Research topic

Imagining an emancipatory labour movement? The mediated political struggle of Chinese migrant workers in transitional China.

In recognition of the marginalized position of rural-urban migrant workers in the social structure, the standpoint of my study is to take the agency and subjectivity perspectives of the migrant workers’ organizations. Based on a one-year ethnography in China, the political dynamics of the workers’ struggle are explored from below by examining several key events of expression created by Chinese migrant workers’ grassroots NGOs, as well as their everyday practice. My PhD project aims to contribute on providing comprehensive understanding on the on-going labor unrest in contemporary China with focus on long-term collective identity construction and collective action mobilization.

Supervisor: Dr Bingchun Meng and Dr Shakuntala Banaji