The Anthropology of Modern China: Chinese Cultural Citizenship in Yunnan

  China

• Kunming: 
Kunming

Term: Summer 
Dates: early July to mid-August

Description: This program is designed for undergraduate and graduate students who are interested in experiencing and understanding everyday life in modern China. The program presents the opportunity to do this through addressing how Chinese cultural citizenship is constructed in Yunnan Province, which is the most ethnically diverse province in China, and which is literally located at the margins of the modern Chinese state. Students gain insights into Yunnan both through living for more than four weeks in Kunming, the vibrant metropolitan capital of Yunnan, and through spending a week at the end of the course traveling to the spectacularly beautiful mountainous (and minority) areas of northwestern Yunnan. Students additionally gain insights into Yunnan through the reading of a number of excellent ethnographic books and articles by a new generation of China anthropologists writing on Yunnan. Intellectually, students engage with contemporary anthropological thinking about cultural citizenship, national identity vis-à-vis ethnicity, gender and rurality in China, as well as how the citizen body is constructed in the Chinese nation-state through such medical knowledges as Chinese medicine, biomedicine and dietary practices.

Yunnan is the southwestern-most province of China and borders Tibet, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam. It is culturally and ecologically diverse, with the three major rivers of southeast Asia (the Salween, the Red River and the Mekong), as well as a major tributary of the Yangtze River (the Jinsha), flowing from the Tibetan plateau in the northwest of Yunnan through deep gorges to the south, southwest and northeast parts of the province. Fifty percent of China's herbal medicines are harvested and produced from Yunnan's richly diverse ecosystems, constituted by mountains (many over 18,000 feet), river gorges and basins. Twenty-six of the 56 official "minority nationalities" of China reside in Yunnan, many of them in the more remote mountainous, river gorge and basin areas of the province, and ethnic minorities constitute one third of Yunnan's approximately 43 million population.

Highlights: Saturday field trips in and around Kunming are planned throughout the first four weeks of the program. In the final week, the group travels northwest from Kunming to Dali and Lijiang, areas about which students will have read ethnographic accounts and which are characterized by spectacular mountain and basic scenery.

Degree Level: Bachelors Degree (Undergraduate)

Cost in US$: 4,600 USD - 7,200 USD, depending on level and residency

Experience Required: yes

Although not essential, a background in anthropology or Asian studies is desirable.

Participants Travel to China Independently

Typically Participants Work in Groups

Application Process Involves:

• Essay
• In-Person Interview when Feasible
• Letters of Reference
• Online Application plus Application Assessment
• Other
• Transcript

Temple University's Mission Statement: The Temple University International Programs office is responsible for administering Temple-sponsored study abroad programs; advising Temple students on study abroad program and scholarship opportunities; serving as a liaison between the main campus and our campuses in Rome and Tokyo, acting as a resource for the Temple University community on matters concerning international education, and responding to increasing interest in international activities on the part of Temple students and faculty. We continue to develop and strengthen the international education programs that help Temple students attain a global perspective. We recognize that today, more than ever, the world demands that students understand other countries and how they are linked together. We are committed to the notion that through international education, Temple students enrich their general education, acquire knowledge and experience for their later professional success, and develop life skills needed to become competent and engaged global citizens.