The New School Graduate Program in International Affairs

Peasants into Citizens: Urban Villages in Shenzhen Special Economic Zone

A Talk  Jonathan Bach, Associate Professor of International Affairs 

Orozco Room 66 West 12th St 7th Floor

Professor Bach examines the role of former rural collectives in the booming southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, China that have  been encircled by the city, the so-called "villages in the city." In the  official narrative, the villages appear as pre-modern vestiges, yet in practice the villages aggressively co-opt the market economy in ways that weave them into the fabric of the contemporary global city. Field research for this project was supported in part by the Faculty  Research Fund and the India China Institute.