胡嘉明
客席教授
香港中文大學文化與宗教學系
Ph.D. (Anthropology), Columbia University
M. Phil. (Anthropology), Columbia University.
M. Phil. (Gender Studies/Government and Public Administration), CUHK
B. Soc.Sc. (Government and Public Administration), CUHK
Ka-ming Wu is Associate Professor in the Department of Cultural and Religious Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She was a visiting fellow, and now a life member, of Clare Hall, Cambridge University. Trained as a cultural anthropologist, she has taken up extensive ethnographic research to examine the cultural politics of state and society, waste, and most recently, gender and nationalism in contemporary China. Her academic papers have been published in high impact journals including Journal of Asian Studies, Modern China, Hau: Journal of Ethnographic Studies, The China Journal, Cities, Urban Geography, Ethnology, and China Perspectives.
Her recent teaching joins the field of environmental humanities, with course titles of “Living in the Anthropocene: Nature, Culture and Power” and “Introduction to Environmental Humanities: Debates in China.” Her research graduate seminar “Thing Theory” examines cutting-edge theories of new materialism, science and technology, objects and non-human to encourage students to conduct inter-disciplinary research beyond conventional humanities. Her book Feiping Shenghuo: Lajichang De Jingji, Shequn Yu Kongjian (CUHK 2016) (Living with Waste: Economies, Communities and Spaces of Waste Collectors in China) has a great impact on the public discussion of waste and has been covered by major media, such as the Guardian and Mingpao Hong Kong. Thinking waste a lot, she is starting a new research project on the ecological consequence of takeout phenomenon in China.
Ka-ming’s first ethnographic research took place in rural Yan’an, northwestern part of China in early 2000 where she developed her interest in the intersection of representations and practices of folk culture, socialist governance and urbanization. Her book monograph Reinventing Chinese Tradition: The Cultural Politics of Late Socialism (UIP 2015) argues the nature of cultural production in China today can thought in terms of a “hyper folk,’ in which ritual practices, performances, heritage, craft productions, and other reenactments of the traditional can no longer be viewed as either simulations or authentic originals, but a field where a whole range of social contests and changes are being negotiated.
Interested in social change in China, Ka-ming’s recent research looks at the production of gender, nationalism and citizen-making through discourse and practices of volunteering in major Chinese cities. Related research articles have appeared in Journal of Asian Studies and Feminist Studies.
Reinventing Chinese Tradition
The Cultural Politics of Late Socialism
An eye-opening study of an evolving culture and society within contemporary China
She has another new book The Life of Waste: Economy, Community and Space in a Beijing Scavengers’ site (Chinese University Press), which investigates a scavenger community and the cultural economy of waste in outskirt Beijing.
廢品生活
垃圾場的經濟、社群與空間
胡嘉明、張劼穎
Bordertown Thinker Series
The Chinese University Press
本書一系列田野考察呈現和講述在經濟迅速發展之下、北京城鄉廢品從業者的生活世界，並將垃圾視作參與社會政治關係的物質，審視它如何有機地參與在中國的轉型社會過程：階層斷裂、政策壁壘、城鄉經濟文化差異、農民工流動性和城鄉隔閡，糾纏在一起。
Research Interest
- Cultural politics of state and society
- Citizen-making and identity politics
- Politics of tradition
- Gender and nationalism
- Waste and society
- Non-human turn of humanities
Representative Publications
Books and Edited Volumes
| 2018 | Ka-ming Wu. 2018. Yan’an Qunzhen: Wanqi Shehuizhuyi de Wenhua Zhengzhi (延安尋真：晚期社會主義的文化政治). Hong Kong: Chinese University Press. |
| 2016 | Ka-ming Wu and Zhang Jieying. 2016. Feiping Shenghuo: Lajichang de Jingji, Shequn Yu Kongjian (2016) (Living with Waste: Economies, Communities and Spaces of Waste Collectors in China). Hong Kong: Chinese University Press. |
| 2015 | Ka-ming Wu. 2015. Reinventing Chinese Tradition: The Cultural Politics of Late Socialism. Urbana Champaign: University of Illinois Press. (Nominated for the 2016 Francis L.K Hsu Book Prize at the Society for East Asian Anthropology, American Anthropological Association) |
Journal Articles & Book Chapters
| 2023 | Ka-Ming Wu, Chris King-Chi Chan, Sin-Yuk Chan and Ka Wai Yung. 2023. Plastic use in wet markets: A case of place-based sustainability education in Hong Kong. The Journal of Sustainability Education, March 27th, 2023 |
| 2023 | Ka-ming Wu. 2023. Sipping tea, plastics performing: representational and materialist politics of boba tea consumption in contemporary China. International Journal of Asian Studies (2023), 1-13. |
| 2022 | Ka-ming Wu. 2022. “Pink Flaneur”: Feminist Movement and Urban Infrastructures in China. Feminist Studies 47 (3): 813-841 |
| 2022 | Ka-ming Wu. 2022. Mapping the Affective Neighbourhood in Post-Protest Hong Kong. Made in China Journal 6 (3): 107-113. |
| 2021 | Ka-ming Wu. 2021. “Shashinbaesuru milk tea: Tsukaisute plastic toiu busshitsu no performance (A Materialist performance of single-use plastic in tea drinking),” translated by Kishikawa Ayumi with Hoshino Yukiyo. JunCture: Chōikiteki Nihon bunka kenkyū 12: 72-80. |
| 2020 | Ka-ming Wu. 2020. Infrastructure and its Discontent: Structures of Feeling in the Age of Hong Kong-China Dis/connection. Hau: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 10 (2): 319-324. |
| 2019 | Ka-ming Wu. 2019. Woodcut Movement. Grove Encyclopaedia of Asian Art & Architecture. Oxford University Press and the Grove Dictionary of Art. |
| 2019 | Ka-ming Wu and Jieying Zhang. 2019. Living with Waste: Becoming “Free” As Waste Pickers in Chinese Cities. China Perspectives 2: 67-74 |
| 2018 | Ka-ming Wu. 2018. Elegant and Militarized: Ceremonial Volunteers and the Making of New Woman Citizens. Journal of Asian Studies 77(1): 205-223. |
| 2018 | Huiwei Chen, Mee Kam Ng, Murat Es, Joanna Lee, Winnie W.S. Mak, Yuying Tong, Ka-ming Wu and Huiquan Zhou. 2018 Socio-spatial polarization and the (re-distribution of deprived groups in world cities: A case study of Hong Kong. Urban Geography. |
| 2018 | Ka-ming Wu and Ray Lai Kwok Wai. 2018. Zhuang Xianggangren zai Yuanzhuang Xianggangren de Shidai (Pseudo Hong Kongers in the age of Nativist Hong Kongers). Journal of Local Discourse. Taipei: Azoth books. |
| 2016 | Ka-ming Wu and Zhang Jieying. 2016. Waste Pickers in a Chinese Megacity: the Invisible Waste Reduction Group. Anthropology News. Wiley Online Library. |
| 2016 | Ka-ming Wu. 2016. “Farming Against Real Estate Dominance: The Ma Shi Po Community Farm in Hong Kong.” In Green Asia: Ecocultures, Sustainable Lifestyles and Ethical Consumption, edited by Tania Lewis, pp. 169-184. New York: Routledge. |
| 2015 | Juan Chen, Deborah Davis, Ka-ming Wu, Haijing Dai. 2015. Life Satisfaction in Urbanizing China: The Effect of City Size and Pathways to Urban Residency. Cities 49: 88–97. |
| 2015 | Ka-ming Wu. 2015. Paper-cuts in Modern China: The Search for Modernity, Cultural Tradition and Women’s Liberation. Modern China 41 (1): 90-127. |
| 2013 | Ka-ming Wu. 2013. Post-socialist State Gymnasts: Ceremonial Hostess and Hyper-femininity. Taiwan: A Radical Quarterly in Social Studies 93: 283-207. |
| 2013 | Ka-ming Wu. 2013. Muqin, Bentu Zunguixing He Houzhimin Xianggang (Mother and Nativist Respectability in Post-colonial Hong Kong. Journal of Local Discourse 2012: Government and Business Collusion, Ma Ka Fai, Leung Man To, Wong Wai Lun and Chan Chi Kit eds, pp. 161-168. Taipei: Azoth books. |
| 2012 | Juan Chen, Ka-ming Wu and Pauline Sung. 2012. Families On The Move: Challenge, Strategies And Implication. China Journal of Social Work 5 (2): 109-122. |
| 2012 | Ka-ming Wu. 2012. Neidi Yunfu Chanzi: Zhonggang Kuaijing Xia De Jieji Wenti Yu Shenfen Rentong Zhengzhi (Mainland Mothers Delivering Babies in Hong Kong: Class and Identity Issues Across Hong Kong and China). Journal of Local Discourse 2011: Gender and Sexuality in Hong Kong, Ma Ka Fai, Leung Man To, Wong Wai Lun, eds., pp. 63-72. Taipei: Azoth books. |
| 2011 | Ka-ming Wu, Juan Chen, Pauline Sung. 2011. Reuniting Family among Rural Migrants in Beijing. Ethnology 50 (4): 305-318. |
| 2011 | Ka-ming Wu. 2011. Tradition Revival with Socialist Characteristics: Propaganda Storytelling Turned Spiritual Service in Rural Yan’an” The China Journal 66: 101-118. |
| 2007 | Ka-ming Wu. 2007. Monuments Of Grief: Village Politics In Post-Socialist Rural China. Ethnology 46 (1), 41-56. |
| 2004 | Pun Ngai and Ka-ming Wu. 2004. Lived Citizenship and Lower Class Chinese Migrant Women: A Global City without its People. In Remaking Citizenship in Hong Kong: Community, Nation and the Global City, Agnes Ku and Ngai Pun eds., pp 125-140. London: Routledge. |
| 2004 | Ka-ming Wu. 2004. “Discourse of Baau Yih Naai (Keeping Concubines): Questions of Citizenship and Identity in Postcolonial Hong Kong” in Gender and Change in Hong Kong: Globalization, Post-colonialism, and Chinese Patriarchy, Eliza W.Y. Lee, ed. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press. |
Others
| 2012 | Wong Pik Wan and Ka-ming Wu. 2012. Helen F. Siu, ed. Merchants’ Daughters: Women, Commerce, and Regional Culture in South China. In China Review International 18 (2): 240-242. |
| 2006 | Ka-ming Wu. 2006. Ku, Hok-Bun. Moral Politics in a South Chinese Village: Responsibility, Reciprocity and Resistance. In Social Transformations in Chinese Societies 2: 222-225. |
Current Research Projects
|
(2023-2024 Principal Investigator) Everyday Sustainability through Arts and Humanities, Initial Funding for Impact Case Development, Faculty of Arts, Chinese University of Hong Kong, HK$ 164,000 |
|
(2022-2023 Principal Investigator) Plastic-free grocery: wet market film screening X cross cultural environmental communication, Knowledge Transfer Project Fund (KPF), Chinese University of Hong Kong, HK$ 400,000 |
|
(2022-2023 Principal Investigator) A Brief History of Plastic in China, Direct Grant for Research, Faculty of Arts, Chinese University of Hong Kong, HK$ 95,000 |
|
(2022 Principal Investigator) 「無塑香港： 買餸也減塑」校園社區減塑大使培訓計劃. Environmental Conservation Fund, Hong Kong Government. Date: 2022-2024. (Action Research), HK$ 362,500 |
|
(2022 Principal Investigator) Plastic Free Beach: Beach Clean-up and plastic waste art workshop. Sustainable Development Grant, CUHK. Date 2021-2023. (Action Research), HK$ 30,000 |
|
(2021 Principal Investigator) Discourse of Takeout: ordering meals, digital practices and single-use plastic waste in China, HK$ 90,000 |
|
(2021 Principal Investigator) Hong Kong Wet Market go Plastic Free. Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Action Fund, Chinese University of Hong Kong, HK$ 37,000 |
|
(2018-2020 Co-Investigator) Conservation of Ma On Shan Iron Mine. Built Heritage Conservation Fund project. Hong Kong Government, HK$ 1 million |
|
(2017-2018 Principal Investigator) The New Woman Citizen: Feminist Activism among Woman College Students in Guangzhou. Direct Grant, Faculty of Arts, Chinese University of Hong Kong, HK$ 70,000 |
|
(2016-2019 Principal Investigator) The Cultural Politics of Volunteering and the Making of Urban Identities in Beijing. General Research Fund, Research Grant Council, Hong Kong, HK$ 480,000 |
|
(2014-16 Principal Investigator) Volunteering in China: Grooming New Citizens among Governments, Corporates and NGOs in Guangzhou and China, South China Research Grant, Asia Pacific Institute, CUHK, HK$ 130,000 |
|
(2014-15 Principal Investigator) Volunteers as New Citizens: Volunteering from the NGOs’ Perspective in Beijing, Direct Grant, Faculty of Arts, CUHK, HK$ 92,000 |
|
(2012-13 Principal Investigator) Miss Etiquette: Hyper-femininity and Nation-making in South China, South China Research Grant, Asia Pacific Institute, CUHK, HK$ 50,000 |
|
(2011-2012 Principal Investigator) Red-tourism: An ethnographic study of staging and understanding revolutionary memory in contemporary Yan’an, Direct Grants, Faculty of Arts, CUHK, HK$ 70,000 |
|
(2008-2010 Co-Investigator) Families in Transition: Investigating New Family Models and Family Dynamics in Mainland China, Large-scale Departmental Research Fund, Department of Applied Social Sciences, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, HK$ 500,000 |
|
(2003-2005 Principal Investigator) Speaking Bitterness: History, Culture and Politics in Modern China. Dissertation Field Research Grant, Wenner-Gren Foundation, US$ 20,000 |
Courses Offered
| CURE2018 | Living in the Anthropocene: Nature, Culture and Power (BA in Cultural Studies/GE in SDG) |
| ARTS1004 | Introduction to Environmental Humanities: the China Debates (BA course Faculty of Art Package) |
| CURE3032 | Culture and Politics of Nationalism (BA course in Cultural Studies) |
| CURE2005 | Culture and Travel (BA course in Cultural Studies) |
| CULS6110 | Thing Theory (Postgraduate Research Student Course in Cultural Studies) |
| CULS5222 | Culture and Politics of Anthropocene (Taught MA in Intercultural Studies) |