http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/05/world/asia/05china.html?scp=4&sq=&st=nyt
Spring Harvest of Debt for Parched Farms in Southern China
Published: April 4, 2010
The Yunnan and surrounding provinces of China have been struck with a severe drought over the winter months. This poses a problem for many living in this area as not only do they not have enough clean drinking water but since the area is primarily agricultural they also have trouble raising enough money from their crops to feed their families. Apparently, this drought is the worst to hit southern China in almost 100 years. 24 million people do not have enough water, and agricultural losses are near $3.5 billion. However, as “serious as the dry spell is, it affects only about 6 percent of China’s farmland and a tiny portion of its 1.3 billion people. Government officials say that its impact on inflation and food supplies is expected to be minimal.”
I found this article to be an interesting example of the topics of critical theory we have been discussing. The author attempts to include the stories of real individuals like Huang Jianxue who has had “to borrow money to send his 7-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter to school.” This perspective contrasts with the government’s cold statement that the overall effect of the drought is expected to be minimal. Like the critical theory authors we have read argue, reducing real suffering to statistics and numbers is a poor way to address an issue. Therefore, I found it refreshing that both the statements from the government and statements from those personally dealing with the drought were included in this article.
Drought is an interesting topic to approach from a critical theory perspective. For example, we can ask who is most affected, and whether their social standing affects how governments or other actors respond. We might also ask what about the structure of economic and political relations allows a drought to have such devastating effects. Perhaps reducing droughts to statistics doesn't do enough to show the immensity of the problem- perhaps human stories help, but perhaps an analysis of how such people came to be vulnerable to droughts in the first place would be a question critical theorists would ask.
ReplyDeleteI think that this displays a disconcerting, or at least uncomfortable, endorsement of the realist perspective. The drought affects the most disenfranchised, impoverished and underprivileged in China, who correspondingly have significantly less access to institutional power already. They are not materially significant to the overall economy or government processes; not only is their silence by preexisting disempowerment, this exacerbated state of voicelessness and absence of material leverage further reinforces a concept of the world in which people who suffer are not politically relevant or worthy of attention in their misery or human crisis alone, but that the well-being of a state is judged nearly entirely by the welfare of those who are already integrated into a system of political accountability and resources.
ReplyDeleteThis article is pretty good. For this comment, first I want to address the approach in Michael’s article. The way NY times reports this issue is quite interesting in terms of it incorporating a personal story form an average farmer in Yunan. Magazines like NY times may criticize China for its ignoring the effect of the drought on personal level. Also I agree Michael’s point that critical theorist may argue that reducing real suffering to statistics and number is a poor way to address the issue. But it is quite hard for a developing country like China to focus on the effects on personal level. There are some local official who should take care of the local residents. But this system usually doesn’t work either because of the lack of resources for there are so many residents in hard economic situations in a specific area or because of corruption, which is almost unavoidable in a developing country, be it India or China. The local bureaucracy is not strong enough to take care of the problem. Also, I want to point out that the way of focusing on statistics and numbers in terms of disaster relief is not unique to China. Actually, it is a problem in many developing countries. The reason is that they do not have such a strong bureaucracy system both locally and nationally to address the problem to a personal level.
ReplyDeleteSecond, I want to address Professor Wilcox’s point that the reason for which the local residents becomes vulnerable to arbitrary factors like weather in the first place. Critical theorists will think how those farmers become vulnerable in the first place and then examine some ongoing policies. I think we need to understand China’s contemporary history. Ever since 1848, China has suffered several wars like the opium war and almost all these wars ended up with China’s defeat because its outdated weapons and equipment. This is one of the reasons why Mao, the first president in the PRC, is preoccupied with industry which helps the nation develop its ability to protect and put agriculture in the second place. Agriculture is always the most fundamental thing in China but for industry development, the government has taken a lot from the farmers to subsidize industry development. That’s how those farmers become so vulnerable in the first place.