Lin Zhang

On Sinopessimism, or Junkies of Futility | Made in China Journal This essay is written precisely so that it could be dismissed. —Paul Mann (1991: 141)   Gary Gexi Zhang (2021) first coined the term ‘Sinopessimism’ as a speculative counterpart to Afropessimism, imag...

What is Sinopessimism? From lying flat to runology, Dino Ge Zhang explores a grassroots lexicon of disillusionment in China. Not just youth disengagement but a low theory of coping, refusing, and imagining alternatives amid economic and social pressures.

A short essay on the state of global digital capitalism(s) and futures in/from India and China, based on @linzhang.bsky.social 'The Labor of Reinvention' (2023)

Winning the Cold War With le Carré and Cosmopolitan Magazine

"As the trade union Solidarity established itself as the nerve center of Polish resistance, Minden’s longstanding book-running efforts morphed into an operation code-named QRHELPFUL... [It] sneaked in radios + printing equipment... Illicit text might be concealed in Tampax boxes or diapers..." 😈

Building on the great papers from our Global Mediations workshop this past April, we're launching a CFP for additional contributions to an anthology on the global contestation of computational imaging. Details below; proposals due 9/13

Higher education: How (not) to cope with a deficit Many universities are struggling financially. Budget deficits are spiralling, triggering staff redundancy programmes, department shutdowns and the mot...

I read this, and then I despaired even more deeply. They're universities, not collections of 'under-managed cluster risks'! And yet this is where we're going, because MBA Brain. (1/2) www.universityworldnews.com/post-mobile....

The AI Con A smart, incisive look at the technologies sold as artificial intelligence, the drawbacks and pitfalls of technology sold under this banner, and why it’s cr...

More summer reading! ASA member Alex Hanna ‪@dairinstitute.bsky.social‬ explores AI's pitfalls & the importance of recognizing how AI hype covers for a small set of power-hungry actors in her book The AI Con ‪@harpercollins.bsky.social‬ written w/ Emily M. Bender, U Wash.

2025 National Conference On-the-Record Livestreams

Watch: Last week D&S Exec Director @janethaven.bsky.social took part in the @cfr.org‬ national conference, discussing power, politics & the tech industry on a panel w @chinmayiarun.bsky.social, @noupside.bsky.social, & Adam Segal, moderated by Michelle Caruso-Cabrera. www.cfr.org/event/2025-n...

Also special thanks to fellow thinkers in this space, whose works are instrumental to refining my thinking. @lizhiliu.bsky.social @angela zhang

I draw inspiration from many other authors, including @msteinbrg.bsky.social @rahmuk.bsky.social @nielsvdoorn.bsky.social @grohmannrafael.bsky.social @jackqiu.bsky.social Steve Rolf& Seth Schindler, Anu Bradford, just to name a few

Understanding this new model diversifies the current conceptualization of state-market relations globally, sheds light on China’s techno-driven restructuring and global expansion, prompts questions abt the influence of geopolitical competition on China’s governance and its global implications.

Despite their monopolistic and infrastructural tendencies, Chinese platforms operate within a fragmented, state-dominated system that both enables and restrains their growth, depending on shifting political dynamics.

This “market in the fragmented state” contrasts with the current oligarchical U.S. model, where big tech firms often capture state power to serve corporate interests.

Local governments, as they adapt to the new economy, maintain a fragile symbiosis with platforms like Alibaba to advance their own political and economic objectives.

In this hybrid model, the pragmatic Leninist central state, to meet the "big tech challenge", both leverages and controls private tech giants to balance economic growth, social stability, and national security amid geopolitical tensions and a slowing economy.

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

Open access here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

What does China’s emerging governance regime for big tech look like & how does it differ from that of the US?
My new article explores these questions by tracing Alibaba’s evolving ties with central and local governments, and theorizes this dynamic as a MARKET IN A FRAGMENTED STATE.

I spotted a few books! @linzhang.bsky.social @columbiaup.bsky.social #ica25

*conference panel not "plan"

Yes, let's stay in touch. We are planning to do like a plan or event to showcase our contributors. Will discuss more over email later this summer

Great honor to see my book stand alongside yours and the other accomplished scholars!

Two Maoisms | Los Angeles Review of Books Guobin Yang dives into two new books on Mao-era China.

"Every chapter is a gem"!

Lovely review by @guobin-yang.bsky.social of How Maoism was Made. "Weiner’s chapter... reveals the [early Maoist] state’s ethnopolitical anxieties and efforts to create ethnic minority categories."
@aaronwmoore.bsky.social
lareviewofbooks.org/article/two-...

When Amazon meets world systems theory in the platform era. Please give this very creative and rich article a read! Part of our Social Media+ Society special issue on Asian Platforms

The U.S.-China Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement Is Not Yet Obsolete Deborah Seligsohn and Scott Kennedy explain why the recently renewed U.S.-China Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement can help to promote responsible science and technology cooperation between ...

The US-China S&T Agreement was just renewed and is worth protecting. A new piece by @kennedychina.bsky.social and I for @chinaecon.csis.org
nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...

Please check out @adiray.bsky.social's very timely piece proposing a post colonial critical political economy approach to studying platforms and digital technologies, contesting the Asian developmental model of leapfrogging. Another wonderful article from our social media+society special issue.

Manchester University Press - Clickbait capitalism Clickbait capitalism - Browse and buy the Paperback edition of Clickbait capitalism by Amin Samman

Clickbait Capitalism in paperback! The volume first came out in 2023 and explores some of the cultures of desire then forming around digital technology and finance. Essential reading as the entire global economy now morphs into a gigantic digital mechanism of psychological capture and release.

We’ve Lost the Plot: Sinophobia and the Collateral Damage of American Primacy What Visa Bans Teach America About Itself

We’ve Lost the Plot: Sinophobia and the Collateral Damage of American Primacy
by Kaiser Kuo
www.sinicapodcast.com/p/weve-lost-...

#GCEG2025 will be presenting on two new research projects on Chinese biotech companies in Southeast Asia and AI platform and datafication in agriculture @ the Global Conference on Economic Geography in Worcester in the next few days. See u all there!

DoJ releases its Tulsa race massacre report over 100 years after initial review DoJ report acknowledges attack ‘was so systematic and coordinated that it transcended mere mob violence’

More than 100 years after its initial review that blamed Black men, the Dept. of #Justice just released its report on the 1921 #Tulsa race massacre
The report says the attack “was so systematic & coordinated that it transcended mere mob...
#democracy #usa #gop #fascists #fascism

👉 Vote 'em Out!

Opinion | Silicon Valley Is at an Inflection Point

"These companies are at an inflection point.... If Senate Republicans now vote to prohibit states from regulating A.I. for 10 years, Silicon Valley’s impunity will be enshrined in law, cementing these companies’ empire status."
- @karenhao.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/o...

The threatened eviction of Chinese international students of certain backgrounds from the US is shocking, but also unsurprising, as we explained in our 2024 geoforum article "Desirable and disposable: Tracing the racialization of Chinese students in American Higher Education".