Modern Change Of Kitchen In Rural Areas

By observing the changes in the kitchen and the modernization of food life in Jiulongan village from the time when the land was divided into households to the present,this study uses Levers’ spatial theory as a framework for analysis and considers in depth the impact of the rural modernization process on daily life;at the same time,it uses fieldwork to conduct a long-term study in Jiulongan village in Changde,Hunan Province,and accumulates a large amount of data to clarify the relationship between the rural modernization process and the changes in daily life.The thesis mainly adopts a qualitative approach,taking the kitchen as the object of modernization change research,using the daily life research approach as the research approach,partly referring to ethnography as the method,and using the Levalian spatial theory to better understand what rural residents,families and small communities really think and feel in the tide of modernization by constructing micro life histories in contrast to the larger history.It describes in detail the inner dynamics of the modernization of the daily life of the people of Jiulongan village,divides the change of kitchen space into two parts: material space and social space,and uses the spatial triad to analyze and explain the degree of modernization of material space and social space.The social changes in rural Hunan over the past 60 years are explained in terms of the integration of self,family,village,and the broader space-time.The first part of the thesis illustrates and analyzes the changes that have occurred in the rural kitchen as a material space,explaining the changes in the core functions of the kitchen and showing the modernization of the kitchen space practices associated with the core functions by showing the changes in the cookstove,water,cooking,and fuel in the rural kitchen.The second part of the thesis turns to the changes in the rural kitchen as a social space,observing and analyzing the changes in the content and access to ingredients,the modernization of social interactions in the kitchen,and the modernization of eating styles.In this part of the work,the phenomenon that emerges is the continued importance of traditional culture in the social life of the kitchen.The thesis mainly draws the following two conclusions: Firstly on the transmutation of kitchen space: the kitchen material space has undergone obvious modernization characteristics,yet the kitchen as a social space still reflects traditional cultural characteristics.Second,the strengthening of subjectivity in the daily life of rural residents: that is,farmers have spontaneously found value in the modernization process to the countryside and rural life.There is still much room for improvement in this study,and the part that is worth discussing from the perspective of qualitative research is about the future direction of rural construction.From the experience of the investigation process,it can be found that when modernization has reached a certain level,the happiness embodied in the farmers’ daily life does not only come from the renewal of material conditions,but exists in the habits implicit in daily life.Or from a more macro perspective,it is the establishment of narrative patterns in daily life.Therefore,the article concludes by introducing the concept of "experience" as an explanation for the findings of the study,and at the same time,"experience" is the starting point for establishing a local daily narrative pattern in rural areas,which increases farmers’ daily happiness and spontaneous motivation for rural construction.