You’re warmly invited to an online talk hosted by RILCA’s Doctoral Program in Multicultural Studies on April 8, from 9:30 AM to 12:00 PM (Bangkok time), via Webex:

“Folk Soft Power in Nation-State Building in Post-Mao China”

Speaker: Dr. Wang Jiabao, Faculty of Creative Arts, University of Malaya

Abstract: 
This talk explores how the state has utilized folk culture to achieve domestic political goals in post-Mao China, a strategy I call ‘folk soft power.’ Through a case study of the largest folk art fair in contemporary rural China, I analyze how the fair gained official support as a social basis for building a socialist spiritual civilization and a harmonious society in the reform era. I also look into how the fair was redefined as a national intangible cultural heritage (ICH) to foster a shared cultural identity in the new millennium. This talk aims to show that the Chinese authorities deploy folk soft power to reinforce a people-oriented state and a Chinese nation deeply connected to folk culture, while subtly minimizing the state’s visible presence to strengthen regime legitimacy and reshape the concept of Chineseness. 

Bio: 
Wang Jiabao is a researcher working in the areas of folk culture, critical museum and heritage studies, art criticism, and the politics of Chineseness. Her current research interests include the cultural history of modern and contemporary China through the lens of ‘folk’ or minjian and the vernacular memories of the Chinese diaspora in Malaysia. She is currently a Lecturer at the Visual Arts Program, Faculty of Creative Arts, Universiti Malaya.

Webex link:
https://mahidol.webex.com/mahidol/j.php?MTID=m4a664427d3103f156f8ed03d1b9a2ece
(Meeting number: 2641 794 2966/ Password: P2AjapGTE32)