Thinking Piratically

Abstract

This is a curious book. On the one hand, Underglobalization takes up a series of topical problems in the study of contemporary China and the world through the lens of media(tion) and urban forms. Neves concentrates on revealing how artistic and media creativity of and in realms of the illicit— those arenas not sanctioned by state or dominant media power— help expose the attempted legal suppression of everyday urban forms that shape the lives of citydwelling people, in Beijing and elsewhere. By focusing on the piratical, or the “illegitimate” underbelly of contemporary urban society, Neves makes visible the dialectical ways in which Beijingers live in constant dialogue with (but are not subordinated to) the legitimating powers of state, brand, and media. Taking the practice of urban dwelling as a process of producing realms of the fake is helpful, necessary, and important. It illumines the necessarily layered environments of Beijing life in the twentyfirst century, without prescribing some “solution” that reinforces dominant power.