The Common Concerns Approach: Birth of an Idea

In the first episode of the “Common Concern” podcast, Siqi Tu and
Sohail Jagat speak with Xiang Biao, co-director of the Max Planck
Institute for Social Anthropology. Looking back on his
experiences and academic career in China and the United Kingdom,
he traces the origins of his “Common Concern” approach.

The “Common Concerns” approach is an exercise in which
researchers reflect together with their interlocutors. It is
therefore not merely a research task carried out one-sidedly by
the researchers. It is an analytical strategy designed to
facilitate a type of research in which researchers can ultimately
return to their conversation partners to report what they have
discovered, what they think, what concepts emerge from this, or
what further questions arise.