The Cultural Anthropology Program supports research on the local-level effects of global processes. This research project fits into that category through its focus on how social and cultural change is brought about by engagement with the global economy. The researcher asks, "What happens to local cultural and social norms when basic human needs that used to be met through social and family obligations are purchased on the open market instead?" The researcher focuses on housing but in human history similar transformations have occurred in many areas, including health care, education, and access to natural resources such as water and land. Through a case study of a situation where the change has happened recently and society is still adjusting, we can better understand the complex ramifications of other changes, past and future, as well.
The research will be conducted by Brandeis University graduate student, Mengqi Wang, under the direction of Dr. Elizabeth Ferry. Wang will undertake research in eastern China on how changes in China's housing market, induced by greater engagement with the global economy, have affected cultural notions of family, marriage, and gender. The opening up of the Chinese housing market in the late 1990s was followed by years of inflation and then, since mid-2011, deflation. This has proved a challenge for families who bought when the market was high, often to fulfill a cultural obligation for the groom's family to provide housing as a marital gift. The resulting crisis has produced contested gender and economic norms that are centered on people's definitions of the rights to housing despite the changed context of post-socialist mortgage practices. Wang will gather data in multiple sites, including real estate agencies, financial institutions, and households of marital housing buyers. Data collection methods will include interviews, participant observation, and compilation of historical cultural materials. Findings from this research will elucidate the complex micro-level processes through which cultural and social transformations takes place as local communities become more directly affected by global economic forces.
