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Carving Out Our Own Spaces: Accessing Chinese Rock Music Scenes through a Multi-Method Ethnographic Approach

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The chapter discusses the multi-metho dethnographic approaches that I used in studying Chinese rock music scenes and subcultures in the context of increased censorship, economic growth and globalization in China. Through this chapter, I have attempted to explore my reflexive researcher position as an insider researcher, which has had significant benefits to researching Chinese rock music as a complex culture.

Keywords: Autoethnography ; Censorship in China ; Chinese youth cultures ; Cultural studies ; D.i.y. ; Ethnographic reflexivity ; Insider research ; Multi-method ethnography ; Qualitative methodologies ; Textual analysis

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Carving Out Our Own Spaces: Accessing Chinese Rock Music Scenes through a Multi-Method Ethnographic Approach
Intellect , 200 (2025); https://doi.org/10.1386/9781835950579_15
/content/books/9781835950579.c10
/content/books/9781835950579.c10
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References

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References

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     [Google Scholar]
  2. Baranovitch, Nimrod (2003), China's New Voices: Popular Music, Ethnicity, Gender, and Politics, 1978–1997, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Barthes, Roland (1977), Image, Music, Text, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Blackman, Shane (2010), ‘The ethnographic mosaic of the Chicago School: Critically locating Vivien Palmer, Clifford Shaw and Frederic Thrasher's research methods in contemporary reflexive sociological interpretation’, in C. Hart (ed.), The Legacy of the Chicago School of Sociology, Cheshire: Midrash Publications, pp. 195–215.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Brace, Tim (1991), ‘Popular music in contemporary Beijing: Modernism and cultural identity’, Asian Music, 22:2, pp. 43–66.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Brace, Timothy and Friedlander, Paul (1992), ‘Rock and Roll on the New Long March: Popular music, cultural identity and political opposition in the People's Republic of China’, in R. Garofalo (ed.), Rockin’ the Boat: Mass Music & Mass Movements, Boston, MA: South End Press, pp. 115–28.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Brewer, John (2000), Ethnography, Buckingham: Open University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Bulmer, Martin (1984), The Chicago School of Sociology: Institutionalization, Diversity, and the Rise of Sociological Research, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Burawoy, Michael, Blum, Joseph, George, Sheba, Gille, Zsuzsa and Thayer, Millie (2000), Global Ethnography: Forces, Connections, and Imaginations in a Postmodern World, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.214
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Chandler, Daniel (2007), Semiotics: The Basics, 2nd ed., London: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Creemers, Rogier (2020), ‘China's conception of cyber sovereignty: Rhetoric and realization’, in D. Broeders and B. van den Berg (eds), Digital Technologies and Global Politics, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 107–42.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Davies, Charlotte (1999), Reflexive Ethnography: A Guide to Researching Ourselves and Others, London: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. De Kloet, Jeroen (2010), China with a Cut: Globalisation, Urban Youth and Popular Music, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Fang, Binxing (2018), Cyberspace Sovereignty: Reflections on Building a Community of Common Future in Cyberspace, Beijing: Science Press joint with Springer Nature Singapore.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Hodkinson, Paul (2005), ‘“Insider research” in the study of youth cultures’, Journal of Youth Studies, 8:2, pp. 131–49.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Huang, Hao (2001), ‘Yaogun Yinyue: Rethinking mainland Chinese rock ‘n’ roll’, Popular Music, 20:1, pp. 1–11.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Humphreys, Lee (1970), Tearoom Trade: A Study of Homosexual Encounters in Public Places, London: Duckworth and Co.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Jiang, Mengyao (2018), ‘Cultural fusion in the digital age: Rock music scenes and its subcultures in contemporary China’, Ph.D. thesis, Canterbury: Canterbury Christ Church University.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Jones, Andrews (1992), Like a Knife: Ideology and Genre in Contemporary Chinese Popular Music, New York: Cornell University East Asia Program.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Mai, Wanxin (2004), Hudie [Butterfly], Feature-Length Film, Hong Kong: Xinghao Yingye.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Mills, Wright (1959), The Sociological Imagination, London: Oxford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Munch, Edward (1893), The Scream [Oil on canvas], Oslo, Norway: National Gallery and Munch Museum.

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