In a world saturated with visual data, how can cameras—whether professional or on our phones—illuminate China’s ongoing socio-economic transformations? What unique insights can audio-visual approaches offer that conventional methods cannot? What ethical dilemmas and methodological challenges do they introduce, and how might researchers begin to experiment with them?
In this online discussion, three well-known scholars of China reflect on their engagement with audio-visual research methods and explore the above questions through their recent visual works.
8 January, 2026 · 12:00 CET
Speakers
Willy Sier
Utrecht University
Dr. Willy Sier is an assistant professor in Utrecht University’s Department of Anthropology. In her research, Willy currently focuses on how rural-urban family dynamics affect China’s declining birth rate. Willy has previously published on first-generation rural-urban education migrants, Chinese-foreign romantic relationships, China’s empty homes, and the state-citizen relationship during the COVID era. Her book Dream Chasers: Becoming Urban in the New China will appear in 2026 with Cornell University Press. Willy has also co-produced several short films, including Empty Home, New Year in Wuhan, Happy Weekend in Wuhan, Shanghai Lockdown, and Baby Stress in China.
Ke Ma
University of Amsterdam
Dr. Ke Ma is a postdoctoral researcher in Media Studies at the University of Amsterdam. Her work explores the intersection of transnationalism, identity, and popular culture. Her current research focuses on the role of African women in mediating the China-Africa fashion trade, building on her previous publications about foreign models, actors, and influencers in China’s fashion and entertainment industries. She is also the co-producer of the short film Shanghai Lockdown.
Elena Barabantseva
University of Manchester
Prof Elena Barabantseva is Professor of Chinese and International Politics at the University of Manchester. Her research interests lie at the intersection of borders, identity, migration, intimacy, and citizenship in the context of globalising China. She experiments with post-positivist forms of inquiry, drawing in particular on archival, genealogical, ethnographic, and audio-visual methods. She is the author of Overseas Chinese, Ethnic Minorities and Nationalism: De-Centering China (Routledge, 2010) and Post-Soviet Brides in the China Dream (Cambridge, 2026). She co-produced and co-directed British Born Chinese (2014), and A Letter to Chinatown (2025), and made two short films: Border People (2014) and Group Wedding (2019).
