Jing Xu

Looking forward to this online event on Saturday June 28th (in Mandarin), to discuss my book with Yunxiang Yan (UCLA), Shao-hua Liu (Academia Sinica), and Xiaojun Zhang (Tsinghua). Our discussion will be moderated by Fei Yan (Tsinghua).

Zoom #: 919-4243-1528, link: mcmaster.zoom.us/j/91942431528

OUT NOW: A Field Guide to Cross-Cultural Research on Childhood Learning reimagines how we study kids—globally. With voices from 21 countries, this inclusive, practical guide bridges disciplines and challenges Western-centric research. buff.ly/0qk1cOs

I'm THRILLED that our book is out. This book, with other 60 contributors from across the globe (!!!) is a love letter to the science we want to do, and a how-to guide for how to do it. Please read it and share it!

So happy to be part of this unique book project!

How do humans become moral persons? While we tend to emphasize how parents shape the moral personhood of youngsters, what about children’s active learning, especially learning with and from peers? What can children teach us about the nature of ethnography, and about learning and knowledge-making more broadly? My book examines these questions through a unique re-interpretation of historical fieldnotes from the first-ever anthropological study of ethnic Han children, using an innovative human-machine hybrid approach that combines ethnographic interpretation, behavioral coding, SNA (social-network-analysis), and NLP (natural-language-processing) techniques including large-language-models (LLMs). These unpublished fieldnotes were collected by the late anthropologists Arthur and Margery Wolf in Taiwan from 1958-1960, at the height of the Martial-Law era. Their original research was intended as an improved replication of the Six Cultures Study of Child Socialization, a landmark project in the history of anthropology of childhood.

ACYIG is delighted to present our latest Spotlight on Scholarship, featuring @jing-xu.bsky.social Jing Xu's "‘Unruly’ Children: Historical Fieldnotes and Learning Morality in a Taiwan Village." See more: acyig.americananthro.org/spotlight-on...

7/ Read the full paper here: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

1/ 🧵 🚨New paper!🚨 Cross-cultural research is expanding in the social sciences — but are we measuring what we think we are? Our recent paper argues that construct validity is an overlooked challenge, especially in developmental research. Let’s break it down. 🌍 🧠

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

9/ 🙌 A big thank you to my incredible co-authors: @dorsaamir.bsky.social, Jennifer Clegg, Helen Davis, @nataliabdutra.bsky.social, @michelleakline.bsky.social, @sheinalew.bsky.social, Tanya MacGillivray, Gairan Pamei, Yitong Wang, @jing-xu.bsky.social, & @brucerawlings.bsky.social. Very grateful!

@newbooksnetwork.bsky.social

Jing Xu, Podcast Episode · New Books Network · 01/22/2025 · 1h 42m

New Books Network interview about my book (“Unruly” Children @cambridgeup.bsky.social): magical encounters (缘分), when the ethnographic past comes to the ethnographic present via technologies of the future. Really enjoyed the conversation with the host Yadong Li.

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/n...

<em>American Anthropologist</em> | AAA Anthropology Journal | Wiley Online Library Click on the article title to read more.

Our first interview, as associate editors for @amanthro.bsky.social “World Anthropologies” section, featuring the unconventional journey and work of Ethiopian American archaeologist Helina Woldekiros. We talked about traversing different worlds, language, gender, etc.:
doi.org/10.1111/aman...

许晶：看见“作为认知主体的儿童” #2024年终特辑08 关注儿童丰富的思维情感世界

看见“作为认知主体的儿童”，my short end-of-year review essay for the Chinese magazine “The Thinker.”

mp.weixin.qq.com/s/aaLOy6gsRN...

My friend Yang Zhan and I hosted a Wenner-Gren workshop in Hong Kong: “Precarity & Urgency: Debating the future of China anthropology”. A rare opportunity to bring scholars together from all around the world, especially half of our participants being Chinese scholars based in mainland institutions.

讲座预告 | “任性”的儿童：武雅士经典田野资料再阐释 上世纪五十年代末，人类学家武雅士夫妇在台北盆地的一个村庄进行了为期两年的田野调查，收集了大量田野资料，标志着欧美学界第一个聚焦汉人儿童生活世界的人类学研究。

mp.weixin.qq.com/s/YntH6oISeH...

Next Monday afternoon (Dec. 9th, Beijing time), virtual book talk at my Alma mater Tsinghua University! Looking forward to reconnecting with friends and colleagues!
北京时间下周一下午三点，连线清华人类学宣讲新书，期待与老师朋友们相聚！

‘Unruly’ Children: Historical Fieldnotes and Learning Morality in a Taiwan Village (New Departures in Anthropology) ‘Unruly’ Children: Historical Fieldnotes and Learning Morality in a Taiwan Village (New Departures in Anthropology) - Kindle edition by Xu, Jing. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading ‘Unruly’ Children: Historical Fieldnotes and Learning Morality in a Taiwan Village (New Departures in Anthropology).

available on CUP website (20%discount code XU2024) and also on Amazon: a.co/d/bS2jVGv

‘Unruly’ Children Cambridge Core - Developmental Psychology - ‘Unruly’ Children

My new book, “Unruly” Children: Historical Fieldnotes and Learning Morality in a Taiwan Village, is published by Cambridge University Press. It simultaneously traces children’ active learning of morality and reconstructs an ethnography from a rare and unique set of fieldnotes. cup.org/409liB2

Interview with Bonnie and Barry Hewlett: Encountering children in the field: Hunter Gatherer Research: Vol 8, No 1-2

I had the opportunity to interview Barry and Bonnie Hewlett, two anthropologists who had made great contribution to the study of Hunter-gatherer childhood: www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/abs/10.3...

Introduce our recent article about understanding contemporary Chinese society via humor, in American Anthropologist: “Can anthropologists get humor?”: doi.org/10.1111/aman... It marks the beginning of a new project: critical reflections on knowledge production through collaboration

Commentary: East Asian Educational Migration as Narrative Quests I interpret the rich conceptual insights and empirical findings of the special issue Childhood, Migration and the Pursuit of Happiness in Middle-Class East Asia through the lens of understanding migr...

I had the opportunity to write a commentary for the journal Global Networks’ special issue on East Asian childhood and migration: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

<em>American Anthropologist</em> | AAA Anthropology Journal | Wiley Online Library Click on the article title to read more.

Here’s our new editorial piece for “World Anthropologies” section, as Associate Editors for the journal American Anthropologist: “Seeking clarity at a time of confusion”:
doi.org/10.1111/aman...

I created a starter pack for sociologists studying China: go.bsky.app/NetJdDm. We study China’s labor, gender, family, inequality, organizations, education, professions, media, civil society, protests, immigration, as well as politics and history.
Let me know if you want to be added (or removed).

YouTube video by University of Washington Taiwan Studies Program Unruly Children with Jing Xu

My book talk at UW Taiwan Studies Program, on the official publication date of "Unruly" Children (Cambridge University Press, 2024), in front of pioneers in my field, including Profs. Hill Gates, Stevan Harrell, John Shepherd, Rob Weller, David Jordan, etc.: www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdI2...