Dissertation Research: Social Dynamics of State and Rural Families in Northeast China

9320102 Cohen This project involves the dissertation research of a cultural anthropology student from Columbia University. The student will study the nature of the transformation of traditional Chinese families in a rural area of northeast China. Using ethnographic methods of participant observation and in-depth interviews, the student will trace the impact on the life and work of families in one hamlet of land reform, marriage laws, the cultural revolution and other national government policies. The end result will be an ethnography that describes how these rural families have coped with and responded to the national government's efforts to change them. This research is important because it will add to our base of studies of rural Chinese communities. This case study of the successes and failures of the national state in changing the lives of rural families will help us understand similar processes in other areas where governments are engaged in drastic modernization policies. We will be better able to respond to problems and opportunities the more we understand about the reality in these remote rural areas. ***