Speaker:

Dr Yao Lin
Assistant Professor of Practice in Political Science, New York University Shanghai

Date & Time:

Thursday, 2 May 2024
3:30 pm – 5:00 pm

Registration:

Please register https://nus-sg.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZErdO6gqDgpEtFZONpWiz9vnl9d3wNVxPgS and indicate if you are joining us in-person.

On-site venue:

EAI Conference Room
NUS Bukit Timah Campus, Tower Block #06-01,
469A Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 259770

Abstract:

The Chinese discourses on two ongoing wars exemplify both the effects of authoritarian malepistemisation, that is, living under an authoritarian regime that exercises powerful control over society induces pervasive and systematic malformations of knowledge and theory, and the paradoxically similar effects of its discontents. On the one hand, since the start of the Russia-Ukraine War, the Chinese government and its mouthpieces have mounted a domestic pro-Russia propaganda campaign, whereas discontented liberal-leaning intellectuals and netizens have adopted various discursive and ideological strategies to countervail the state’s pro-Russia talking points. On the other hand, the same discontents and countervailing strategies have also led the latter group to understate or deny the plight of Gazans and Palestinians. Through analysing those discourses, this talk explicates the dynamics of authoritarian malepistemisation and its discontents, and explores the key conditions under which it could be effectively overcome.

About the Speaker:

Yao Lin is Assistant Professor of Practice in Political Science at New York University Shanghai. Dr Lin publishes extensively in moral and political theory, comparative politics and law, American politics, Chinese politics and ideology studies. His recent articles include “Brokered Dependency, Authoritarian Malepistemization, and Spectacularized Postcoloniality” (American Behavioral Scientist, 2024), “From the Specter of Polygamy to the Spectacle of Postcoloniality” (Politics and Religion, 2022) and “Beaconism and the Trumpian Metamorphosis of Chinese Liberal Intellectuals” (Journal of Contemporary China, 2021).