Q&A with Dr. Huwy-min Lucia Liu (GRS ’15)
Dr. Huwy-min Lucia Liu (GRS ’15) received her Ph.D. from Boston University and is now an assistant professor of anthropology at George Mason University. Her research focuses on social change and governing death in China. Her new book, Governing Death, Making Persons: The New Chinese Way of Death is an ethnography that illustrates how death management in China has affected the governance of people under the Chinese Communist Party.
Q: How did you first become interested in anthropology?
A: I took a course called “Ethnographic Film” when I was an undergraduate in Taiwan. I was actually a journalism major, so I knew nothing about anthropology. The course was taught by an anthropologist and was about watching ethnographic films, and every week we would have to write comments on the film. There was a specific set of questions that we had to talk about. For example—I remember it so clearly—the first question was whether the film was from the native’s perspective or the anthropologist’s perspective. At that time, I was like, “What does that even mean?”
I started to get to know anthropology from that class. I liked it so much that after graduating, I worked as a journalist and at an NGO for two years, and I decided that I wanted to return to grad school. At that time, I knew that I did not want to be a journalist. I felt like I really wanted to try this thing anthropology, even though I didn’t really have real training because that was the only course I took in undergrad. I completed my Master’s and Ph.D. and am now an anthropology professor!
Q: How did you narrow the focus of your research on Chinese funeral practices and death?
A: When I got into BU, I definitely did not know I wanted to study death in China. After my first year at BU, I took a lot of courses, which opened up my mind and got me thinking about what I wanted to do. Every summer, the department would give funding to students to do fieldwork, especially preliminary fieldwork when they didn’t have a project. I went to China the first summer after I finished the first year of my Ph.D. There had been a big earthquake in China, and I visited post-earthquake. The timing of when I was in China got me interested in the concept of commodified compassion. I was trying to understand and make sense of a different form of compassion. I used my Taiwan background to bring some of the things I knew from Taiwan’s case and wondered if there was commodified compassion in China. That is what got me thinking about the funeral industry.
Q: Your new book Governing Death, Making Persons: The New Chinese Way of Death, is out now! What was the process of conducting fieldwork and writing an ethnography like for you?
A: It took me some time to develop the proposal, and I got a lot of guidance from professors at BU. I got guidance from class and from stopping by their office and chatting with them. When I was finally ready to do fieldwork, I had a pretty good idea about what I wanted to do in the field. Of course, when you’re in the field, you’re going to change things a little bit, but I think knowing what you need to do when you get there is really important. I’m really lucky that BU got me ready to do fieldwork. When I was in the field, there were a lot of things that didn’t happen that didn’t really work and some things that did work, but by having that really solid preparation, I knew how I could deal with all of those situations and how I could continue my work.
The fieldwork was roughly 1 ½ years; I wrote for roughly two or three years. The best part about BU’s graduate anthropology program is we have very dedicated professors, which I now know is rare. I was really lucky that I was at BU, and I had a group of faculty that organized writing groups for post-fieldwork Ph.D. students. Now that I’m a professor, I realize that all these writing groups don’t even count in their course load; everything is extra! That’s a big sacrifice. At that time, I did not realize how fortunate I was. They are amazing. We met every week. The writing part was kind of read loosely in the sense that four or five different professors were all a part of the writing. Of course, you’re going to have ups and downs. I think having faculty to help guide grad students on how we can make sense of the massive data was fortunate.
Q: Congratulations on your George Mason University Fenwick fellowship! What are you most excited about with this fellowship?
A: The new project is moving out of the death area, and instead of looking at governing deaths, we’re going to look at governing nature. There is some continuity there, but then there is a whole new set of territory. Sometimes when you are on the same topic for too long, it is nice to switch things up. On the one hand, it’s kind of scary in the sense that it’s a whole set of literature I have to make myself familiar with. It’s going to be very time-consuming, among other things.
On the other hand, I’m really happy I’m doing research because I almost feel like a student again! That project is at the early stage, but now that my book is out, I’m looking forward to starting the next step. I still talked to some of the old BU faculty when I began to work on this next project proposal!
Q: How did your time at BU affect your personal/professional life?
A: Wow, in everything! I would not be who I am today if I hadn’t chosen to come to BU. My parents did not have college degrees; I’m the first-generation college student in my family. I’m definitely the first and only one who got a Ph.D. in a discipline. If you know anything, it’s not guaranteed that all Ph.D. graduates can find a job. I’m really fortunate that now I’m now an assistant professor at George Mason University. Everything about who I am now would be impossible if I hadn’t gone to BU. It’s because I was at BU, and I had so many wonderful faculties who really didn’t need to spend so much time on me, and they helped me at every step. My career and who I am today are only possible because I came to BU.
Q: What advice would you give to anthropology students?
A: I think the most important advice is to follow your heart. I know it sounds so cliche, but at the end of the day, especially if you’re considering pursuing a graduate degree, it’s important. I think one thing I learned in anthropology is that it trained me to observe the everyday life where I live. That gave me a really solid foundation to pursue what I wanted. Of course, in my case, I wanted to work in academia and be an anthropologist. Still, I think even for undergrad students, the training in anthropology really gives you solid ground in terms of understanding the world around you, and not just understanding but having a critical and analytical eye to see how the world works. I think that really should empower you to follow your heart. You can do whatever you want to do. I think an undergraduate degree in anthropology gives you all the things you need.