About the SEAA-in-Asia regional conference: details and Call-for-Panels [current October 4, 2024]. SHAPING FUTURES: EAST ASIA AS PRACTICE, July 2025 Conference in Seoul, South KoreaOrganizers: Society for East Asian Anthropology (American Anthropological Association) and Seoul National University Department of AnthropologyTiming and venue: July 14–16, 2025 at Seoul National University, Seoul, South KoreaSubmission deadline for proposals: […]
How Beggars Help Us Understand Public Space in China and Beyond
Society for East Asian AnthropologyBy Ryanne FlockMay 28, 2024 Performances of panhandling in Guangzhou teach us about public space in modern Chinese cities and elsewhere. Guangzhou—also known as Canton—is a city of zuo shengyi, of “doing business.” As one of the oldest trade harbors in the south of China, Guangzhou opened up early when the country’s […]
Being Global and Chinese on WeChat
Society for East Asian AnthropologyBy Xinyu Promio WangFebruary 22, 2024 Does using WeChat qualify someone to be “Chinese”? “So, you are not like a real Chinese . . . I mean, you are just someone who has Chinese heritage, right?” This was what one of my interlocutors, Fangyi, said to me in the middle of […]
What Can White Paper Do?
Society for East Asian AnthropologyMengzhu An, Jing Wang & Wei YeJanuary 9, 2024 During #A4Revolution, protestors used blank white paper to express their voices while remaining in the shadows of state censorship and surveillance. On November 26, 2022, a college student in black clothes, black hat, and black mask was standing on campus, holding aloft a […]
Youth, Disaster, and Collective Mourning in South Korea
Society for East Asian AnthropologyBy Shinjung NamOctober 12, 2023 Following the 2022 Halloween crush disaster in Seoul, South Koreans gather to remember the young victims and the nation’s history of human-made disasters and formations of publics in furious mourning. On the eve of December 16, 2022, thousands of people filled the main street of Itaewon, […]
We’re Queer, We’re (Not) Here
Society for East Asian AnthropologyBy Alex WolffOctober 24, 2023 Queer activism often includes public visibility. But everyday surveillance and economic risk complicate LGBTQ+ politics in South Korea. Author’s note: All the names in this piece are pseudonyms and locations have been withheld. In 2021, I attended a protest held in a bustling shopping district near […]