Dr. Ning Zhang

Ning Zhang Assistant Professor Anthropology & Sociology Bethel University 3900 Bethel Dr. #24 St. Paul, MN 55112 651-638-6932 n-zhang@bethel.edu

Education

April, 2008 Ph.D. in Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh

Advanced Certificate Program in Asian Studies

Dissertation Title: “Donkey Friends: Travel, Voluntary Communities and New Public Sphere in Contemporary Urban China.”

Advisor: Professor Nicole Constable

1999 B. A. in English Language and Literature, Renmin University, Beijing, P. R. China

Research

Her research, “Donkey Friends: Travel, Voluntary Communities, and New Public Sphere in Contemporary Urban China,” examined the rise of voluntary associations of “donkey friends”, and the emergence of new kinds of social networks and public space in urban China. One of her dissertation chapters forms the basis of the essay ““Donkey Friend” Communities: Harmonious Networks and Harmonious Tourism” published in China Media Research. Another chapter paper is currently under review for publication in a book entitled Fieldwork in Tourism: Methods, Issues and Reflections (Routledge Press). Her current research interests include one chapter on how globalization impacts grassroots organizations in China. In particular, drawing upon her earlier research on China’s voluntary organizations, she is hoping to explore the culturally specific meanings of global cooperation and grassroots resistance.

Teaching

Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Race, Ethnicity and Peacemaking, People and Culture of China, Gender and Sexuality, Anthropology of Tourism, Research Methodology

Publications

“Donkey Friend” Communities: Harmonious Networks and Harmonious Tourism in China Media Research Vol. 4, 2008

“Donkey Friends: Travel, Cyberspace and Virtual Ethnography,” in T.C. Chang, Peggy Teo & K. Thirumaran; C.M. Hall (Eds.) Fieldwork in Tourism: Methods, Issues and Reflections, Routledge Press. (Under Review)

Papers Presented at Professional Conferences

2007 “The Emerging Civil Society in Travelers’ Communities in Post-Reform China” at the Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, November 28 – December 2, Washington, D.C.

2006 “Anthropologist, Fieldworker or Tourist” at the Conference on “Questions of Methodology; Researching Tourism in Asia” at the National University of Singapore, September 5, 2006.

2006 “Domestic Travel in China and Reconfigurations of Social Networks” at “‘Of Asian Origin’: Rethinking Tourism in Contemporary Asia” Conference at National University of Singapore, September 9, 2006.

2004 “Tourism in Lijiang and New Experience of Modernity in Post-Mao China” in the 5th Annual Colorado University East Asian Graduate Student Association Conference at the University of Colorado at Boulder, February 22, 2004.