David R. Stroup is a 2015 Fulbright Scholar, and Ph.D. Candidate in political science at the University of Oklahoma, where he studies Chinese politics with focus on nationalism and ethnic politics. 

 

Currently, he is working on a dissertation project which explores how the ethnic boundaries of Hui minority culture are impacted and influenced by modernization and urban renewal projects.

 

RESEARCH

 

This blog will track the progress of a dissertation project that will study the impact of urban renewal on ethnic identity in Hui minority neighborhoods in urban China. Contemporary China is a rapidly urbanizing society. In cities nationwide, massive infrastructure and redevelopment projects reshape China’s urban landscape. Such transformations occur through a process referred to as chai qian (拆迁), or “demolition and relocation,” in which existing neighborhoods are torn down in order to enable construction of new structures. Residents of these neighborhoods are moved to new homes. As the state attempts to use these practices to revitalize cities' aging infrastructure, many social and political challenges arise as a consequence.

 

Nowhere are these challenges more visible than when such efforts for renewal occur in ethnic minority neighborhoods. My project explores how these project affect and influence the daily lives, and cultural practices ethnic Hui (also frequently reffered to as "Chinese Muslims") residents in China's urban centers. To answer these questions, I will be conducting interviews and observations in Hui neighborhoods in cities throughout China-- primaily Beijing, Jinan, Yinchuan/Najiahu, and Xining (see the map on the right). 

 

Over the next year, I hope that this blog will be a jumping off point for discussions about my research, my experiences in the field, my life in China, and life in contemporary China in general. I look forward to sharing my thoughts with all of you.