This talk examines a dimension of citizenship, which I call infrastructural citizen making, in contemporary China. I show various volunteering practices that grow out of mega-event sponsored urban infrastructures in Beijing and Guangzhou. The talk explores what it means when infrastructural projects are understood as spaces for civic right articulations. For example, a blind activist sued the subway company for not giving the visually impaired free rides in early 2000. A few years ago, feminist activists held improvisational theatre about no to sexual harassment on subway train compartments. Recently many urban residents volunteered to conduct “guide running” with the visually challenged in marathon races. How do we understand these “non-confrontational” volunteering in relation to the rights to the city in the larger context of infrastructural upgrade? This talk joins the new direction of linking “infrastructural turn” in the social sciences to the China Studies field. While existing research tends to see the techno-politics of China’s infrastructural projects in terms of “spectacle”, the talk treats infrastructure as an “analytical background” that stirs up and inspires new civic ordering and right struggles.
Part of the event series for ICI bi-weekly lunchtime talks for the TNS community.
Presented by India China Institute at The New School.
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