Discourse, Identity, and China's Internal Migration
The Long March to the City
Published on 19. August 2011
Book
Paperback/Softback
168 pages
978-1-84769-419-5 (ISBN)
Description
Rural-urban migration has been going on in China since the early 1980s, resulting in complicated sociolinguistic environments. Migrant workers are the backbone of China's fast growing economy, and yet little is known about their and their children's identities - who they are, who they think they are, and who they are becoming. The study of their linguistic practice can reveal a lot about their identity construction as well as about transitions in Chinese society and the (re)formation of social structure at the macro level. In this book, Dong Jie presents a wide range of ethnographic data which are organised around a scalar framework. She argues that three scales - linguistic communication, metapragmatic discourse, and public discourse - interact in complex and multiple ways.
Reviews / Votes
Through her insightful ethnographic exploration of rural-urban migrant identity in neighborhoods and schools of Beijing, Dong Jie has achieved the ambitious purpose of documenting both the rapidly changing face of China's super-diverse cities and the theoretical value of a scaled approach to the study of linguistic processes of identity construction. -- Nancy Hornberger, University of Pennsylvania, USA Drawing on a wealth of data from Beijing's migrant neighborhoods, Dong Jie offers a timely analysis of conversational, social-ideological, and institutional scales interacting in the identity-work of migrant children and adults in contemporary China. This book presents thought-provoking materials on China's internal migration, language diversity, and urban schooling. -- James Collins, University at Albany/SUNY, USAMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Bristol
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Channel View Publications Ltd
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 210 mm
Width: 148 mm
Thickness: 9 mm
Weight
229 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-84769-419-5 (9781847694195)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
08/2011
Multilingual Matters
€127.50
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E-Book
08/2011
Multilingual Matters
€14.49
Available for download
Person
Dong Jie completed her PhD at Tilburg University in 2009. She is a linguistic anthropologist at the Babylon Center and the Department of Languages and Cultures, Tilburg University. Her publications include Ethnographic Fieldwork: A Beginner's Guide (2010, with Jan Blommaert).
Content
Acknowledgements
CHAPTER 1: Introduction
CHAPTER 2: A Roadmap into the Issue
CHAPTER 3: Scale 1-Interaction
CHAPTER 4: Scale 2-Metapragmatic Discourses
CHAPTER 5: Scale 3-Institutions
CHAPTER 6: Conclusions and Reflections
CHAPTER 1: Introduction
CHAPTER 2: A Roadmap into the Issue
CHAPTER 3: Scale 1-Interaction
CHAPTER 4: Scale 2-Metapragmatic Discourses
CHAPTER 5: Scale 3-Institutions
CHAPTER 6: Conclusions and Reflections