The New Cultural Geography for Pre-service Teachers: Floating lives - A Critical Approach to Rural-Urban Migration in China

摘要

This paper explores the significance of the recent movement of up to 100 million migrants from rural provinces to the industrial zones and large cities in China. A considerable proportion of these migrants are women who have moved away from their place of residence without the required transfer of official residence. First, this paper locates the ‘floating lives’ (Dutton 1998) of this demographic shift in a global, economic, historical, political and cultural context, and in doing so, explores the significance of gender in framing a new cultural geography in the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). Second, this paper advocates that a critical inquiry approach to the study of such social and economic changes in China provides opportunities for pre-service teachers to develop a broader understanding of the forces shaping the region and to develop their capacity to become Asia-literate teachers. Establishing and sustaining teachers’ commitment to fostering cross-cultural understanding in the studies of Asia is vital if future generations of Australians are to be skilled in the knowledge and understanding required to interact with the peoples of the region.