Introduction: Rural as space and sociality

Abstract

The collection of essays in “The Village Global: Emergent Anthropologies of Rural Sociality” explores contemporary ethnographic articulations of the rural and the urban, understood as a continuum irreducible to the polarity of one or the other term. Considered together, this special issue offers a theoretical intervention in taking the rural seriously as more than just what is “left behind” by modernity. Collectively, our anthropological concern is not only with the (perceived, lived, or imagined) contrasts between what is characterized as “rural” in opposition to “urban” but with the constitution of the categories themselves as experienced realities.

Articulating relational rurality amidst urbanization: Agency, spatial paradox and the de/reterritorialization of lineage landscapes in contemporary rural China

“…The large-scale performance of lineage activities denotes rural sacredness (Chen, 2017), and also recasts the rural as a space for sociality, which re-ruralizes villages in many ways (Chio, 2017b). Collective performance draws participation from a large number of villagers staying in the countryside as well as hundreds of urban members who work or live in the cities across different parts of China.…”

“…The above changes in traditional lineage landscapes and villages have often been understood (and denounced) as part of the effacement of Chinese rurality amidst rapid urbanization (Guldin, 2000), and eventually leading to the doomsday scenario of ‘the end of the rural’ in China (see Smith, 2021). In contradiction to the prevailing pessimistic scholarship on the demise of Chinese rurality, this paper builds on an increasing number of studies which have emerged to challenge such narrow dystopian logic and articulate active rural voices in diversified ways (Bell et al, 2010; Chio, 2017b; Ghosh, 2017; Gillen et al, 2022; He & Zhang, 2022; Kumar & Shaw, 2020). In the context of the blurred rural–urban landscape, some of extant studies subscribe to the argument on persistent rurality (e.g., Chung, 2013) or that on adaptive rurality (e.g., Wilson, 2010) while many others theorize rural agencies in more radical forms of penetration, defence, resistance, protest and social movements (e.g., Halfacree, 2007; Neal, 2013).…”

Rural revitalization in China: Towards inclusive geographies of ruralization

“…Such shifting official discourses can have enduring impacts on the everyday lives of people in (peri-)urban regions whose practices are emancipated and can be more openly animated by rural imaginaries and nostalgia. Anxious about stressful urban lifestyles, they especially desire close-knit community relations and senses of rootedness that are often seen as a core part of rural dweller identity (Chio, 2017). Such longings have the potential to influence the ways planners and policy makers bring idyllic rural architectures, lifestyles, and landscapes into cities and their re-design.…”

Mikkelin markkinat maalaisten ja kaupunkilaisten kohtaamispaikkana paikallislehtien kuvaamana 1800-luvun jälkipuoliskolla

“…Tästä lähtökohdasta tarkastellaan myös maaseudun ja kaupungin suhdetta. Tutkijat ovat kiinnittäneet huomionsa siihen, että yleistykselle kaupungeista verkostoituneina, moderneina tai edistyksellisinä ja toisaalta maaseudusta rappeutuvana ja itseensä kääntyneenä jakojäännöksenä on vaikea löytää perusteluja (Chio 2017, Stasch 2017, Vasantkumar 2017. Ilmiötä läheltä tarkasteleva etnografia tuottaa mielenkiintoisia ajatuksia maaseudun ja kaupungin suhteesta, jossa kylät ovat osa paikkojen välisten suhteiden järjestelmää (Sorge & Padwe 2015, 242).…”