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Asien-Orient-Institut

Helen Hess

Helen Hess, M.A.

  • Assistentin Sinologie
Raumbezeichnung
ZUB 3-320

 



Short Biography

2018 – present Ph.D. in Chinese Studies, University of Zurich
Doctoral scholarship by the Janggen-Pöhn-Stiftung
Thesis: “Reclaimed Histories, Envisioned Futures: Trans-medial Entanglements of Mahua Women’s Writing”
2022 (4 months) Visiting Ph.D. student, Department of Chinese Studies, University of Malaya, Malaysia
2016 – 2018 Student Assistant Chinese Studies (Modern China), University of Zurich
2015 – 2018 M.A. in Chinese Studies and Gender Studies, University of Zurich
Thesis: “(De-)Konstruktion weiblicher Subjektpositionen im zeitgenössischen chinesischen Kontext – Eine transmediale Diskursanalyse literarischer und filmischer Werke”
2013 – 2014 Semester abroad General Linguistics and Chinese Studies, Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales, Paris
2011 – 2012 Chinese language program, Guangxi University for Nationalities, Nanning (full scholarship by the China Scholarship Council) and The Central Academy of Drama, Beijing
2010 – 2015 B.A. in Chinese Studies and General Linguistics, University of Zurich

Research Interests

  • Literary and visual culture in contemporary China and the Sinosphere
  • Sinophone Malaysian literature (Mahua wenxue)
  • Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia and Europe
  • Gender studies, cultural studies, intermedial approaches

Publications

Hess, Helen and Diyi Mergenthaler. “Wired Art – A Comparative Analysis of Digital Art Practices during the Covid-19 Crisis in China and Malaysia” in edited volume Digital China: Literature and Art in the Sinocybersphere, edited by Jessica Imbach, Amsterdam University Press. (Forthcoming)

Hess, Helen. Conference Report: Wired China: Digital Media and Online Culture. 27.11.2020 – 28.01.2020, digital, in: H-Soz-Kult, 05.02.2021, www.hsozkult.de/conferencereport/id/tagungsberichte-8870.

Hess, Helen. Book review: “Chan, Shelly: Diaspora’s Homeland. Modern China in the Age of Global Migration. Durham: Duke University Press, 2018.” In: Asien: The German Journal of Contemporary Asia, Nr. 152/153 (Juli/Oktober 2019): 156–158.

Grants and Awards

2022 Grant for a Self-organized Lecture Series Other Epistemologies: Remapping the Literary Field in the Sinosphere from the PhF Graduate School, University of Zurich
2021 GRC Short Grant (UZH) for the Workshop: Queering the Boundaries of the Arts in the Sinosphere
2021 Funding for Self-Organized Working Groups (UZH) for the Workshop: Queering the Boundaries of the Arts in the Sinosphere
2020 “GRC-Grant (UZH) for the Workshop: Wired China: Digital Media and Online Culture
01/01/2020 – 31/12/2022 Doctoral Scholarship by the Janggen-Pöhn-Stiftung
2012 Full Scholarship China Scholarship Council (CSC) for the Chinese language program at Guangxi University for Nationalities, Nanning, China

Courses Taught

Spring semester 2023 “Sinophone and Diaspora Studies: Histories, Literatures, Theories,” BA course, Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies, University of Zurich
Fall semester 2022 “Methoden der Text- und Kulturanalyse: Einführung” (Methods of Text and Cultural Analysis: Introduction), BA course, Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies, University of Zurich
Fall semester 2021 “Methoden der Text- und Kulturanalyse: Einführung” (Methods of Text and Cultural Analysis: Introduction), BA course, Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies, University of Zurich
Fall semester 2020 “Methoden der Text- und Kulturanalyse: Einführung” (Methods of Text and Cultural Analysis: Introduction), BA course, Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies, University of Zurich
Fall semester 2018 “Sinophone Gemeinschaften in Südostasien” (Sinophone Communities in Southeast Asia), BA/MA lecture, Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies, University of Zurich

Conferences and Talks

09/09/2022 “Longing and Belonging in Contemporary Female-Authored Mahua Literature,” invited talk at the MCRC – Malaysian Chinese Research Centre (马来亚大学马来西亚华人研究中心), University of Malaya, Malaysia
24–28/08/2022 “When Forms Collide – A Formalist Approach to Sinophone Literature,” 24th Biennial Conference of the European Association of Chinese Studies, Olomouc, Czech Republic
24–28/08/2021 “Qu(e)er(y)ing Gender Roles in Singaporean and Malaysian Literature,” 23rd Biennial Conference of the European Association of Chinese Studies, Leipzig (online)
14–17/07/2021 “Negotiating Women’s Space – An Intersectional Reading of Female-Authored Sinophone Malaysian Fiction,” 16th Singapore Graduate Forum on Southeast Asian Studies, Asia Research Institute, University of Singapore, online
31/05–01/06/2021 “Spectral Encounters in Sinophone Malaysian Women’s Literature, Film, and Art,” 9. Schweizerische Nachwuchstagung der Schweizerischen Asien- und Orientwissenschaften, University of Geneva, online
07, 08, 15/05/2021 “Envisioning Digital Art Spaces in the Contact Zone: (In-)Visibility of Sinophone Malaysian Women Artists During the Covid-19 Crisis,” 10th Conference of the Young Scholars Group of the German Association for Asian Studies (DGA), online conference
27–28/11/2020 “Art Without Borders? Sino-Malaysian Art Spaces in the Age of Digital Culture,” International Online Workshop: Wired China: Digital Media and Online Culture, Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies, University of Zurich
09/09/2020 Co-organization of a session (incl. presentation) on decolonial and intersectional approaches to analysis and evaluation processes, Research retreat: Situating Knowledge, Inter-University Gender Studies Doctoral Program, University of Basel
20/05/2019 “Intersektionale Identitäten, unbehagliche Erinnerungen und quere Visionen in sinophoner malaysischer Kunst,” lecture series Zugänge zur Sinologie, Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies, University of Zurich
7–9/11/2019 “Contested Territories and Fragile Identities – Memories of the Malayan Emergency in Sinophone Malaysian Fiction,” PhD workshop: Across the Strait – Sinophone Literature from the 19th Century to the Contemporary Ages, Roma Tre University, Rome
16–19/07/2019 “Deconstructing Utopia in (Sinophone) Ma-Hua Cultural Productions,” ICAS 11 (International Convention of Asian Studies), Leiden University
8–11/11/2018 “Haunting Memories and Rewriting History – Representations of the Malayan Emergency in Literature and Visual Art,” PhD workshop: Chinese History after 1949, University of Vienna

Memberships

  • DGA (German Association of Asian Studies): Spokesperson of the DGA Young Scholars Group
  • EACS (European Association of Chinese Studies): Member
  • AAS (Association of Asian Studies): Member
  • SSS (Society of Sinophone Studies): Member