MCI researcher scoops significant Hallsworth Conference funding for project on feminist zines in China

The conference is titled Chinese Feminism’s Publics: (Self-)Publishing in the Republic and the People’s Republic.

The Hallsworth Conference Fund seeks to fund 4-6 landmark events each year that have emerging importance to the Humanities, exploring a wide range of issues, including global inequalities, international relations and creativity and heritage. Dr Morris is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Manchester China Institute who researches mobility, surveillance and digital geography, and has recently written on (digital) mobility and stillness in China. During fieldwork in Beijing, Dr Morris explored the dynamic Chinese zine scene, from both Mainland China and the Greater China region, finding zines to be a medium through which creative stories of migration, gender, inequality and the mundane could be told in ways that often circumvent censorial systems.

"I'm really looking forward to hosting this conference on zines and self-publishing in China at the MCI and want to thank the Hallsworth Conference Fund for their support. Thanks to their support, not only are we able to host a conference on an under-researched topic, but we are also able to host this conference in an innovative way. I'm really excited to produce our own conference zine, to host zine-making workshops and to bring zine-makers to the conference table." Dr Carwyn Morris

The conference will bring together zine creators, academic specialists in zines and academics who research China's feminist (self-)publishing past and present to help stimulate a research agenda on Chinese zines and feminist self-publishing. By hosting two workshops, the conference will not only explore the medium of zines but also explore zine-making practices.

Dr Morris will also produce a zine in collaboration with photographer Liz Hingley, creative brand seventyfive, and incoming University of Oxford PhD student, Bonnie Wang. The conference zine will interview young adults to collaboratively explore the aesthetics and ideas found in 1930s Chinese women's publishing and to reflect on China's feminisms and consider how much has changed since the Republic of China era. It is hoped the conference can inspire both academic and non-academic publications, including the production of more zines. 

Dr Morris hopes to hold the conference in early 2022, with the first volume of the zine conference available by mid-October. A call for papers will go out for conference participation before September. Dr Morris would be happy to hear from any zine makers or zine researchers who may be interested in taking part in the conference.