Author Archives: elenakayes

About elenakayes

The key to understanding exists at the nexus where self-interest and practice meet power and policy; I explore this nexus through participatory field research.

China’s Urbanization: The Next Challenge (Challenge for Whom?)

My advisor recently invited me to be his guest at the University of Virginia’s opening ceremony for their new China Office in Shanghai. Then, at the last moment, he bailed on attending. This was fine with me, as it wouldn’t … Continue reading

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Suichang Part III: Spring Festival 2015

Today I caught a ride back to Hangzhou from Suichang with my research partner and his father. During the drive, his father said to me ‘China’s development is happening too quickly, and our traditions are being destroyed in the process. … Continue reading

Posted in Zhejiang Province | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

“Seeking Truth From Fact” Part III: Gaoping’s E-commerce Shop

I felt conflicted about how to write this post. My previous two posts on Gaoping’s peasant tourism association and organic food cooperative were easy, feel-good, ‘hooray-for-rural-alternativist-values’ stories of grassroots cooperative institutions that integrate the needs and interests of the local … Continue reading

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“Seeking Truth From Fact” Part II: Gaoping’s Organic Farm Cooperative

In my last post I described the recent evolution of Gaoping’s peasant-tourism cooperative association. Mainly, how the villagers scaled up from scattered, individual households opening their homes to tourists, to sharing resources and combining services to form the ‘Four Unifications’ … Continue reading

Posted in Urban-to-Rural Migration, Zhejiang Province | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments