“Livestreaming Precarity”
4:45 PM on Tuesday, March 12th, 2024
Goldwin Smith Hall G22
Abstract
In China, livestreaming has been a realm of intense state and industry regulations while also providing new economic opportunities embraced by policymakers and users alike. Examining three recent documentaries about Chinese livestreamers, the talk suggests that livestreaming proffers an affective experience of contingency shaped by the unpredictable shifts between what may be called time entrepreneurialized and time wasted.
Biography
Chenshu Zhou (she/her) is Assistant Professor of Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She received her PhD from Stanford University. Her research centers on media experiences in modern and contemporary China. She is the author of Cinema Off Screen: Moviegoing in Socialist China (University of California Press, 2021), which received the 2022 Best First Book Award from the Society of Cinema and Media Studies. Her current book project investigates media consumption against China’s transition from socialism to neoliberal authoritarianism through the concept of screen time.
