Filial Obsessions Chinese Patriliny and Its Discontents

“Steven Sangren’s book Filial Obsessions is a transformative intervention into the study of filial piety in the Chinese context … and densely packed theoretically informed thinking about desire, childhood development, fantasy, alienation, subjecthood or subjectivity, intergenerational relationships, relations between the terrestrial and celestial realms, ritual, gods, and adherence to the rule of law and decorum. … This is an important discussion of the subject that all scholars interested in the anthropology of Chinese societies must read.” (Christopher Lupke, China Review International, Vol. 23 (03). 2016)