Dissertation Research: The Impacts of Transnational Media Consumption on Local Cultures in China

9904387

Schein / Chen

This project supports the dissertation research of an anthropology student from Rutgers University studying the impacts of transnational media consumption on local cultures in China. Based on the hypothesis that such media does not produce global cultural homogenization but rather consolidates local differences, this project will employ a multi-site ethnographic approach to study media, media-related commodities, and consumers in Beijing and Xian, China. Using participant observation, semi-structured interviews, surveys and archival research, the student will analyze changes in local identities produced by exposure to transnational media, focusing on (foreign) media consuming groups as distinct from (foreign) media dispossessed groups. This research is important because it will produce a case study of a global process, the impact on local societies of the shift from local command economies to open market economies as influenced by changes in media, especially television, film, music, print media and video compact disks. In addition the project supports the training of a young social scientist, and advances our knowledge of this important area of the world.