The state and governance in China have commonly been seen as non-religious. However, this does not imply they are devoid of ritualistic elements. As both the current CCP leadership and ordinary people seek to recuperate social life from market encroachment, affect-charged public rituals are experiencing a significant resurgence in contemporary urban governance and regime-building. Meanwhile, citizens’ sentiments and dispositions are becoming major subjects of the governing practices. In fact, this state deployment of secular rituals for affective governance can be traced back to early China (c. 1200 B.C. - c. 755 A.D.)—historical periods where indigenous ritual theories and practices flourished. This talk unravels to the audience the interplay of ritual and affect that are essential for understanding the theories and practices of governance in China, from the present to the past.
China Initiative Postdoctoral Fellow Shanni Zhao is a social and cultural anthropologist. She received her Ph.D. from Anthropology Department at Harvard University with a secondary field in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Her research interests focus on urban governance, state-making, affect and sentiments, public and mediation, marriage and social reproduction, in both contemporary and 20-Century China.
Michael Puett is the Walter C. Klein Professor of Chinese History and Anthropology at Harvard University, as well as a member of the Committee on the Study of Religion. Puett joined the Harvard faculty in 1994 after earning his M.A. (1987) and Ph.D. (1994) from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Chicago. In his research, Puett aims to bring the study of China into our larger theoretical and comparative frameworks. His primary interests focus on the historical anthropology of China and on the ways in which ritual theory, social theory, and political theory from China may enrich contemporary theoretical discussions.