, I argue, a space for cosmopolitan imagination.
For migrants, how does writing family letters relate to making a home? This chapter aims to explo... more For migrants, how does writing family letters relate to making a home? This chapter aims to explore how migrants experience home away from home, and how they make home through the process of writing family letters. Specifically, this chapter examines the immense Chinese migration of Xia Nanyang (‘migration to Southeast Asia’) that took place from the 1860s to 1970s through its legacy—qiaopi. Qiaopi are remittance receipts in the form of family letters from overseas Chinese to their families in China. Qiao means ‘emigrants’ and pi means ‘letters’. In light of their uniqueness and historical significance, qiaopi were recognised in June 2013 as part of the world’s documentary heritage on the list of the UNESCO Memory of the World. This chapter looks at 110 examples of qiaopi from a Nanyang emigrant, Zeng, who migrated from China to Thailand in 1947 and did not return home until 1973. Along with Zeng’s life story, I address the notion of ‘home’ in relation to a Confucian mode of practise in the following four aspects: the Confucian philosophy of xiao (‘filial piety’), the making and unmaking of home by qiaopi, the ‘dual family system’ in the history of Xia Nanyang, and ‘moments of being’ in qiaopi writing. I explore relationships between Zeng and his family members which were fully expressed within the qiaopi. Through those relationships, I then discuss the notion of ‘home’, particularly for the Nanyang emigrants. Finally, I argue that the actions of writing family letters and sending remittances home are ways of making (and unmaking) home for the Chinese Nanyang emigrants, through which they express and fulfil themselves while making sense of the world.
Key Words: Nanyang emigration, qiaopi, remittance, filial piety, dual family system, moments of being, home.
Making home away from home: A case study of archival research of the Chinese Nanyang Emigration, Durham Anthropology Journal. 18(2): 59–71, 2012
Special Issues and Edited Books by Shuhua Chen
Focaal Theme Section: Vulnerable Homes on the Move (Issue 93), 2022
https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/focaal/2022/92/focaal.2022.issue-92.xml
Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2014
Letters are creation of human interaction, and thus dialogical. So, a letter is where relationshi... more Letters are creation of human interaction, and thus dialogical. So, a letter is where relationships live, between the writer and reader. The very process of writing a letter is a way in which they memorialize and contextualise their relationship. The study of these relationships shape academic interests across multiple disciplines culturally, literarily, historically, anthropologically or philosophically, along with related concerns, such as ethical issues and methodological difficulties. In titling the volume, Approaching Letters and Letter Writing, we have drawn attention to the way in which we scrutinize letters and letter writing from different perspectives. Although there are a variety of approaches to the study of letters and letter writing, this volume will focus on the following scopes: the form of the material and the immateriality, the private space and public implication, as well as the individual narratives and the cultural interpretation.
Invited Talks by Shuhua Chen
Refresh the “Memory of the World”: Cosmopolitan quest to approach Qiaopi networking_Invited colloquium talk @ Biennial Trondheim Colloquium in Social Anthropology, The Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters, Trondheim, Norway 2019/10/23
Time and the Migrant Inscription of Space_Invited seminar talk @ Department of Social Anthropology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway, 2019/5/20
Invited lecture talk: Asian Studies Lecture @ University at Buffalo, SUNY, US: The Migrant Inscriptions on Space and Time: Close readings of Chinese migration to Southeast Asia, 1820 – 1980
20/05/2019. ‘A Close Reading of the Historical Overseas Chinese Remittance Letters (Qiaopi)’, invited seminar talk at the Dept. of Social Anthropology, NTNU, Norway; Hosted by: Prof. Lorenzo Cañás Bottos.
Invited Seminar Talk: ‘Homeawayness (Piao): Experiencing moments of home among Chinese labour migrants’, invited seminar talk at the Department of Social Anthropology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway.
The Cosmopolitan Imagination: At home in the world in qiaopi correspondence @ The International Migration Correspondence Symposium, Wuyi University & University of Minnesota, 2016
‘Moments of being’ in letter writing: Fresh from the qiaopi archives @ the Social Anthropology Department Seminar, University of St Andrews, 2015
Conference Papers by Shuhua Chen
Movement within Movement: The temporal movement of consciousness within the epistolary practice of Chinese migrants, Theme: Movement - 2019 New York Conference on Asian Studies (NYCAS), USA
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Journal Articles and Book Chapters by Shuhua Chen
overseas Chinese and their families and relatives in China in the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries, have been recognised since
2013 by UNESCO as a ‘Memory of the World’, a piece of
documentary heritage. Qiaopi have become a subject of prolific
research in recent years, especially among historians. In this
article, I attempt to explore what kind of resource—
ethnographical, methodological, or moral—qiaopi letters as a
‘Memory of the World’ represent anthropology. To examine the
world value of the qiaopi archives beyond their ‘function’ as
cultural constructions of collective memory, this article places
individual experience as a focus of concern upon three
cosmopolitan stands to examine qiaopi family networks: (1)
ethnographically, qiaopi are scrutinised as an individual practice
stemming from a universal human truth for homing, insofar as
they serve to articulate family networks across two disjointed
worlds; (2) methodologically, qiaopi are read beyond their genre
of expression with the approach of cosmopolitan interiority, in
order to resonate the shared human affects that are felt inbetween
the lines of qiaopi letters; and (3) morally, to restore
individual expressions within qiaopi family networks—including
silences that are beyond expression and those lost in transition—
with the aim of avoiding reinforcing discourses that seek to
reduce the individuals into categorisations under cultural totalism.
and the flourishing of nation- and ethnic-based prejudice hinders
the finding and construction of spaces for transcending
boundaries. By combining cosmopolitanism as forms of relating
with networks as a social and cultural practice characteristic of
our time, this special issue aims at discerning forms and
situations which defy prior categorisation or bridge social
boundaries. It brings together eight case studies that provide
ethnographically grounded explorations of the articulation of
cosmopolitan perspectives with networking practices. The articles
cover a variety of ethnographic settings, Africa, Latin America, the
Caribbean, Europe and Asia. Bringing ‘cosmopolitanism’ and
‘network’ together points to issues that are foundational to the
discipline: from the definition of the ‘Other’ and the definition of
the anthropological object of analysis, to the definition of the
social in different social formations and actions.
family, of love. It is written to an absence. It may also serve as a
way of transporting a migrant home, imaginarily. Each time a
migrant writes a letter home, they are making a journey to their family:
scenarios with family are developed in their imagination, and thus
relationships are crafted, and home is constituted. The practice of letterwriting creates a space that is neither at home nor away sojourning, but somewhere in-between, a space for a migrant to be at home in the world. It is, I argue, a space for cosmopolitan imagination.
Key Words: Nanyang emigration, qiaopi, remittance, filial piety, dual family system, moments of being, home.
Special Issues and Edited Books by Shuhua Chen
Invited Talks by Shuhua Chen
Conference Papers by Shuhua Chen