Searching for Sweetness
Women’s Mobile Lives in China and Lesotho
9789888754014
Distributed for Hong Kong University Press
Searching for Sweetness
Women’s Mobile Lives in China and Lesotho
An ethnography linking rural-to-urban migration in China with Chinese migration to Africa.
Traversing the rapidly urbanizing county-level city of Fuqing to the remote mountainous kingdom of Lesotho in Southern Africa, Searching for Sweetness is one of the first and most extensive ethnographies linking rural-to-urban migration in China with Chinese migration to Africa. Against the backdrop of China’s national struggle for modernity and globalization, Sarah Hanisch examines Chinese migrant women’s complex struggles for upward social mobility across different generations and localities in China and Lesotho. Embedding the women’s portraits into larger historical contexts, Hanisch illustrates how these women interpret and narrate their migratory and everyday experiences through powerful metanarratives on “sweetness” and “bitterness.” In her exploration of migratory identities and projects, Hanisch brings uniquely gendered, multi-sited, and intergenerational perspectives to existing scholarship on Chinese internal and international migration.
Traversing the rapidly urbanizing county-level city of Fuqing to the remote mountainous kingdom of Lesotho in Southern Africa, Searching for Sweetness is one of the first and most extensive ethnographies linking rural-to-urban migration in China with Chinese migration to Africa. Against the backdrop of China’s national struggle for modernity and globalization, Sarah Hanisch examines Chinese migrant women’s complex struggles for upward social mobility across different generations and localities in China and Lesotho. Embedding the women’s portraits into larger historical contexts, Hanisch illustrates how these women interpret and narrate their migratory and everyday experiences through powerful metanarratives on “sweetness” and “bitterness.” In her exploration of migratory identities and projects, Hanisch brings uniquely gendered, multi-sited, and intergenerational perspectives to existing scholarship on Chinese internal and international migration.
196 pages | 3 halftones, 3 maps, 2 figures | 6 x 9 | © 2022
Anthropology: Cultural and Social Anthropology
Asian Studies: General Asian Studies
![Hong Kong University Press image](/dam/ucp/books/publishers/HKUP-logo.jpg)
Reviews
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction
Part I: China
2. Childhood Memories
3. Aspirations and Struggles
Part II: Lesotho
4. White and Fuqingese Legacies
5. Unexpected Turns and Uncertain Lives
Part III: Returning
6. Reflecting on Past Choices
7. Conclusion
Glossary
References
Index
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction
Part I: China
2. Childhood Memories
3. Aspirations and Struggles
Part II: Lesotho
4. White and Fuqingese Legacies
5. Unexpected Turns and Uncertain Lives
Part III: Returning
6. Reflecting on Past Choices
7. Conclusion
Glossary
References
Index
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