{"id":{"repo_id":"cape-town","oai_identifier":"oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/36185"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/cape-town/oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/36185","repository":{"repo_id":"cape-town","name":"University of Cape Town","base_url":"https://open.uct.ac.za/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"The Middlestage: State-Sponsored Overseas Chinese Academics and China's Managed Cultural Globalisation","abstract":"This in-depth ethnographic study focuses on state-sponsored Overseas Chinese Academics (OCAs) and China's managed cultural globalisation based on two years of multi-sited fieldwork in South Africa, Australia, and China. Extending Goffman's (1956) theoretical frameworks of everyday dramatism such as the frontstage and the backstage, I adopt the middlestage as the primary conceptual lens of my investigation. The middlestage of China's managed cultural globalisation is examined as a fluid and embodied space where state-sponsored OCAs and Chinese state institutions negotiate power in the process of producing performances. I argue that for state-sponsored OCAs, the middlestage of China's managed cultural globalisation is simultaneously a space of curation, negotiation, and re-imagination. The research also incorporates an ethnographic fiction titled The Islanders and provides a thick description of my state-sponsored OCA participants' life trajectories. The Islanders reveals how individual OCAs curate their performances and self-presentations, negotiate their social mobility and identities; and reimagine their realities whilst seeking conviviality on the middlestage. The thesis discusses and demonstrates how ethnographic fiction can be used as an essential tool for anthropological research.","abstract_html":"This in-depth ethnographic study focuses on state-sponsored Overseas Chinese Academics (OCAs) and China's managed cultural globalisation based on two years of multi-sited fieldwork in South Africa, Australia, and China. Extending Goffman's (1956) theoretical frameworks of everyday dramatism such as the frontstage and the backstage, I adopt the middlestage as the primary conceptual lens of my investigation. The middlestage of China's managed cultural globalisation is examined as a fluid and embodied space where state-sponsored OCAs and Chinese state institutions negotiate power in the process of producing performances. I argue that for state-sponsored OCAs, the middlestage of China's managed cultural globalisation is simultaneously a space of curation, negotiation, and re-imagination. The research also incorporates an ethnographic fiction titled The Islanders and provides a thick description of my state-sponsored OCA participants' life trajectories. The Islanders reveals how individual OCAs curate their performances and self-presentations, negotiate their social mobility and identities; and reimagine their realities whilst seeking conviviality on the middlestage. The thesis discusses and demonstrates how ethnographic fiction can be used as an essential tool for anthropological research.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Chen, Tian"],"institution":"School of African and GenderStuds, Anth and Ling","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Macdonald, Helen"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2021,"date_issued":"2021","date_published":"2021","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:22:52Z","subjects":["Anthropology"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/11427/36185","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Macdonald, Helen"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Chen, Tian"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2022-03-22T09:16:14Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2022-03-22T09:16:14Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2021"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["School of African and GenderStuds, Anth and Ling"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Doctoral Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["Doctoral","PhD"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Anthropology"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/11427/36185"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This in-depth ethnographic study focuses on state-sponsored Overseas Chinese Academics (OCAs) and China's managed cultural globalisation based on two years of multi-sited fieldwork in South Africa, Australia, and China. Extending Goffman's (1956) theoretical frameworks of everyday dramatism such as the frontstage and the backstage, I adopt the middlestage as the primary conceptual lens of my investigation. The middlestage of China's managed cultural globalisation is examined as a fluid and embodied space where state-sponsored OCAs and Chinese state institutions negotiate power in the process of producing performances. I argue that for state-sponsored OCAs, the middlestage of China's managed cultural globalisation is simultaneously a space of curation, negotiation, and re-imagination. The research also incorporates an ethnographic fiction titled The Islanders and provides a thick description of my state-sponsored OCA participants' life trajectories. The Islanders reveals how individual OCAs curate their performances and self-presentations, negotiate their social mobility and identities; and reimagine their realities whilst seeking conviviality on the middlestage. The thesis discusses and demonstrates how ethnographic fiction can be used as an essential tool for anthropological research."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The Middlestage: State-Sponsored Overseas Chinese Academics and China's Managed Cultural Globalisation"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Macdonald, Helen"],"dc:creator":["Chen, Tian"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2022-03-22T09:16:14Z"],"dc:date.available":["2022-03-22T09:16:14Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2021"],"dc:description.abstract":["This in-depth ethnographic study focuses on state-sponsored Overseas Chinese Academics (OCAs) and China's managed cultural globalisation based on two years of multi-sited fieldwork in South Africa, Australia, and China. Extending Goffman's (1956) theoretical frameworks of everyday dramatism such as the frontstage and the backstage, I adopt the middlestage as the primary conceptual lens of my investigation. The middlestage of China's managed cultural globalisation is examined as a fluid and embodied space where state-sponsored OCAs and Chinese state institutions negotiate power in the process of producing performances. I argue that for state-sponsored OCAs, the middlestage of China's managed cultural globalisation is simultaneously a space of curation, negotiation, and re-imagination. The research also incorporates an ethnographic fiction titled The Islanders and provides a thick description of my state-sponsored OCA participants' life trajectories. The Islanders reveals how individual OCAs curate their performances and self-presentations, negotiate their social mobility and identities; and reimagine their realities whilst seeking conviviality on the middlestage. The thesis discusses and demonstrates how ethnographic fiction can be used as an essential tool for anthropological research."],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/11427/36185"],"dc:publisher.department":["School of African and GenderStuds, Anth and Ling"],"dc:subject":["Anthropology"],"dc:title":["The Middlestage: State-Sponsored Overseas Chinese Academics and China's Managed Cultural Globalisation"],"dc:type":["Doctoral Thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["Doctoral","PhD"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:22:52Z"}