현대 중국, 사랑의 정치경제학 — dreadful desires: The Uses of Love in Neoliberal China by Charlie Yi Zhang 읽기

초록

This article reviews Charlie Yi Zhang’s book, dreadful desires: The Uses of Love in Neoliberal China, which was published this year, 2022. The book explores love and intimacy in Neoliberal China applying the methodologies of media and cultural studies as well as anthropology and ethnography. As the author argues, neoliberalism is rarely discussed in terms of affect, and this book presents meaningful insights into ‘love’ and ‘desire’ in contemporary China. The first part of the book analyses cultural phenomena such as the 60th anniversary of the PRC and the popular TV program, “If You are the One.” The second part of the book is based on the author’s fieldwork in Wuxi and Hai’an in 2012 and 2016. The ethnographic chapters provide a powerful narrative about the subject-becoming. The author coins terms like ‘Loveland’ and ‘difference-making-machinery’ in order to analyse the neoliberal mechanism of subjectification. This review first examines the keywords of the book and the theoretical context, and then critically discusses all the chapters in depth.

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