Science as Gift: NGO-Supported Informal Science Education for Rural Migrant Children in Contemporary China

ABSTRACT

This article explores informal science education (ISE) for rural migrant children in the Chinese context. Many of them are restricted from the public schools due to political exclusions enforced by the household registration system and their economic standing. As a result, they are often enrolled in quasi-legal migrant children schools with limited access to education in science. In response, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have stepped in to implement ISE projects. Applying gift exchange theory to organized non-profit undertakings, I examine three types of ISE programs and their ways of reinforcing a neoliberal logic of competition, selfresponsibility and self-governance.

Acknowledgments

My gratitude goes to the staff, volunteers, and rural migrants I encountered in urban villages, without whose generous help I could not have completed my research. I have also benefited greatly from the two guest editors’ valuable comments.

Notes

¹ The names of the informants, places, and NGOs mentioned in this article are pseudonyms.

² Interview notes with Lele’s mother on July 20, 2013.

³ The data are from China Statistical Yearbook 2011.

⁴ These villages were originally natural villages that specialized in agriculture. As rural migrants started to seek affordable housing in their adopted cities, many local peasants turned into landlords, constructing and renting their spare rooms or even apartment buildings to the migrants.

⁵ Quotations are from the Little Scientists Summer Camp documents.

⁶ Interview with Lele’s mother in Beijing on August 2, 2013.

⁷ Quote from Lele’s report in Little Scientists Summer Camp.