05.26.07
More Comments/Limitations of the Project
This past week, my blog has received more publicity than I ever anticipated. There have been many comments around the net, including a lot of support, a good amount of constructive criticism, and apparently some individuals whom at some point I must have run over with my bicycle and never given proper compensation. Several of these comments raised questions about limitations of my barbershop project and I wanted to post them here and reply on this site because they raise some interesting questions.
Josh writes on Sinosplice:
While I do admire him doing this to have a bit of an idea of what it’s like, it feels rather cynical as well. I can’t really explain why I feel this, it might be part of the doing it for only 1 month as he doesn’t really have to live on the wages that he’s earning from the job. It’d be much better if he had to live on the wages that he was earning, lived in the dormitory etc. and immersed himself a lot more in it.
And the photos as well seem to be ‘look at me clowning around with the low paid Chinese workers.’ I think it remains to be seen whether this ‘experiment’ will change his life in any way shape or form…..
Josh-
To conduct this project with the highest possible degree of immersion, I would need to spend a month sleeping in the dorm every night, live off 600 kuai, and cut off all contact with my Western friends. As for the dorm, the main reason I am not living there is that a big part of this project was that I wanted to write about it. I spend 11 hours a day at work, 8 hours a day sleeping, 1 hour commuting by bicycle, and the rest is usually spent in front of the computer. I did not want to sit up in the dorm all night with my fancy laptop ignoring my colleagues, nor did I want to save all my writing until the month was over and my memory had turned foggy. Therefore, I thought living in the dorm would be detrimental overall to the project. That being said, living in the dorm certainly would have constituted a more immersed and authentic experience. In terms of money, I have not been keeping track, but excluding my rent, I probably will end up spending less than 600 kuai this month anyway. It is amazing how easy it is not to spend money when you are at work 11 hours a day.
 |
| I would be telling a big fat lie if I denied that a good portion of my day, as well as that of my coworkers, is devoted to pure, unadulterated, horsing around. |
You also mention that many of my photos seem to be ‘look at me clawing around with the low paid Chinese workers.” Glancing back over what I have posted over the past month, I understand why you have this impression. However, I do have to counter that a good 30 to 40 percent of the typical Chinese barbershop employee’s work day is spent clawing around due to the massive amounts of idle time. So in this respect, I think that the goofiness represented in these pictures is consistent with Chinese workers’ lives.
In regards to your final comment, I do not anticipate that this job will change my life, but I do think it has been giving me considerable insight into the Chinese working class, and China as a whole. However, as you point out, there is room for more immersion.
Mike writes on danwei:
from a novelty perspective, this is interesting.
however, from an anthropological perspective, I don’t get it. Apart from phd-defining observations about wages and conditions as detailed above, what does he hope to get out of this?
he will always be a foreigner working in a Chinese barber shop and will always be treated as one. he cannot hope to assimilate and truly experience what a Chinese worker would experience, so what is the point (apart from being able to write a blog and improve his Chinese)?
but if he is doing it for the novelty and for something to tell his friends back home, then great and good luck
Mike-
As you imply, no matter how much Chinese I learn or how long I spend in China, I cannot change the fact that I spent my formative years being socialized in the United States. I am a Westerner and this is always how I will be viewed and treated by Chinese people. I will say there is a grey area in between…for example a foreigner who speaks Chinese and has adopted local culture and mannerisms to some degree will get treated more like a Chinese than one who is just in for the week visiting. That being said, this does not change the fact that I still am not Chinese and never will be. This presents obvious limitations. One of the goals of my project was to experience life as a member of the Chinese working class. While my colleagues have for the most part played along, this does not mean that they can automatically compensate for their preconceived bias. In other words, it is impossible for me to completely assimilate and experience life as a Chinese worker would, and my experience suffers from certain limitations that would not be as poignant had I been an overseas Chinese. However, I would argue that this does not completely demerit the whole project. After all, few would argue for the illegitimacy Jane Goodall’s body of work on account of the fact that she was not a chimpanzee.
On the flip side, the fact that I am not Chinese, does have its inherent advantages. When I work as an ethnographer in China our team usually consists of both Americans and Chinese. Often the Americans will make observations that the Chinese have overlooked on account of the fact that they are so accustomed to their own culture. The converse holds true if we bring Chinese researchers to the States. An outside eye will often pick up on nuances that the insider is oblivious to. But as you accurately point out I “cannot hope to assimilate and truly experience what a Chinese worker would experience.”
Law Office of Todd L. Platek
said,
May 26, 2007 at 3:11 am
Ben, you’re doing fine. Likely at the dorm you would not be spending much more time outside of sleeping except for sharing a communal shower and squatting over holes for disposal of human waste, and experiencing the typically low standards of sanitation which exist in such dorms. What is more difficult for you to assimilate inwardly is the relatively quiet desperation of most of your coworkers, who are resigned to such lives where hope of significant improvement of lifestyle and living conditions is meager. Not even Overseas Chinese can assimilate that understanding since they have built-in escape hatches of families abroad. Keep the faith, baby.
doom
said,
May 26, 2007 at 3:29 am
yeah i totally had your back, man.
Mary
said,
May 26, 2007 at 5:47 am
It’s impossible for you to be completely immersed. But what you have shared w/ us about your experience at the barbershop, give the limits of your being Caucasian, living in your own apt, etc, are immensely interesting. Without your taking time for yourself everyday to write for us, most of us, even the expats in China, would have no idea what life is like as a minimum wage working in China. I think Barbara Ehrenreich was criticized for her book Nickel and Dimed, for not being authentic enough too. But the value of her work didn’t come from how closely her lifestyle matched the lifestyles of her co-workers, but from her ability to shake the American consciousness and give voice to a group of previously invisible people. So keep working, and keep writing about it. Thanks and all the best!
Matt
said,
May 26, 2007 at 7:23 am
I second the comment above on Barbara Ehrenreich’s book Nickel and Dimed. She tried to live just on the salary she earned at the minimum wage jobs, but at any moment she could have pulled the plug on the project. In the end, it was her year-long commitment and deep background research that really made the book resonate.
From the beginning you stated your restrictions and how you would be going about the barbershop work, so you aren’t hiding anything from your readers. I’ve enjoyed checking in every day to see what is new – it’s not the most groundbreaking research — but where else would I learn about employee barbecues or snake-meat vendors? And the pictures of you clowning around no doubt makes sense to those of us who know you, but other readers might take it the wrong way.
The challenge will be to take the constructive criticism and move forward with a more comprehensive and deeper investigation. This has been a great project so far and I’m looking forward to what you do next. What’s it going to be? (I’d be into a China road trip!)
Pandapassport
said,
May 26, 2007 at 7:47 am
Yeah man.
Stick with it. I wouldn’t pay much attention to the criticism.
You’re going where no laowai has gone before.
And that certainly counts for something in my book.
Jason
said,
May 26, 2007 at 8:19 am
Hear hear!
I’ve thought the criticism a bit overstated as well.
You obviously approach the project with a light heart, and not only is that conducive to a more productive ‘immersion’, it makes for better reading as well. I can’t stand anthropology that chisels culture down to words and ideas before experience.
Keep it up.
Leo
said,
May 26, 2007 at 9:01 am
“After all, few would argue for the illegitimacy Jane Goodall’s body of work on account of the fact that she was not a chimpanzee.”
Na, do any chimpanzee have a comment?
Joe
said,
May 26, 2007 at 9:20 am
Ben,
You go. I’m with the rest of the gang that thinks you’ve already taken enough crap from the “critique crowd.” Unless all the critics have done what you are doing, then they should refrain from throwing the first stone. I’ve been reading about this adventure since you started it, and I applaud your effort. You never claimed a month at a barber shop would make you feel exactly what a Chinese would feel. Hang in there. As you can tell, many of your readers are with you in spirit.
John
said,
May 26, 2007 at 10:42 am
I do have a problem with your writing, though.
This entry would be much better if you had marked the quoted portions using HTML’s blockquote tag…
Phillip T
said,
May 26, 2007 at 11:11 am
Hey Ben, I’ve been reading your blog. I also have some experience in anthropology (BA in Anthropology, minor in Chinese). I think some of the points in the criticisms are valid, ie. you can’t change the fact that you are a Westerner, that you will be viewed as such no matter how well you speak Chinese. That said, I think that if you take that fact into account in your thinking about the project, you still have full intellectual integrity. See “Critical Ethnography” by D. Soyini Madison. Basically, ‘critical ethnography’ is ethnography that takes into account the existence of the observer, and the effect (as much as is knowable) of his cultural and social distance.
I think what you are doing is a good thing: you get experience in ethnographic living, you learn and teach (I’ve learned from reading your blog) about your target culture. Yes, you cannot totally assimilate, but that is what makes your point of view so valuable to your “home culture.”
PS – I plan on moving to Chengdu in the fall, doing ESL and eventually, doing my own ethnography. If you have questions, I have some experience with ethnography. I’d love to hear from you.
Keep rockin!
-Phillip
ptaylo4@lsu.edu / philliptaylor6@gmail.com
Dan
said,
May 26, 2007 at 11:59 am
Ben,
Just to echo some support for you – I think this is a very interesting project and you are going about it in a fair and even-handed way.
Realistically, short of having re-constructive surgery or something to make you physically look more Chinese, I’m not sure what else you could really be expected to do to make this project any more “legitimate”.
The perspectives and experiences you are getting and reporting in this blog are interesting and pretty unique compared to a lot of other “expats in China” blogs – keep it up!
I’ve no idea what you ultimately plan to do after the completion of this project – write a book, use this for a grad school thesis, ???????, – then profit? Start your own hair salon?
Whatever – it’s a cool blog, and I’ll keep reading it as long as you keep updating it.
Tangent – Does anyone know of blogs written by individuals from China living/studying/working in the US, Canada, or Europe, and writing about their experiences – analogous to blogs like this one? I imagine someone must be doing it; it might be interesting to compare/contrast.
canrun
said,
May 26, 2007 at 1:47 pm
“I can’t stand anthropology that chisels culture down to words and ideas before experience.”
I can’t stand Anthropology full-stop, but it is quite interesting read about your experiences nonetheless. Doesn’t change the fact, though, that the rooster-haired 理发师 damn near took off my ear yesterday…
zuraffo
said,
May 26, 2007 at 2:40 pm
You should just go with the ride.
People are born unequal, there is no need to justify.
And I second the blockquote suggestion. it’ll be much neater.
dezza
said,
May 27, 2007 at 12:27 am
I must say when I first read what you were doing at the barbershop I was a bit negative about what you were trying to do, too. I thought perhaps it was some publicity stunt or grandstanding but after following your writing for the last month, you’ve won me over with your intellectual writing style and sincerity to learn and respect those that you are working with/for.
So all I can say is 加油！You’re doing a great job, dude.
Letz
said,
May 27, 2007 at 1:47 am
I am a Chinese student living in the U.S.
In general, Chinese, in particular male, find them hard to assimilate in the Western world and experience Western culture. Partially because of the discrimination (the primary reason), partially due to our shyness.
I would say, this is an awesome work and enjoy. Campared to those arrogant expats in China, you have done good enough.
However, what I would like to point out is that Fuzhou is still a more or less “developed” area in China. There must be more low waged workers in central and western China. If you go on a trip to a less developed place, you may be able to learn more, not only their lifes, but also culture, food and other stuff. Keep in mind that, this is just a small portion of Chinese people, the differences between Northern Chinese and Southern Chinese are huge enough to not justify what you generalized in the blog such as “Chinese people ….blah blah blah” based on what you experienced in Fuzhou.
So if you have time, why not go to another city 1000 miles away and work a month to see what you see there.
Also, based on your observation, you can think about why China can become a giant cohesive empire while people are so different in terms of speaking dialects, culture, or even appearance. This will help you promote your understanding to a high level.
Good job! Glad to see your story.
Ji Village News
said,
May 28, 2007 at 10:45 am
Great job, Ben! You showed a lot of class in responding your comments in a calm and thoughtful manner, which is easily said than done.
I learned a lot from your entries, I also learned a lot from thoughtful commenter from around the world. My hat off to you all
Doug
said,
May 28, 2007 at 3:42 pm
Nice blog Ben. I’ve referenced your comments several times in conversations with friends, specifically the white shelf blog and lack of respect. It’s been a good starter on the topic. And I enjoy the insights that you are providing.
Also, it was interesting. I first saw a note about your blog on the Shanghaiist site, which led me to read it. And then just last week you got a similar plug in the China Daily or some similar English newspaper! I imagine your hits have gone up dramatically.
Anyway, keep it up!
I
Ken Erickson
said,
May 29, 2007 at 11:38 am
Hey Ben,
This was an amazing post, really. How often does someone who is trying to learn about a community offer others the chance to comment on her or his work while its in progress? That’s the beauty of bloggin. And to make it even better, you responded with insight and respect for your critics.
Understanding other people thorugh participation in their lives, thorugh building and maintaining real relationships with them, comes at a cost. You are always part observer which means you are always only a partial participant. And because you are partly a participant, you are not some pure, white-coated, laboratory-based observer, either. What you take in is colored an filtered by who you are. The best ethnographers take into consideration who they are; they take care to clarify their position, their bias. They don’t try to hide them or eliminate them.
So without the bias, without the tension between participation 24/7 and time to write, there can’t be as much sharing. And I would argue that without the nightly writing, you wouldn’t be sure what you are learning, either.
We are all learning a lot from you, Ben. I think I detect a book deal on the horizon! Keep up the great work. And thanks to the other commentators, too!
sloppyzhou
said,
June 5, 2007 at 4:09 pm
Hi Ben, First of all, I really like your blog and overall writing.
I also really like your initial idea, having often thought that trying to work alongside some migrant workers on one of China’s major construction projects would also give an outsider (foreign, or just affluent city-dweller) an incredible perspective. I recently met two Scandinavian guys who did just that in Mongolia (they had nothing philosophical to say about it – just that it was something necessary).
Sorry to focus on the negative but I think some of the folks congratulating you on here are being way too light hearted. This is a serious experiment you’ve undertaken, and should be discussed as such. I think your decision to do this for only a month (basically not surviving) and to not live in the dormitory almost completely negates the entire endeavor, or at least leaves you only with a bunch of funny stories for friends back home.
Having your own, large, comfy apartment to go back to every night totally recharges you, as well as takes you out of the days context. I understand the need to record your thoughts, but what, that’s only possible with a computer? What about keeping a journal.
I can’t believe people are bringing “Nickel and Dimed” into all of this. There is little to no comparison, and therefore, you shouldn’t entertain all this book talk. Were the book in question distributed to a larger, non-intimate (that is with “our” situation) and more sociologically erudite audience it would be shredded.
Sorry to be so harsh. It’s not aimed at you personally, but more so at all of the adoration being thrown your way (It seems you don’t pay it much mind anyway). Why not stick to it for half a year, and yes, temporarily cut (or limit) ties with non-work related acquaintances and money from home (if that seems unrealistic, sorry, your hearts not in it), move into the dorm, extend your term of employment and sharpen your pencil? You could see how long it takes to move through the various levels of acceptance sure to exist over a longer stretch of time.
Albman
said,
July 3, 2007 at 5:41 am
Don’t worry too much about Josh. He’s just jealous because he tried to cut hair in a small village in Maryland once for a place called “Regent” and they fired him for his derelict mannerisms and unkempt nostril hairs.