Gonçalo Santos is a specialist in the anthropology of China. His primary theoretical interest is kinship, family and sociality. Dr. Santos major fieldwork research was conducted between 1999 and 2001 in a small Cantonese-speaking village in Northern Guangdong (South China) and focused on the post-Mao 'revival' of the practice of ancestor worship and lineage organization in the region. This research has led him to develop a strong interest in questions of history, social change and cultural transmission.
Dr. Santos continues to undertake field research in Northern Guangdong, but he has also expanded his fieldwork expertise to other parts of rural China and also - more recently - to the Indonesian Island of Sulawesi. His latest research and publications focus on topics as diverse as farming technologies and human-environment relations; 'birth-planning' and the politics of reproduction; friendship and sworn siblingwood; ethics, ritual and cosmology. His other major research interest is the history of the Western anthropological tradition.
Selected Publications
Forthcoming. 'How "green" is Chinese traditional agriculture? Technology, development and environment in rural South China.' In Faroult & Gaudin (eds) Comment les techniques transforment les sociétés(Cerisy 2-9 Juillet 2009). Paris: L'Harmattan.
2010. 'Rice Intimacies: Reflections on the 'house' in Upland Sulawesi and rural South China.' Archiv für Völkerkunde, Special Issue: Living in memory: Houses, history and social/natural environment in Southeast Asia. (Article co-authored with A. Donzelli)
2009. Chinese Kinship. Contemporary Anthropological Perspectives. London & New York: Routledge. (Volume co-edited with S. Brandtstädter)
2008. 'On "same-year siblings" in rural South China'. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 14 (3): 535-553.
2006. 'Zhongguo fuxi zongzu yu yinger de renzhi (Chinese patriliny and infant cognition)'. Zhongguo Yanjiu (China Study), No. 3, Special Issue on Cognitive Anthropology.
2006. 'The Anthropology of Chinese Kinship. A Critical Overview'. European Journal of East Asian Studies, 5 (2): 275-333.
2006. 'Os "camponeses" e o "imperador". Reflexões etnográficas sobre orizicultura intensiva e estratificação social no Sudeste da China.' Etnográfica 10 (1): 40-71.
2005. A Escola de Antropologia de Coimbra 1885-1950. Lisboa: Imprensa de Ciências Sociais