Immigration, Globalization and Young China

Speaker: James Farrer
Discussant: Gracia Liu-Farrer
The Future of Asia Series | Edition I: Migrations
In collaboration with Asia Society India Centre, Mumbai

May 05, 2011 | 6.30 pm
Venue: Rangswar Hall, Y. B. Chavan Centre, Mumbai

James Farrer will discuss how migratory shifts have led to a more cosmopolitan society in China, and lessons China holds for Asia overall. Access to wealth and influence from outside cultures is changing the fabric of China’s society. In a country where emphasis on the homogenous Han Chinese culture has remained dominant, centuries old mores are being tested by the influx of popular culture from around the world. Issues like the one child policy and censorship have had a profound impact on this generation, and the youth of China grapple with increased access to information and economic parity on the world stage. What makes Chinese youth culture unique today? How has it borrowed from its neighbors, and what remains exclusive to Chinese culture? What has caused the surge in youth culture and creativity, and how does this movement help to set them apart from their parents’ generation? How have the modern and ancient fused to create new patterns of social interaction?

James Farrer, Professor of Sociology at Sophia University (Tokyo, Japan), is a sociologist and expert in Chinese youth culture, Shanghai urban culture, gender, and sexuality in China and Japan. More recently he has done sociological research on expatriates living and working in Shanghai and Tokyo. Farrer also writes for general media, including the Lonely Planet Guides, the Asian Wall Street Journal, YaleGlobal Online, and Global Asia. He has many publications including Opening Up: Youth Sex Culture and Market Reform in Shanghai and Globalization, Food and Social Identities in the Pacific Region.

Gracia Liu-Farrer is Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies, Waseda University, Japan. Her research examines the economic, social, and emotional lives of contemporary Chinese immigrants in Japan and their transnational career practices and living arrangements. She also investigates the labor market outcomes of international students in the Asia-Pacific. Gracia Liu-Farrer holds a Ph.D in sociology and an M.A. in education from the University of Chicago, and a B.A. in English from Fudan University, China.

The Future of Asia series, co-produced by Mohile Parikh Center and Asia Society India Centre, brings together a diverse group of speakers from across the world to explore the Future of Asia from a multidisciplinary perspective. Each speaker addresses this theme through a distinct lens provided from his or her discipline, offering unique insights into what we can expect for Asia, and how we can shape a positive, sustainable future for the continent.