Seeking a Future for the Past
Space, Power, and Heritage in a Chinese City
Seiten
2024
The University of Michigan Press (Verlag)
978-0-472-07637-6 (ISBN)
The University of Michigan Press (Verlag)
978-0-472-07637-6 (ISBN)
Examines the complexities and changing sociopolitical dynamics of urban renewal in contemporary China. Drawing on ten years of ethnographic fieldwork in the northeastern Chinese city of Qingdao, the book tells the story of the contentious transformation of Dabaodao from a place of common homes into a showcase of architectural heritage.
Seeking a Future for the Past: Space, Power, and Heritage in a Chinese City examines the complexities and changing sociopolitical dynamics of urban renewal in contemporary China. Drawing on ten years of ethnographic fieldwork in the northeastern Chinese city of Qingdao, the book tells the story of the slow, fragmented, and contentious transformation of Dabaodao—an area in the city’s former colonial center—from a place of common homes occupied by the urban poor into a showcase of architectural heritage and site for tourism and consumption. The ethnography provides a nuanced account of the diverse experiences and views of a range of groups involved in, shaping, and being shaped by the urban renewal process—local residents, migrant workers, preservationists, planners, and government officials— and particularly foregrounds the voices and experiences of marginal groups, such as migrants in the city. Unpacking structural reasons for urban developmental impasses, it paints a nuanced local picture of urban governance and political practice in contemporary urban China. Seeking a Future for the Past also weighs the positives and negatives of heritage preservation and scrutinizes the meanings and effects of “preservation” on diverse social actors. By zeroing in on the seemingly contradictory yet coexisting processes of urban stagnation and urban destruction, the book reveals the multifaceted challenges that China faces in reforming its urbanization practices and, ultimately, in managing its urban future.
Seeking a Future for the Past: Space, Power, and Heritage in a Chinese City examines the complexities and changing sociopolitical dynamics of urban renewal in contemporary China. Drawing on ten years of ethnographic fieldwork in the northeastern Chinese city of Qingdao, the book tells the story of the slow, fragmented, and contentious transformation of Dabaodao—an area in the city’s former colonial center—from a place of common homes occupied by the urban poor into a showcase of architectural heritage and site for tourism and consumption. The ethnography provides a nuanced account of the diverse experiences and views of a range of groups involved in, shaping, and being shaped by the urban renewal process—local residents, migrant workers, preservationists, planners, and government officials— and particularly foregrounds the voices and experiences of marginal groups, such as migrants in the city. Unpacking structural reasons for urban developmental impasses, it paints a nuanced local picture of urban governance and political practice in contemporary urban China. Seeking a Future for the Past also weighs the positives and negatives of heritage preservation and scrutinizes the meanings and effects of “preservation” on diverse social actors. By zeroing in on the seemingly contradictory yet coexisting processes of urban stagnation and urban destruction, the book reveals the multifaceted challenges that China faces in reforming its urbanization practices and, ultimately, in managing its urban future.
Philipp Demgenski is Junior Professor in Anthropology in the Department of Sociology at Zhejiang University.
Introduction
Chapter 1: The past: A socio-spatial history of the inner city
Chapter 2: Redevelopment: From demolition to preservation to stagnation
Chapter 3: Local residents: Living in the center at the margins of the city
Chapter 4: Expropriation: The burden of the past
Chapter 5: Migrants: “Only” working in the inner city
Chapter 6: Preservationists: Colonial heritage and the search for authenticity
Chapter 7: The future of the inner city?
Conclusion
| Erscheinungsdatum | 23.02.2024 |
|---|---|
| Reihe/Serie | China Understandings Today |
| Zusatzinfo | 19 illustrations |
| Verlagsort | Ann Arbor |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 152 x 229 mm |
| Gewicht | 272 g |
| Themenwelt | Sozialwissenschaften ► Ethnologie |
| Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Empirische Sozialforschung | |
| ISBN-10 | 0-472-07637-X / 047207637X |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0-472-07637-6 / 9780472076376 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
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