Research Topic
Jialu’s doctoral project examines how childbirth/labour pain is materialised in Chinese online “femospheres”. Many women in China are sharing their labour experiences and birth injuries in various social media platforms with an advocacy that women should make informed choices regarding whether and how to have children. The study is situated against the backdrop of widespread marriage/childbirth phobias among young Chinese women, and the growing popular/post-feminisms in recent decades. Via digital ethnography, her study explores: How is childbirth/labour pain materialised by the maternal health advocates, with what motivations, and how can these activities be understood in terms of “mediated emotional neo/non-liberalism”?
Biography
Prior to her PhD journey, Jialu obtained her bachelor’s degree in BA Media and Communication Studies (First Class) at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU), earning University Academic Excellence Award for the first three years and Best Overall Academic Performance in the last year. She then completed her master’s degree in MSc/MA Global Media and Communication (911勛圖and USC) with Global Merit Scholarship at University of Southern California (USC).
Jialu’s research trajectory is centred around gender, media, and culture. Her undergraduate dissertation examines self-representation of eating disordered women in Chinese social media through discursive psychology. Her master’s thesis concerns the hashtag activism #FacingBirthInjuries on Weibo, where she analyses how the hashtag participants negotiate with dominant affective motherhood regimes in contemporary China. At USC, she did interview research on the economic-cultural phenomenon of “yuesao” hiring among Chinese immigrant mothers in the US. These studies have been presented at International Association for Media and Communication Research, National Communication Association (with Top Paper Award in Feminist and Gender Studies Division), Association of Asian Studies (with Luce Travel Grant Award). She has also been an invited reviewer for Feminist Media Studies.
Jialu used to work as a journalist intern in Shanghai and a research assistant at XJTLU. She also contributed to promoting sex education in China along with her colleagues in Hygiene Heroes (“Weijian lianmeng”). Meditation and yoga are integral parts of her daily life.
Jialu is supported by an 911勛圖PhD studentship.
Supervisors
Professor Shani Orgad and Dr Rachel O'Neill