Reshaping conventional IR theory and what Chinese latrines have got to do with it

What comes to mind thinking of International Relations (IR) as an academic subject?

To be honest, I always considered it a rather dreary affair, trying to figure out state-to-state relations and top-down elite politics.

My bad. The short documentary film 'toilet adventures' (15 min.) by William A. Callahan, for instance, is an outcome of a highly unusual approach to IR research and theory.

Callahan is professor of International Relations at prestigious London School of Economics and Political Science with a focus on China, among other regions.

For this special film project started in 2014 (for others, see here), he interviewed several people from different backgrounds and nationalities about their first experiences in the PR China, entailing the very basic human issue of going to the toilet in foreign surroundings.

In case you are familiar with the China studies business, you might recognize some of the protagonists who were confident enough to take part in this bold experiment.

In his recent article in The China Story Journal (a web-based outlet of the Australian Centre on China in the World at The Australian National University in Canberra), where he presents the video and elaborates on his general take, Callahan notes:

'As well as providing a more nuanced view of reactions to China, toilet adventures raises a set of questions about what counts as knowledge. The film's participants certainly provide plenty of facts to answer the "where", "when", and "how" questions of going to the bathroom in rural China. 

However, even with all these facts on display, the main point is not rational in the sense of providing an "accurate" representation of the PRC. 

Films are interesting because they allow us to appreciate the "affect" of emotional and bodily knowledge: the cringes that we see on participants' faces when they recall coming face-to-face with a dirty, smelly squat toilet for the first time, the uncomfortable laughs provoked when the private becomes public, and the cathartic sighs when the experience is complete.'

I strongly recommend to read the entire article to understand what critical IR & China studies might entail way beyond mainstream research. And now brace yourselves for some serious poop and pee talk.