Hairong YAN
Professor at Tsinghua Institute for Advanced Study in Humanities and Social Sciences and Professor at the Department of Sociology.
A Brief Note:
Earlier, I studied rural-urban labor migration, an important feature of contemporary China's development and social transformation. In 1998, I found in field research that many rural young women left the countryside with the determination of "having to go out." This crisis of self and subjectivity could not be explained as a function of the ordinary rural-urban disparity. I couldn't help but wonder what kind of modernity and what kind of rural-urban relationship makes the countryside unable to carry the future of youth subjectivity, and even makes the countryside no longer be entrusted with the upbringing of the next generation. (Many of my generation were sent to the countryside by their parents and entrusted to the care of their grandparents.) Through these women’s migration at the turn of the century, I examined the rural-urban, gender, and class relations, and wrote New Masters, New Servants: Migration, Development, and Women Workers in China (Duke University Press, 2005).
Since 2005, I have conducted field research in Africa to understand the migration of people, goods, and capital from China to Africa. As China has been accused of practicing "neo-colonialism" by mainly Western entities, Prof. Barry Sautman of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and I. co-authored China in Africa: Discourses and Practices (China’s Social Science Literature Press, 2017), which identifies how China's “going out” differs from that of the West, and how China's “going out” affects countries in the Global South.
Meanwhile, rural China is still undergoing unprecedented changes. Since China's accession to the WTO, the countryside has become more closely connected to the global market. The soybean crisis, termed as such by Chinese media around 2005, is a signaling event. I re-initiated rural research in 2013, this time focusing on China's food sovereignty, agrarian changes and the rural cooperative/collective economy. With like-mined people, I have been exploring the pathways to rural revitalization and sustainable development.
Professional Service: some of my service to the profession includes the following: 2011-2015, serving on the editorial board of American Ethnologist, a journal of the American Association of Anthropology; from 2015 onwards, serving as a member of the international advisory board for The Journal of Peasant Studies; from 2018 onwards, serving on the Brussel-based International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems(iPES-Food, http: //www.ipes-food.org/); from 2018 onwards, serving on the editorial board for the journal Environment and Planning D- Society and Space and on the international advisory board for South African Review of Sociology; from 2018 onwards, serving as a senior researcher for CITIC Foundation for Reform and Development Studies.
Publications
For updated publication information, see ORCID: 0000-0003-3673-1991; Scopus ID: 56991808400.
Monographs & Edited Volumes
2018. Michael Levien, Michael Watts, and Yan Hairong. Agrarian Marxism, a special issue of Journal of Peasant Studies 45(5-6). [Also published: 2019. Michael Levien, Michael Watts, and Yan Hairong eds. Agrarian Marxism. Routledge.]
2017. 严海蓉，沙伯力.《“中国在非洲”: 话语与实践》. 北京: 社会科学文献出版社.
2015. Barry Sautman, Yan Hairong. Localists and “Locusts” in Hong Kong: Creating a Yellow-Red Peril Discourse. Maryland Monograph Series in Contemporary Asian Studies, no. 2. 94 pp.
2013. 潘毅，严海蓉，古学斌，顾静华，编辑.《社会经济在中国》. 北京: 社会科学文献出版社.
2013. 古学斌，严海蓉, 编辑. 中国大陆社会经济专辑, 《台湾社会研究季刊》.
2012. Barry Sautman and Yan Hairong. The Chinese are the Worst? : Human Rights and Labor Practices in Zambian Mining. Maryland Series in Contemporary Asian Studies (Baltimore: University of Maryland School of Law), no. 210.
2008. Yan Hairong. New Masters, New Servants: Migration, Development, and Women Workers in China. Durham: Duke University Press.
2007. Yan Hairong, Daniel F. Vukovich, eds. What’s Left of Asia, special issue, positions 15(2). This special issue is a collection of nine essays.
2006. Barry Sautman, Yan Hairong. East Mountain Tiger, West Mountain Tiger: China, Africa, the West and “Colonialism”, Maryland Monograph Series in Contemporary Asian Studies (Baltimore: University of Maryland School of Law), no. 186.
Journal Articles (Chinese)
2022. 严海蓉、沙伯力、白立邦、阿塔·曼苏尔、安吉拉·特里托. “‘一带一路’：多重主体的交汇，”《文化纵横》， 第5期：134-145。
2021. 严海蓉、沙伯力、路瑶.“合同流动、自主流动和中国人在非洲的本地化.”《开放时代》1:131-155.
2020. 严海蓉、古学斌、徐思远. 2020.“乡村振兴、学者和中国大陆集体未来的动力.”《台湾社会研究季刊》117:167-197.
2018. 丁玲、戚莉霞、严海蓉.“藏北高原上的集体牧业社区.”《经济导刊》10：80-85.
2018. 严海蓉. “振兴乡村: 以农民为主体，以集体为龙头—贵州大坝村发展集体经济的案例.”《经济导刊》 3：88-91.
2016. 严海蓉、Barry Sautman.“非洲中资企业的劳工和种族化叙述.”《开放时代》4: 44-66.
2016. 严海蓉、陈义媛、古学斌.“中国大豆危机:现代化的逻辑与话语权抗争.”《台湾社会研究季刊》104:153-185.
2016. 沙伯力、严海蓉.“中国企业在非洲: 问题、策略与出路.”《文化纵横》2: 46-55.
2016. 陈义媛、严海蓉、陈航英.“农民、政府、市场与种子: 五省玉米产区的调研发现.”《热风》3: 5-20.
2016. 严海蓉、沙伯力.“‘中国在非洲’: 话语与现实.”《区域》1: 313-336.
2015. 严海蓉. “中国农业的发展道路专题导言.”《开放时代》5: 12-17.
2015. 严海蓉、陈义媛.“中国农业资本化的特征和方向: 自下而上和自上而下的资本化动力.”《开放时代》5: 49-70.
2015. 严海蓉、陈航英.“农村合作社运动和第三条道路: 争论与反思.”《开放时代》2: 180-200.
2014. 严海蓉.“大豆产业危局与保卫食物主权.”《经济导刊》12: 76-81.
2013. 严海蓉, 沙伯力. “关於中国的修辞法？: 对中国向发展中国家输送囚劳的谣言分析.”《中国非洲研究评论2012》. 北京: 社科文献出版社.
2010. 严海蓉. “‘知识分子负担’与家务劳动: 劳心与劳力，性別与阶级之一.”《开放時代》6: 103-120.
2010. 严海蓉. “阶级的言说和改造: 劳心与劳力，性別与阶级之二.”《开放時代》6: 121-139.
2010. 沙伯力, 严海蓉. “‘中国在非洲’: 全球体系的困境.”《中国经济》1: 58-69.
2010. 沙伯力, 严海蓉.“非洲人對中非关系的认知.”《西亚非洲》8: 69-72; 11: 51-59.
2010. 严海蓉. “小农挑战全球资本主义: 评人民粮食主权论坛.”《中国非营利评论》5: 227-236.
2007. 严海蓉. “不带身份认同的立足点: 斯皮瓦克、严海蓉访谈.”《国外理论动态》2: 29-33; 3: 42-46.
2007. 沙伯力, 严海蓉.“友谊与利益: 中非关系的独特性.”《西亚非洲》4: 55-61.
2006. 严海蓉. “美国劳工运动中的病症—评《出卖团结》.”《读书》11: 87-98.
2005. 严海蓉. “虚空的农村，空虚的主体.” 《读书》7: 74-83.
2002. 严海蓉. “现代化的幻影: 生産和消费的双人舞.”《台湾社会研究季刊》48: 95-134. 收录于《台社移民/工读本: Unquiet Migration 骚动流移》, 夏晓鹃编辑, pp.357-390, 台社出版社，2009.
2001. 严海蓉. “素质，自我发展，和阶级的幽灵.”《读书》 3: 18-26. 收录于《中国社会文化人类学/民族学百年文选》，潘蛟主编，下卷，323-333页. 北京: 知识财产权出版社，2008年.
Journal Articles (English)
2024. Yan Hairong, Barry Sautman. “COVID-19 and the racialisation of Chinese wildlife consumption.” Third World Quarterly 45(2):1-22. DOI:10.1080/01436597.2024.2309241
2023. Yan Hairong, Barry Sautman. “China, colonialism, neocolonialism and globalised modes of accumulation.” Area Development and Policy 8(4): 416-449. doi.org/10.1080/23792949.2023.2259459
2023. Yan Hairong，Barry Sautman. “China, Ethiopia and the Significance of the Belt & Road Initiative.” China Quarterly 257:222-247. doi:10.1017/S0305741023000966
2021. Yan Hairong, Zheng Weidi.“Positioning Ourselves on China in Africa.”Journal of African Cultural Studies 33(2): 152-163. DOI: 10.1080/13696815.2020.1824772
2020. Yan Hairong.“Mode Switching: the State, Market, and Anti-Covid-19 Shadow of Socialism in China.” Dialectical Anthropology 44:213-221.
2020. Yan Hairong, Ku Hok Bun and Xu Siyuan.“Rural revitalization, scholars,and the dynamics of the collective future in China.” Journal of Peasant Studies 48(4):853-874.
2018. Michael Levien, Michael Watts, and Yan Hairong.“Agrarian Marxism.”Journal of Peasant Studies 45(5-6): 853-883.
2018. Yan Hairong, Barry Sautman, and Lu Yao.“Chinese and ‘Self-Segregation’ in Africa.” Asian Ethnicity 19(4): 40-66.
2016. Yan Hairong, Chen Yiyuan.“Land reform in Zimbabwe, class dynamics and delayed Bandung: an interview with Sam Moyo.” Inter-Asia Cultural Studies 17(1): 128-139.
2016. Barry Sautman, Yan Hairong. “The Discourse of Racialization and Labor in Chinese Enterprises in Africa.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 39(12): 2149-2168.
2016. Yan Hairong, Chen Yiyuan and Ku Hok Bun. “China’s Soybean Crisis: The Logic of Modernization and Its Discontents.” The Journal of Peasant Studies 43(2): 373-395.
2015. Yan Hairong, Chen Yiyuan. “Agrarian Capitalization without Capitalism?: Capitalist Dynamics from Above and Below in China.” Journal of Agrarian Change 15(3): 366-391.
2014. Barry Sautman, Yan Hairong.“Bashing the Chinese: Contextualizing Zambia’s Collum Coal Mine Shooting.” Journal of Contemporary China 23: 1073-1092.
2013. Yan Hairong, Chen Yiyuan. “Debating Rural Cooperative Movements in China, the Past and the Present.”Journal of Peasant Studies 40 (6): 955-981.
2013. Yan Hairong, Barry Sautman. “‘The Beginning of a World Empire’?: Contesting the Discourse of Chinese Copper Mining in Zambia.” Modern China 39(2): 131-164.
2012. Yan Hairong, Barry Sautman. “Chasing Ghosts: Rumors and Representations of the Export of Chinese Prisoners to Developing Countries.” China Quarterly 210 (June): 398-418.
2010. Yan Hairong, Barry Sautman. “Chinese Farms in Zambia: From Socialist to ‘Agro-Imperialist’ Engagement?” African and Asian Studies 9: 307-333.
2009. Barry Sautman, Yan Hairong.“African Perspectives on China-Africa Links.” China Quarterly 199 (September): 729-760.
2008. Barry Sautman, Yan Hairong. “The Forest for the Trees: Trade, Investment, and the China-in-Africa Discourse.” Pacific Affairs 81(1): 9-29.
2007. Barry Sautman, Yan Hairong. “Friends and Interests: China’s Distinctive Links with Africa.” African Studies Review 50(3): 75-114. [reprinted in 2008 China’s New Role in Africa and the South: A Search for a New Perspective, eds. Dorothy-Grace Guerrero and Firoze Manji, pp. 87-133. Cape Town and Oxford: Fahamu.
2007. Yan Hairong, Daniel F. Vukovich. “What’s Left of Asia?” positions 15(2): 211-224.
2007. Yan Hairong.“A Position without Identity.” positions 15(2): 429-448.
2006. Yan Hairong. “Rurality and Labor Process Autonomy: The Question of Subsumption in the Waged Labor of Domestic Service.” Cultural Dynamics 18(1): 5-31.
2003. Yan Hairong.“Neo-Liberal Governmentality and Neo-Humanism: Organizing Value Flow Through Labor Recruitment Agencies.” Cultural Anthropology 18(4): 493-523.
2003. Yan Hairong. “Spectralization of the Rural: Reinterpreting the Labor Mobility of Rural Young Women in Post-Mao China.” American Ethnologist 30(4): 578-596.
2000. Yan Hairong. "Review Article: The Tibet Question and the Conundrums of Modernization." Asian Ethnicity 1(2): 156-164.
