Governing Educational Desire by Andrew B Kipnis

Governing Educational Desire by Andrew B Kipnis

That parents in China greatly value higher education for their children is a well-known aspect of contemporary Chinese culture, but the intensity and effects of their desire to achieve this goal have largely gone unexamined - until now. "Governing Educational Desire" explores this universal desire for a college education and its vast consequences, which include household and national economic priorities, birthrates, ethnic relations, and patterns of governance. Where does this desire come from? Andrew B. Kipnis approaches this question in four different ways. First, he focuses in detail on one Chinese county, Zouping. Then, he widens his scope to examine the provincial and national governmental policies that affect educational desire. Digging into the history of education in East Asia, Kipnis moves on to explore the way contemporary governing practices were shaped by the Confucian examination system. Finally, to discover the universal in the local, he compares the social dynamics of a cross-section of Zouping communities. In doing so, Kipnis provides not only an illuminating analysis of education in China but also a thought-provoking reflection on what educational desire can tell us about the relationship between culture and government.

"Kipnis convincingly demonstrates how crucial education is for shaping the strategies, dreams, and desires of Chinese familiesBut the main contribution of this book is the way it manages to place this educational desire in a larger context of how China is governed and in a comparative framework that shows Chinese students' feverish desire for education as part of a global phenomenon that cannot be reduced to Chinese, or even East Asian, cultural peculiarity." (Stig Thogersen, Aarhus University)"

Andrew B. Kipnis is a senior fellow in the Departments of Anthropology and Political and Social Change at the Australian National University. He is the author of China and Postsocialist Anthropology: Theorizing Power and Society after Communism and Producing Guanxi: Sentiment, Self and Subculture in a North China Village.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780226437552
ISBN 10	0226437558
Title	Governing Educational Desire
Author	Andrew B Kipnis
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	The University of Chicago Press
Year published	2011-04-01
Number of pages	224
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable