Blumenfield Cornet and Doing An insightful and thought-provoking volume that explores the many issues raised for researchers undertaking fieldwork in China (and elsewhere) with children in tow. KIDS! WITH ... CHINA IN FIELDWORK DOING FIELDWORK The Dynamics of Accompanied Fieldwork in the People’s Republic While many anthropologists and other scholars relocate with their families in some way or another during fieldwork peri- ods, this detail is often missing from their writings even though IN CHINA undoubtedly children can have had a major impact on their work. Recognizing that researcher-parents have many choices regarding their children’s presence during fieldwork, this vol- ume explores the many issues of conducting fieldwork with children, generally, and with children in China, specifically. Contributors include well-established scholars who have un- … with Kids! dertaken fieldwork in China for decades as well as more junior researchers. The book presents the voices of mothers and of fathers, with two particularly innovative pieces that are written by parent– child pairs. The collection as a whole offers a wide range of ex- periences that question and reflect on methodological issues related to fieldwork, including objectivity, cultural relativism, relationships in the field and positionality. The chapters also recount how unexpected ethnographic insights can arise from having children present during the fieldwork process. A final chapter alerts future fieldworking parents to particular pitfalls of accompanied fieldwork and suggests ways to avoid these. www.niaspress.dk Candice Cornet and Tami Blumenfield (eds) Cornet-pbk-cover.indd 1 18/11/2015 12:15 Doing Fieldwork in China . with Kids! Kids.indb 1 18/11/2015 09.46 NIAS–Nordic Institute of Asian Studies NIAS Studies in Asian Topics 37 Beyond the Green Myth Peter Sercombe and Bernard Sellato (eds) 38 Kinship and Food in South-East Asia Monica Janowski and Fiona Kerlogue (eds) 39 Exploring Ethnic Diversity in Burma Mikael Gravers (ed.) 40 Politics, Culture and Self: East Asian and North European AttitudesGeir Helgesen and Søren Risbjerg Thomsen (eds) 41 Beyond Chinatown Mette Thunø (ed.) 42 Breeds of Empire: The ‘Invention’ of the Horse in Southeast Asia and Southern Africa 1500–1950 Greg Bankoff and Sandra Swart 43 People of Virtue: Reconfiguring Religion, Power and Moral Order in Cambodia Today Alexandra Kent and David Chandler (eds) 44 Lifestyle and Entertainment in Yangzhou Lucie Elivova and Vibeke Børdahl (eds) 45 iChina: The Rise of the Individual in Modern Chinese SocietyMette Halskov Hansen and Rune Svarverud (eds) 46 The nterplayI of the Oral and the Written in Chinese Popular LiteratureVibeke Børdahl and Margaret B. Wan (eds.) 47 Saying the Unsayable: Monarchy and Democracy in ThailandSøren Ivarsson and Lotte Isager (eds) 48 Plaited Arts from the Borneo Rainforest Bernard Sellato (ed.) 49 Cambodia’s Economic Transformation Caroline Hughes and Kheang Un (eds) 50 Ancestors in Borneo Societies Pascal Couderc and Kenneth Sillander (eds) 51 Creative Spaces Denise Gimpel, Bent Nielsen and Paul Bailey (eds) 52 Red Stamps and Gold Stars: Fieldwork Dilemmas in Upland Socialist Asia Sarah Turner (ed.) 53 On the Fringes of the Harmonious Society: Tibetans and Uyghurs in Socialist China Trine Brox and Ildikó Bellér-Hann (eds) 54 Doing Fieldwork in China ... with Kids! The Dynamics of Accompanied Fieldwork in the People’s Republic Candice Cornet and Tami Blumenfield (eds) 55 UNESCO in Southeast Asia: World Heritage Sites in Comparative Perspective Victor T. King (eds) NIAS Press is the autonomous publishing arm of NIAS – Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, a research institute located at the University of Copenhagen. NIAS is partially funded by the governments of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden via the Nordic Council of Ministers, and works to encourage and support Asian studies in the Nordic countries. In so doing, NIAS has been publishing books since 1969, with more than two hundred titles produced in the past few years. UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN Nordic Council of Ministers Kids.indb 2 18/11/2015 09.46 Doing Fieldwork in China . with Kids! The Dynamics of Accompanied Fieldwork in the People’s Republic Edited by Candice Cornet and Tami Blumenfield Kids.indb 3 18/11/2015 09.46 Doing Fieldwork in China . with Kids! The Dynamics of Accompanied Fieldwork in the People’s Republic Edited by Candice Cornet and Tami Blumenfield First published in 2016 by NIAS Press NIAS – Nordic Institute of Asian Studies Leifsgade 33, 2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark Tel: +45 3532 9501 • Fax: +45 3532 9549 E-mail: [email protected] • Online: www. niaspress. dk © NIAS – Nordic Institute of Asian Studies 2016 While copyright in the volume as a whole is vested in the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, copyright in the individual chapters belongs to their authors. No chapter may be reproduced in whole or in part without the express permission of the publisher. All rights reserved. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: 978 87 7694 169 7 (hbk) ISBN: 978 87 7694 170 3 (pbk) Typesetting by Donald B. Wagner Printed and bound in Great Britain by Marston Book Services, Oxfordshire Kids.indb 4 18/11/2015 09.46 Contents Preface viii The Authors ix Introduction Anthropological Fieldwork and Families in China and Beyond Candice Cornet and Tami Blumenfield 1 Part I: Health, Fieldwork, and Family Configurations 1. Between Norms and Science: What Kids Bring to the Field Mette Halskov Hansen 19 2. Clean Your Plate and Don’t Be Polite: An American Mother’s Education in Early Childhood Parenting and Family Life in Shanghai, China Jeanne L. Shea 41 3. Blurred Boundaries of Learning and Ethnography in an Era of Constant Connectedness: Lessons from Fieldwork with Children in Southwest China Tami Blumenfield 69 4. Viral Signs: Confronting Cultural Relativism with Children’s Health in the Field Denise M. Glover 87 Part II: Polyvocal and Long-term Reflections on Fieldwork 5. Opening the Door (kaimen): Doing Fieldwork with Children in Rural China Eriberto P. Lozada Jr.and E. Patrick Lozada III 101 6. Delicate Flower?! Mother-Daughter Reflections as Situated Co- Researchers in Yunnan Margaret B. Swain and Melissa T.B. Swain 121 7. Long-term Investment in Research: Juggling Family and Fieldwork over the Years in the People’s Republic of China Candice Cornet 147 Part III: Perspectives from Children and Advice for Adults 8. Voices and Images of Accompanying Children Candice Cornet 177 9. Special Considerations for Accompanied Fieldwork in China Tami Blumenfield 185 Index 195 v Kids.indb 5 18/11/2015 09.46 Contents Figures 1.1. Hotel room during fieldwork in Sipsong Panna in 1991 23 1.2. Fieldwork in Lijiang 1995 with extended family 24 1.3. The ‘model’ husband and daughter in Beijing 1991, on the way to fieldwork in Yunnan 26 1.4. Lots of attention in Jinghong, Sipsong Panna, 1994 27 2.1. Initial view from host family apartment balcony in Shanghai 46 2.2. Linden attempting to eat an apple American-style, peel and all, in front of a Mao statue in Shanghai. 51 2.3. Self-portrait done in Shanghai 58 2.4. Linden and her host brother and sister playing on the apartment balcony 60 2.5. Linden with her school classmates performing a dance for visiting parents and grandparents 62 3.1–3.3. ‘Is it appropriate to put a plastic footstool on one’s head?’ 72 3.4–3.8. Although Ethan delighted in being in the water, his delight was met with dismay from some of the villagers 74 3.9–3.14. Images from the photo essay, ‘Places I Have Slept.’ 76 3.15. Archei Ma, Dawah Duma and Ethan, mid-tickle, about two minutes after meeting one another for the first time 77 4.1. The author’s son, August Avantaggio, at age 3 (in 2001) in Rgyalthang. 95 4.2. August Avantaggio in 2012 on the road from Nizu to Rgyalthang. 95 4.3. The author’s daughter, Saveria Avantaggio, feeling better after her stint of illness in Rgyalthang, 2012. 95 4.4. The author and her children on the day of their departure for the field in May 2012 96 5.1. Patrick and Liya, 1996 111 5.2. Patrick, Xiao Dan, and his sister, 1997 111 5.3. Patrick in 1996, with the village in the background 111 5.4. Xiao Li , Sister Huang, and another potential novice, 1997 113 6.1. Melissa, Peg and Ahpi (Bi’s mother) near Shilin Park, April 1993 124 6.2. Walt Swain and Sani doll makers in Kunming, April 1993 126 6.3. Kunming expat fun with Alysha, March 1993 126 6.4. YunDa Magazine photo shoot in Shilin, January 1993 127 6.5. Melissa and Fuzzy working, February 1993 128 6.6. Jeep and Driver Wang, from Panzhihua, March 1993 130 vi Kids.indb 6 18/11/2015 09.46 Contents 6.7. Bi dressing Peg for the CCTV photographers, August 2000 131 6.8. Foreign faux-ethnics at Bi’s home, August 2000 131 6.9. Melissa videoing, gazing, gaping, August 2000 132 6.10. Hemp in Bi’s front yard, August 2000 139 6.11. Bi dressing Melissa for conference events, August 2000 140 6.12. Doing conference fieldwork, August 2000 142 7.1. Maïté in her playpen, August 2006 153 7.2. Maïté throwing rocks into fish ponds, April 2007 154 7.3. Maïté playing with older kids in the school playground, April 2007 155 7.4. Comparing pollution levels in Shenyang, Liaoning with those of Brossard, Quebec, June 2013 156 7.5. Kindergarten in Shenyang, April 2013 159 7.6. Swimming in the river while in the field, July 2013 162 7.7.