Towards a material approach in rural geography: Architectural experiments in China’s rural renaissance and reconstruction movements

Abstract

Existing literature in rural studies and rural geography has tended to examine rurality as a representational, discursive and cultural construction, while there have been limited efforts that examine how material processes and practices co-produce and co-constitute the social relations and cultural subjectivities that contour rural changes. This paper addresses this gap by arguing for the relevance and necessity of a material approach in rural studies, building on but also advancing existing works that look beyond social constructivist conceptualisations of rurality. To this end, it reports on a case study of architectural experiments in Haotang Village in Henan Province, as part and parcel of the proliferating rural renaissance and reconstruction (RRR) movements in reform-era China. To illustrate the empirical nuances, this study draws insights from the literatures on the critical geography of architecture, with focus on three theoretical registers: event-ness, cultural meaning and relational effect. It puts forward two arguments in relation to architectural experiments in Haotang. First, it suggests that the embodied practices that produce, consume and maintain architectural materiality continue to mediate or effectuate the production of unstable, dynamic cultural meanings; and second, it claims that the encounters between humans and the material world involve a redefinition and reorganisation of social life and relations, catalysing progressive changes such as enhanced community solidarity and motives for self-governance.