2026 Spring Conference of the American Ethnological Society
May 1 - May 3
The 2026 Spring Conference of the American Ethnological Society,
will be held at the University of Victoria, in British Columbia from May 1-3, 2026 and is hosted by the Department of Anthropology and the Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives.
The 2026 conference will be hosted in person at the University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The conference will take place May 1-3. An interactive map of campus can be found HERE.
Experiment as test or as exploration: modes of agency in the face of subjection
The Chinese language distinguishes two types of experiment: 试验 (shìyàn) and 实验 (shíyàn). The first, 试验, is a controlled test that typically takes place in a laboratory. The second, 实验, refers to open-ended trial-and-error in the real world. The actor in 试 验 (experiment as test) has full control over the subject matter, but the actor in 实验 (experiment as exploration) is part of the trial and is ready to be transformed. Socialism, as the slogan goes, is a great 实验 in the real world. The two types of experiment represent distinct modes of agency. While tests demand discipline, vigilance and willpower, exploration requires attentiveness to the multiple, potential alternatives that already exist and an openness to adjust oneself to them.
Individual willingness to maximize economic benefits through hard work has been indispensable to China’s post-1980 economic development. However, this developmental model appears to have reached its endpoint. This has precipitated a widespread sense of subjection, especially among contemporary university students and young professionals (20- to 40-year-olds) who will shape China’s future. They are eager to free themselves from a life dominated by the single-minded pursuit of development yet find it difficult to imagine a meaningful life undefined by economic goals. They feel powerless because their desire for alternatives has yet to find an effective mode of agency that makes concrete changes. My ethnographic inquiry, facilitated through public conversations and social art activities, suggests that members of this cohort are embracing experiment-as-exploration in their lives. This may suggest an emerging counter movement to both neoliberal economy and authoritarian governance.
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Xiang Biao
Xiang Biao is the Director of the Department of the Anthropology of Economic Experimentation at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology. Previously, he was a Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oxford. He has worked on migration and social change in China, India, and other parts of Asia. He is now exploring a “common concerns” approach in social research. His book Global Body Shopping was awarded the 2008 Anthony Leeds Prize by the Society for Urban, National, and Transnational Anthropology (SUNTA). Biao Xiang studied sociology at Beijing University and received his PhD in social anthropology from the University of Oxford, UK.