Bin Xu

This project examines collective memory of China’s “educated youth” (zhiqing) generation in order to address memory of a “difficult past.” I argue that class and related factors, such as life course, symbolic capital, and habitus, are central to both their generational collective memory represented in cultural objects and practices, and their individual memories in personal narratives. I analyze various data collected in fieldwork trips to China from 2013-2017, including more than 100 in-depth interviews, participant observations of commemorative activities, visits to memorials, exhibits, literary works, memoirs, and archives. This study makes contributions to memory studies by bringing back in a less studied but significant factor: social class.

This proposed conference will bring together scholars from various disciplines and countries to engage in an interdisciplinary and comparative study of disasters in China and other countries. The participants will present their papers on social, cultural, and political aspects of disasters in China, Japan, Taiwan, Europe, and the US and engage in discussions. The purpose of this conference is to develop a theoretical and analytical framework with comparative concepts and mechanisms from disasters in China and other contexts.