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Comparing first-person ethnographic accounts of young people living, working, and creating relationships in cities across Asia, this volume explores their contemporary lives, pressures, ideals, and aspirations. Delving into topical issues such as education, social inequality, family pressures, changing values, precarious employment, and political discontent, the book explores how young people are pushing boundaries and imagining their future. In this way, they explore and create the identities of their local and global surroundings.
“This collection of essays presents anthropologists' ethnographic research on young adults' aspirations primarily in East and Southeast Asia. The editors helpfully contextualize these studies within the broader realm of aspirations research…This work will be of greatest interest to students and scholars of anthropology and aspirations research, and to a secondary audience among those working in Asian studies.” • Choice
“The ethnographic chapters of this book, exploring the aspirations of young adults in various Asian societies, are generally quite perceptive and well-written—this book is fun to read”. • Gordon Mathews, Chinese University of Hong Kong
“This volume is rich in valuable ethnographic evidence. Each author introduces a valid research perspective that opens meaningful themes of inquiry”. • Gil Hizi, University of Sydney
Acknowledgements
Introduction: A Theoretical Framework for Exploring Aspirations of Youth in Urban Asia
Mariske Westendorp, Désirée Remmert and Kenneth Finis
Chapter 1. Female Filiality Reconfigured: Integrating Parental Expectations and Personal Aspirations in Beijing and Taipei
Désirée Remmert
Chapter 2. A Journey from Taipei to Shanghai: The Impact of Migration Experience on Taiwanese Young Adults’ Aspirations and Identities in an Asian Global City
Chia-Yuan Huang
Chapter 3. Aspiring to the Good Life: South Korea's Spec-generation
Carolin Landgraf
Chapter 4. Navigating Towards a ‘Good Future’: Significance of Appearance in the Aspirations of Dhaka Middle-class Girls
Suborna Camellia
Chapter 5. Searching for a Fulfilling Life: Temporary Migration to Dublin amongst Young Japanese Women
Ayako Suzuki
Chapter 6. The Imaginations of Talking Back: Exploring Identities among the Indian Youth in Urban, Middle-class Malaysia
Sally Anne Param
Chapter 7. Law Students, Aspirations and Accomplishments in Colombo, Sri Lanka
Morten Koch Andersen
Chapter 8. Cosmopolitan Coffee Aspirations in Contemporary Vietnam
Sarah G. Grant
Chapter 9. Transcending Aspirations: Buddhism and the Quest for Belonging in Urban Hong Kong
Mariske Westendorp
Conclusion: The Future of Urban Asia
Mariske Westendorp
Index