Guest Lecture: Beyond Money: Ethics and Emotions in the Entrepreneurship of Chinese Newcomers in Japan (Dr. Bin Li, Freie Universität Berlin)

Moral Anthropology Advanced Seminar
Prof. Jean-Baptiste Pettier
Every Monday, 16-18h
SDAC Elite Master Program teaching room
Henkestraße 91, House 8
Erlangen

Monday 15th of January
Dr. Gil Hizi (Goethe Universität Frankfurt)

Virtue cultivation in Commercial Self-Improvement in Urban China

This paper will focus on my research among groups of self-improvement in urban China, where young adults seek to cultivate ideal personalities and particular emotional capacities. Along with introducing the teaching principles and values at play, I focus on the spatial and temporal features of these settings, which are enacted in contrast to everyday life in China. My analysis invites a discussion on the importance and limitations of virtue cultivation via commercial pedagogies, in China and beyond.

Monday 29th of January
Dr. Bin Li (Freie Universität Berlin)

Beyond Money: Ethics and Emotions in the Entrepreneurship of Chinese Newcomers in Japan

Entrepreneurship is the process of creating, launching, and managing a new business venture. Although the concept has traditionally been associated with economics and business studies, anthropologists such as Fredrik Barth and Clifford Geertz have contributed significantly to our understanding of entrepreneurship, exploring how it is embedded within cultural and social contexts. My research focused on the entrepreneurial practices of Chinese immigrants who arrived in Japan after China's Economic Reform. Based on my neighborhood-centered ethnographic fieldwork, the presentation will introduce how Chinese newcomer entrepreneurs in Japan view entrepreneurship beyond economic rationality and how ethical and emotional factors, socially and culturally constructed, affect individual motivations, practices, and status in their entrepreneurial careers.

More information: https://www.sdac.studium.fau.de/teaching/program-structure-and-semester-schedules/winter-semester-2023-2024/#collapse_13