Podcasts by Network for Research into Chinese Education Mobilities NRCEM ChineseEdMobilities

In this episode, The NRCEM (Dr Cora Xu) spoke with Dr Eli Friedman (Cornell University, US) about his new book 'The Urbanization of People' (Columbia University Press). Eli discussed his incidental journey into researching educational inequalities and urbanization issues in China as a labour scholar. He explained what he meant by the 'just in time' urbanisation and what he argued to the an 'inverse welfare state' approach towards educational resource allocation in China's mega cities such as Beijing. He also commented on how the most recent relaxation of the birth control policy may, to a limited extent, reduce the educational immobility limbos of some of the rural-to-urban migrant children. Eli shared his observations about benefits of studying in Beijing for the migrant children and potential (but small-scale) collective resistance among the rural migrant children, their families and schools. Eli in addition discussed the difficult work conditions and experiences of teachers in these migrant schools. Last but not the least, Eli disclosed some invaluable insights into how he went about writing and proposing his book to Columbia University Press and his next steps of research. We wish Eli all the best in his future research endeavours! Watch the interview here. 

00:49-00:10 Eli's self introduction

01:40-06:03 Incidental journey into researching migrant schools in China

07:05-20:47 'Just in time' urbanization and 'inverse welfare state'

20:48-25:01 Reducing immobility limbos and the relaxation of birth control policy

25:22-32:07 Benefits of studying in migrant schools in Beijing

32:08-41:39 Potential collective resistance

41:40-49:25 Difficult working conditions of teachers in these migrant schools

49:30- 52:11 Writing and proposing book to Columbia University Press

52:13-54:53 Next steps

In this episode, the NRCEM (Miss Tong Meng) interviewed Dr Jiaxin Chen (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University) about her latest book: Class consciousness construction of rural migrant children in China (2022, Routledge). You can find the related articles here (British Journal of Sociology of Education) and here (China Quarterly). 

(1) 00:00:45 Jiaxin's self-introduction
(2) 00:03:35 Research motivation 
(3) 00:10:30 Key findings
(4) 00:17:35 Anecdotes: a teacher who provides "service of chatting"
(5) 00:26:20 Using Paulo Freire's theory
(6) 00:36:00 Working with teachers, parents and children
(7) 00:40:54 To stimulate the children's critical consciousness
(8) 00:52:35 Publication process (Routledge)
(9) 00:59:25 Future research plan

In this episode, the NRCEM (co-hosts Miss Tong Meng and Miss Lisa Bian) spoke with Dr. Jasvir Nachatar Singh (La Trobe University) about her latest article: "Benefits of studying in China: International students from top-tier Chinese universities ‘spill the beans'" published in Journal of Further and Higher Education. Jasvir introduced her research motivation and experiences. She told anecdotes during her field research and offered some intriguing insights into writing/publishing. As an international academic staff, Jasvir also shared her own journey working outside of home country (Malaysia) and provided invaluable job-hunting advice for early-career international academics. You can read Jasvir’s article here and her book chapter ("An international early-career academic journey in Australia") here.

In this episode, the NRCEM (co-hosts Dr Cora Xu and Miss Tong Meng) spoke with A/P Fran Martin (University of Melbourne) about her latest book: Dreams of Flight: The Lives of Chinese Women Students in the West published by Duke University Press. Fran introduced her motivation and experiences for researching the intimate lived experiences of Chinese women students in Australia. She also shared fascinating anecdotes during her field research and great advice on approaching university press publishers. You can read an introduction to Fran's book here, listen to her share her main findings in Chinese here, and listen to her book launch talk here. 

In this episode, the NRCEM interviewed Dr Shanshan Lan (University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands) about her latest articles published in Pacific Affairs and in American Anthropologist on rural Chinese students studying abroad in Korea and the precarity of white teachers in China’s English language teaching scene respectively. Shanshan shares important research insights into the 'migration' life trajectories of her research projects and the publication processes of her articles. She provides some excellent advice in academic writing as a craft as well. Read an introduction to her article in Pacific Affairs here and her article in American Anthropologist here. 

In this episode, the NRCEM interviewed Dr Lena Kaufmann (University of Zurich, Switzerland) about her latest book on Rural-Urban Migration and Agro-Technological Change in Post-Reform China (2021, Amsterdam University Press). Lena shares important research insights into this book’s main findings and intriguing anecdotes during her fieldwork, as well as useful advice about turning a PhD thesis into a research monograph. Download this open access book here. Read an introduction to this book here. Watch this interview on YouTube here.