Rundong Ning
Biographic Data
| ID | 88577 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Rundong Ning |
| GIVEN NAMES | Rundong |
| FAMILY NAME | Ning |
| SIGNATURE | NING R |
| AFFILIATIONS | Yale University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1270-2096 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 5 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 17 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 5 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Intimate Utopias
Can civil society offer alternative modes of sociality in an authoritarian political regime? Drawing on a study on small “voluntary fellowships” in China, we explore the anti-political values of a specific type of group whose members share a moral code of “civic intimacy” that values an idealized social condition of free, pure and caring social relations, and dream of achieving this utopian condition not through political activism but through the…
Project Assemblages
Many studies on China-Africa encounters have demonstrated the significance of ethnic and racial identities in these encounters. I reverse this perspective and ask: in what circumstances are China-Africa encounters shaped by identities other than racial and ethnic ones? Drawing on my ethnographic research in the construction industry in Congo-Brazzaville, I argue that the actions of many Chinese are often more influenced by their economic roles, s…
Patch-work
Although there are many studies on informal workers juggling multiple jobs, how workers differentiate their jobs economically and morally is less examined. Based on 18 months of fieldwork among urban middle-class entrepreneurs in Brazzaville, this article argues that entrepreneurs in the informal economy work on multiple projects that complement each other in terms of economic gains and moralities, a pattern I call "patch-work." Some projects are…
Bureaucratic valves
Africanists have written much about interactions between multiple currencies in Africa, yet paperwork-based regulations that apply to these interactions remain less studied. Meanwhile, ethnographic studies of paperwork examine the roles of documents more in state administration than in commercial transactions. Based on ethnographic research with individuals and institutions involved in the international transfer of the franc CFA in Congo-Brazzavi…
Ethics of the Heart
This article explores the angst of deeply committed volunteers in China, engaging with anthropological debates on ethics under conditions of "moral breakdown." Under market socialism, sacrificial volunteering is both ideologically glorified and socially deviant, placing volunteers at the point of dissonance between conflicting moral discourses. Interrogating the monolithic governmentality perspective that informs most anthropological studies of v…
Ethics of the Heart
This article explores the angst of deeply committed volunteers in China, engaging with anthropological debates on ethics under conditions of "moral breakdown." Under market socialism, sacrificial volunteering is both ideologically glorified and socially deviant, placing volunteers at the point of dissonance between conflicting moral discourses. Interrogating the monolithic governmentality perspective that informs most anthropological studies of v…
Patch-work
Although there are many studies on informal workers juggling multiple jobs, how workers differentiate their jobs economically and morally is less examined. Based on 18 months of fieldwork among urban middle-class entrepreneurs in Brazzaville, this article argues that entrepreneurs in the informal economy work on multiple projects that complement each other in terms of economic gains and moralities, a pattern I call "patch-work." Some projects are…
Project Assemblages
Many studies on China-Africa encounters have demonstrated the significance of ethnic and racial identities in these encounters. I reverse this perspective and ask: in what circumstances are China-Africa encounters shaped by identities other than racial and ethnic ones? Drawing on my ethnographic research in the construction industry in Congo-Brazzaville, I argue that the actions of many Chinese are often more influenced by their economic roles, s…
Intimate Utopias
Can civil society offer alternative modes of sociality in an authoritarian political regime? Drawing on a study on small “voluntary fellowships” in China, we explore the anti-political values of a specific type of group whose members share a moral code of “civic intimacy” that values an idealized social condition of free, pure and caring social relations, and dream of achieving this utopian condition not through political activism but through the…
Ethics of the Heart
This article explores the angst of deeply committed volunteers in China, engaging with anthropological debates on ethics under conditions of "moral breakdown." Under market socialism, sacrificial volunteering is both ideologically glorified and socially deviant, placing volunteers at the point of dissonance between conflicting moral discourses. Interrogating the monolithic governmentality perspective that informs most anthropological studies of v…
Bureaucratic valves
Africanists have written much about interactions between multiple currencies in Africa, yet paperwork-based regulations that apply to these interactions remain less studied. Meanwhile, ethnographic studies of paperwork examine the roles of documents more in state administration than in commercial transactions. Based on ethnographic research with individuals and institutions involved in the international transfer of the franc CFA in Congo-Brazzavi…
Patch-work
Although there are many studies on informal workers juggling multiple jobs, how workers differentiate their jobs economically and morally is less examined. Based on 18 months of fieldwork among urban middle-class entrepreneurs in Brazzaville, this article argues that entrepreneurs in the informal economy work on multiple projects that complement each other in terms of economic gains and moralities, a pattern I call "patch-work." Some projects are…
Intimate Utopias
Can civil society offer alternative modes of sociality in an authoritarian political regime? Drawing on a study on small “voluntary fellowships” in China, we explore the anti-political values of a specific type of group whose members share a moral code of “civic intimacy” that values an idealized social condition of free, pure and caring social relations, and dream of achieving this utopian condition not through political activism but through the…
Project Assemblages
Many studies on China-Africa encounters have demonstrated the significance of ethnic and racial identities in these encounters. I reverse this perspective and ask: in what circumstances are China-Africa encounters shaped by identities other than racial and ethnic ones? Drawing on my ethnographic research in the construction industry in Congo-Brazzaville, I argue that the actions of many Chinese are often more influenced by their economic roles, s…
Political science (5 works) · Sociology (4 works) · Economics (3 works) · Law (3 works) · Law (3 works) · Business (2 works) · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance (2 works) · Chinese history and philosophy (2 works) · Economic growth (2 works) · Finance (2 works)