Christopher Eberhardt
PhD candidacy
2009
The New School for Social Research
Expected Completion
Spring 2012
Curriculum Vitae (PDF)
Dissertation Title
"Imagining climate change: Towards understanding Chinese citizenship"
Areas of Expertise
Contemporary China, media, political, social theory
Profile
As a broadly trained sociologist I am interested in how individuals make sense of social issues in their daily lives; the shape that discourse and action takes. In addition to formal semester long classes I have been an integral part of the NGO imagining global asia I co-founded, helping to foster educational fora for those unable to attend semester long courses.
Dissertation abstract
My dissertation theorizes the processes by which Chinese youth make sense of climate change in their daily lives. Using interviews, ethnography, media analysis and historical comparative methods, I try to address the question that theorists are just beginning to grapple with, of how social responsibility for complex problems like climate change is assigned and acted upon.
This study demonstrates that grappling with the complexity of climate change is one of many challenges that Chinese youth face today in a rapidly changing society. I have found that quite often efforts to assign or fulfill one’s responsibility are limited, yet often Chinese youth engage in various activities beneficial to the environment, often a synergy of personal habit with macro actors working behind the scenes. In looking at how climate change is understood, this study is novel in two key ways. The first is that it takes questions of social responsibility often reserved for analysis of democratic states, and brings these questions to a study of China. The second is that it tries to understand Chinese citizenship not by studying the extraordinary protest but by studying the ordinary daily habits.
Writing Samples
Up to three writing samples that represent you best, in pdf. Sole-authored or first-authored publications, and/or dissertation chapters are the best thing to put there.
Teaching Experience
Teaching Assistant, The New School, New York, NY, 2009, “Design at the Edge”
Teaching Assistant, The New School, New York, NY, 2008, “Media Politics”
Instructor, Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, NY, 2007-2008,“Introduction to Sociology”
Contact Information
Department of Sociology
6 East 16th Street,
9th Floor
New York, NY 10003
Email: eberharc@newschool.edu
