“Beijing Aunties Have Something to Say”: Aging Self-Consciousness and Collective Action in Contemporary China
“Beijing Aunties Have Something to Say”: Aging Self-Consciousness and Collective Action in Contemporary China.
Conférence de Justine Rochot (post-doctorante Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation au CECMC), co-organisée par le Center for Aging Science (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) et le CEFC, lundi 23 novembre 2020 à 15:00-16:30 (8h-9h30 heure de Paris). Conférence en libre accès, sur inscription.
Présentation
In late 2015, a WeChat account called “Beijing Aunties Have Something to Say” (北京大妈有话说) was created by a small Beijing-based company. Now widely known among Chinese retirees, this platform provides its followers, born between the late 1940s and the early 1960s, with a space to meet up with peer-retirees scattered all over the country, but also with hundreds of videos featuring middle-aged volunteer women speaking up in the name of elderly’s interests and spreading awareness about generationally shared injustices. Using both ethnographic materials and video content analysis, this seminar will take the “Beijing Aunties” as a case study to address the development of an “aging self-conscious community” of Chinese retirees defending their collective interests despite China’s constrained political environment.