Renyou Hou

Renyou Hou is a Research Fellow at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and permanent member of the Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Solidarity, Societies, Territories – Center for Social Anthropology (LISST-Cas, UMR 5193) at Toulouse Jean Jaurès University, specializing in contemporary Chinese society through anthropological and ethnological lenses.

His doctoral thesis completed at INALCO in 2018 examined marriage transformations in rural China, forming the basis of his 2024 monograph Negotiations and Compromises: Marriage Practices in Contemporary Rural China. Current research expands into urban contexts with three core themes: family/gender/kinship structures in modern China; health globalization dynamics; and medically assisted procreation/surrogacy practices.

Recent publications (2023-2025) reveal a methodological shift from rural ethnography toward urban LGBTQIA+ family formations and pandemic-related health anthropology. Key trends include analysis of cooperative marriages (xinghun), war metaphors in China's Covid-19 response, and digital inclusion challenges for elderly populations, demonstrating interdisciplinary engagement with public health and policy.

As an active institutional contributor, Hou serves on the scientific council of the GIS Gender Institute (2025-2029) and collaborates internationally on projects examining hospital management during epidemics and employment impacts of pandemics, primarily through the LISST laboratory's Chinese society research cluster.