Description
Book SynopsisOn the Edge probes precarity in contemporary China through the lens of the dark and angry cultural forms that chronic uncertainty has generated.
Trade ReviewHillenbrand examines the precarity of life for the outcasts of Chinese capitalism, indispensable yet unwanted, living in a state that she calls “zombie citizenship.” Her analysis of a wide range of fractious, rebarbative cultural productions by China’s underclass reveals how links between precarity, labor, life, and art generate new spaces for understanding protest, class, exploitation, and control. -- Leigh K. Jenco, author of
Changing Referents: Learning Across Space and Time in China and the WestBrilliant and perceptive, this book explores “precarity” as an affective and material human condition in China. Expressed through art forms and cultural practices, precarity unleashes unmanageable and undisciplined feelings that haunt the regime as much as society. This is one of the most original works on contemporary China I have ever read. -- Ching Kwan Lee, author of
The Social Question in the 21st Century: A Global ViewRevealing vital connections between creativity and precarity,
On the Edge features incisive and nuanced analyses of Chinese avant-garde art, migrant worker poetry and video, documentary cinema, and livestreaming performances. This inspiring book should be essential reading for all students of contemporary art, media, and society. -- Jie Li, author of
Cinematic Guerrillas: Propaganda, Projectionists, and Audiences in Socialist ChinaOn the Edge engages with precarity as a critical issue of our time. Coupled with its theoretical sophistication, the scope of its subject matter, its analytical strength, and its eloquence, this makes it a key intervention. Combining social engagement and aesthetic sensitivity, this scholarship is as imaginative as it is rigorous. -- Maghiel van Crevel, author of
Chinese Poetry in Times of Mind, Mayhem and MoneyHillenbrand is as searing and uncompromising in her critique of the power of the state and neoliberal market as she is sensitive and compassionate to rural migrant labourers. The book is definitely not “China for Dummies”, nor will it leave you with a feelgood aftertaste. But you’ll be rewarded with a deeper appreciation of the moral complexity that is essential to understanding China. -- Wanning Sun * The Conversation's "Best books of 2023" *
Table of ContentsPreface: Trial by Fire
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Grasping the Precarious
1. The Delegators
2. The Ragpickers
3. The Vocalists and the Ventriloquists
4. The Cliffhangers
5. The Microcelebrities
Conclusion: Viral Precarity
Notes
References
Index
