Everyday knowledge on the move: dynamic process and micro politics of the transfer of Guangchang wu

ABSTRACT

This article explores mobilities of everyday knowledge by analyzing the diffusion of northern aerobics, a particular form of Guangchang wu (plaza dance), from the Chinese mainland to Sanya, a coastal city in southern China. It understands mobile everyday knowledge as an ongoing process, and examines its dynamism by scrutinizing its complex and unstable routes, shaped by multiple agents and power relations. The transfer of northern aerobics undergoes continuous changes in its trajectories and is influenced by the discourse of professionalism, everyday leisure practices of Houniao, mainland migrants and local residents, and unequal interactions between the three groups of recreationists. The Houniao are mostly retirees from northern provinces, who undertake seasonal travel and pass winter in Sanya. Their regular and exclusive mobilities have greatly shaped the process of the transmission of leisure knowledge to Sanya and granted them privileged status in aerobic exercise. Nonetheless, mainland migrants, who have relocated in Sanya, begin to take on an increasing important role by changing the trajectories of knowledge diffusion. Through daily participation, local residents are also involved in reproducing the mobile leisure knowledge and negotiate a host identity. This article offers further insight into the dynamism and politics of knowledge diffusion in everyday life.

KEYWORDS:

• Knowledge Diffusion
• Everyday Learning
• Mobilities
• Everyday Politics
• Public Leisure
• China

Acknowledgments

We want to express our sincere thanks to Weiqiang Lin, Tracy Skelton and Tim Bunnell for giving valuable and constructive suggestions on the early draft of this manuscript. We also would like to thank the two anonymous referees for their comments toward improving this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. This does not mean that all public leisure in Sanya were originally brought in by the Houniao. Stimulated by recreational practices of the Houniao and local socioeconomic development, local residents have also initiated some public activities such as Taichi and develop their own leisure groups.

2. The local term of Laobannian underlines the fact of the commodification of Guangchang wu in some leisure groups, which exclude people who do not pay membership fees from collective activities. Many organizers use the fee to cover the operational cost of everyday leisure (e.g. maintenance of equipment). Some take it as a reward for their service and a major source of income in late life.

Additional information

Funding

This work was partly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 41630635].