A review of Jia, Li, and Cousineau’s landmark data-driven account of China’s national college entrance examination, arguing that the gaokao is best understood not merely as an educational sorting mechanism but as the archetype of a totalizing social tournament that organizes the entire political economy.
A review of Joanne W. Golann’s ethnography of ’no-excuses’ charter schools, examining how scripted behavioral systems both promise and undermine social mobility for disadvantaged students.
A review of Le Lin’s study of China’s Supplementary Education Industry, arguing that the sector’s meteoric rise under legal ambiguity is best explained by a theory of opportunism, while raising underexplored questions about what the industry’s instrumental approach implies for the future of the teaching profession.
A review of Zachary Howlett’s ethnography of China’s Gaokao, arguing that the exam’s meritocratic promise conceals deep structural inequality while its remarkable social endurance demands more explanation than the book provides.
A review of Emily J. Levine’s transatlantic history of German-American university exchange, reading it as a study in competitive emulation and institutional hybridization rather than a simple narrative of American triumph.
A review of Franziska Fay’s ethnography on the cultural and religious logic of corporal punishment in Zanzibar schools.