Not only cosmopolitan but also local: Fei Xiaotong’s social surveys in the 1930s and 1940s

The authors undertake a historical approach and examine Fei Xiaotong (also known as Fei Hsiao-tung, 1910–2005)¹ and his social surveys in China during the 1930s and 1940s. The authors intend not to rewrite the existing historical narratives of Fei. Instead, the authors contend that this case can offer an alternative account of cosmopolitanism and localism vis-à-vis academic dependence. At the methodological level, he subjectified China in his social surveys. At the epistemic level, he indigenized knowledge production and engaged Western social scientists’ discourses of China. By analyzing Fe’s navigation between cosmopolitanism and localism, the authors highlight a more nuanced understanding of decolonization in social sciences, emphasizing the need for academic interdependence rather than a strict segregation between the West and non-West.