User:ZUZU/Project proposal

𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊𝙿𝚛𝚘𝚓𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚊𝚕 ☄. *. ⋆

𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚍𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎?

a series of workshops /self-life protocol /role-play games focus on how the intricacies of daily existence and digital communities shape the lives of me and my female (internet)neighbours in the Netherlands

𝙷𝚘𝚠 𝚍𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚒𝚝?

𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚔𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚜

Focuses on uncovering hidden rituals; participants share micro-stories of their lives or present daily performances in an alienated space

𝚂𝚎𝚕𝚏-𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚘𝚌𝚘𝚕

Focuses on uncovering hidden rituals; participants share micro-stories of their lives or present daily performances in an alienated space

𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚓𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚜𝚝 𝚠𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚕𝚢 𝚙𝚞𝚜𝚑, 𝚛𝚞𝚋 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚊𝚙 𝟷000 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚒𝚝𝚢.𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚡𝚎𝚛𝚌𝚒𝚜𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚊 𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚎𝚡𝚙𝚕𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚐𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚒𝚝 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚊𝚗 𝚎𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚒𝚗 𝚙𝚞𝚋𝚕𝚒𝚌.

𝚁𝚘𝚕𝚎-𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢 𝚐𝚊𝚖𝚎

In a fictional country, an unintelligible language will be spoken, a dice-rolling mechanism will be used to randomly assign identities, and the challenges faced by players will vary according to their assigned identities. These challenges will integrate my thesis findings, including exploring the daily lives of my female ‘internet neighbours’ through personal interviews and data collection from Chinese social media.

𝚃𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎

𝚆𝚑𝚢 𝚍𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚒𝚝?

The initial idea stemmed from a class discussion where I realised that the biggest topic for me at the moment is how to make it in the Netherlands. At first, I tried to explore issues related to visa anxiety, but gradually realised that focusing on visa policy could easily lead the perspective into a grand narrative framework and start a discussion of abstract terms, which was not the direction I wanted to delve into. I was more interested in how individuals live their lives behind these issues - or rather, how I (and people in various other situations) manage to live and cope in concrete situations.

Before leaving China, my sense of everyday life and “nearby” had, in some ways, already disappeared. This project feels like a response to my process of rebuilding the everyday and the “nearby” while living in the Netherlands.I aim to avoid engaging with overarching narratives or overly broad topics, focusing instead on the day-to-day details. Here, I find myself relying on the Chinese internet more than ever before. Part of this is due to language barriers limiting my information access. Conversely, Because of the nature of big data, I’ve found that my understanding of the daily lives of women in the Netherlands—who I’ve never met—may even surpass my understanding of the lives of those around me when I lived in China. By relying on shared content from social platforms, I’ve learned things like which supermarket products are beautifully packaged but overly sweet, where to look to spot the northern lights on certain days, which newly opened restaurant is delicious but has poor service, or which hiking trail in a specific national park offers a chance to encounter friendly wild horses. Other tips include how a “sunlight lamp” can improve your mood during continuous rain, or which hairdresser truly understands and delivers on specific haircut requests.

These women—whom I’ve never met and likely never will—are like my “internet neighbors.” While we’ve never spoken directly, I rely heavily on their advice to navigate my life here. This observation reminds me of the anthropologist Xiangbiao's suggestion that 附近‘the nearby’ is a fluid concept, not tied to any fixed space. As people move, their “nearby” also shifts, formed by emotional and spatial connections with the people and space around them. The everyday details of one person’s nearby might become a brand-new story for another. In these details, I try to focus on language, body, space, and their intertwining in the daily life.

𝚆𝚑𝚘 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚙 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚘𝚠?

My Female Internet Neighbours - Their presence is a help Michael Murtaugh-Inspiring advice and feedback Manetta Berends, Joseph Knierzinger Assistance with designing workshops and integrating digital tools Steve Rushton-Guidance on structuring the thesis. Yangliu-Visual feedback and reference for the aesthetic aspects. Wang Ziheng-Help with sound for role-play games.

𝚁𝚎𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚙𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚎

𝚁𝚎𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚊 𝚕𝚊𝚛𝚐𝚎𝚛 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚡𝚝

I hope this project is both deeply personal and universally relatable. A common criticism on the Chinese internet is that people "don't care about specific individuals" and become collectively obsessed with grand narratives. These grand narratives often attempt to instil a sense of national identity in the masses, and these grand narratives undermine or weaken closeness and concrete, meaningful action in the immediate, everyday context.

Initially, I focused on exploring the survival strategies of non-EU women in Europe, but I gradually narrowed the scope to Chinese women. However, even this classification felt awkward—attaching nationality as a category to "women" created discomfort, as it seemed to politicize identity in ways I sought to avoid. Eventually, I shifted my attention to the specific group of "my female internet neighbours," attempting to decouple gendered identities from their political labels, such as nationality.

This approach aligns with feminist practices that emphasize women’s autonomy beyond the confines of national borders. As Virginia Woolf wrote, "As a woman, I have no country. As a woman, I want no country. As a woman, my country is the whole world." My aim is to focus on the soft, intimate realities of individuals—their bodies, emotions, and connections—rather than framing them within political or nationalist narratives.

In essence, this project is a response to the erosion of immediate, everyday connections, reclaiming the importance of the specific and the personal. It aims to see and understand individuals as they are, unburdened by the weight of political or collective identities, and instead defined by their lived experiences and shared acts of living.

𝚁𝚎𝚏𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚜