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Maghiel van Crevel in Jacobin about migrant worker poetry

Hundreds of millions of Chinese workers have moved from the countryside to the city. This social transformation has birthed a tradition of migrant worker poetry, professor Maghiel van Crevel states in Jacobin.

According to Van Crevel, Chinese workers use so-called ‘battler literature’ to addresses their socio-economic experience. ‘Hardship and social injustice are its most prominent themes. (…) “Battler” is an Australian English approximation of the Chinese dagong, which means something like working for the boss. Those who dagong eke out a living while faced with the vicious insecurity of low-status precarious labor. And like dagong, “battler” is a colloquialism that can signal not just hardship but also the pride of persevering in the face of adversity.’

Want to know more?

Then read the article on the website of Jacobin.

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