ABSTRACT
Over the last three decades, rural migrant youth have been taking part to a complex cultural politics of recognition and presence in post-Mao China as their experiences became mediated via a wide array of channels such as poetry, literature, film, music, etc.
In this chapter, by drawing on the notion of mediation and scales of medication as linking institutions/organizations, people and meanings, I document how collectives of migrant workers engage in the shaping of “communities of interpretation and of emotions” and in the constitution of different scales of visibility of their identity, their claims and their actions. The sources used for this chapter include the author’s participant observation, interviews with migrant workers and community organizers, and a wide range of popular sources such as songs and writings by migrant workers.
