From Desire to Avoidance: Rubble of Familiar Spaces in China
« From Desire to Avoidance: Contrasting Interactions with the Rubble of Familiar Spaces Affected by an Earthquake and a Planned Flood (China) », chapitre de Katiana Le Mentec [CNRS, CCJ, CECMC] paru dans l’ouvrage Haunting Ruins. Ethnographies of Ruination and Decay, édité par Valentina Gamberi et Chiara Calzana chez Berghahn books (New-York/Oxford) en mars 2025
Résumé du chapitre
What happens when a destructive event irrevocably transforms familiar spaces, abandoned or preserved at a certain stage of decay? Ethnography closely looks at the relations between people and distorted spaces, invested with meaning, feelings and practices. This paper examines people’s contrasting interactions with ruins in their destroyed cities. Whilst Yunyang was intentionally and gradually destroyed at the turn of the millennium, upstream of the Three Gorges Reservoir, Beichuan dramatically collapsed under the Wenchuan Earthquake (2008). Some local people seek sensory contact, while others avoid such a relationship. This paper outlines individual and collective anthropotopias of ruins through representative ethnographic cases

Présentation de l’ouvrage Haunting Ruins. Ethnographies of Ruination and Decay
Ruins, rubble and decaying material can foster a more layered theory of time, change and memory. The seven ethnographic case studies in Haunting Ruins trace human engagements with the temporal forces of ruins, which can trace the past and transform the present. Conjuring environmental humanities, the anthropology of history, memory and archaeology, this book delves into the complex influence of the past on the present and the future and urges scholars to consider ruins as things to think with.
Haunting Ruins. Ethnographies of Ruination and Decay propose notamment une mise en regard Chine/Italie sur le cas des ruines modernes. Il comprend deux autres contributions sur le monde chinois :
« A Scattered Self: Composing Subjectivities through Ruined Houses (Taiwan) » de Valentina Gamberi
Et
« Ruins of Remains: Unpacking Narratives about a Cemetery of ‘Political Victims’ » de Fang-I Chu
À noter jusqu’au 30 avril, le code promotionnel :Gamb8851 pour un achat de l’ouvrage à -50% sur le site de Berghahn book : https://www.berghahnbooks.com/title/GamberiHaunting

OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
katiana Le Mentec (7 mars 2025). From Desire to Avoidance: Rubble of Familiar Spaces in China. Carnets du Centre Chine (CNRS/EHESS). Consulté le 24 avril 2025 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/13fp2