Promised Futures, Lived Margins: Rethinking Rural Childhoods in Chinese Boarding Schools

• In Event: Reimagining Rural Justice: Critical, Cultural, and Historical Perspectives on Education and Belonging

Abstract

This paper explores how hope operates not only as an emotional resource but as a disciplinary force in rural Chinese boarding schools. Drawing on focus group interviews with 48 students aged 12–16, the study reveals how institutional discourses of care and aspiration mask deep structural exclusions related to poverty, rurality, and family separation. Framed by intersectionality and affect theory, the analysis uncovers how children internalize, contest, and re-script dominant narratives of success. While many conform to expectations of obedience and perseverance, others engage in subtle acts of resistance through peer solidarity and emotional expression. The findings contribute to inclusive education debates by centering children's voices and critiquing the affective politics of aspirational schooling.

Author

• MANNING LUO, University of Birmingham