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LRCCS Noon Lecture Series | Performing Artivism: Feminists, Lawyers, and Online Mobilization in China

Sida Liu, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Toronto, Faculty Fellow, American Bar Foundation
Tuesday, September 25, 2018
12:00-1:00 PM
Room 110 Weiser Hall Map
Comparing the political activism of feminists and lawyers in China and drawing on theories of performance and dramaturgy, this project investigates how performance arts are used by activists to challenge the authoritarian state in the age of social media. Adopting a strategy of subversive disruption, Chinese activists used social media and performance arts to expose the state’s illegal or repressive backstage actions in the public eye. However, it was precisely the success of their “artivism” that contributed to the crackdowns on feminists and lawyers in 2015.

Sida Liu is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto and Faculty Fellow at the American Bar Foundation. Before joining the University of Toronto faculty in 2016, he taught sociology and law at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for seven years and directed its East Asian Legal Studies Center in 2014-2016. He received his LL.B. degree from Peking University Law School and his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Chicago. Professor Liu has conducted extensive empirical research on China’s legal reform and legal profession. His most recent research project is on the impact of China’s rise as a global power on the legal professions in Hong Kong and Taiwan. In addition to Chinese law, he also writes on sociolegal theory and general social theory. He is the author of three books in Chinese and English, most recently, "Criminal Defense in China: The Politics of Lawyers at Work" (with Terence C. Halliday, Cambridge University Press, 2016). He has also published many articles in leading law and social science journals, including the "American Journal of Sociology," "Sociological Theory," "The China Quarterly," "Law & Society Review," "Law & Social Inquiry," "Law & Policy," "Wisconsin Law Review," "Fordham Law Review," etc.

If you are a person with a disability who requires an accommodation to attend this event, please reach out to us at least 2 weeks in advance of this event. Please be aware that advance notice is necessary as some accommodations may require more time for the university to arrange. Email us at chinese.studies@umich.edu.
Building: Weiser Hall
Event Type: Lecture / Discussion
Tags: Chinese Studies, Law
Source: Happening @ Michigan from Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies, International Institute, Asian Languages and Cultures