Female migrant workers’ theater, labor NGOs, and grassroots culture in China

Variations on the theme of “home”

Bibliographic Data

ID19233643
AuthorsJustyna Jaguścik (0000-0003-1122-8775, Universität Bern, Institut für Sprachwissenschaft , Bern , Switzerland, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume76
Issue4
Pages683-709
Publication date2022-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAsiatische Studien – Études Asiatiques (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0004-4717 • E-ISSN: 2235-5871
PublisherDe Gruyter (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/asia-2022-0014
OpenAlexW4368341776
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited30

This paper explores self-representations of female migrant workers in mainland Chinese grassroots theater, understood as a localized variety of trans-Asian people’s theater. It discusses the 2018 play They Say that was created by women associated with the Shenzhen-based NGO Green Rose Community Center. The analysis of the text and its performance seeks to shed light on the multifaceted identities of the authors and performers of the play, who left the countryside for precarious work in Shenzhen’s production and service industries. Beyond offering a close reading of the play with a particular focus on the images of “home” and “homemaking,” this paper embeds female migrant workers’ cultural activities into a larger social context that is shaped by state policies, non-governmental organizations, cultural norms and values, and legacies of the socialist era

China · Context (archaeology) · Economic growth · Geography · Grassroots · Mainland China · Migrant workers · Political science · Politics · Reading (process) · Sociology · State (computer science) · Theme (computing) · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Gender Studies · Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy