Empty Home. Making a Home in Rapidly Urbanising China (film and lecture)
Lecture with short film by Willy Sier (University of Amsterdam) and Sanderien Verstappen (University Leiden). In contemporary China, cities are growing fast with large-scale investments in urban housing to accommodate rural-urban migration. What does house ownership mean to families in the midst of a rural-urban transition? How do rural-urban migrants make a home in a new city while also remaining connected with the village of origin, and with relatives in other Chinese cities?
A lunch lecture with short film by Willy Sier (University of Amsterdam) and Sanderien Verstappen (Leiden University).
Lunch is provided; registration required.
In contemporary China, cities are growing fast with large-scale investments in urban housing to accommodate rural-urban migration. What does house ownership mean to families in the midst of a rural-urban transition? How do rural-urban migrants make a home in a new city while also remaining connected with the village of origin, and with relatives in other Chinese cities?
The short film "Empty Home" introduces Wendy, a young rural-urban migrant in Wuhan, the provincial capital of China's Hubei province. Whilst taking the viewer on a tour of her family home, a flat on the outskirts of the gigantic city, Wendy reflects on the meaning of ‘home’ within a context of intense mobility and rapid transformation.
The film is based on PhD research conducted by anthropologist Willy Sier among rural-urban student migrants in Wuhan, China. Willy will give a short introductory talk to contextualise the film. Sanderien Verstappen will discuss the filmmaking process. In the discussion, everybody is welcomed to offer their reflections on the puzzles presented in the film.
Willy Sier is a PhD student at the Amsterdam School for Social Science research, University of Amsterdam. Previously, she studied Chinese and lived in China for 8 years.
Sanderien Verstappen is a postdoctoral researcher in the Anthropology of Modern South Asia at Leiden University (LIAS), and a fellow at the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS). Previously, she was a lecturer in (visual) anthropology at the University of Amsterdam.
Registration (required)
Please register via the webform below if you would like to attend.
Register by 10 April 2018 to secure a lunch box provided by IIAS.
About IIAS Lunch Lectures
Every month, one of the IIAS affiliated fellows will give an informal presentation about his/her work-in-progress for colleagues and others interested. Lunch lectures are sometimes also organised for visiting scholars.
IIAS organises these lectures to provide the research community with an opportunity to freely discuss ongoing research and exchange thoughts and ideas. Anyone with an interest in the subject matter at hand is welcome to attend and join the discussion.