role in the development of this project:

For the Fulbright grant, I was the primary researcher (though also trained two research assistants) for this project, which entailed conducting over 200 ethnographic interviews during 2012 to 2013. I submitted my proposal to the International Institute of Education, the board that administers the Fulbright, and it was one of 55 selected from amongst 164 applicants.

For the research surrounding this particular article, I interviewed both drivers and craftsmen of the unique set of “hybrid haulers” (a combination of both battery-driven electric bicycles and manual, pedal-powered cargo tricycles) that plied the streets of Shanghai. This required gaining the trust of vendors I met in the streets enough for them to agree for me to interview them, and then having them invite me into their social networks of other drivers and mechanics so that I could understand what drove and influenced this particular context’s vehicle modification behaviors.

 

expertise the project demonstrates:

This project demonstrates my ability to tell a compelling story from a human angle around several of the over 200 ethnographic interviews I conducted across over twenty Chinese cities. I selected the stories of drivers in Shanghai who displayed the traits that the readers of Makeshift Magazine are most interested in – resource-constrained creativity in unfamiliar contexts. Through knowing my audience (the editors of Makeshift, and, by extension, the magazine’s readers), I was able to pitch a story that held their interest in a subject they previously knew little about. This article also demonstrates my photographic abilities, as it features photos I took myself of vehicles spotted around Shanghai.

 

nature of the research undertaken:

This research was funded by my Fulbright grant to study how rural utility vehicles were modified in resource-scarce conditions across China, and how those modifications evolved and spread through social networks. Across the country, I researched how various mechanics, vendors, and deliverymen modified their vehicles through ethnographic interviews with them, many of which entailed living with and working alongside them for several days to see how they used and spoke about the modifications to their vehicles.

For this particular article, I opted to retell the story of one repairman, Peng, and used his experience to describe the broader systematic challenges of hostile regulations and enforcement that face both the makers and drivers of this vehicle.