John Osburg: Faculty & Staff : Department of Anthropology : University of Rochester

2001
M.A. University of Chicago, Department of Anthropology
M.A. Thesis: “Commemorating By Consuming: Re-Examining the Mao Craze of the Early Nineties”

1997
B.A. Columbia College, Columbia University
Major: Anthropology , Departmental Honors, Magna Cum Laude

Research Grants
2005-2006
U.S Department of Education, Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship

2005-2006
Social Science Research Council International Dissertation Field Research Fellowship

2004-2005
Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research Dissertation Research Grant

Fellowships and Awards
2008-2009
Stanford University, Center for East Asian Studies Postdoctoral Fellowship in Chinese Studies

2007-2008
Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange Dissertation Fellowship

1999-2002
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship

List of Current Courses

ANT 201: Theory and Methods in Anthropology
ANT 257: China After Mao

List of Past Courses

ANT 101: Cultural Anthropology
ANT 104: Contemporary Issues and Anthropology
ANT 226: Culture and Consumption
ANT 267: Anthropology of Socialism and Post-Socialism
ANT 305: Advanced Topic Seminar: Money and Morality

BOOKS

in preparation

Anxious Wealth: Money, Morality, and Social Networks Among China's New Elite

SELECTED ARTICLES

	"Dilemmas of Wealth: Distinction, Recognition, and Pleasure Among China's New Rich"
	"Elite Networks and the Moral Economy of Corruption in China"

RESEARCH

Professor Osburg’s research is broadly concerned with the relationship between market economies and systems of cultural value, affect, and morality. From 2003 to 2006, he conducted ethnographic fieldwork with a group of wealthy entrepreneurs in southwest China, examining practices of network building and deal making between businesspeople and government officials. Networks of elite entrepreneurs and state officials have exerted increasing dominance over many aspects of Chinese commerce and politics since the start of economic reforms in the late 70’s. Prof. Osburg examined how these networks were forged and maintained through ritualized entertaining and the informal moral codes through which they operated. His current book project, Anxious Wealth: Money, Morality, and Social Networks among China’s New Rich, examines the rise of elite networks in China and documents the changing values, lifestyles, and consumption habits of China’s new rich and new middle classes. His research also examines changing gender relations in Post-Mao China and the ways in which money and material wealth intersect with ideologies of love and feelings in people’s social, marital, and romantic relationships. His other research interests include consumer culture, political corruption, post-socialism, and organized crime.

Prof. Osburg’s research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, the Social Science Research Council, and the Wenner-Gren Foundation. Prior to coming to Rochester, Professor Osburg was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Chinese Studies at Stanford University and taught in the Department of Anthropology at the College of William and Mary. While conducting his field research in China, he endured a brief stint as the co-host of a variety show on a provincial television station.