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The Evolutionary Feminism of Zhang Kangkang and the Developing Dialogue Between Darwinism and Gender Studies

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The Evolutionary Feminism of Zhang Kangkang and the Developing Dialogue between Darwinism and Gender Studies QINGBO XU Academic dissertation to be publicly discussed, by due permission of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Helsinki, in auditorium XII, on the 5th of November, 2014 at 12 o’clock Abstract This dissertation studies the work of Zhang Kangkang (a contemporary Chinese woman writer, 1950- ) in the light of evolutionary feminism (also called Darwinian feminism, which studies gender issues from an evolutionary perspective, brings feminist concerns into the fields of evolutionary biology, psychology and sociobiology, and illuminates and rectifies androcentric biases in these fields). I have three main research goals: the first is to present the similarities and congeniality of Zhang and evolutionary feminism, the second to explore whether Zhang has strong feminist concerns, and the third to try to bring Darwinism and feminism together and show their compatibility. Lying at the intersection of literature, feminist criticism, and evolutionary studies, my approach is based on transcultural and transdisciplinary comparisons. My primary texts include Zhang’s writings and the literature on evolutionary feminist theory by scholars including Anne Campbell, Patricia Gowaty, Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, Barbara Smuts, Griet Vandermassen, and Marlene Zuk. I find that these two textual corpuses converge around five topics: sex differences, the mother-child bond, mating systems, violence, and infanticide. I discuss in depth how Zhang’s descriptions of motherhood, love and political activity in China highlight these intersections. Both Zhang and evolutionary feminists try to uncover the evolved tendencies of sex differences in reproductive interests and strategies, understand women’s reproductive behavior, highlight both male and female competitiveness and violence, as well as other predispositions that we may consider morally undesirable. Even Zhang, who has much in common with evolutionary insights, several times disproves or even tries to deny what she has revealed about female behavior in her stories. But evolutionary theory is descriptive and does not pursue science and value together. On the other hand, while evolutionary theory can describe human origins and propensities, and the roots of gender and social inequality, solving possible moral dilemmas entails the involvement of ethics, literature, and feminist studies for prescriptive guidance in order to improve our societies and strengthen gender equality. Acknowledgements The completion of this dissertation would not have been possible without the generous support of many individuals and institutions. The Kone Foundation has offered financial support that smoothed the way of my mental pursuit. The Gender Studies, East Asia Studies, and Confucius Institute at the University of Helsinki provided me with concrete academic environments that place my queries and thoughts. My deep sense of gratitude, first of all, goes to Prof. Anna Rotkirch, Director of the Population Research Institute, Finnish Family Federation, not only for her professional, assiduous guidance and always valuable, incisive comments and suggestions, but also for her warmth and generosity. Her responsible supervision has fastened my (potentially) drifting mind, and offered me pertinent answers and reading lists every time after I turned to her for help. “Evolutionarily,” her supervision and my heartfelt appreciation can be traced back to four years ago in May, 2008 when she organized a seminar on evolutionary feminism in Helsinki. It was the time of my “recession,” as I could not carry on the original topic of my doctoral thesis, and I was haunted by the problem of “China’s missing girls,” yet did not know how to untangle myself from the dilemma and controversies the problem has engendered. By attending Prof. Rotkirch’s seminar and thereafter having her help and guidance, I acquired a useful perspective to approach the problem, and a new topic: this dissertation. But my coming closer to the evolutionary world was slow and interrupted by my own reproductive concerns – two childbirths. It is my great fortune that she accepted both my progress and tardiness with her particular generosity and patience. I am moved by her kindness whenever I recall that every time I went to meet her, there were printed and bound readings placed on the table waiting for me. As such, I owe special appreciation to Prof. Kirsi Saarikangas. She accepted me as a doctoral student five years ago in 2007. After I “betrayed” my first proposal and gave it up halfway through, I still have her kind acceptance and help. She removed the obstacles on my road of course-taking and credit-earning, offered me a great opportunity to improve my Finnish language proficiency, and gave me plenty of valuable comments and suggestions throughout all these years’ studies. Thanks also have to be presented to Prof. Kauko Laitinen, the former Director of the Confucius Institute, who has opened doors for me into the academic circle in Helsinki and helped me to overcome the difficulties at my “recession” stage. It is my great pity that before he could see my “revival” and progressiveness, he had to quit his supervision of my studies and head for a new position in Japan. But luckily, I got as much support and help from the new Director, Dr. Anja Lahtinen, whose effective and amiable working manner can always impress me and spirit me up. I wish to extend my appreciation to the people at the Gender Studies – Prof. Marjut Jyrkinen (especially at the final stage of this research for her plenty of trenchant and detailed comments and suggestions), Prof. Tuija Pulkkinen, Prof. Johanna Kantola, Prof. Leena-Maija Rossi, Outi Pajala, and Nina Järviö – for their kind help and earnest responses, and to the people at the East Asia Studies – Prof. Juha Janhunen, Dr. Tiina Airaksinen, Dr. Minna Valjakka, and Dr. Elina Sinkkonen – for their help, their exchanges of ideas with me, and their inspirations. Then, on a personal level, I wish to thank my mother, Han Ming, my brother, Qingyuan, and his family, other relatives, and all of my friends who have been my staunch supporters. They mailed boxes of books to me from China, offered me spiritual encouragement, and are both the witnesses and sharers of my joy and depression. It is a greatest sorrow that just when I embarked on my doctoral studies, we lost my father. I believe that he would be very happy to know that my years’ reading and writing reached a fruitful conclusion. I think his first response would be an articulation of “Thank God, you finally finished it,” as almost all my relatives uttered. Finally, thanks to my two little sons, Taito and Toivo, for their adorable and heart-warming company and for the inspiration provided by their vitality, courage, and wit. “Mother-child conflicts” do exist, but they are one indispensable source of meaning and joy of my life. Parts of the dissertation (chapters 2 and 3), in different versions, have been published in Quarterly Journal of Chinese Studies 1.3 (2013) and The Finnish Yearbook of Population Research XLVIII (2013). Table of Contents 1 Introduction: Three combinations and five meeting points 1 1.1 Zhang and evolutionary feminism 4 1.2 Zhang and mainstream feminism 7 1.3 Evolutionary theory and constructionist feminism 11 1.4 Materials and methods 20 1.5 Five topics 24 2 Sex differences: Inherited or acquired? Mutable or immutable? 27 2.1 Introduction 27 2.2 A troubled past 29 2.3 A feminism of difference 32 2.4 Zhang’s genetic-oriented views 35 2.5 Criticisms of and counterarguments by Zhang and evolutionary feminism 42 2.6 The future of sex differences: Changes and delays 52 2.7 Discussion 59 3 Absent or ambivalent mothers and avoidant children 61 3.1 Introduction 61 3.2 Theoretical framework: Mothers, alloparents and attachment patterns 63 3.3 Conditional maternal commitment 64 3.4 Cooperative breeding systems 71 3.5 “Instinctive” maternal calculations 75 3.6 Mother-child conflicts and mothers’ guilt 78 3.7 Young children’s strategies 85 3.8 Discussion 88 4 Human mating systems 91 4.1 Introduction 91 4.2 Female choice and female-female competition 92 4.3 The “battle of the sexes” 96 4.4 Congruence of the sexes’ mating preferences 105 4.5 Are women dependent? 113 4.6 Discussion 118 5 Reproduction, kinship, and violence during the Cultural Revolution 121 5.1 Introduction 121 5.2 Reproduction and violence 122 5.2.1 Men’s violence and social dominance 123 5.2.2 Women’s violence and status striving 132 5.3 Kinship and violence 140 5.3.1 Individual-level interactions 140 5.3.2 Intra- and inter-group relations 149 5.4 Discussion 155 6 Infanticide and the birth control policy in China 157 6.1 Introduction 157 6.2 Infanticide by males 159 6.2.1 An extreme expression of intersexual conflicts 159 6.2.2 It can be adaptive 163 6.2.3 Still it is pathological 165 6.2.4 Evolutionism, ethics, and politics 168 6.3 Infanticide by females 170 6.3.1 By females other than the mother 170 6.3.2 By the mother 172 6.4 Infanticide avoidance 179 6.5 Female-selective infanticide 181 6.6 Discussion 184 7 Summary and discussion: A triangle and human morality 186 7.1 Similarities and congeniality 186 7.2 Being objectiveness-oriented and the moral dilemma 192 References 196 1 Introduction: Three Combinations and Five Meeting Points This research is a comparative study between Zhang Kangkang and evolutionary feminism, and also an evolutionary (feminist) reading of the oeuvre of Zhang. This juxtaposition of Zhang and evolutionary feminism begets questions about another two seemingly odd and far-fetched combinations: Zhang and feminism, and evolutionary theory and feminism. In this introductory section, I will make it clear why I chose Zhang and evolutionary feminism, and why I assembled these three combinations.
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