Position:

University Lecturer in the Sociology of China; Staff Member of British Inter-University China Centre; Faculty Fellow of St Antony’s College

Faculty / College Address:

Institute for Chinese Studies / St Antony's College

Email:

rachel.murphy@sant.ox.ac.uk

Research Interests:

Migration studies; population and development; media and information communication technologies (ICTs); qualitative methods.

Current Projects:

• Impact of informal social and cultural institutions on sex ratios in rural China (fieldwork funded by BICC)
• Sources of political will for social development in China (funded by Nuffield Foundation)
• ICTs, migrants and mobile livelihoods in China
• 'Labour migration and the influence of social support from families, schools and absent parents on the resilience of children left behind in rural China' (funded by British Academy Career Development Research Grant, with Dr Ran Tao)

Courses Taught:

• Research Methods for Asian Studies
• Modern Chinese Politics and Society
• Sociology of China
• contribution to Development Studies
• MPhil and DPhil dissertation supervision

Recent Publications:

Monograph:

• (2002) How Migrant Labor is Changing Rural China, Cambridge University Press. (Reviews in Economic Development and Cultural Change, Progress in Development Studies, China Quarterly, China Journal, China Information, Political Studies Review, Choice, Regional Studies)

Edited Volumes:

• with David Johnson (2009) Education and Development in China, International Journal of Educational Development, 29 (5), Elsevier.
• with Vanessa L. Fong ( 2009) Media, Identity and Struggle in 21st Century China, Routledge.
• (2008) Labour Migration and Social Development in China, Routledge
• with Vanessa L. Fong (2006) Chinese Citizenship: Views from the Margins, Routledge (reviews in Pacific Affairs, China Information and The China Journal)

Reports:

• (2008) ‘The Impact of Socio-Cultural Norms on Women’s Experiences of Migration’, Migration Studies Research Paper, New York: Social Science Research Council.
• (2006) Domestic Migrant Remittances in China: Channels, Distribution and Livelihoods, IOM Migration Research Series, United Nations Press (November), 48 pages.
• (2005) ‘Helping Migration to Improve Livelihoods in China’ in Migration, Development and Poverty Reduction in Asia, ed. by Frank Laczko, Geneva: IOM, Research and Publications Department, pp. 223-242.

Journal Articles:

• Mingxing Liu, Rachel Murphy, Ran Tao and Xiehui An (2009) ‘Education Management and Performance after Rural Education Finance Reform: Evidence from Western China’, International Journal of Educational Development, 29 (5) Elsevier.
• (2007) ‘The Paradox of China’s Official State Media Reinforcing Poor Governance: Case Studies of a Party Newspaper and an Anti-Corruption Film,’ Critical Asian Studies, (Mar) 39 (1): 63-88.
• with Liu Liangqun (2006) ‘Lineage Identities, Land Conflicts and Rural Migration in Late Socialist China’, Journal of Peasant Studies, 33 (4) (October): 612-645.
• (2004) ‘Turning Chinese Peasants into Modern Citizens: ‘Population Quality’, Demographic Transition, and Primary Schools’, China Quarterly, 177, (March):1-20. Winner of the Gordon White Prize
• (2003) ‘Fertility and Distorted Sex Ratios in Rural China: Culture, State and Policy,’ Population and Development Review, 29 (4) (December): 595-626.

Book Chapters:

• (2009) ‘The Narrowing Digital Divide: A View from Rural China’, in One Country, Two Societies: Rural-Urban Inequality in Contemporary China, ed. by M.K. Whyte, Harvard University Press.
• (2008) 'Migrant Remittances in China: The Distribution of Economic Benefits and Social Costs', in Labour Migration and Social Development in Contemporary China, ed. by R. Murphy, Routledge.
• (2007) ‘Paying for Education in Rural China’ in Paying For Progress in China: Public Finance, Human Welfare and Changing Patterns of Inequality ed. by V. Shue and C. Wong, Routledge, pp.69-95.
• (2006) Essays on ‘Media Communications and Development’ and ‘Internal Migration and Rural Livelihood Diversification’, in Companion to Development Studies ed. by David Clark, Edward Elgar, pp.238-245 and 289-295.
• with Vanessa L. Fong (2006) ‘Introduction: Chinese Experiences of Citizenship’ in Chinese Citizenship: Views from the Margins, ed. by V.L. Fong and R. Murphy (eds.), pp.1-8.
• (2006) ‘Citizenship Education in Rural China: Dispositional and Technical Training for Cadres and Farmers’, in Chinese Citizenship: Views from the Margins, pp.9-26.
• with Ran Tao (2006) ‘No Wage and No Land: New Forms of Unemployment in Rural China’, in Unemployment in China, ed. by G. Lee and M. Warner, Routledge, pp.128-149.
• (2004) ‘Chinese Ethnography of Rural State and Society: An Introduction’ in China Along the Yellow River, by J. Cao, Routledge, pp. 1-15.
• (2004) ‘The Impact of Labour Migration on the Well-Being and Agency of Rural Chinese Women’, in On the Move: Women and Rural-Urban Migration in Contemporary China, ed. by A. Gaetano and T. Jacka, Columbia University Press, pp. 227-262.

Recent Presentations:

• 2nd – 5th June 2009, ‘Connected in Rural China: Households, Governments and Schools’, University of Iceland, Invited Keynote Speaker at the Nordic Association for Chinese Studies, annual meeting.
• 28th February 2008, 'Gender and Migration: An Socio-Cultural Approach', Migration and Development: Future Directions for Research and Policy, Social Sciences Research Council, New York

Further Info:

• Member of the British Academy China Selection Panel
• Series Co-editor, Comparative Development and Policy in Asia, book series published by Routledge. http://www.routledge.com/books/series/Comparative+Development+and+Policy+in+Asia
• Member of the editorial board of Provincial China