1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910826216603321

Autore

Evasdottir Erika E. S. <1968->

Titolo

Obedient autonomy : Chinese intellectuals and the achievement of orderly life / / Erika E.S. Evasdottir

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Vancouver, : UBC Press, c2004

ISBN

0-7748-5087-6

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (319 p.)

Collana

Contemporary Chinese studies

Disciplina

305.5/52095109045

Soggetti

Interpersonal relations - China

Intellectuals - China

Archaeologists - China

Social structure - China

Social control - China

China Social conditions 1976-2000

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [275]-292) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front Matter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Autonomy and Autonomies -- The Social Contract -- The Rule of Law -- The Separation of Powers -- Majority Rule -- Interest Groups -- Minority Rights -- The Pursuit of Happiness -- Notes -- Glossary of Chinese Terms -- References -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

In the west, the idea of autonomy is often associated with a sense of freedom -- a self-interested state of being unfettered by rules or obligations to others. This original anthropological study explores a type of "obedient" autonomy that thrives on setbacks, blossoms as more rules are imposed, and flourishes in adversity. Obedient Autonomy analyzes this model, and explains its precepts through examining the specialized and highly organized discipline of archaeology in China. The book follows Chinese students on their journey to becoming full-fledged archaeologists in a bureaucracy-saturated environment. Often required to travel in teams to the countryside, archaeologists are uniquely obliged to overcome divisions among themselves, between themselves and their peasant-workers, and between themselves and bureaucratic officials. This analysis



reveals how these interactions provide teachers of archaeology with stories used to foster obedient autonomy in their students. Moreover, it demonstrates how this form of autonomy enables a person to order and control their future careers in what appears to be a disorderly and uncertain world. A masterly contextualization of archaeology in China, Obedient Autonomy shows how the discipline has accommodated itself to a Chinese social structure, and uncovers the moral, ethical, political, and economic underpinnings of that context. It will be accessible to students of anthropology even as it will provoke Euro-American archaeologists and interest social theorists of science, philosophers, gender theorists, and students of Chinese society.